Texas Bicycling News Digest October 15th
McKinney Police Looking For Special Needs Bicycle Thief
dfwliving.com
McKINNEY (KRLD) – The McKinney Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating a stolen special needs child’s bicycle.
The three-wheeled bike (pictured above) was taken from the front yard of a home on Mountain Ride Lane earlier this month.
A neighbor describes the possible suspect’s car (seen below) as a …
Wind In My Wheels- A Journey Across America
By Richard Ostrowski      www.crazyguyonabike.com
Riding on the LBJ Highway: Fredericksburg to Johnson City, Texas
Thursday October 15, 2015
Breakfast was served at our Super 8 Motel this morning. I had toast, tea, and orange juice then headed down to the McDonalds for more breakfast. Bob and I were on the road by 7:00AM to our destination of Johnson City a distance of 30 miles. I averaged 10.8 mph. The shoulders were very narrow for the first 10 miles on route 290 but got wide after that.
Our ride today took us past probably at least a dozen wineries. Several had restaurants and B&B attached to them. A few were names I recognized. Of course the most interesting name was Fat Ass Winery. As I approached the entrance I saw a picture of a donkey.
We passed by the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park but decided not to stop.
We stopped at a gas station convenience store in the town of Stonewall for refreshments. It had a few tables that were occupied by 8 locals for their mornig coffee and discussion.
Bob and I arrived in Johnson City at 10:45 AM. We visited the Tourist Information office and found out about local restaurants, motels and campgrounds. Bob wanted to have lunch so we headed to the Pecan Brewery for beer and food. I had fish burritos which consisted of salmon , lettus and a spicy sauce. They were very tasty. While I was …
Ride Across Texas (RAT)
By Jason Reynolds      www.crazyguyonabike.com
Road trip to Texarkana
Friday October 9, 2015
Since my last post, I have continued training. Two weeks ago, Jeff and I rode a 90 mile route that started in Morgan, TX. The gravel was good and the scenery was even better. We saw a few buffalo and some deer that looked like elk on steroids. We thought the deer might be imported red stag for an exotic game ranch but their antlers don’t match the pictures of the red stag I have seen.
The next day, Jeff and I did a 65 mile road bike ride with our friends Tom and Don. I was pretty tired after two hard riding days, so I set the remaining training at 3 rides of 30-35 miles since then.
For the RAT, I wanted mountain bike tires that would be provide a smooth ride while on good roads but have enough tread to provide traction on the rough gravel sections. Last year while riding the mini-RAT, I met James Kennedy who works at a Bicycles Plus in Coppell. He used Vittoria Mezcal tires and highly recommended them. I ordered a pair from him and had installed one on the front a couple weeks ago when my front tire developed a bulge in the tread. I wanted to install the rear tire as close to the start of the RAT as possible so I tried to …
Day 1, Excited and hoping experience helps.
Saturday October 10, 2015, 138 miles (222 km) – Total so far: 138 miles (222 km)
Up at 5:45 am, showered and down to breakfast at 6:00 am and spent a little time meeting and greeting other riders who were also staying at the Hampton Inn, which is our official starting point of the ride. Got dressed, bike loaded and went outside to await the 7:00 start.
I know that there were approximately 70 riders who had registered for the RAT, but it appeared that maybe around 50 of them were at the start line. It appears that several had to cancel due to various family, training or other scheduling issues.
We took a few pictures and Annette Jensen suffered the first failure of the ride, when her clear lens glasses snapped as she put them on. Good thing she also had a pair of sunglasses ready, even thought it was still fairly dark.
7:00 am and we were off. It didn’t take very long for me to decide that my new Vittoria Mezcal tires were awesome on pavement as we headed out of Texarkana. My bike was also handling better because I had replaced the shock with a rigid fork and I also replaced the Thudbuster seat post with a rigid seat post. I also installed Profile Designs T3+ aero bars. This reduced the …
Day 2, This is going to be a great day
Sunday October 11, 2015, 80 miles (129 km) – Total so far: 218 miles (351 km)
I let us sleep in until 7 today because we rode so awesomely yesterday and today would be an easy 80 miles from Paris to Farmersville if we took the NETT trail from Ladonia to Farmersville. The official route was 91 miles from Paris, but it would be fun to ride on the trail if conditions permitted. Lesson learned, never assume an 80 mile ride is going to be easy unless you are 100% sure of the ride conditions. I was soon to find out that fatigued legs, heat and headwinds would make the 80 mile day just as hard as the 138 miles on the first day.
We left our hotel and cycled to downtown Paris, passing several unique buildings and stopped for breakfast at Nancy’s Café. My cousin and I found this place last year and as many cyclists know, if the owner’s name precedes the word Café, then you are likely to get great food. We had great …
Day 3, Starting the need for strategic stops
Monday October 12, 2015, 101 miles (163 km) – Total so far: 319 miles (513 km)
Suzee woke Jeff and I up at 5:30 and she had prepared a fantastic casserole for breakfast. Suzee is a big cycling advocate in Farmersville and volunteering to host us and fix breakfast shows how strong she works to promote cycling in her area. She has also hosted a Caught on the NETT event to help promote the trail and is planning another one next year.
We left Farmersville around 6:45 and had 50 miles until the first town that we would actually ride through. At mile 36 we elected to go 3 miles off route to find food and water in the town of Melissa. Jeff and I bought Ultimate Meat and Cheese burritos at the Sonic and refilled our water bottles at the gas station across the state. The proprietor in the store couldn’t believe how far we were riding today, let alone our plans for the week.
A few miles down the road, we caught up with Roland and Dave. We rode with them into …
Day 4, Now this makes the training worthwhile
Tuesday October 13, 2015
We got up at 5:15 and we were on the road at 6:45. We crossed over I-35 in the dark and had a nice quiet ride on a road that was surprising flat. We road 15 miles to Era where we found a very new gas station/convenience store/Subway. The people there were very friendly and we had great breakfast sandwiches.
After leaving Era, we started to encounter some more hills, but nothing major and 17 miles later arrived in Muenster with plans to eat some good German pastries at a local bakery. We found the bakery and overloaded on our sugar intake, but we couldn’t help it. The pastries made us eat them. There was a Dollar General store right across the street from the bakery. I was able to buy a 10 pack of large band aids for $3.00 and thus solved the “bad stitching rubbing me the wrong way problem”. Thanks Dollar General. …
Day 5, The end is near and I didn’t know it.
Wednesday October 14, 2015, 50 miles (80 km) – Total so far: 369 miles (594 km)
Jeff and I had made plans to get up at 4:30. Because the ants caused me to get up at 2:30, I decided to break down my campsite at 4:00. I moved most of my things quietly over to the restroom area, so I had lighting to pack and wouldn’t disturb the other cyclists. When Jeff got up, he was surprised to see that I only had a few things left to pack.
We drank breakfast shakes and rolled out of the campground at 5:45 on our way to Holiday which was the first potential stop for real food and drink. About 2 miles from the campground we ran into a newly graveled road. For about 8 miles we battled a dangerous/hazardous/crappy bike riding road that had about 3″ of loose rock across the whole road. There were no packed track areas to ride in and consequently it took a lot of effort to ride and avoid wiping out. This segment was absolutely awful.
It took about 2 1/2 hours to get to Holiday where we met 4 RAT riders from Amarillo that we had seen off and …
The Latest Useless Bike Lane
by Daniel Day      bikesanantonio.blogspot.com
The latest Useless bicycle lane is now open. Has been open for almost a month now and you can use this latest uselessness on Arsenal along the HEB headquarters.
To understand why this was built, you’re going to have to listen to a awesome podcast called 99% Invisible, episode name Arsenal of Exclusion. It talks about how infrastructure can be used to funnel and control human behavior. In the case of this useless protected bicycle lane, it is used to encourage people on bicycle to not ride down S Flores, but to choose S Main instead and connect with the protected …
Cyclist sues after APD vehicle right-hooks him & city denies fault
bicycleaustin.info
[http://kxan.com/2015/10/14/cyclist-file … ved-crash/](http://kxan.com/2015/10/14/cyclist-file … ved-crash/)
(The video has a lot more information than the article itself, including surveillance footage of the crash.)
KXAN wrote:
A man has filed a lawsuit in Travis County against the City of Austin, for an alleged officer-involved crash that occurred last October. The plaintiff alleges negligence and negligence per se.
According to court documents, Mark Collins was riding his bicycle the morning of Oct. 24, 2014 on East 6th Street when an officer made a right turn onto Sabine Street, “careening their vehicle directing into the path of Plaintiff Mark Collins and his bicycle, causing the severe injuring and damages hereinafter complained of.â€
The lawsuit claims Collins lost consciousness, suffered a knee sprain, abrasions, and other injuries. …
Jack & Adam’s is now Bicycle World
by Corey Carter      www.cycleaustin.com
Okay, so maybe I’m a little late to the game here. According to this bicycleretailer.com article, Austin’s premier triathlon shop Jack & Adam’s merged with Texas Endurance Sports, owners of Houston-area Bicycle World, in March. In the article Jack & Adam’s owner Jack Murray states “There are no plans to rebrand Jack & Adam’s”, but that must’ve changed based on the ad below from the October issue of …
Longhorn Cyclocross Race #2
www.webscorer.com
Wednesday, October 14, 2015 6:28 PM (GMT-5) – Final results
Sport: Â Â Â Cycling – cyclocross
Location: Â Â Â San Angelo, TX, United States
Start type: Â Â Â Mass start
Racers: Â Â Â 32
Laps: Â Â Â 6
Race winners …
Tweets About Texas Bicycling
Preview of the cyclocross course at the Alkek velodrome for this sat… Tell me this does not look awesome! http://t.co/QFoRFkjcSW
— RUCT (@ricecycling) October 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/CycleAustin/status/654843527331844096
https://twitter.com/thejurgy/status/654840592824823808
Interested in Future of @DowntownHouston cycling? Show up 10AM Fri at Ideson Library for a sneak peek. @culturemap pic.twitter.com/nj1tC984vO
— BikeHouston (@BikeHouston) October 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/654812543706226689
Check out the Lonestar Granite Enduro, an eight-stage mountain bike race Nov. 14-15 at RPR. On-site camping… http://t.co/EOjP4YnRJ3
— Reveille Peak Ranch (@RPRTexas) October 16, 2015
Back in Houston w/ enough time and daylight for a #mtb ride at #memorialpark @ Ho Chi Minh Trail https://t.co/tjZlzouOHx
— Austin Magruder (@aus10m) October 15, 2015
https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/654758095487266816
The Latest useless bike lane.… https://t.co/TEnztHNX2h
— The aatblog.com (@BikeSanAntonio) October 15, 2015
Fire Update – 24 Hours of Rocky Hill http://t.co/THuoT3Sfw1 pic.twitter.com/ll15wFwQUD
— Terrafirma Racing (@raceterrafirma) October 15, 2015
This past weekend our 2nd largest cat was the U15 Boys & Girls. It is very cool to see all the hard… https://t.co/1rpfzkBHRy
— ATXCXCup (@ATXCXCup) October 15, 2015
More photos from last weekend, #QuestCXChallenge p/b Streamline Insurance Inc at Treaty Oak Distilling Co. Thank… http://t.co/UByNxV5TVt
— ATXCXCup (@ATXCXCup) October 15, 2015
Thanks to the #cyclists who joined us last night on the "Cyclin' with the Mayor" #bicycle ride at Friendship Park! pic.twitter.com/O6ExsDuQno
— Grand Prairie Parks (@GrandFunGP) October 15, 2015
MSU resident cycling scientist was interviewed by Bicycling Magazine. Check out what he has to say on the 7 signs… http://t.co/amCcNMJb3s
— MSU Cycling Team (@MSUCyclingTeam) October 15, 2015
New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar
New Event Houston Grand Prix of Cyclocross Race – Houston, TX http://t.co/YHZEZWighshttp://t.co/E1fsxMT7aD
… http://t.co/0PQGrH8JZO— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
New Event The Holidaze Marathon at Camp Eagle – Rocksprings, TX http://t.co/qYBsntuEv0http://t.co/0qAXv3l2QS
… http://t.co/wO7VWHe3kn— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
Texas Bicycling Event Reminders
2 Day Alert: Le Tour de Woodlands – The Woodlands, TX, Oct 17, 2015 07:00AM – The Woodlands Township Townhall, 2801 Technology Forest Bl
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: Bike Around The Bay – Baytown, TX, Oct 17, 2015 07:30AM – Royal Purple Raceway, 2525 S Farm to Market Road 565, Baytown, TX
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: NWCC Saturday morning rides – Hockley, TX, Oct 17, 2015 07:30AM – Zube Park, Hockley, TX 77447, United States(CST) http://z
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: GEAR UP TO END HUNGER – Fort Worth, TX, Oct 17, 2015 08:00AM – Fort Worth Water Gardens, 1502 Commerce Street, Fort Worth,
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: Ride Across Texas – Texarkana, TX, Oct 17, 2015 08:00AM – Texarkana, TX, USA(CST) http://t.co/sRTz9boQcP
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: Woman Hollering Creek Ride – Converse, TX, Oct 17, 2015 08:00AM – Judson Middle School, 9695 Schaeffer Rd, Converse, TX 781
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: Ride Like An Eagle – Humble, TX, Oct 17, 2015 08:00AM – Atascocita High School, 13300 Will Clayton Pkwy, Humble, TX 77346,
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: Beginning and Intermediate Biking – Dallas, TX, Oct 17, 2015 08:00AM – The Hockaday School, 11600 Welch Rd, Dallas, TX 7522
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: The Heroes Ride – Conroe, TX, Oct 17, 2015 09:00AM – Montgomery County Fairgrounds • 9201 Airport Rd. Conroe, TX(CST) http:
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: Mineral Wells Crazy Kicker Bike Ride – Mineral Wells, TX, Oct 17, 2015 09:00AM – West City Park, Mineral Wells, TX 76067, U
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: Houston Grand Prix of Cyclocross Race p/b West End – Houston, TX, Oct 17, 2015 09:00AM – Alkek Velodrome, 19008 Saums Rd, H
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: Crosstober Fest – Keller, TX, Oct 17, 2015 09:30AM – Bear Creek Park, 400 Bear Creek Park Rd, Keller, TX 76248, United Stat
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: South by CX Series – Austin, TX, Oct 17, 2015 10:00AM – Austin, TX(CST) http://t.co/6h3raR13lS
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: Webberville Cyclocross – Elgin, TX, Oct 17, 2015 10:00AM – 2305 Park Ln, Elgin, TX 78621, USA(CST) http://t.co/e0xMkc1Mx0
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: 24 Hours of Rocky Hill Mountain Bike Race – Smithville, TX, Oct 17, 2015 12:00PM – Rocky Hill Ranch, 578 Farm to Market Roa
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015
2 Day Alert: Tyler SpeedWavesâ„¢ p/b Richardson Bike Mart – Tyler, TX, Oct 17, 2015 03:00PM – Tyler State Park Area 1 Bath House, 789 Park
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) October 15, 2015