duderdude1

Hey guys,
While driving around in Irving I always see a ton of riders around the Las Colians area. Is there any one here on the forum that rides with that group? I'm trying to find a group to try and ride with.

MMACH 5

I accidentally ride with them sometimes (part of my commute is on Royal). I think they are a group from Bicycles Plus Coppell. If it's not them, the shop could probably hook you up with some other groups in the area.

StephenH

Greater Dallas Bicyclists has an Airport Ride that starts over in Dallas and may pass through there.

bjtesch

I ride Royal and see them a lot too. Some groups come down Rochelle going south out of Las Colinas then thrun west on Northgate.

Creakyknees

there's a hammerfest ride Mondays and Wednesdays; I've never done it but here are the details:

Riders show between 5:30pm and 6:00 pm...

Fom 114...
North MacArthur Blvd

From 635
South MacArthur Blvd

East Royal Lane
South Las Colinas Blvd

duderdude1

Thanks guys. Y'all are fast on the replies and know whats going on. So do y'all ride around the Irving area alone or with a group normally. I am still new and not feeling all that comfortable on the road alone yet.

StephenH

Just curious...is there any particular club, bike shop, or group involved?

(I don't have enough hammer for a hammerfest. Or as they say, never come to a gunfight with a knife.)

duderdude1

What is a hammerfest ride? Riding all out the whole time?

StephenH

I interpret hammerfest to mean "fast". Which is to say, if you have to ask, it's probably not for you.

Slow people can ride all out the whole time, too, but they're still slow.

Creakyknees

not that I know of

and yes, 'hammerfest' means race pace at times, and brisk at other times.

duderdude1

Does any one have a good route they ride and wouldn't mind sharing for the Irving area. I'm in south Irving around 183 and O'Connor and haven't found a good route with out a killer hill.

Creakyknees

in my mind, a "good route" always has at least one killer hill...

bjtesch

I am about 1 mile from that intersection.

What length routes are you interested in?

I ride mostly north/west out Royal Lane. From your place you could go north on O'Connor, east on Rochelle and follow it to the point where it crosses 114 and changes name to Riverside, then follow it as it curves around and ends up going more West, then it turns mostly north and heads towards I635. You can follow it to Royal and then turn west on Royal, then follow Royal to where it ends. Out and back is about 30 miles. There are some hills but not what I call killer hills. There isn't much traffic on these roads most of the time, just watch out for girls in Toyota's that stop in front of you suddenly.

There are lots of shorter routes in this area, including one that I used to ride that was nothing but hills.

alpha_bravo

There are some short, steep hills I like to do repeats in a neighborhood on West Valley Ranch Pkwy @ Ridge Hollow Trail. They're not much in terms of the climbs you might find in the hill country, but they're not too bad for training purposes and are easily as good as Winstead/Loving in the White Rock Loop. The subdivision is called The Hills of Valley Ranch (how ironic). They're about the shortest and steepest I've found in all of Iriving/Valley Ranch/Farmer's Branch.

This is a 20 something mile loop I take with my GF when I'm in the area.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/54407334

bjtesch

That's an interesting route. I remember riding south on Macarthur before Valley Ranch was built. The hill that you climb going south just before you get to 635 was a nice challenge.

I had a similar route through Las Colinas that has like a dozen hills in under 10 miles, mostly along Walnut Hill and the 114 service road. I would hit them as hard as I could, and if I got tired before climbing them all then I could slow down a bit. Later on in the year I could go hard up more of them before running out of leg.

alpha_bravo

I've always wanted to ride up that part of MacArthur, but the traffic is just nuts. I've ridden a lot of crazy places and busy roads but the drivers on MacArthur scare the daylights out of me...

gresam

MacArthur is a bad place to be on a bicycle... I avoid most of it but will use a small section up North to get from 121 to the first traffic light in Coppell.

The Las Colinas area has a fair amount of good riding and it allows you to get out away from the area and to some great routes up north and west. Royal is actually a great road for riding from Luna out toward the airport, and there's a nice "loop" around the airport that connects out to Walnut Hill, across Irving and into the south side of Las Colinas. Get on the web and simply search for Greater Dallas Bicyclists. They are a great group of people and there are multiple groups that ride at different paces. Not very many shops have one ride, or one that is just fast. There are plenty of people to ride with, you just need to do a little searching online.

Try looking on Map My Ride as well for people's routes in your area and connecting out. I prefer to ride through Las Colinas on my way to great country roads outside of Grapevine & Flower Mound.