Chilling out with a Tour de Austin
I’ve realized I haven’t taken an extended break from training in over 2 years. It was around August of 2006 that I started Marathon/IM Lake Placid training and I have always been training for something (half iron, IM, marathon, etc) non-stop since then. Sure, there have been an ‘easy’ week here and there, but nothing longer than seven or eight days.
It’s about time. With Montgomery fading in the rear view mirror and a month and a half until IM CDA training starts ramping up, I’ve been cutting back. I know intellectually that I’ll benefit long term, but it’s not easy to do. Training becomes habit. It’s a real emotional challenge to go from 20-hour, focused, planned training weeks to 5-6 hours a week of relaxed, spontaneous training. I’m fighting the feeling that I’m slacking too much.
There are some great things to come from time off, no doubt. For instance, ever since I’ve started biking to work, I’ve really begun to enjoy the ‘other’ side of cycling: riding for transportation and riding simply to enjoy the ride. I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving the training and racing side of cycling, but without breaks, I get the ‘hamster on the wheel’ syndrome of going nowhere fast.
This weekend was a ride simply to enjoy the ride. Ivonne and I spent a few chilly, gray hours riding through the city of Austin exploring how well the city bike system is set up. I was skeptical of the City’s “bikeability”. Maybe I ride too much on country roads for training and only remember the negatives of dealing with city traffic, but I assumed that Austin is a still a ‘car city’ where bikes are relegated to the fringes.
It turns out that while we still don’t live in a utopia, it’s not too bad and it’s definitely improving. We went from Northwest Austin down to the Capitol Building and back using two different routes.
First Part of the Ride - Click to Enlarge
We started from Parmer and headed west to Jollyville. We had to make an unplanned pitstop at Buck’s Bikes on Jollyville/183 to deal with a cleat problem Ivonne was having (side note – if you’re using big red Look cleats on small shoes and can’t clip in, a shim may just be the answer!). After the emergency cleat fix, we turned south into the cold wind and made our way through the Arboretum, and across 360 to Mesa, the start of thee North-South Bike Route 23. Mesa was a nice ride, though I imagine the 4-way stop signs at quite a few intersections can get a bit annoying with heavier traffic.
Somewhere about halfway through Mesa, Route 23 turns off of a ‘main’ road and starts meandering through some hilly neighborhoods. On a Saturday afternoon, car traffic was no problem, but I would imagine that on a dark evening it could be problematic. Blind turns, big hills and unmarked streets (no center lines, no curb lines, no bike lanes) might call for extra caution. We also encountered the steepest hill on our ride on Highland Hills. Completely unexpected, it was a short, but extremely steep, and would be unfriendly to a new cyclist.
Continuing South - Click to Enlarge
Crossing 2222 to Parkcrest was tough. Traffic is absolutely insane on this part of 2222. Speed limits (35mph on this stretch), are completely ignored as drivers fly by. We waited a few minutes for a break long enough to risk crossing. The ride from here down to Lake Austin Blvd. was smooth sailing. A bit hilly, but that’s generally unavoidable in this section of town.
Cutting east on Lake Austin we crossed under Mopac on 5th Street and turnded left up West Lynn. Until construction is complete on 5th Street, this would be an area to avoid. Lots of gravel, narrow lanes and a ton of traffic at 1pm on a Saturday makes for a stressful 1/4 mile. West Lynn to the Capitol was a nice easy ride via 12th street.
Downtown heading North - Click to Enlarge
Up until this area, the Bike Route had been well marked. Every major intersection had the route numbers and turns clearly identified. If you knew the route numbers and paid attention, you would have no problem making your way. In downtown Austin, that all fell apart. I’m not sure whether it was the increased traffic, exponential increase in general street signage or if the routes really were marked more poorly, but this was the only part of the ride where we got off track. The plan was to come down on 23 and go back north on 47. Problem was, we couldn’t find 47. We circled around a few times and finally decided to head north on 49, hoping to find 47. We got lucky (well, I say it was my outstanding sense of direction, but Ivonne calls it luck). Rt. 47 was a couple of blocks from where we were looking for it, and it wasn’t well marked.
The area around the Capitol and the Univeristy had the most cyclists we’d seen all day. For a chilly Saturday afternoon before Thanksgiving break, there were quite a few folks getting places on their bikes. I can only imagine a nice day when classes are in full session.
The Home Stretch - Click to Enlarge
The trip north on 47 was uneventful. The only negative was crossing Lamar. I absolutely detest North Lamar as one of the ugliest, least interesting and most poorly designed roads in Austin. I avoid it whenever possible. This crossing has raised it from ‘detest’ to ‘abhor’. We waited for over 5 minutes to cross, and had to cross at an unsafe angle. This was the worst part of the ride for me. Thankfully, it was only about 100 yards long, and we had just a few more miles remaining.
We finished up the ride with tacos and tortas at the Taco Deli on Gracy Farms and Mopac. We pulled up 5 minutes before closing time (what luck!) and everyone there was friendly and cool with us eating and relaxing despite delaying their closing time by a bit.
Based on the route we took, I’d give the City a “B-”. There were some sections of the ride that didn’t make much sense (that hill!) and some that are downright dangerous (boo North Lamar! boo!), but it was easy to get where we were going. We ended up taking about 3 hours to go 35 miles or so. Not the fastest average speed ever but don’t forget - I’m in off-season mode – so no worries!
Tags: Austin Texas, Bicycles, cycling, Downtown Austin