Lubbock commuters riding bikes to work save money, getting fit

By Robin Pyle | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

It sometimes takes Clinton Williams half an hour to get to work, even though he lives about seven miles away.

And his ride through Lubbock streets can be a dangerous one - many drivers just don’t see him.

But he said the physical and financial benefits have had him bicycling to work as much as possible over the past three years.

full article link

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Bike Noob writes about his adventures riding The Armadillo Hill Country Classic starting at Liberty Hill.

“One thing I learned for certain after today’s ride — I’m getting better at this.

Today, I did my first organized ride since November. The Armadillo Hill Country Classic, the premier event of the Austin Cycling Association (ACA), follows some nice country roads northwest of Austin. Routes on the ride varied from a 14-mile family ride to 105 miles. I picked the 51-mile route.”

Read more and see his pictures at the Bike Noob blog.

Practice, practice, practice is the mantra of 13-year-old Firethorne resident Madeleine McDuff, a highly focused young cyclist training for her first-ever national junior cycling competition this summer.

The 5-foot, 2-inch seventh grader, founder and president of the Beckendorff Junior High School Cycling Club, practices three to four times a week for up to 50 miles. She works with her trainer, former National Cycling Champion and U.S. Team Member Garth Blackburn (of Sugar Land), rides with the Katy-based Team Spincycle, an adult team that pedals 30 miles every Sunday morning, and cross-trains during the off-season at Firethorne to gear up for the USA Cycling Junior National Track Championships this August at the ADT Event Center in Carson, CA.

“I race competitively (on track and road) because I want to,” said Madeleine, whose enthusiasm for the competitive sport spills over into recreational cycling. “I wanted to start a non-competitive cycling club at school so kids will ride with their families and get exercise - not just play video games,” she explained. She noted that cycling seems to be catching on with high school students, too; Katy High recently started a cycling club.

Continue reading »

The Final High School Race of 2008 is this upcoming weekend at the State Championships in Amarillo, TX.  Racing will be on Saturday and Sunday May 10th and 11th.  All individual and team points will be worth double so the overall standings can still change drastically.  You don’t want to miss this great weekend of racing!

For more information visit the Texas High School Cycling League website

KWTX.com reports on this helmet giveaway for 700 helmets to children.

King’s Daughters Clinic and Texas Medical Association are teaming up again for the 4th annual “Hard Hats for Little Heads.”

This event takes place May 10, 2008 from 9:00am-12:00pm.

We will be giving away more than 700 helmets and 4 bicycles to boys and girls in the community. Hard Hats for Little Heads is designated for children Pre K thru 5th grade. King’s Daughters Clinic is teaming up with Temple ISD and St. Mary’s Catholic School to send out 4800 flyers to their elementary aged students.

Link to the full article at KWTX.com

Cyclingnews.com reports that Lance Armstrong’s new Austin bike shop opens this weekend.

“Seven-time Tour de France winner and Austin native Lance Armstrong is adding another project to his busy schedule: Mellow Johnny’s, a new bike shop in downtown Austin, with a grand opening scheduled for May 10. The historic brick warehouse at 400 Nueces (adjacent to the soon-to-be-opened cross town bike path) is intended to catalyze Austin’s urban revival and encourage people to look at cycling as a means of both transportation and fitness.”

link to the full report at cyclingnews.com

Blogger Kevin (?) writes about his weekend ride in the Sam’s MS150 trip from Frisco to Fort Worth in his blog.

His blog post “Bonking across Texas” recounts:

This weekend I rode in the Sam’s Club MS-150, a two day, 157 mile ride from Frisco to Fort Worth.  This was the third of three big Spring events I had planned (here’s #1 and here’s #2).  Last year Team ThinkCash fielded 7 riders for this event.  This year, only 4 of us returned – me, Stephen, BenC, and Kyle – plus one new rider, Anthony.

Here’s how things unfolded:…

from Star Community Newspapers (link to full article)

By Ann Marie Shambaugh, Staff Writer

Frisco resident Derek Smith said he was scared when he learned as a teen-ager that his father had multiple sclerosis. Smith and his family knew little about the disease that afflicted an otherwise healthy and fit man.

Over the past 18 years he has watched the disease of the central nervous system take its toll on his father.

“Since [1990] we’ve learned quite a bit about it,” he said. “We spent a couple years trying to figure out what it meant, because it didn’t seem like he was that different, but over two decades now it’s to the point where he is wheelchair-bound and unable to work the same way he did before.”