Saturday, March 10, 2018
Took advantage of an unseasonably warm day today and rode a tried and true route with my frequent riding buddy, Pat Fries. Saturday riding is kind of sketchy in neighborhoods because people are out and about and not following their usual routine, so they can become easily distracted. In particular, watch for cars backing out of driveways and people driving through stop signs. You probably shouldn’t do what Pat did, take a selfie while wheels were turning.
Our tried and true route is dominated by Loop 360 and Bee Caves Road, which means there are a lot of hills and cars driving by at 60 mph or more. Loop 360, which beautiful and challenging, has other unique risks in the form of entrance and exit ramps. I’ll dedicate a separate post to that later. The key to safe riding on 360 is to stay to the right in the wide road shoulders and try to block out the fact that cars and trucks are whizzing by you. This is tough to do at first but after awhile, the traffic becomes white noise as you struggle with your own fitness on the road’s substantial climbs.
Bee Caves Road is similar to 360, except that there are a number of business entrances along the route, which means you have to be aware that a car or truck might not see you and turn into your path. I’ll do more on that later, too.
My friend Pat produces documentaries for a living, so when I got a flat on Bee Caves Road, he recognized a teachable moment.
Here’s more on https://www.strava.com/activities/1446111016/embed/d62c4c4932dac0c028f90b67fe1d217c8c9c787f“>today’s ride.
Austin Bike Sherpa 