lOOKING FOR A WARM, SCENIC AREA FOR A FEW WEEKS IN DEC/JAN
 

We're thinking of escaping the cold here in Ontario for a while this winter and traveling south with our trailer. The Rio Grande valley is an area that we are looking at. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions. We like hiking and biking in scenic areas.

Any help will be appreciated!

Fort Davis and Marfa, Texas.

Don in Austin

I could add to that Fredricksburg TX

Thank you both for your help! We're trying to decide and may try all of areas suggested.

There are several bicycle clubs in the valley. One blog is rgvcycling.com. Depends on your definition of scenic.

Check average temps before deciding on a place to land. The Valley seems to be the overwhelming place to snow bird in Texas. Alpine/Marfa, 5000' elevation, can be pretty cold. The Hill Country, Austin and Fredricksburg, not so much. Strong cycling culture there too.

Thanks again, we're thinking now that we should go to the Rio Grande Valley first, stay longer and then move north and visit the other suggested areas as they warm up.

Temperatures can be pretty variable down here. A few years ago, I was in Alice, Texas, for a ride. The day of the ride, it was around 80, and I sweated about two gallons worth making my Century. The next morning, I got up and it was in the 40's with a hard wind blowing.

Cymro, if you're still coming to the RGV or already here, send me a PM and I'll let you know about who cycles where, assuming you're interesting in group riding. I live in Harlingen and ride as much as I can in the lower RGV. We have a small group that rides in Harlingen, but McAllen, Mission and Brownsville have larger groups.

The third annual Pico de Gallo 100 is officially on for Dec 15th. It's a "non-sponsored" group ride that is picking up some steam. I've not done it before but plan to this year. Some people only do part of the ride.

http://picodegallo100.com/

BTW the riding weather was great this last weekend. Hardly any wind for once!! Temps in the upper 50s to low 70s in the morning and humidity was not a killer either.

The picodeallo link stirred up a malware alert by G. Chrome.

I was in the RGV recently, and saw that the cities down there have done a lot of bike lane striping. They are making an effort to create a better environment for cycling. Lots of long straight stretches of road. Probably the flattest land in Texas, and there's a lot of flat land here.

Fort Davis and Marfa will be very hit and miss on Dec/Jan due to their altitude, which makes them great late summer Texas weekend trips.

We spend the week between Christmas and New Years in Fredericksburg. Excellent riding.

I went down to Brownsville to spend Thanksgiving with the family. I wished I had taken my bike like I had planned. Nice marked bike lanes along almost traffic free roads. The bike trail looked so inviting to ride as well.

I worked in the valley for a number of years, staying in weslaco during the week. Any of the larger towns (Harlingen, Brownsville, McAllen) will be nice for rides and stuff to do. My wife's grandma lives in Brownsville so we are there a lot and its nice, her uncle cycles there daily with no trouble. To stay though, in an rv or travel trailer, I would stay in one of the smaller towns and just ride to wherever. Weslaco, Donna, Pharr, any of the smaller towns will have better parks and nicer small restruants. Plus, the pitch and putts are nicer.

Jalapeño 100 is coming up in the Valley, I think. Also, South Padre Island and Port Isabel can be a lot of fun to tool around by bike.
If you are up for adventure, a balloon tired mountain bike, single speed or geared, or even a beach cruiser trek can be a lot of fun. Start near the bridge/causeway and ride all of the developed part of South Padre Island. Then, if you are bold, take your bikes, binoculars, water, food, and camping gear straight north on the Padre National Seashore. Easy riding if you stay closer to the water. You can ride for days, all the way to the Mansfield Cut. Get a boat to ferry you, then you can ride all the way to Corpus Christi.

Brownsville is very nice to ride around the zoo.

Lots of good backroads to explore in the valley as well.

Also, check out Lake Amistad while you are down here.

Big Bend, Marfa, Alpine, Ft. Davis, Terlingua.

Then up to Kerrville, Bandera, Fredricksburg, and Austin, all great places to bike.

Also.....Garner State Park is a great place to camp and bike. Very worth checking out.....

McKinney Falls State Park in Austin......bike paths and bike access to all of Austin.

Guadalupe River State Park north of San Antonio......beautiful Guadalupe River and bike paths and state park roads.

Pedernales State Park outside of Johnson City, near Austin.

Colorado Bend State Park.......gravel roads, paths, camping, scenic, not crowded, etc......