Texas Bicycling News Digest April 7th 2018
Buffered bikes lanes added along Finfeather Road in Bryan
By Blakeley Galbraith | www.kbtx.com
BRYAN, Tex. (KBTX) – The City of Bryan has added new buffered bikes lanes along Finfeather Road as part of a safety improvement program.
They have a partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation.
“The Finfeather improvements that we’ve done are part of Highway Safety Improvement program that TxDOT offers. Kind of like a grant program,” said Bryan city engineer, Paul Kaspar. …
Public hearing on pedestrian, bike facilities in Bryan set for Monday
www.theeagle.com
The Texas Department of Transportation will have a public hearing Monday on the planning and development of “active transportation” — bicycle and pedestrian facilities — in the Bryan District’s 10 counties.
Texas A&M University, the cities of Bryan and College Station and the Bryan/College Station Metropolitan Planning Organization will …
Bike crashes down, but cyclists still face dangers on Austin roads
By Mary Huber | www.mystatesman.com
Austin streets can be dangerous places for cyclists who fight traffic every day and risk crashes with vehicles.
Though data show a decline in the number of bike crashes on Austin roads in recent years, bike safety remains an issue on the city’s congested streets — as evidenced last week when a cyclist who was critically injured in a suspected drunken driving crash last summer was hit again, less than a year after the collision that put her in the hospital with a breathing tube. …
New Austin bike-sharing program would be first of its kind in the city
By Sidney Phillips | austin.culturemap.com
On April 4, the City of Austin kicked off plans to start its first dockless bike sharing program. The system would provide a cheap, super convenient, and environmentally conscious way to get around the city by allowing users to simply pick up a bike and leave it anywhere using remote GPS technology.
The forum followed the city’s approval in February of a 12-month pilot phase …
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1840503192681520&id=276897802375408
Two Timing Texas Tour
By Richard Hoeg | www.crazyguyonabike.com
Day 4: Goldthwaite to Llano: Drizzle and 34F. In Texas??
Saturday April 7, 2018, 56 miles (90 km) – Total so far: 167 miles (269 km)
Yesterday I had trouble staying hydrated in the 87F heat. No problem. Wait a day and over night the temperature dropped big time. At the start of today’s ride it was 34F and drizzling. One fringe benefit of these kind of temperatures is that it almost guarantees a HUGE wind out of the north. Thankfully we are heading south and flew during today’s ride. We averaged 13 mph over the day’s ride, while yesterday with a big headwind we could only average 9.5 mph. …
The Southern Tier: San Diego to St. Augustine (and further?)
By Susanne Holste | www.crazyguyonabike.com
El Paso to Fort Hancock
Sunday April 8, 2018, 77 km (48 miles) – Total so far: 1,648 km (1,024 miles)
We’re now in our fourth state, Texas, which will make up one third of our tour. I’m glad our motel was at the far eastern side of El Paso and that we left on a Saturday. The roads were quiet but would have been daunting on other days. We quickly left the city behind us and stopped for breakfast at a Mexican eatery, no English spoken and $5 for both. The cycling was alongside farm land where it was irrigated. We came past many pecan orchards which are just beginning to turn green and …
The Limo Bikes to Bayous and Beaches
By Marilyn Swett | www.crazyguyonabike.com
Galveston, TX: I saw 6 ships come sailing in, come sailing in…………
Saturday April 7, 2018
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.†– Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
After last night’s carousing around (well sort of, we went dancing to the live band in our hotel’s bar until midnight), and this being an off day, we slept in this morning. One of our new hobbies is taking ballroom dance lessons, so it was fun to have a chance to practice our moves!
The plans today were to catch the trolley that runs on the island. It cost only $1.00 each to ride downtown one-way. So for a whopping $4.00 we had our transportation for the day’s sightseeing!
At 10:00 we walked down the seawall to a trolley stop. That took us to a transfer point to catch another trolley to downtown. …
Pacific to Atlantic
By Matthew McCoy | www.crazyguyonabike.com
Sanderson, TX to Langtry, TX: 61 miles
Wednesday April 4, 2018
Today the terrain started to undulate and so did the road, so I did some climbing in my low gears for the first time in days. The wind, chip seal road surface, and historical markers all conspired to slow me down, but my early start got me to Langtry soon enough. The convenience store here is open after all, but I can see why people would pass it by thinking it was closed. A store with old, stand alone, long ago obsolete mechanical gas pumps has been an indicator until today that a business is long closed. …
###Langtry, TX to Del Rio, TX: 60 miles
Thursday April 5, 2018
Today completes my 425 mile, Highway US 90, West Texas tour from El Paso to Del Rio, as tomorrow I start a gradual northeast trajectory towards the Texas Hill Country and Austin. I almost managed to complete the tour without a terrorizing day of experiencing simultaneously rough chip-seal road surface and strong headwinds, but today I got both. It was a ten hour trip to go sixty miles. While sniveling along side the road, the Border Patrol left me for dead, I’m sure. I must tell you …
Del Rio, TX to Brackettville, TX: 31 miles
Friday April 6, 2018
I am tenting tonight at an RV Park on Fort Clark. Fort Clark is abutted to the south side of Brackettville and was an active Army post until 1946 when the fort was declared surplus and sold to a single buyer. The buyer razed the WW2 temporary buildings but left all …
Southern Tier on a Recumbent 2018
By Joseph Valenzi | www.crazyguyonabike.com
Day 36 – April 7 Saturday – DeRidder TX to Opalousas TX: A wild night and a wild day
Saturday April 7, 2018, 91 miles (146 km) – Total so far: 2,038 miles (3,280 km)
This day started early. And alarm went off on my phone alerting me to a tornado warning. One was spotted a few miles away. I had to stay up till I was sure that threat was gone. We had a crazy t-storm but no tornado. This was caused by a powerful cold front that was passing through. It affected our riding all day. It started out warm enough, 66 degrees, but steadily dropped all day. It dropped over 20 degrees! By the afternoon when it was in the 40s it was hard to keep warm. Especially since the wind was strong all day. The roads gave us challenges all day too. The cracks, potholes and uneven pavement drove us nuts and gave the group plenty of flats. TWO riders had …
Texas Bicycling from Twitter
Join us for Bike World Southside: Sunday A.M. Group Ride tomorrow morning! We'll be heading to The Brown Coffee Company!
— Bike World (@BIKEWORLDsatx) April 7, 2018
#Repost @okracerx Come on @dallascityhall what’s up San Antonio has it right. #dallasbikemess #swellcycle #bikeshare #dtx pic.twitter.com/lRumjn4bye
— San Antonio Bike Share (@SABikeShare) April 7, 2018
Our friends at @performancebike led tons of Great Ride Series group rides around the country in celebration of #RTCOpeningDay! Here’s a great 📸 of one of their rides in Austin, Texas, before they took off for a local #railtrail pic.twitter.com/hmk4HC5pH8
— Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (@railstotrails) April 7, 2018
Wheels down tomorrow morning at 8 AM: Krueger Canyon-River Road. https://t.co/4R0j4daLnA pic.twitter.com/BotIXwvmmw
— SA Wheelmen (@sawheelmen) April 7, 2018
Did you know that the Bill Coats Bridge @HermannPark is designed to mirror bike spokes? Ride across the bridge and look up to get the full effect! pic.twitter.com/QFykYkxS8s
— Houston BCycle (@HoustonBCycle) April 7, 2018
Cold cranking at the Castell Gravel Grind 🚴ðŸ¾â€â™‚ï¸ pic.twitter.com/Lgo3AdUCER
— Kirk Teske (@KirkTeske) April 7, 2018
Texan boy @lawsoncraddock got cat-like skills! Glad he's alright! @ehitzulia #Itzulia https://t.co/AY1OnnNpIx
— Stefan Rothe (@stefanrothe) April 7, 2018
1 week away from the wedu Texas Hūndred! Let’s ride through some bluebonnets! Start/Finish/After… https://t.co/mgjMyn5lEr
— HOLLAND RACING (@HOLLANDRACERS) April 7, 2018
New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar
New Event Third Thursday Time Trial Series Race 2 Lubbock, TX DETAILS: Chaparral Cycling Club, as a part of the West Texas Cycling Association, will be hosting this year's Third Thursday Time Trial series. We will be looking for a few volunteers to help … https://t.co/0cu0DQVUWY
— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) April 7, 2018
New Event Junction Bike Ride – Junction, TX https://t.co/gWdtjywceL
May 5, 2018
8 am ride off from the Rodeway InnÂ
Preliminary plans are a loop from Junction north to Menard on the Cleo road (about 30 “challenging†miles), east from Menard on hwy 29 t… https://t.co/ambAsTUp7k— Rick Ankrum (@texbiker) April 7, 2018