Texas - Houston to Fredericksberg, TX - Help

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Shoalwater
10-29-09, 09:05 PM
I would like to ride NW Houston to Fredericksberg, approximately 420 miles. I don't know the roads well and thought I would post a route based purely on the map to get your input. I am open to all suggestions on routes etc. to get there........may tweak to do in 3 days rather than 4.....how are these roads?

Thanks a ton in advance.............




529 / Hwy 6 to Industry, TX 66 miles..........529 to 159 to Industry

Industry to Bastrop 61 miles..........159 to 77 to Bastrop

Bastrop to Fischer 66 miles............77 to 21 to 12 to 32 to Fischer

Fischer to Fredericksberg 47 miles............32 to 1888 to 1376 to 87 to Fredericksberg ..............approx. 240 miles total.

big_heineken
10-30-09, 01:35 PM
Not sure about the roads, but 77 doesn't go through Bastrop. Do you mean 71?
adamrice
11-01-09, 06:58 PM
I've ridden almost every inch of US 290 between Houston and Fredericksburg--apart from the Houston and Austin spheres of influence, it's a very rideable road. I can't help you much with getting outside of Houston—290 is pretty bad all the way out to Prairie View—but 359 was a pretty good side road to use when I did Austin-Houston.

Around Austin, I can imagine either taking a north route or a south route. A south route would be flatter, and would go something like this: cut south on FM 973 at Manor and take that to FM 1327 (with a brief spell on US 183), FM 1327 to FM 1626 (with some brief spells on other roads), FM 1626 to 967 to 150, which takes you back to 290 in Dripping Springs.

Your proposed route takes you through the new exurbs of San Antonio (Fischer), which were a terrible mess last time I drove through there (admittedly, that was a while ago). Too many people on narrow country roads not built for the traffic.

Another way to handle the segment west of Austin would be to take Fitzhugh Rd to CR 169 to Hamilton Pool Rd, which will take you right past Hamilton Pool, a beautiful grotto worth stopping at. You can take that road out to Round Mountain, continue on RR 962 to FM 3347 to FM 1323 to RR 1631. This would be a challenging, hilly route.