Biking the Texas Hill Country

One of the great benefits of the bike trip across America has been the friends that were made on the trip. I have enjoyed getting together with them during the past year: Ride Virginia with Chris, Festivello in Charleston with Sam and Chris, a ride around my own biking area with Geoff, and a visit from LaVern and Janie.

Added to those great times was a wonderful six days of riding in the Texas Hill Country last week with Jim Olsson and Tracy. Jim organized the trip and Tracy enjoyed the trip. We were joined by two past Crossroads riders and several of Jim's riding club members from Denver. Barbie joined us for the first day of the ride, but alas had to go back to work.

We stayed in Fredericksburg, TX, and did all six days of riding from there. If you have never ridden in this country, you have missed a wonderful opportunity. It was fabulous and the best riding I have encountered for a multiple day ride. Fredericksburg is a town founded by the Germans. The main street is a tourist attraction, but off the main street it is quiet and peaceful. The county has over 500 miles of paved roads. Every small road through the back country and ranches is paved, thanks to LBJ. So you can pick routes to your hearts content and ride any combination of miles you want...from 20 to 120. The county puts out a very good map so it is impossible to get completely lost for very long. Sights we saw included deer, wild turkeys, cattle, longhorns, sheep, goats, alpacas, road kill (armadillo), and yes a dead snake for Chris. The scenery changed some depending on which roads you took. Once off the main road the traffic was minimal to non-existent. All you had to watch out for were the cattle guards and the various animals on the road.

I do have to admit that wind and hills were a factor. The hills were actually not bad even for the non-climber from the low country. Now the wind was something else. It blew almost every day with a couple of days of consistent 30 mph. We tried to go out into the headwinds and get a tailwind coming back. That worked most of the time but one day the wind shifted on us.

I rode with Tracy every day. She took the grandma under her wings and we had a blast, talking and laughing. There were a couple of days when we were joined by one of the guys who wanted to have fun rather than ride themselves into the ground! It was so great for me to ride with Tracy. Not only was it fun, but I got a lot of great biking tips....even a flat tire change and a shoe cleat problem fixed. This gave me an added incentive to get faster and stronger before the Maine to Florida ride so I can enjoy riding with other riders. It is a lot more fun.

If Jim or anyone else organizes this trip again, I urge anyone with the slightest interest to join him. This was truly a great area to ride, the restaurants are super, and the riders are fun. What more can you ask for a week in your life.