Experienced Canadian cyclists asked for an interesting up to 50-mile gravel bike ride. Time constraint – one free afternoon in a conference week. Business associates. First time to cycle together.
Wild Boar family. Roadrunners, ranch cattle, horses, spring flowers, flowing creeks.
Flowers GravelRanch Cattle to water
These good people love outdoor activities, are fun conversationalists, and enjoyed our Texas countryside roads.
Excellent time for TXBT and our guests. Hope they return for more.
Now living in different areas of the U.S., these cyclists have been friends since elementary school. They challenged one another to finish a century gravel ride as motivation to improve their cycling. This was a first century for two of the friends and a first gravel century for the third.
Texas Bike Tours’ guide is experienced with gravel and has a personality blending well with the guests. Custom route created, SAG wagon outfitted including nutrition and beverages they preferred, and transport provided to the start in a small town outside of Austin.
The ride began.
Gravel rides include different types of roads to connect one gravel road to another.
Gravel rides give cyclists bucolic views with almost no traffic.
SAG wagon always close by and there when needed.
These friends cycled fast and caused a mini stampede of calves and their mother cows.
Century Gravel Ride finished! Read more here about our gravel rides.
This solo cycling experience began with a short email asking for SAG support on a one-day Austin to Houston bike ride.
From this beginning to the successful ride to Houston: together we created a plan, Joey the cyclist trained for the long ride, TXBT organized and prepared, and then the day came.
We met at 3 a.m. to begin the ride which meant hours of night cycling for Joey at the beginning.
And finally – more traffic on highways and city streets. No time for photography. We were both focused on cycling into and through Houston safely.
The happiest moment was seeing Joey cycling onto the driveway of his parent’s home where his family cheered him as he rolled in successfully achieving his goal.
It was a precious moment after a full 16+hour day. I savored the looks of joy on the faces of everyone rather than capturing the moment on film. Joey did the work. He was strong, smart and tenacious on the ride. Joey earned his victory and our forever-respect. An impressive guest.
Castell in Llano County is located on the Edwards Plateau as a part of the Texas Hill Country. The Colorado and Llano Rivers flow over and through limestone. The Llano Uplift combined with erosional Paleozoic strata form prominent hills. Enchanted Rock is a part of the scenery as gravel roads meander through these sparsely populated old ranch lands. Jenna & Nick asked for 50 miles of gravel riding in the quiet countryside on flat to rolling roads that allowed them to enjoy nature with moments of adventure and impressive vistas. The TXBT culinary experience director prepared a picnic meal to enjoy at the end of the ride. Fun, fun for all. A gravel ride in the Lockhart area can be found at this link.
Frank requested a guided gravel & road ride for him and his wife with culinary stops and a beer at the end. We also found out they like BBQ and donuts as well as beer with a preference for less-traveled roads. As they are strong riders, they also requested 50 miles.
After a custom-fit at a local bike shop, the TXBT culinary experience director delivered handmade donuts, banana nut bread with a picnic set-up. We then took off to start the ride in the little town of Lockhart. With frequent connections with SAG for a break of good food and relaxation, the ride rolled through bucolic countryside where we were alone with cows, birds, prairie dogs, buzzards, song birds and peace prevailed. Maybe one pick-up truck each hour. Casual & carefree.
We ended the ride at a well-known BBQ spot in Lockhart with cold beer and reminisced about the day. Then, back to Austin with forever memories of a gravel day.