Texas Biking News April 7th 2020
Austin park usage up despite warnings about coronavirus
by Bettie Cross | cbsaustin.com
Austin and Travis County parks are closing Easter weekend. All parks, trails and greenbelts will be off limits from Thursday evening through Monday morning. City and county officials say the action is needed to keep the public safe and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. They say the Easter crowds would make it challenging to comply with social distancing rules.
Part of the problem is more people are using Austin parks and trails because they don’t have much else to do. …
Demand for bicycles suddenly hot, local shop owner says
By Robert Avery | www.chron.com
Many area residents are turning to bicycles as a way to melt away the stress during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Jeff Parker of Bay Area Cycling, which has shops at 2049 Richey St. in Pasadena and 603 E. Main St. in League City, says his business is busy with people coming in to buy or repair bikes.
That invisible, microscopic invader that has taken away our privileges to eat inside a restaurant, stopped our enjoyment of sports, forced children to learn their ABCs from home and prevented handling of animals in pet stores hasn’t been able to touch one activity in many people’s daily lives.
Cycling — a way to kill stress and achieve social distancing with the wind in your face — has found a …
Mountain Biking in Central Texas
by Ethan Fischer | centexmtb.com
Welcome to the Central Texas MTB scene! With over 10 trail systems and bike parks in the area, it’s much larger than you might think. And, if somehow you get bored of the trails here, only 3-4 hours away is the DFW area, where DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association) has built and maintained several great parks and trail systems. So, you’ll never run out of well maintained and fun mountain bike trails to ride in Texas.
In this post I’m going to go over each of the largest and most popular trail systems and parks in Central Texas, show you a map of the trails (if available), pictures of each park, and talk about them a little bit. Keep in mind, some of these places I haven’t …
San Antonio area parks to be closed for Easter weekend
by SBG San Antonio | news4sanantonio.com
Bexar County and the City of San Antonio announced closures of City and County parks for Easter weekend to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
Effective Friday, April 10 at 9:00 p.m. through Monday, April 13 at 9:00 a.m., all county parks and park amenities will be closed to the public. All city parks, dog parks, and park amenities will be closed to the public effective Friday, April 10 at 11:59 p.m. through Monday, April 13 at 5:00 a.m. …
How People Are Staying Motivated and Active at Home During Social Distancing
BY JORDAN SMITH | www.bicycling.com
FROM LOGGING MORE MILES ON THE TRAINER TO HAVING MORE TIME FOR SOLO RIDES, IT’S IMPORTANT TO KEEP RIDING DURING THIS TIME.
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread, everything from cycling races to the Olympics have been canceled or postponed. Along with this has come closures of schools and businesses, including gyms, leaving many people trying to balance a new routine while still getting in a workout—important for both mental and physical health. So we asked cyclists how they are breaking a sweat in their new routines. From finding more time in the day to ride without a commute to …
… “I live in Houston, Texas, and I am still commuting to work each day. It is a 36-mile round trip each day. I work in the financial field and my job is considered essential. I have never been an inside-on-the-trainer type of guy. It is boring for me. I have ridden in temps from 15 to 105. Light rain and downpours. I just love being on my bike outside. So far in 2020, I have ridden 2,358 miles, per Strava. I have commuted every day this …
April 2020 Executive Director’s Report
By Clark Martinson | bikehouston.org
Bikes in West Houston
Before my job at BikeHouston, I commuted by bike to the Energy Corridor from my home in Spring Branch. Those bike trips were a mixture of major roads, trails and neighborhood streets. I could ride to HCC’s Spring Branch and Alief campuses, Memorial City, City Centre, Westchase, Terry Hershey Park, the Addicks Dam Trail, and The Energy Corridor easily from my home but few other cyclists joined me. …
Clark’s COVID-19 Cycling Errand
By Clark Martinson | bikehouston.org
It was a sunny day when I had to return to Montrose to pick up my new business cards at 2DayPostcards. There was a lot of discussion about the number of people in the parks so I started my COVID-19 errand on my bike from my home in Spring Branch during the off-peak time of 1:30 in the afternoon to try and keep social distance from others. …
Houston Bicycle Crash Report Summary
By Ron Miller | bikehouston.org
The data consists of bike crash incidents compiled by the Houston Police Department from callouts in 2013 – 2018 and part of 2019. The data includes a GPS location, the crash incident severity (i.e. Not Injured, Unknown, Possible Injury, Non-Incapacitating Injury, Suspected Serious Injury, and Killed), the incident time of day, and (sometimes) the street and street number. There were …