The 24Th Freeze Your Fanny run and ride will be held Feb.4 in Longview, TX. OK, so it’s the 24Th year while we all know that the 23rd year was canceled. Hopefully, all will go well and the icy roads will be left until after the event. This once a year fundraiser benefits East Texas Lightnin, a not for profit organization, that provides recreation and athletic training for individuals with mental disabilities. The organization services 200 athletes that participate in seven Special Olympics events in the East Texas area, as well as, state competitions.
FYF offers a 5k/10 run option and a bike tour boasting a metric century, 50,40,30 and 10 mile routes. Another boast is that you will never be hungry when you participate in this event, the early morning continental breakfast, homemade cookies at all rest stops and Wendy’s chili at the finish line. No, you don’t go to eat but it never hurts to cover your bases. The scenic routes are worthy of a camera if you take the time, and you have the opportunity to stop and pet the cows as long as you remember that the course closes at 2:00p.m.
Registration for the event can be done electronically at www.active.com or you can go to the website www.freezeyourfanny.com for a hard copy of the registration form. While your on the web check out the event on facebook.
Top 10 questions for Freeze your Fanny, David Letterman style
10. Are there any hills?
9. It doesn’t get that cold it East Texas. Does it?
8. Is that a motorcycle cop behind us?
7. What does the long sleeve tshirt look like this year?
6. Was that a cow on the road?
5. Will there be oatmeal raisin cookies at the last rest stop?
4. Are they really homemade?
3. Did I intentionally sign up for the 62?
2. Will there be hot chocolate this year?
1. (drum roll) Are frozen bananas healthy?
For more information on the event go to the website or contact pmjc@sbcglobal.net.
Event: 2nd Annual Belton Lions Club — Stampede on the Chisholm Trail
Race Distances: 25, 50 and 62 Miles
About the Ride: The Belton Lions Club is hosting it’s second annual Cycle for Sightbike ride on Saturday, April 14th. We will have distances of 25, 50,and 62.
Ride Details: The ride will begin 8:00am at Belton Park & Ride, then a stroll through historic downtown Belton. Riders along the 25 Mile, 50 Mile and 62 Mile routes will be challenged by a climb up Nolanville Hill, followed by a ride across the Stillhouse Hollow Lake Dam. The 50 mile and 62 mile routes will continue into some of Bell County’s country-side. All routes will finish along Beltons Hike and Bike Trail.
About the Ride: The North Texas Bicycle Rally (NTBR) is an annual fund raising event for North Texas Children’s Charities. This charitable organization supports local and national organizations that provide care and support for desperately ill children. This year’s beneficiary of the Bicycle Rally is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
This Bicycle Rally is made possible by many benefactors and sponsors. However, this rally would not be possible if it weren’t for the participation and assistance of the public safety teams from the cities of Roanoke, Trophy Club, Keller, Fort Worth, and Haslet. In addition, Tarrant and Denton County Public Safety teams will play a significant contributing role for this event.
This event covers the rolling hills and off-the beaten path roads of North Texas. We will be providing COMMEMORATIVE T-SHIRTS and Water Bottles. After the Rally we will have:
***LIVE MUSIC and FREE FOOD for all NT Bicycle Rally Participants***
***BRING YOUR CHAIRS AND COOLERS****
Hills — lots of them. Hills and long, winding roads past fields of wildflowers. Cycling in Fredericksburg can be a meandering ride or a challenging endurance test; sometimes both. One thing’s for certain,
there’s no denying the beauty of the area. This is, after all, the Texas Hill Country.
Located about 70 miles west of Austin and 60 miles northwest of San Antonio, Fredericksburg is a popular destination. Filled with unique shops and boutiques, lots of restaurants, art galleries, wine tasting rooms, and B&Bs, this small town — founded in 1846 by German settlers — offers an entertaining variety of ‘things to do’ for all members of the family. There’s an inspiring art scene, and nearby (about 18 miles north) is the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area — the nation’s second largest batholith, second only to Stone Mountain in Georgia. It’s here, too, that the National Museum of the Pacific War is located.
For families or nonâ€ride time, there’re plenty of entertainment options to consider — the Pioneer Museum offers planned family activities. German bakeries tempt. Consider the horse races during the summer months. Or, test your skills with horse riding, miniature golf, and hiking along the Wilderness Trail at the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park. Watch as over two million Brazilian freeâ€tail bats at the Old Tunnel State Park emerge from this abandoned train tunnel for their evening feedings — May through October. And there’s always a festival or two happening almost every weekend.
National Museum of the Pacific War. Credit: Al Rendon
Nearby, the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park (about 16 miles east of Fredericksburg) offers tours of LBJ’s ranch, the home he shared with Lady Bird and their daughters and private car collection. Kids of all ages can pet animals and learn more about the daily life of an early German settler at the Sauerâ€Beckmann Living History Farm at Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site.
Music is alive in these hills; on weekends at Rockbox Theater with its golden era of rock ‘n roll shows and throughout the year at concerts performing all genres — from German chorale music, country and blue grass, to opera. Or, just sit back and enjoy some of the live entertainment playing at the local Biergartens.
Over in Luckenbach Texas (of Waylon and Willie fame and just eight miles southeast of Fredericksburg) picker circles entertain almost daily in a laidâ€back kind of way, while weekend dances and country music
concerts provide lots of familyâ€friendly entertainment.
And, lest we forget, Fredericksburg is smackâ€dab in the center of the Texas Hill Country wine region. Wineries and wine tasting rooms line the corridor of U.S. Highway 290 leading in to Fredericksburg on the east, with one winery to the west, and several tasting rooms and custom wineries in town. Many restaurants offer local vintages on their wine list. Visit each on your own, or take a limousine/coach wine tour.
Fredericksburg Brewing Co. Credit: Marc Bennett
Wine is a feature at several of the festivals Fredericksburg hosts each year. Don’t miss the Hill Country Wine and Music Festival in the spring or the annual Fredericksburg Food & Wine Fest each October showcasing some of the best of Texas wines.
In addition to Fredericksburg offering so much to do/taste/buy and enjoy during nonâ€ride times, Fredericksburg is one of Texas’ cycling nirvanas. Perched on U.S. Highway 290 and surrounded, for the most part, by privatelyâ€owned ranches, the area is pristine for riding. Paved roadways venture out in all directions where vehicle traffic is minimal and the scenery… simply amazing! To some, Fredericksburg is
considered to be the cycling capital of Texas.
Cycling Fredericksburg. Credit: Steve Rawls
Venture out on your own, or follow some of the routes mapped out by cyclists ahead of you. Local riders provide their favorite routes — from 19 to 88 miles — at www.cycletexas.com. This site is specifically for cycling in the Fredericksburg area, with available PDFs of routes, visitor resources, hazard alerts, times for weekly group rides open to the public, and more. So log on and check it out!
Or plan to attend any of the planned rides/tours and races held throughout the year. Cyclists converge on Fredericksburg for eight days each March for the annual Texas Hell Week. The Texas Bike Racing Association also holds sanctioned rides in Fredericksburg, as does the Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club out of San Antonio. And just outside Fredericksburg the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park hosts an annual LBJ 100 Bicycle Tour. To find out specific dates and backgrounds for each, visit www.VisitFredericksburgTX.com/plan/events.
Should you need supplies or bike maintenance while in Fredericksburg, the Hill Country Bicycle Works on Main Street provides great assistance, products and local advice. The owners are avid cyclists.
To learn more about this thriving community, log on to the Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau website at www.VisitFredericksburgTX.com. Learn why so many choose to spend time here relaxing, revitalizing, cycling, and embracing all that Fredericksburg and Gillespie County have to offer. And for a Fredericksburg area Attractions and Dining Guide with Maps, send a request via eâ€mail to Visitorinfo@fbgtx.org or call at 888â€997â€3600. Willkommen, y’all!
The Wheelbrothers.com tribe has spoken – Ryan Tibball and Douglas Emberton swept away the competition, with their inspiring stories, pictures and overall votes, in our first annual ‘Wheelbrothers.com Christmas contest’.
Ryan and Douglas will both receive a state of the art, UClear HBC130 Helmet Communicator courtesy of the good folks of UClear. Developed for military applications, paired with your phone via bluetooth, microphone beaming and noise suppression technology combine to block environment noises and provide crystal clear communications. Both of you guys remember though, while riding with your group or in traffic, the unit should be used with a single earpiece for taking calls while keeping one ear open.
UCLEAR HBC130 Bike Helmet Communicator
The 3 Wheelbrother T-Shirts will go to Darrel or Tim Elliott from the Plano Bicycle Association, Mary McLachlan and Greg Perkins. So please be so kind and send me emails with your address, and T-Shirt sizes. (I don’t have all sizes, so the correct request will be an L or XL 😉 ).
We enjoyed Larry, Harold and Matt’s entries as well and have decided to send them a Wheelbrother T-shirt as well. So guys please send me your addresses as well. If anyone is around downtown Fort Worth email me and we can meet up so I can save on shipping costs!
We the Wheelbrothers and UClear would like to thank everyone that particpated in our contest by voting and sharing these great stories!
THANK YOU!!!
P.S. Ryan, they say the Uclear HBC 130 is rain proof but please do NOT take it swimming with you. It’ll break… (Yes, he is an Aggie – you have to spell those things out for him!)
Uclear was gracious enough to give us 2 Uclear HBC 130 helmet communicators as Grand Prizes for our contest. However, before we announce the winners later on, we would like to give you a bit more information about this wicked technology that can be found here.
Using these headsets, you can ride over 30+miles an hour, while folks you are talking to, will not be able to hear the the annoying wind noise they normally get, when you use one of those iPhone headsets. You can listen to music or use them as intercom and communicate with other riders in your group. They work via bluetooth technology and you can use them in both ears or in just one (I would suggest just one so you can pay attention to what’s going on around you!).
According to Jeff Blood, V.P. of Uclear, the Uclear brand was created a year ago by ‘BITwave’. BITwave is a high tech R&D company that has provided crucial communications technology solutions and is licensed to and used by major corporations, the US Army and Homeland Security.
BITwave holds 12 patents in the fields of audio and speech recognition technology and it’s technology and have taken its military and industrial grade, patented audio technology and lucky for us, applied it to its UCLEAR consumer products line.
The HBC 130 Bike helmet communicators is one of the consumer lines now available for purchase. According to Jeff, this technology was first used in the traditional motorcycle industry when he and his friends went skiing and the proverbial light bulb came on for them. What ELSE can we use this technology for?
This lead to the development of the HBC 120 for the slopes and since their cyclists friends didn’t want to be left out, the HBC 130!
About the Ride: FREEZE YOUR FANNY is the only fundraiser for East Texas Lightnin Special Olympics athletes. We hope you enjoy your time with us and enjoy the beauty of East Texas during one of the scenic routes. Remember to come early and enjoy the before and after eats.
Event: Puddle for the Ducks, A Ducks Unlimited Bike Ride
Route Distances: 25, 45, 37, and 70 miles routes
About the Ride: On Saturday, February 4th, 2012 the FIFTH Annual PUDDLE FOR THE DUCKS bicycle ride benefiting Ducks Unlimited will start at 7:00 A.M. and it will be bigger, better, and more exciting than ever. There will be 25, 45, 37 and 70 mile routes along with entertaining rest stops, duck calling and dog demonstrations at most stops and new reststop sponsors. The 2012 PUDDLE FOR THE DUCKS ride is destined to be one of the best for the year in Houston.
Major sponsors for the 2012 PUDDLE FOR THE DUCKS include Sellers Bros., Silver Eagle Distributing, Trailer Wheel & Frame Co., and Sun & Ski Sports.
