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Home→Bicycling News→Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for November 12th

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for November 12th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

No riding since Saturday. I got my sinus upset and some cold weather arrived. Maybe by the end of the week.

Bike imports up 29 percent through September
by Steve Frothingham            Bicycle Retailer & Industry News
WASHINGTON, DC (BRAIN) — 2012 bike imports reached 14.4 million through September, a 29 percent increase over last year. Suppliers have continued bringing in substantially more kid’s bikes than last year.

Imports of all kid’s bikes — sidewalk, 20-inch and 24-inch  — were up 37 percent over last year; 20-inch bikes were up a whopping 45 percent. These bikes, 8.7 million so far, are headed to mass-market retailers at roughly the same price as last year. It’s unlikely parents are buying 37 percent more bikes for their kids this year; some of these bikes are probably going into inventory.

Imports of large wheel adult bikes are up, though the percentage increase cannot match the gains in kid’s categories. Imports of 26-inch mountain and comfort bikes are up 20 percent and the average unit value fell to…

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Sunday All-Level Ride at Walnut Creek
Austin Ridge Riders
Repeats every week until Thu Nov 29 2012 .
Sunday, November 18, 2012 – 09:30
Sunday, November 25, 2012 – 09:30
Cooler weather hours are in effect starting on December 4th but we’ll still be hitting the trails early on Sundays in November.

We meet under the trees in the parking lot near the swimming pool. Look for the ARR banner.

We will switch to 1:30 pm start times on december 2nd. We know that this time change doesn’t work for everyone so we hope you considering hosting a ride for yourself and those who might want to ride at a different time or on a different day.

You do NOT have to be a ARR member to attend most club riders. You will need to sign a waiver and wear a helmets when riding.

This is for all levels of riders, which will break into groups according to ability. Beginners are welcome, and there will be no…

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El Paso Bicycle Club Rides
Sunday, December 2
• 2:00 pm : Fix Kids bikes! At the Sandoval Apratments on the West side. last time over 30 kids showed up. Help with fixing flats, minor repairs and adjustments. If you are interested in volunteering to help, please contact Randy Limbard, 915-328-4110.

Saturday, December 8
• 6:30 pm : Annual Christmas Party Details to follow in emails….. At Jeff Michel and Blanca Harp’s house. Pot luck and traditional White Elephant Gift exchange…..

Sunday, December 16
• 9:00 am : Christmas Delight’s Ride Start at Redd Rock Crazy Cat at Redd and Desert. This will be a 25-30 mile moderate ride that will finish with hot beverages (with Christmas cheer) and Christmas goodies. Take advantage of the opportunity and do some last minute shopping at the same time! Patty Van Tine, 915-667-0202 or miflynnsinn@peoplepc.com for more information. Distance has been adjusted in past years depending on the weather/temperature.

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River Rockets Club Rides

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Texas Cup — Georgetown Cyclocross Festival
www.txbra.org

In a very exciting nail-biter, two perennial Texas CX champs go at it head-to-head on Sunday at the Georgetown CX Festival in the P12 race; Bryan Fawley eventually pulled it out with about a 20″ gap and victory over Will Black… Photo courtesy of Lee McDaniel.

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Tapatillo springs!
by utsamtber            forums.mtbr.com
Me and a couple buddies went out to Tapatillo springs resort in boerne to ride today. The trail was top notch! I can’t believe that I havent heard more about this trail on the forum. Good climbing, fun downhills, and a lot of technical riding. Unfortunately it got dark on us so we didn’t get to ride the last few miles of trail, but I can’t wait to go back! …

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The following report from James about his 103 mile ride.

November 10 2012 ride report AKA Lake Livingston Ride 103
by James Webster
This is a ride I have been trying to accomplish for several years. The first attempt ended with a courtesy ride back to my car in a sheriffs vehicle. Quite embarrassing. To some degree I hope this ride vindicates me of that. Other attempts just ended and one was at 93 miles.

At I was on the road at 5 am headed clockwise around Lake Livingston http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1796087

It was a quiet start with 800 feet of vertical over the first 10 miles. It seemed tough and it was because the way the drops out are on the touring bike I was using. The wheel had slid forward and started rubbing on the fender bolt slowing me down. I stopped to reset the wheel and it became a lot easier to climb a hill.

Two hours from lake Livingston State Park to Coldspring then on to Point Blank. Then road construction entering Walker County to Riverside.

Riverside was lunch a foot long Philly cheese steak then through Trinity, Onalaska By this time light was fading. Arriving back at the campsite about 9:15 pm.

Stats: 16.25 hours total time. 103 miles I managed energy well with one solid food meal and gator aid prime, Cliff bars, Oat and Honey granola and Power aid. I managed to stay hydrated

Weather: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/K6R3/2012/11/10/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA  Nice tailwind to help me get over the hills but 40 miles of headwind

Road conditions: Poor! Chip seal and rough roads. Some places the road surface had failed. Debris and no berm conditions were common.

The sky was perfect sun and clouds mad the day enjoyable despite the poor road conditions. Not much video or picture documentation. This was a forced march 16 hours is about my limit and still have enough whits about me to operate a bike.

Scares: a heavy equipment hauler (empty) ran me off the road. I had to dive into a driveway. He approached me blowing the horn never slowed down (speed limit 70 mph) on a section of road with no berm. The driver never moved left.

Harassment: Duel cab pickup yelled but gave room. Another group of cars. I signaled I was moving into the traffic lane to avoid a section of road that had failed and they did not give me much room ( No oncoming traffic)

Funny: I saw a person in uniform at the subway where I got my lunch and ask her if she was the police. (I wanted to report the truck driver for running me off the road.) She said she worked for the prision.

I said “ so you have a captive audience?” and she didn’t get the joke

At the campsite the campers were concerned that they did not see anyone around my campsite thought something happened to me. So they had the ranger start looking for me. I had left a queue sheet under the camping permit. Just in case I “went missing” (An Alaskan term)

Bottom Line: would i do this ride again?  NO! Reason: Rough road and no berm

I originally thought this would be a good ride to offer as a tour or a ride to showcase the area. It is within riding distance of where i live. and over night stay then ride .  But road conditions are not favorable even to hold an event. The smoothest road i found was in front of Livingston State Park

Clothing and equipment: I use exerciser machine pedals with the counter weight removed. Rubber Croc like shoes. Leg warmer Aerotechdesigns padded underwear with a mountain bike shorts.
A wick undershirt, suspenders then a cycling jersey,  windbreaker jacket and  reflective road vest.

I have the capability ,with LED lights, for 4,000 lumin I used the two R-2 for this trip
Bike a Motobacane Gran Turismo 64 cm set up for touring

Total weight at least 310 lbs

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Signs, Kiosks and Maps for Anthills Trails
by peach            GHORBA

The next order of business for the Anthills is to put information kiosks and trail signage in place. We also need to develop a good map of the trails.

The kiosks will be located at the major street crossings as that is where people typically enter the trail. A trail map, trail etiquette information, contact information, etc. will be displayed inside the kiosks.

The trail signs will be two types. One type will have “place” names on them. The other kind will be the flat flexible slat type signposts that will display trail difficulty colors (green, blue and black like the ski resorts) and will have…

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New Bridge at Jack Brooks
by peach            GHORBA

We replaced the last bridge on the “Beginning” trail with a new & improved version.  We had a good turn out & great weather. Thanks go out to Darrell Hingle, Mike Moran, Mike Renquenz, Brandon Renquenz, Peter Loose, Mike Gardin, & Karl Stoecklein for their hard work!  Contact Jack Brooks Trail Steward Steve Booker  to join in on trail work at Jack Brooks. Come out to Jack Brooks for a great ride.

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Pace Bend skills park helps mountain bikers perfect their bike handling
www.austin360.com            By Pam LeBlanc, American-Statesman Staff

SPICEWOOD — I’m rolling down an elevated boardwalk, reveling in the thunkety-thunk of the wood planks beneath my bike tires as I try hard to stay centered on the 2-foot wide pathway.

I curve left, then right, stair-step down a wooden ledge and zip down the off-ramp, all in an effort to hone my mountain biking skills.

Skills parks such as this one at Pace Bend Park west of Austin are designed to teach mountain bikers how to tackle natural obstacles they’ll encounter on the trail. Perfect your skills on…

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Whataburger welcomes cyclists from Warriors on Wheels
By Caller.com staff            Corpus Christi Caller Times

CORPUS CHRISTI — Twenty-four cyclists rode into Whataburger by the Bay about 4 p.m. Sunday as the capstone of Ride Texas event.

The Warriors On Wheels cycling club worked in conjunction with Operation Comfort in the second annual 500-mile trek that takes bikers on a six-day excursion from…

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State Championship Results and Final Series Standings
by League Director                Texas High School Cycling League
State Championship (Tyler Speedwaves) results have been posted as have the final overall South and North series overall standings.

Be sure to check them all out on our Race Series page.  Be sure to check out all three different links and the different tabs of each excel doc!

Congratulations to all of our participants especially to our top individuals and even more especially to our top teams!

Stay tuned for more final details as well as information on our spring road race series schedule which will be announced within a couple weeks.
-andrew-

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Tweets

https://twitter.com/JuliaBikes/status/268011933997883392

https://twitter.com/JuliaBikes/status/267995604523827200

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