I have lived in Austin for a little more than two weeks. A local told me that Austin can be a very dangerous place to ride. People here, he says, will run over you just for fun. My bike is in storage but when our new home is ready, I will be living in Dripping Springs. Should I only ride with a group? What has been your experience?

I don't think it is quite that bad. Go to www.Austinbike.com for some information.

Thanks, I will check out Austin Bike.

Also check out the Austin Cycling Association: https://www.austincycling.org/ While I haven't been on those particular rides, there seem to be fairly regular rides starting from Dripping Springs.

As far as Austin goes for sense of cycling safety, it depends where you are used to cycling. Some of the roads and highways don't have much in way of shoulders. Regardless of where I've ridden in the US, I've noticed a minority of motorists who aren't best around cyclists when there isn't much room to pass [a minority but also the ones you remember]. In that regard, I've found Austin motorists better than average as far as being courteous to cyclists though it is still the jerks you remember and there are jerks here too.

There are a few roads (US290 between Dripping Springs and where it turns into freeway in Oak Hill is one of them), that I prefer not to ride since there can be a lot of traffic and not much in way of shoulders. I think doing some group rides may be helpful to find such roads. However, otherwise not sure group riding changes much. I live in Oak Hill area and have chosen not to own an automobile and hence ride my bike pretty much everywhere.

Yea people out in the 'burbs don't like riders too much but in town it's actually quite good, or once you get way, way out it's good also. The suburbs are where it's a clusterf###. I personally would not live in Dripping Springs if I liked to ride bikes, but to each his own.

Austin Cycling Association has a good ride just south of DS called "Mt Gainer's Goners" but I don't recommend going all the way into Wimberley because that's another very unfriendly place for cyclists. Stay on the county roads and it's pretty enjoyable.

You can also ride Fitzhugh Road out to Johnson City, but don't go east of Ranch Road 12 because there's too much traffic on that portion. The farther away from DS you get, the better the road is as far as having less cars goes. Be sure to walk your bike across the low water crossing though, it gets really slimy. Unfortunately the low water crossing is right at the bottom of a screaming descent, but such is life.

Wow...I used to live in SW Austin, I can't imagine not having a car in that general area.

Thanks, I will live close to Fitzhugh Road and Ranch Road 12 so that is probably the place I will ride the most.

bicycleaustin.info

Great website/resource for the austin cycling community, hosted by michael bluejay.
Also,
Austin Bike Map, get one in print to keep on the bike....

https://austintexas.gov/sites/default...v10_DETAIL.pdf

Get around SW austin by bike all the time.......gotten easier, IMO.

That could very well be, it's been 9 years since I lived over there.

I downsized and moved over to the NE side, close to the new Mueller redevelopment but in a 1964 built house. I feel like I have way better options over where I live now, for example I took a circuitous route down to Zilker last night for a movie screening and "howl at the full moon" session at Barton Springs. Across town on North Loop and Hancock Dr, then up to the top of Cat Mountain, then down along Balcones, 35th, Pecos and Scenic Drive along Lake Austin.

I would post the route but I'm not comfortable with people on this forum basically knowing my exact location from the Endomondo map overlay.

You can keep going all the way to Fredericksburg if you want to go for big distance, there's very quiet FM roads north and west of Johnson City. Some of them are free range though so watch out for cow patties

This is the route that I like: https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=J...a=1,2&t=m&z=13

Check out all of the connectivity into town on this map.
You can also use ACC Pinnacle campus to make the jump from circle rd across 290 and into all of austin.
There are actually more trails and options than shown on this map. MapMyRide might be more updated.
Also, use the COA Bike Map !!!
and the website, bicycleaustin.info
Invaluable local resource and forum.

https://goo.gl/maps/hWVo4

Dripping Springs is a great place to ride. The roads between here and Austin aren't that great, so it isn't a good place to commute from or in general to be a transportation cyclist. However, if you are a recreational cyclist, there are many rides that can be done from Dripping Springs to Wimberley, San Marcos, Blanco, Johnson City, Fredericksburg, Marble Falls and so forth. I, personally, don't go into Austin to ride very often because I don't like the traffic and the constant stop signs and lights. If you like quiet country roads, we've got plenty of them. Of course, not all of the roads out here are as quiet, smooth and wide-shouldered as we would like, but most of our rides involve primarily good roads, with occasional stretches of sub-optimal. You do need to like to climb, though.

I know the Fitzhugh-12 area pretty well. You don’t want to head south on 12 for sure, but you’ve got a number of ways that you can go from there – Fitzhugh all the way to Johnson City, or Bell Springs to south of 290, out 12 and Hamilton Pool to Round Mountain, lots of options. If you can give me information on what sort of distances you are looking for, I can point you at some routes. Depending upon distance and speed, I may even be able to hook you up with some riders.