Hi Guys,
I will be working in Waxahachie for work for a couple of weeks from next week and am planning a to spend the weekend in Austin. Coming from Sydney Australia I wanted to find out if any of you know of any good cycling routes I could tackle while I’m in town. For both Wax or Austin? I’m planning on bringing my Gravel/ Roadbike set up.
look forward to your thoughts!
Cheers
Sean
Hey Sean. Austin has plenty of great riding. One of the best is a bit outside of Austin - Fredricksburg has a famous loop. I’ll look it up when I get to a computer and post it here.
My friend Russell owns a bike shop and regularly does bikepacking and hosts group rides. Stop by or email his shop and I’m sure they can sort you out with advice. https://cycleast.com
From South/Central part of Austin (on west side of IH 35): Southwest Parkway to right on 71, right on Bee Caves. Then you can either go: left on 360 (north) for 5-6 miles (cross the iconic “360 Bridge”), u-turn at Spicewood Springs and come south on 360 back to Bee Caves (aka FM 2244) (this will include the hardest climbs on the route); or…come down Bee Caves and turn right on 360 (south); take the right exit for Mopac/Loop 1, but stay all the way to the right, pass a bunch of cars parked on either side of the road and jig to the right when you see a dirt walking path - this will put you on ~50 meters of sidewalk, then right onto a pedestrian bridge; follow the bridge up a little switchback, go right and cross the highway, jig left past a hotel up to the next intersection. Turn right and you are back on Southwest Parkway. That should be 35-50 miles depending on what route you take. It will be anywhere from 2500-4,000 feet of climbing - mostly short punchy climbs btw 3-5% and a few longer steeper climbs of 6-10%. Winds are typically from the S/SW, so probably in your face over the second half. Early March, weather could be anywhere from low 40s to 80+ (we hit a record high of 90 a couple of weeks ago). Let me search and I will find a nearby gravel route for you
This is March 2nd; its about 30 miles east of Austin:
I think the route I’m thinking of is called the Willow City loop - starts in Fredricksburg and loops out. Google should give you some good ideas of the route. Try some of these: MapMyRide
I’ll vouch for Fredericksburg…not just Willow City Loop - there are a ton of good routes around town. I used to spend about a week there every year when I lived in Texas… no shortage of great roads.
You wouldn’t be disappointed if you went to the hill country around Wimberly and rode.
I’ve been to Waxahachie for work several times but I did not ride. Its just far enough south of Dallas that its pretty rural outside of town and looks like the kind of place it would be easy to find good routes, although it is not an epic destination like Austin.
I’ve had good luck using Strava to find local routes when traveling. Use the heat map feature to see where the locals ride then find some popular segments near where you want to start and check out the rides the leaders where doing when they set their times. That should will give you the popular local routes.
Thanks for the info guys. I really appreciate it!
Cheers