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Favorite Rides – Dripping Springs

10.20.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

As I left the house and headed down the road on a chilly fall morning, I was happy to be getting an early start on the day’s ride, and disappointed that I would miss out on one of my favorites. My friend Debra had posted that she would do a Dripping Springs ride, and invited us to come along.

But I had to finish early, and she wasn’t starting until 10 a.m. While my ride was enjoyable, I knew that hers would have been a lot better — both for the camaraderie and for the scenery.

Dripping Springs is a growing small town about 15 miles west of Austin. When I talk about a Dripping Springs ride, I really mean the network of roads south and west of the town. We start at a minimally-developed park that has a convenient place to park cars. Once we head out, we follow familiar roads for several miles.

A highlight of this stretch is when we make a sharp left turn, and follow a few twists and turns, crossing a creek that sometimes runs over the road. Just past the creek, the road takes a decided upturn, and we have our most challenging hill of the day. It’s not impossible, but it’s a good test of your climbing abilities. However, like most hills around here, it might be steep, but it’s relatively short.

Mrs. Noob gets up that big hill a couple of years ago.
Mrs. Noob gets up that big hill a couple of years ago.

We like to continue for a few more miles, then regroup and figure out where we’re going to go. The nice part about this area is that it has a lot of roads that serve the small ranches out here. The roads are in reasonably good shape, sometimes a bit rough, but traffic is quite light. Most of the folks out here are used to cyclists, and are generally courteous.

This map shows the 27-mile variation. Click the picture to go to the mapmyride page for this route, with the ability to zoom in and out.
This map shows the 27-mile variation. Click the picture to go to the mapmyride page for this route, with the ability to zoom in and out.
Waiting at one of the many cattle guards for everyone to catch up.
Waiting at one of the many cattle guards for everyone to catch up.
Regrouping at the J.D. Ranch.
Regrouping at the J.D. Ranch.
Approaching a gentle hill.
Approaching a gentle hill on the way to Longhorn Trail.

The map I’ve posted shows one of our favorite variations: Longhorn Trail.  From our regroup point at the J.D. Ranch, we Follow Mt. Sharp Road past some spectacular views, then turn onto Longhorn Trail. That road features a longish hill, but it’s downhill — and speeds of 35 mph are easy to reach. At the bottom of the hill, the road snakes through the middle of a ranch, and if we’re lucky, the guinea fowl will be out sounding the alarm for approaching bikers. As we go right past the ranch house, which sits next to the road, we might see other critters. Once, a flock of black sheep were along the road. Other times, we’ll see the ubiquitous horses or goats.

Texas Longhorns.
Texas Longhorns.
A herd of goats dashes away from a herd of cyclists.
A herd of goats dashes away from a herd of cyclists.

After the ranch, we have another choice to make. Longhorn Trail ends at a T intersection with Mt. Gainor Road. If we turn right (south), we can branch off on Ledgerock Road, or turn left onto Mt. Sharp Road. Mt. Sharp is the longer of the two, and takes us almost into Wimberley, another colorful small town. We usually turn back before we hit the town, because traffic gets heavy quickly, and the road has no shoulder.

Mt. Gainor Road will take us back to our starting point, but has its own highlights. One is a steepish downhill that isn’t very long, but ends with a sharp bend to the right, so if the cyclist throws caution to the wind, there’s a good chance of meeting an oncoming vehicle, and not in a good way.

These pictures are from various rides over the past several years.
These pictures are from various rides over the past several years. These are low-key, social events.

Depending upon which combination of roads we take, our rides can go anywhere from 19 to 27, 33, or 36 miles. We can even combine several of these routes for longer distances, if we want. But typically, we don’t. After we put the bikes back in or on our cars, we head for a local restaurant for a social meal.

I always got a kick out of the name of this road. Then I found out it's the name of a prominent Dripping Springs businessman.
I always got a kick out of the name of this road. Then I found out it’s the name of a prominent Dripping Springs businessman.

Riding a Dripping Springs route gets us out of Austin, into the country. It’s hilly, scenic, with little traffic and okay roads. What more could cyclists want?

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A Chat With a Pickup Truck Driver

02.21.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 1 Comment

Debra with the fortunate wheel.

So I took everyone’s advice and rode with friends Sunday, rather than try for a high-mileage ride. It was a good choice, as always, because I rode in one of my favorite areas, with some of my favorite people. Debra, who organized the ride, was in fine form this day. She entertained us all with the story of how she ran over her carbon wheel with her SUV — and only wound up replacing a few spokes. Not a scratch on the wheel itself.

We rode near Dripping Springs, Texas, which I’ve written about before. Country roads in mostly good shape with little traffic, and enough hills to keep things interesting. Barbara, a former regular with our group, recently moved from Austin to San Antonio, and she made the trip up here to ride with us again. Since starting her new job, Barbara has ridden only a couple of times, so there was not going to be lots of speed or lots of distance as we helped her get back in the groove. Russ said he hasn’t ridden much, either. Only Jerry and his friend Nancy seemed to be up for a brisk ride. But Nancy was on a new bike — a nifty Jamis Xenith — that she hadn’t quite dialed in yet. She had some dropped chain problems and said her legs got sore when she tried to go fast. As it turned out, she kind of liked our lazy ride.

Nancy & Jerry on one of the typical roads in the area. (Click on the pix to enlarge.)
A herd of goats runs away as Barbara passes.
Stopping for a breather at a cattle guard. Nancy, Jerry, and Barbara.

As we gathered for a brief rest to let everyone catch up, a pickup truck stopped at a stop sign just opposite us. The driver rolled down his window and called out to us. “Ya know, sometimes it’s hard to see very far ahead on these curvy roads,” he began. He had our full attention now. We didn’t know if he was going to cuss us out or what. But he went on in a casual manner. “And sometimes, the way bikers ride around here can cause problems.”

Okay, we see where this is going, I thought. But I was surprised again. “I was riding along here not too long ago,” he continued, “and I came around a curve and here’s a whole group of cyclists coming at me. They covered the whole road from side to side. I was going to plow right into them. So I hit my brakes just as I came to a cattle guard. The truck skidded sideways across the guard. I coulda taken out the whole group. I coulda killed somebody.” The incident clearly had had an effect on him. “I was lucky not to hit anyone,” he said. “But I wish you all would watch how you ride and keep to one side of the road.”

“Yeah, I know the kind of cyclists you’re talking about,” said Debra. “I hate those types.”

That prompted a double take from the pickup driver. He obviously lumped all cyclists together. We wished him well, and pushed off on the last leg of our ride. He waved and continued on his way.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all biker-motorist meetings were this civilized?

 

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Categories // Rides Tags // Dripping Springs, Rides

An early thousand and a good ride

05.24.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

Funny how what used to be major biking milestones now pass almost unnoticed.  I completely missed it, but back on May 13th, I hit 1,000 miles for the year.  Last year, I didn’t hit that magic mark until June 13th. Now I’m wondering what kind of mileage I’ll wind up with for the year. My total last year was 2,677. I should hit 3,000 with no trouble this year — but I won’t be making a conscious effort to do it. I’ll just enjoy my rides.

Like the ride we did today out in the Hill Country. A friend suggested we ride from Dripping Springs this morning, so he, Mrs. Noob and I, and three other friends drove the 12 miles out there and rendezvoused at 8:15 to hit the road. 

Mrs. Noob — uh, Pat — and her friend Susie decided not to try to keep up with the rest of us, or to go as far. I’ve mentioned Pat’s bike before. Here it is:

PatsBikeShe catches a lot of flak about having a kickstand, but she does ride clipless. The tires are 32mm, and she had the bike shop add a higher stem to give her a quite upright position when riding.

We hit the road with four other women we called “The Green Team,” since they all wore hi-visibility green vests. They stuck with us for the first seven miles, then we split off.

This is one of my favorite rides in the area. The country roads are in pretty good shape — a few rough patches — and on Sunday morning, traffic is light.

SDTHere’s what most of the ride looked like to me: Scott, Dee Dee, and Tom lead the way along lightly-traveled country roads.

Clouds blocked the sun for most of the ride, and the temperatures held in the mid-70sF. Quite humid, though, as the forecast called for a 70 percent chance of rain. We hoped we would wrap things up before it got wet.

CowWhat vehicles there were are used to bikers on these roads over the weekend. We’re careful to move to single file along the edge of the road when we detect a car or truck coming up behind us. The animals are equally blase about bikers. This cow has seen it all before, and we didn’t interest her in the least.

Remark from Scott: “Isn’t it funny how a little bit of skunk odor actually smells good?”

Two minutes later, he amended his thought: “Oh, that’s not a little bit anymore.”

We climbed moderate hills in easy gears, keeping up our momentum most of the time. Tom had some derailleur trouble, which made smooth shifting a challenge. He’s a strong rider, but because he had to concentrate so much on his gearing, he described his ride as “hard work.”

But for every uphill there’s a downhill, and we got down in the drops as the road swept us along. As a result, none of us were at all tired when we got back to our starting point. The stats: 34.3 miles at an average speed of 14.7 mph. Pat and Susie had ridden a little over 19 miles, and were already lunching at a nearby cafe when we pulled in.

A good ride, a meal with friends, and we pulled the car into the garage just as the skies opened up. Can’t get much better than that.

Today’s ride capped off a week where I rode every day but Saturday, for a total of 125 miles. I can’t remember the last time I rode that many miles in a week. With two more weeks to go until summer classes begin, it looks like I’ll be spending a lot of time in the saddle. Can’t wait.

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Categories // Records & stats, Rides Tags // Dripping Springs, hills

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