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July 26, 2014

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Checking out the new Southern Walnut Creek Trail

I don’t typically post about biking when I’m not training for a Bike MS event, but I still ride multiple times a week. This weekend I decided to incorporate the new Southern Walnut Creek Trail into my route, which just opened. It’s a paved 7 mile long hike and bike trail, one of a few such projects the city is working on right now, which includes the Northern Walnut Creek Trail very close to my house. I think the grand vision is for these two trail systems to connect, but it’s not funded or designed yet.

I rode to the southern end of the trail, which begins in Govalle park, to get on the trail. It was strange – the trail head wasn’t marked at all and you couldn’t even see it from the street. It was marked by one small green bicycle sign once you were in the small park.

The trail is unfortunately paved like a sidewalk – cracks and all – and that doesn’t make for very smooth riding on a road bike. Kathunk, kathunk, kathunk… It was worse in some places than others.

The trail has many bridges and you ride along the creek in a number of places.

And you go under some bridges, including this railroad bridge:

The trail is nice and shaded in some parts, more so on the southern section of the trail. The northern end gets quite sunny.

The trail was quite overgrown by vegetation in parts, leaving only about half of the path actually rideable. A number of places had lots of dirt and sand on the concrete, making for a slippery ride. I assume the city will soon clean those places up and maintain the trail for maximum use. Construction has only recently ended.

The trail goes into Walter E Long park, but I turned off before then because I wasn’t sure where it went after that. Looking closer at the Walnut Creek Trail system page, I see that the Manor trail actually is partially constructed, so I could have ridden that trail instead of riding along the busy Decker lane. Next time!

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April 22, 2014

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Bike MS training update, April 19 – 20: A lovely ride to Elgin and back

Only one more training weekend before Bike MS: Sam’s Club Round-Up Ride in north Texas during the first weekend of May! The ride goes from Frisco to Fort Worth with an overnight at the Texas Motor Speedway, 102 and 67 miles respectively. This is my 7th year participating in a Bike MS ride, fundraising for the National MS Society in honor of my godmother and other family members that have been affected by Multiple Sclerosis. If you can, please consider making a donation in support of my participation.

This past Saturday was forecast to be not windy early in the morning, progressing to a south / east wind. Sure enough, that’s what happened. I planned an 83 mile route that headed east from home and then south pretty quickly, eventually hitting Elgin, Texas and then heading home. It was a good route, with the exception of a few roads with higher traffic than I expected. I ended up averaging 16.5 mph for the ride and enjoyed wildflowers the whole time.

I started early and saw the sun soon after sunrise.

Bluebonnets under the early sun:

Around mile 20 I went through Manor:

Pink winecups and two cyclists on Old Route 290:

Industry in the middle of nowhere:

There is a fake ghost town near Manor. One of the signs was about an Easter egg hunt.

Straight open road and blue sky:

New road, old road:

Bright red barn:

My shadow, cows, and some calves:

White prickly wildflowers:

Bluebonnets hiding between the trees:

Indian paintbrushes and a tree stump:

The scenery was just so green:

An old bridge:

A lonely looking house:

An old farmhouse, no longer in use except for the barn:

So many wildflowers!

A pack of cyclists coming at me:

Longhorns looking at me:

Lovely house and wildflowers:

Elgin town square:

Train station in the middle of the Elgin square:

There was a farmer’s market:

A church in the middle of nowhere, called Lund, Texas

Riding, riding, riding…

Bluebonnets and a bike lane on Howard Lane:

Near Dessau Rd, I went through a neighborhood that had the exact same style houses as our neighborhood. And I saw these bright houses:

And then I was home. On Sunday, it was windier but not ridiculously so as it was the last few weekends. I rode 35 miles around town.

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April 16, 2014

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Bike MS Training, April 12 – 13: A windy weekend

And the countdown continues, only 2 more training weekends before Bike MS: Sam’s Club Round-Up Ride in north Texas during the first weekend of May! The ride goes from Frisco to Fort Worth with an overnight at the Texas Motor Speedway, 86 and 67 miles respectively. This is my 7th year participating in a Bike MS ride, fundraising for the National MS Society in honor of my godmother and other family members that have been affected by Multiple Sclerosis. If you can, please consider making a donation in support of my participation.

This weekend the wind was strong both days, blowing out of the south. For my long ride on Saturday, I planned a route that headed east from my house and then south pretty quickly, meandering through the outskirts of Austin down to Buda and then heading straight north. It was a ride full of surprises. Take a look at my photos while I remember the surprises.

The wildflowers were everywhere. Bluebonnets behind the fence, yellow flowers near the road:

At some point at the beginning of my ride, a large truck drove by with a Rottweiler hanging out the passenger window. Just as it passed me, the dog barked at me. I’m lucky I stayed on my bike. The BP MS 150 from Houston to Austin was this weekend, and I saw this sign in preparation for the riders rolling into Austin on Sunday.

Bluebonnets and Indian Paint brushes at MLK and 183:

I passed the Yellow Bike Project headquarters on Webberville:

A fancy ice cream food truck passed me:

A guy and his dog skateboarding along 5th street:

Crossing town lake:

More wildflowers:

Pink winecups:

Farm land:

The yellow flowers are Engelmann’s Daisies.

Blue sky, green trees:

The wind on this stretch of road was coming at my side and I had multiple moments of wondering what would happen when it blew my bike out from under me. The trees provided a bit of a wind break from time to time.

I crossed I-35 in Buda:

A place call Cleveland’s! No idea what it is, but it’s on the main drag in Buda.

My route called for me to ride up South First Street. I thought it had bike lanes, but it didn’t. I made the decision to cut over to South Congress instead. About the time I hit South Congress, I realized my bike wasn’t shifting the front derailler. It took me a bit, but I finally figured out the battery in my electronic shifting system (Shimano Ultegra di2) was dying. Apparently I hadn’t checked it in about two weeks. The good news is that the rear derailler continued to shift for the rest of my ride, which is more important then the front derailler anyhow. I’ve only charged the system twice in the year I owned it, so it’s hard to remember to check it.

I crossed Lady Bird Lake on the pedestrian bridge only to find a surprise on the other side – a festival had closed down my route so it took me a bit of time to figure out the best way to get around it.

A new painting on the railroad bridge:

I finally made it home after 73 miles of adventure and headwind.

On Sunday, it was also windy so I headed out for a 30 mile ride around town. I didn’t take any photos because you’ve basically seen the route plenty of times before 🙂

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March 26, 2014

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Bike MS Training, March 22 – 23: Rosedale ride

My training continues for the Bike MS: Sam’s Club Round-Up Ride in north Texas during the first weekend of May. The ride goes from Frisco to Fort Worth with an overnight at the Texas Motor Speedway.

This weekend was the 20th anniversary of the Rosedale ride, a fundraiser for the Rosedale School, the only AISD for children with multiple disabilities. I’ve done this ride almost every year since I’ve started riding, and they always have the best volunteers and route assistance. Every turn marked, often with volunteers in costume to point us in the right direction, great rest stops, and plenty of SAG vehicles.

While the forecast said the morning would be warm with almost no wind, there was definitely a wind out of the south, but I was still able to average 17.5 mph. The course was a bit different this year and the roads were not nearly as bumpy as I remember.

Saturday morning was dreary, and a bit damp. The traffic was bad getting into the ride at Samsung Semiconductor, so they started us 15 minutes late. At least we had the UT band to entertain us. You can see their tubas in the background. They played Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore and then I proceeded to have that song in my head for the entire 62 mile ride.

At the start location – Samsung out on Parmer Lane.

The first of many cows hanging out along the road.

The route was well-marked with signs and volunteers.

I ran into a friend along the route, wearing an awesome pink and green kit.

I passed a rural Cessna airport. You can see the windsock and how the “no wind” prediction was a lie.

Countryside railroad crossing

Donkeys!

Quaint little farm

Riding into Coupland, TX:

Downtown Coupland, as far as I can tell:

The rest stop in Coupland was staffed with boy scouts. The cutest little Cub Scout was shouting to us about water, gatorade, and free snacks. See him there in the blue?

The Coupland rest stop:

House with a white picket fence, on Manda Carlson Road, out in the country:

Rest stop on Manda Carlson Road, at the old two room school house:

The New Sweden Church:

And the cemetery just a bit further down the road:

Windmill:

The last rest stop, at a church:

The last turn on the route had volunteers all dressed up and cheering:

The finish line featured a cheer squad from a local school:

Finish line selfie!

Sunday’s ride was entirely too windy, with a cool northernly wind. I was able to get in 20 miles and felt like I was crawling at few points where it was uphill into the wind. I rode north to the Wells Branch neighborhood and took a few photos of the nice park trails.

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March 17, 2014

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Bike MS Training, March 15 – 16: The ride must go on…

Well, it was a rough weekend for biking. At least I finally got my Bike MS fundraising page up! In case you missed it, I’m riding the Bike MS: Sam’s Club Round-Up Ride in north Texas during the first weekend of May. The ride goes from Frisco to Fort Worth with an overnight at the Texas Motor Speedway. My in-laws live in Fort Worth, so it will be great to know some spectators again.

The forecast for this past Saturday called for rain, but not until noon. Even as I left that house at 8:30 am, the forecast said rain at noon. I left in a fog / light mist. As I went further north, the fog and mist got worse. By about mile 5 I’d call it light rain. From there, it basically alternated between mist to actual rain for almost the entire ride. I hit one dry spot as I rode over the Mansfield Dam on my Dam Loop route. You don’t get any photos because of safety, I was too busy hanging on to my handle bars. I was drenched when I got home, but at least I rode 52 miles. Later that day, as I enjoyed a lovely sunny afternoon at SXSW, I silently cursed those weather forecasters.

On Sunday, the forecast called for a cold front with blow-you-down winds to roll in. When I woke up, the winds weren’t supposed to start for about 90 minutes. However, 30 minutes later after I finished breakfast and went out on my ride, it was windy. And dreary. At least I only had to ride 20 miles, right? Well, at mile 6 I heard my front wheel hissing… fourth flat in 3 weeks! Just after I changed my rear tire so that I wouldn’t flat anymore this training season… and my front gets a flat. It was hissing, but only slowly losing air. I found the source of hiss, and there was almost no mark on my tire. I pulled out the tube with the slightest puncture and decided to “boot” the tire with a dollar bill so that if there was something on the inside of the tire (even though I couldn’t feel anything) it wouldn’t cause another flat. It was so windy that as I tried to install the new tube, the dollar blew away and I had no idea where it was supposed to go. Oh well. I pumped up the tire and rode on, into a cold and nasty headwind.

Luckily, the new tube held and I eventually turned out of the headwind and took a few photos for you. It was such a relief to turn into the Balcones / Spicewood neighborhood.

The neighborhood has a golf course.

Some of the houses I ride by in this neighborhood are amazing. This one was recently redone:

This one is being renovated and will be on the market soon, choose your paint colors now! (It says that on the sign, if you can see it)

I love the eclectic architecture in this neighborhood. Some houses are obviously different, like this one. On one street, there’s even a house that looks like a castle!

As I came out of the neighborhood onto Jollyville Road, the sky became blue… and I could see how the wind was pushing the clouds out. It was pretty awesome.

This was a really spectacular view, with the sun just on the edge of the cloud line:

On the road that brought me into my neighborhood, the clouds were all spread out.

And luckily I made it home without any more flats. I guess I’ll be changing that front tire too because I would like to avoid flats for the remainder of this training season!

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March 11, 2014

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Bike training, March 8 – 9: Everything that can go wrong…

It was a crappy weekend for my bike training. I’m getting ready for the Bike MS: Sam’s Club Ride up in the DFW area at the beginning of May so it’s important that I am able to get in my bike rides. Saturday was rainy and in the low 60s. When I decided to go out riding, it wasn’t raining yet, but I knew it would so I headed down to the Veloway to ride loops in case it started pouring – I could quickly and easily get back to my car because each loop is only 3 miles long. However, once I got there I realized I didn’t have my bike shoes. Since I can’t ride without them, back home I went to grab them. I blame the muscle relaxers I’ve been taking after straining my neck Thursday evening while riding my bike downtown. Really. And rain it did… my first loop was only misty but halfway through my second loop, it was definitely raining. I was able to keep riding until my last loop (miles 21 – 24) when the wind picked up and I got quite cold. I called it quits at that point, at a much shorter distance than I was hoping. I was drenched from head to toe. I didn’t get photos because of the rain.

Sunday started out cold and windy. After checking that my shoes were dry from Saturday, I looked at that weather and saw that later in the day it would warm up and the wind would die down. Because of that I waited to leave until about 1 pm. I headed north on Parmer Lane into a light headwind, hopeful that I would have a great tailwind on my way home.

The day started out very dreary, but at least it wasn’t raining. It was cold so I was bundled up.

Eventually I was able to spot bits of blue in the sky. I always love this part of this route… you see the road forever in front of you.

At mile 19 I realized my rear tire was low and slowly leaking… the same tire that went flat last weekend. I changed the tube and successfully filled up the tire with a CO2 cartridge and was on my way.

If that were the end of my story, this wouldn’t have been a bad ride. But oh no. I kept going on Parmer to try to reach my turn around point at 25 miles, but at mile 22.5 I realized my rear wheel looked kinda low. I turned around right away so that I wouldn’t be stranded quite so far from home if the tire indeed went flat again. I pulled over and put the rest of my CO2 into the tire. At that time, a kind stranger pulled over and gave me an extra cartridge. Thank goodness, because I had to pull over a few more times to top off the rear tire with that CO2 cartridge. Oh yeah, I passed some llamas but only managed to get a photo of one llama.

I was able to keep going to mile 35, where there is a conveniently located Bicycle Sport Shop. I went in to use their floor pump and was able to hear a leak as I pumped up the tire. I found a small piece of wire sticking out and removed it. One of the shop employees changed this flat for me. Guess what? The first tube he put in went flat immediately too! The second tube held. And as soon as I got home I ordered a new set of tires. I can’t deal with all of these flats, and I noticed that the tread pattern on the rear wheel was quite worn compared to the front wheel. I rode a total of 45 miles Sunday.

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March 3, 2014

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Bike training, March 1st: North to Bertram

It’s that time of year when my schedule gets crazy, so I sometimes have to be creative to work in my Bike MS training. This weekend, we had plans to head out to Enchanted Rock State Park with some friends on Saturday. The weather forecast for Sunday was cold and rainy so I devised a plan to ride from home, north on Parmer Lane, and then west to Bertram where my husband would pick me up along our route to Enchanted Rock.

Saturday morning started out foggy and misty. Can you see the droplets on my glasses in my selfie?

Five miles from home, my rear tire flatted for the first time on this bike. It happened on a bridge and I walked my bike down to the bottom. I changed the tube, which was surprisingly easier to do than changing the tube on my other bike. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that I couldn’t inflate the new tube. One cyclist pulled over and tried to help me with the CO2 cartridge, which I couldn’t get to work. He let me try his hand pump, but that didn’t work either. I called my husband to come help me. Right after I made the call, a very nice woman pulled over who was on her way to a ride that was delayed because of the weather. After trying her floor pump, I knew for certain my new tube was shot. I found a giant hole in it when I removed it. It was definitely a manufacturing defect. The woman gave me a new tube, I put it in and pumped it up. My husband pulled up and I no longer needed his help. Thank you stranger!

I continued along my route, 45 minutes delayed. Around Andice, the skies finally started to clear. I passed a number of cemeteries with colorful flowers.

In Andice I went by the General Store and a new church building.

Along the route, I came to the end of a road where I had to turn and these cows were intently watching me.

Big sky!

After not seeing other cyclists for quite a while, I was coming close to Bertram. The last few miles had more car traffic than I’d seen in a while and I happened across this group of recreational cyclists.

A very long, straight road.

Creek crossing.

Putting my bike on the car in Bertram – work my yellow Alaska jersey that has a bear, mountains, and flowers on it.

What a change in weather I experienced during those four hours!

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February 10, 2014

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Well hello bike training!

Over the last two weekends, I’ve officially started bike training for Bike MS: Sam’s Club Round Up, the Bike MS event I’m choosing to ride in for this year. The two day ride will be up in the DFW area. I haven’t set up my fundraising page, but don’t worry, I’ll share that soon. For now, I just wanted to share a few photos from my 35 mile training ride today because it was such a gorgeous day. I mean, look at the blue sky! I tried out a few new roads up in NW Austin. They weren’t even just new to me, but they also seemed to have been recently constructed or resurfaced.

Are you ready for my ride recap?

My ride started by passing the new paved trail the city is building that connects Walnut Creek Metro Park with Balcones District Park, west of Mopac. The trail is behind the orange fence on the left:

Just earlier today I read an article about the new Apple campus in Austin, looked at some photos, and then rode right by it. It’s just one building and a parking garage on Parmer Lane, but I believe they are planning to build more:

A nice smooth road and a lovely sky:

An old farmhouse along a new road:

Repaved road with a new bike lane, headed east off of Parmer Lane, north of 1431.

Lovely, big sky:

There were 3 back to back churches along Sam Bass Road:

The Dog House, an off leash dog park plus bar in Cedar Park!

On the way back, I got a picture of the Apple sign:

A little propeller plane!

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June 16, 2013

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Last 2013 Bike MS training update: East and South Austin

This past Saturday I got to plan another completely new training route. I knew that I needed to be downtown at a boat dock by 1 pm to get on a work-sponsored Lake Austin cruise and that I wanted to leave from home. After consulting both the Campo regional bike map and the bicycle friendly roads feature on Google maps, I ended up planning an 85 mile route east and south of Austin. Overall it was a nice route, although rather flat and not terribly scenic. I was grateful to end up getting sucked into a group of Austin Flyers (a cycling club) about 15 miles from my destination because there were some tricky turns I probably would have missed on my own and they provided a good draft. The weather was unbelievably humid, like riding in a sauna for the entire morning.

Next weekend I will ride the Bike MS event Ride the Rim out in Canyon, TX. The ride is a 105 mile loop around the Palo Duro Canyon and I expect it to be awesome. I choose to fundraise for these events in honor of the many people in my life that I know that have been affected by Multiple Sclerosis. Please consider making a donation to the MS Society in support of my participation and to help the MS Society support those living with MS as well as fund valuable research so that someday (soon I hope) a cure is found. I will reward your donation with an awesome recap of my Bike MS adventure!

My ride on Saturday morning started at 6:40 am. It was cloudy and super humid.

The route headed almost due east from my house and then turned south on Springdale road, crossing under route 290.

Next up was crossing route 183. Luckily it was very early so there was little traffic.

Crossing MLK. I had to stop at quite a few lights before I made it south of the river and finally got out on open road. See the follow cyclist across the intersection?

I thought Springdale road had a bike lane for its entire length but I was definitely wrong. It did eventually have a bike lane, but for much of the distance I just took the right lane since there were two lanes and minimal traffic.

I made a right turn onto 5th Street before crossing the river. This is the Meals on Wheels headquarters.

Just about to cross the river on Pleasant Valley, you can see the river on the right.

Tall sunflowers!

Burleson road by the airport has a nice wide bike lane PLUS a sidewalk / bike path to the right. And very little traffic on a Saturday morning.

Entrance to the Circuit of the Americas race track.

Chickens! What, you can’t see them? They’re in the grass.

First rest stop, when I hit route 21.

Route 21 had a very nice wide shoulder. And a little town called Mustang Ridge.

Some sort of refinery out in the countryside.

For about a quarter mile I ended up having to ride on the shoulder of the frontage road for route 130. It was pretty empty of cars, but when I planned the route the maps seemed to show I would be able to connect my route without doing this. They were wrong.

Rolling hills.

Donkeys!

A little bit of blue sky breaking through.

A small lake off to the right. I sure could see forever on some parts of this ride.

Flat, with no trees.

Small neighborhood like area way out in the country. A couple of the driveways had stone lions on pillars guarding their entrances.

Second rest stop – pretty much nothing else around, and this was obviously new.

More big sky country.

Creedmoor. A common cycling destination for cyclists leaving from south or central Austin.

Just on the other side of Creedmoor, I ran into an Austin Flyers group ride.

After initially passing them, they then passed me and I was sucked into the group. It was nice to have the draft after being on my bike 70 miles already. They also were going the exact same route back to Austin that I planned and helped me with some tricky turns.

South Congress – so close to the finish!

New bikeway on Barton Springs by the Palmer Events Center.

Crossing the pedestrian bridge under Mopac.

New bike lane on Lake Austin Boulevard.

And that was it! After 85 miles (garmin details) I pulled up at the Marina, put my bike in my husband’s car, changed and got on the boat for our work outing. My husband and I ended up riding on a smaller boat owned by one of the partners. It was my first time out on Lake Austin on a boat.

The Loop 360 Pennybacker bridge, viewed from a boat!

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June 13, 2013

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Bike MS Training Update: Austin to Giddings

Last Saturday evening we had a baby shower in Houston to attend so I got creative with my bike training plan. I decided to plan a route from my house out to Giddings, TX where my husband would meet me with our car. We would then head to Houston to try out a new brewery. It was, yet again, an adventurous ride. Luckily I enjoy adventures!

I’m only one training weekend away from the Bike MS event Ride the Rim that I will participate in out in Canyon, TX on June 22nd. The ride is a 105 mile loop around the Palo Duro Canyon and I expect it to be awesome. I choose to fundraise for these events in honor of the many people in my life that I know that have been affected by Multiple Sclerosis. Please consider making a donation to the MS Society in support of my participation and to help the MS Society support those living with MS as well as fund valuable research so that someday (soon I hope) a cure is found. I will reward your donation with an awesome recap of my Bike MS adventure!

I started planning my Austin to Giddings ride using the Campo regional bike map that provides useful information about country roads in central Texas that are good for cycling. I used Garmin Connect to map my route and then uploaded that route to my Garmin 310. This was my first time using the Garmin 310 as a navigational device and it rocked. I left home around 6:40 am on Saturday to begin my adventure. The Garmin showed me a very basic view of the route on the screen, without nearby roads or road names. Despite being such a basic view, it was very easy to determine where I needed to turn. I could also flip back and forth between the route view and the statistics view which shows me speed, distance, temperature, average speed, etc. Everything started out smoothly on roads I’ve ridden many times before…

The sun was rising as I left, heading out Braker Lane to Dessau.

Passed by Barr Mansion, a popular wedding venue in northeast Austin.

Cameron road takes many turns but the traffic was light and weather pleasant (at least at 7 am)

Along New Sweden Church Road there is an old cemetery with a covered pavilion.

The New Sweden Church is always a recognizable landmark.

The two room school house out on Manda Carlson Road has recently been repainted.

Apparently a solar farm is going to be built on Manda Carlson Road. There were multiple signs.

I passed up some gigantic fields of sunflowers and failed to get a photo. Instead, I took a picture of these sunflowers along the roadside.

My first planned rest stop in Coupland, about 28 miles into the ride. I had to make sure to plan the route to go buy places I could buy water. The road into Coupland had a bit more traffic than I would have liked, but at least it was early.

My first planned rest stop in Coupland, about 28 miles into the ride. I had to make sure to plan the route to go by places I could buy water. The road into Coupland had a bit more traffic than I would have liked, but at least it was early.

And then the ride stopped being so smooth. What do you mean a dirt road? It wasn’t marked as dirt on the map! (I stopped to check for sure)

My first dirt road wasn’t so bad. Fairly compacted and I was on it for a pretty short distance.

Not too many turns later I ended up on a red-colored dirt road which was more like sand and gravel combined. It was awful. Again, not marked on the map as being a dirt road. Unfortunately the paved road just ended and I had no where to turn to avoid it. It dramatically reduced my speed.

Finally off of the dirt for a bit, I pulled over by this church to have a quick snack. Riding on dirt takes a lot out of you.

I was really out in the country at this point and really glad to be back on paved roads. There was no traffic, lots of pretty scenery, a number of deer, rabbits and jack rabbits.

At some point I thought I got a picture of a deer crossing the road in front of me, but apparently I was too far away for the GoPro to really show the deer.

See? Pretty wildflower scenery!

Hello again gravel.

And then the OK gravel turned into the red sand / gravel combination. I was certain I would fall at some point but managed to stay upright.

And then the OK gravel turned into the nasty red sand / gravel combination again. I was certain I would fall at some point but managed to stay upright.

Ah, paved road again.

I eventually came upon a huge mine near FM 696. The first part I saw was this giant pile of black earth (coal?).

Then I went through this tunnel. The road above the tunnel is for the heavy machinery to go back and forth to the mine.

In the tunnel!

On the other side of the tunnel I realized that there was an even bigger mine, probably a strip mine. You can just see the gigantic crane on the right side of this photo along the trees.

And then I hit dirt road again. I was so angry at the dirt roads at this point. I couldn’t avoid it but made the vow to turn off at the first paved road I came to. I probably rode at least 12 miles worth of dirt road throughout the morning.

OMG! RED DIRT ROAD AGAIN!

I came to a split in the road where my Garmin told me to go on a dirt road again. I was trying hard not to believe it and in the course of circling back to look closely at the road sign, the bike and I tipped over on the gravel, ever so slowly. Thank goodness no one was there to see it and I only have multiple bruises to show for it.

I consulted Google maps on my phone (thank goodness it worked) and determined that I could avoid this last section of dirt road by continuing on the paved road and then riding FM 696 a bit longer than I planned. FM 696 is busier than the other country roads but it was totally worth it to avoid the stupid dirt roads.

If you look very closely, you’ll see a road runner running along the road on the right side.

My second rest stop was in a cute little country store / restaurant in Blue, Texas.

I kept seeing signs for a Christmas tree farm somewhere…

Somewhere along here I stopped at my 3rd rest stop and had to call my husband and reconfigure the rest of my route so that I would end my ride in time to make it to No Label Brewing in Katy for their open house. I apparently gave up on taking photos around that time. It was quite toasty.

Lovely white fluffy clouds.

Finished! My helpful helper putting my bike on our new bike rack so we could continue on to No Label Brewing in Houston.

Finished! My helpful helper putting my bike on our new bike rack so we could continue on to No Label Brewing near Houston.

My actual route ended up being 10 miles less than I had planned due to the time I lost on the dirt roads and trying to re-work my route to avoid the dirt roads. All in all, it was a pretty good ride on nice roads (the paved ones) with pretty scenery. No large hills to speak of. It’s always nice to ride on new roads.

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Tag Archives: austin

Checking out the new Southern Walnut Creek Trail

Bike MS training update, April 19 – 20: A lovely ride to Elgin and back

Bike MS Training, April 12 – 13: A windy weekend

Bike MS Training, March 22 – 23: Rosedale ride

Bike MS Training, March 15 – 16: The ride must go on…

Bike training, March 8 – 9: Everything that can go wrong…

Bike training, March 1st: North to Bertram

Well hello bike training!

Last 2013 Bike MS training update: East and South Austin

Bike MS Training Update: Austin to Giddings

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