Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.jonny texas
05-24-03, 04:30 PM
For three weekends in a row we've been able to enjoy excellent group rides in the Austin area. First, it was the Armadillo Hill Country Challenge, put on by the Austin Cycling Association (a century ride, but I only did the metric century). There were some hills of course, but not as bad as I expected since it really was kind of on the fringe of the Hill Country. The next weekend it was the Shiner BASH - 85 miles from Austin to the Shiner brewery. Two free beers included with entry fee! Austin riders had the wind at their back, accounting for my average speed of 19.3 mph. For those of you not familiar with this ride, groups leave from Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, all of which are 85-90 miles from Shiner. Finally, today we had the Tour d'Temple, a metric century about an hour north of Austin. Beautiful countryside, but unpleasant headwinds on the uphill return trip. Thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors who put these rides on - great support on all three of the rides. I've decided my favorite rest stop snack is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cut in half diagonally. These were actually my very first group rides ever, so I learned a lot and had a great time. And, along with my regular weekly riding, I should hit 500 miles for the month of May - yeah!