Texas Bicycling News October 17th 2016
BCR CX On the River (HTXCX #4)
dirterDarryl
www.youtube.com
Seat stay cam.
The Case for All-Women Cycling Clubs
Julissa Treviño
www.citylab.com
Bike-share programs haven’t closed up the gender gap. All-female riding groups are stepping in.
We know from a 2009 survey from the Federal Highway Administration that women took only 24 percent of bicycle trips in the U.S. that year. Even bike-share programs, which are meant to draw people who wouldn’t normally ride, have failed to close the gender gap. Three-fourths of people using the three largest bike-share programs in the country are men, according to data analyzed by Buzzfeed in 2014. …
… I started cycling in my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, in 2011. After I got the hang of basic riding skills, I joined my city’s Critical Mass ride, and then a co-ed pub ride. Even in places with improving bike infrastructure and a lively cycling community, like my Texas city, it’s hard not to …
Texas A&M Now Has Glow-in-the-Dark Bike Lanes
Shaunacy Ferro
mentalfloss.com
Bike lights are so old school. At Texas A&M, the latest bike-safety innovation does one better—the bike lanes glow. Solar-powered luminescent pavement markings soak up solar energy during the day, then emit light after the sun goes down.
It’s the first time this technology has been used on U.S. streets, though other countries—most recently Poland—have been testing similar glowing bike lanes for some time. So far, the technology is only located at one intersection on campus, but presumably if it …
Bicycle Parking in the New Building
Paul Cravens
www.utsystem.edu
If you haven’t been following this topic in Idea Central, we had a request for bike lockers in the new building. Bike lockers look like this:
While a location and budget for actual lockers wasn’t in the plans, we did expect to have bike racks in the basement parking area. The basement garage is a secure parking area with a roll down gate. With restricted access to the garage, the bikes …
Austin’s Bicycle Sport Shops opens fifth location
by Val Vanderpool
www.bicycleretailer.com
AUSTIN, Tex. (BRAIN) — Just two months after opening his first store outside the Austin city limits in Bee Cave, Texas, retailer Hill Abell has opened a fifth location near the University of Texas campus. Abell jumped on the opportunity to lease Ozone Bike Dept.’s space on Guadalupe St. after it shuttered earlier this year. At 3,600 square feet, the new store is the smallest Bicycle Sport Shop location. It …
BPSA: Bike shipments down 8% through third quarter
by Matt Wiebe
www.bicycleretailer.com
September-to-September comparisons show double-digit drops in units and dollars.
BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — Suppliers shipped 8 percent fewer bikes over the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in 2015, according to the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association’s September sell-in report. The shortfall represents a loss of $49.9 million in wholesale business for suppliers.
Particularly troubling in BPSA’s September report was the precipitous fall in business during …
TranAm Southern Tier – CA to FL
By David Hui
www.crazyguyonabike.com
Day 16 – Van Horn to Fort Davis: Second flat Texas thorn; last of the big Texas climb
Sunday October 16, 2016, 92 miles (148 km) – Total so far: 949 miles (1,527 km)
Posted via email Sun Oct 16 21:07:01 2016 PDT
Elevation gain 4155
Cities: Van Horn > Kent > Fort Davis
Lunch break after turn into hwy 118 …
Day 17 – Fort Davis to Marathon TX: towns are too wide apart with no service in between; stopped at Marathon at 3:30, next town is 55 mi out. Have to stay for the night.
Monday October 17, 2016, 60 miles (97 km) – Total so far: 1,009 miles (1,623 km)
Posted via email Mon Oct 17 16:46:01 2016 PDT
Elevation gain 1060 …
Southern Tier Part II
By Ann Metcalfe
www.crazyguyonabike.com
Bastrop State Park to La Grange: Senior Bikers Gone Bad
Friday October 14, 2016, 36 miles (58 km) – Total so far: 71 miles (114 km)
As Mac and I pedaled out of the campground, the State Park Police pulled us over. I know we look a little sketchy. The officer asked Mac questions that implied we had illegally camped in an undesignated site. We had paid all the required fees the day before, and had been assigned a spot in the open campground! After we plead our case, he finally decided we were telling the truth and said they had been informed a pair of “older, around 57†cyclists had camped in a closed area. I wanted to thank him for thinking we look 57, but he seemed young and was taking this offense very seriously. Texas State Parks are ON it, so don’t even think of not paying the fee. Crime doesn’t pay, and besides the showers were worth every penny. It was fortunate that he thought we were the renegade duo, because we were headed in the …
La Grange to Burton: It is the people you meet that make touring so memorable
Saturday October 15, 2016, 32 miles (51 km) – Total so far: 103 miles (166 km)
I have to start at the end of the day, because we just spent a couple hours with one of the most precious people we will ever meet on the planet. Carol Montgomery, Warmshowers host in Burton, Texas, took us in tonight, fed and housed us in her bunkhouse, and gave us farm fresh eggs, and fixings for breakfast in the bunkhouse kitchen. Carol inspired me absolutely. I wanna be Carol when I grow up. She is 86 years old, a retired medical technologist from Houston (originally from Oklahoma), and moved to her gorgeous property in the 80s after she retired. That would sound pretty normal, until you get to the part where she built the house herself, along with the bunkhouse we are staying in and everything else on her 62-acre spread. She joined Warmshowers as a host in 2007, and she figures she has housed about 700 of us crazy touring cyclists in that time. Since then, she has only hosted one guest who gave her trouble – a man who was perhaps a little emotionally unglued. She loves to build things, she said, and in fact was busy today helping friends on a construction project where …
Burton to Navasota: Hot, hot, hot
Sunday October 16, 2016, 49 miles (79 km) – Total so far: 152 miles (245 km)
Today was gorgeous – rolling hills with ranches, cattle and hay bales. There was a slight wind helping us, and clouds in the sky that occasionally masked the heat of the sun, but it was HOT. Temperatures mid-day were over 90, and climbing up the hills when there was no shade or no clouds was tortuous for us. I assume we will adjust! I consumed what I thought was enough liquid, but I sweated it out as soon as I poured it in, and by the end of the day, standing up from a little rest stop, I was dizzy and nearly keeled over. Lesson learned and I will pound down even more water in this heat.
We are staying two days at the Best Western here. I am working remotely for one of my bookkeeping clients, so we need to have good Wi-Fi one day a week. Navasota is close to College Station (Texas A&M) and 30 miles or so from George W.’s presidential library. We had a so-so dinner last night at the …
A Ride to Remember
By Ken Kuntz
www.crazyguyonabike.com
Day 41: Rest Day
Sunday October 16, 2016
Yesterday I rode into Van Horn on fumes, so the decision to declare this a “rest day” was an easy one. There isn’t much to do or see in Van Horn, so mostly we just rested today.
But today was a sad day. We learned of the unexpected passing of Jonathan Mackey, who was in Boy Scouts with Joel. Jonathan’s 3 brothers were also in the troop, and we’ve been friends with the Mackey family for almost 15 years. If you have a prayer list, please add this family to it.
Day 42: Van Horn, TX to Fort Hancock, TX
Monday October 17, 2016, 67 miles (108 km) – Total so far: 2,063 miles (3,320 km)
Starting Point: Van Horn, TX
Ending Point: Fort Hancock, TX
Riding Conditions: Good. Upper 50’s in the early morning, warming to 90 degrees. Light headwind.
Miles Today: 67
Quote for the day: “At the risk of descending to unscientific generalizations, 90 percent of Texans give the other 10 percent a bad name.” – Attributed to John H. “Doc” Holliday
We made a relatively early start this morning, hoping to get some miles done before the wind (a headwind) strengthened and temperatures soared (expecting a record high today). Today’s route was on Interstate 10, which I have been worried about for a good while. It wasn’t bad at all. There is a wide shoulder, and the road surfaced is smooth. Yes, the speed limit is 80mph, but we felt safe on the shoulder.
The first 9 miles were uphill, and Liz joined me for that stretch. We got through it easily on our rested legs, and she …
Cyclist critically injured after colliding with vehicle Sunday 10/16/16
AusTexMurf
bicycleaustin.info
Mary Huber Austin Community Newspapers Staff
5:58 p.m Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016 Local News
A cyclist was taken to the hospital Sunday morning with critical injuries after colliding with a vehicle in South Austin, officials said.
Austin-Travis County EMS responded to the crash at 4600 South First Street at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. A woman, believed to be in her 40s, was taken by medics to St. David South Austin Medical Center with …
George Richey Road extension in Longview is bicycle-friendly
By Jamey Boyum
www.newswest9.com
LONGVIEW, TX (KLTV) – A much-needed road extension was opened to the public in Longview. The George Richey extension now connects McCann Road to U.S. 259 in north Longview.
City leaders held a ribbon cutting and short ceremony before removing the barricades. The road runs along the new North Longview Business Park and will provide easy access for new industry going into Longview. The five lane road also has a turn lane running its length. The city thinks the road will help attract new business.
“We have submitted this site for several other projects and I think …
Texas Bicycling from Twitter
#Red2Rio Bike Ride Stats: 6 days 606 miles 13,609 ft climb 40 hrs 37 min Longest ride 109 miles 14,829 calories pic.twitter.com/EJhrFed7ZV
— Kirk Teske (@KirkTeske) October 18, 2016
See all the #Red2Rio #Bike #Ride Across #Texas Videos https://t.co/E4DaOFiZJY pic.twitter.com/YYZ1WNjRKO
— Kirk Teske (@KirkTeske) October 18, 2016
Do you live in the Wichita Falls area and enjoy cycling or running the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail? For updates on trail… https://t.co/a3zDFQkT5t
— Hotter'n Hell 100 (@HotternHell100) October 18, 2016
#rat1000 Kevin Doggett about to be the first bicycle on the Red Roads ever most likely. #historic
— The Spinistry (@Spinistry) October 18, 2016
Brittany Parffrey goes 3rd and 5th in the Women's Open at the Webberville Cyclocross Weekend (TX)!
— Christian Williams (@WlmsRcngAcademy) October 17, 2016
https://twitter.com/bicyclesplus/status/788136638358573056
STOLEN – Black GT Bicycles TIMBERLINE 1.0 in South Congress https://t.co/yctsxjqFAM
— BikeIndex Austin (@stolenbikesatx) October 17, 2016
Tomorrow night! Tuesday Night Shop Ride leaving from our 1604 location! All speeds welcome. 15 – 25 mile rides,… https://t.co/rVwKNIJAmb
— Bike World (@BIKEWORLDsatx) October 17, 2016
Great photos for the junior races at the Georgetown Cyclocross Festival by Lester Rosebrock…. https://t.co/2Dl9iZt09K
— Texas CX Project (@TexasCXProject) October 17, 2016
Coming soon: The Spinistry Challenge Series
Some of the best routes just are not ideal for group events for… https://t.co/ltO0gpaANF
— The Spinistry (@Spinistry) October 17, 2016
Men's podiums from the Red Bull Last Stand. Colin Strickland won the fixed gear race and Stefan Rothe won the… https://t.co/at3LlGoy46
— ELBOWZ Racing (@elbowzracing) October 17, 2016
https://twitter.com/BBQ44/status/788048291501977600
San Antonio High School MTB Teams take home a first, second, and third place race and overall TMBRA standings at… https://t.co/9oRZzL41Zl
— Bike World (@BIKEWORLDsatx) October 17, 2016
Great group ride led by John Thompson yesterday! 30 windy miles! #huttogroupride #bikehutto pic.twitter.com/YUsnvfMeYR
— Bike Hutto (@BikeHutto) October 17, 2016
#rat1000 day 2 in the books. Heat and wind taking their tolls. Several withdrawals today.
— The Spinistry (@Spinistry) October 17, 2016