This past weekend 13 of us rode from Austin, Texas to Fredricksburg and back. The entire event was planned around birthdays for two of the riders. They turned 50 and 55.
Incredibly, the entire trip had very few mishaps. There were only two flat tires and only one rider that bonked beyond repair and had to be assisted on day 1. This rider finished the second day without a hitch and received many accolades upon arriving home safe.
During preparations all of the riders monitored the weather closely. The weather forecast continued to decline as the departure day arrived and greeted us Friday morning with about a quarter inch of rain. The group decided to delay the ride for one hour and add extra breakfast and coffee before we hit the wet roads.
The group left Westlake and headed west at a slow and easy pace. The fifteen to twenty miles per hour wind from the northwest helped slow us down as well as we climbed out of the neighborhood and headed out of town. You can review the actual route and elevation below courtesy of Strava.
Day 1
Day 2
The second day of the ride forced us to put every single piece of clothing on that we brought. The temperature at ride time was a brisk 37 degrees with wind from the northeast. This meant that as the weather turned and worsened it would give us the opportunity to ride into a headwind on the way back. None of us were excited to fight the wind back to Austin but we remained optimistic since Fredricksburg is higher than Austin and we would be headed downhill. Kinda.
The ride back was nice and easy on the way back. We took several opportunities to stop and “smell the roses” or at the least smell the longhorn cattle as the out of towners snapped pictures of the mystical beasts.
The downhill portion of the ride data is below. It’s not fast but we had fun arguing of whether or not to ride through Barton Creek and up the wall which one rider claims to have measured at 138 % grade.
A big thanks goes out to Kathleen for setting up this ride for her husband Brian and our friend Steve. It was a great event that may be repeated in the future.