Lunch spot along the Medina River between Bandera and Boerne, Texas
The Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas- yes the tower is designed to look like the bow of a river steamer.
Part of Enchanted Rock- a huge basolith on the Willow City Loop outside of Fredericksburg, TX
Andi Moran, riding companion and creator of colorful hill names, amidst the bluebonnets along willow city loop
a few stray "republican" bluebonnets among the "democratic" majority
The only rain of the trip, moving off to the south
Andi and Janet, riding companions, contemplating the "baby Bertha bitch" hill before the Enchanted Rock- see that little dot just to the center above their heads-
Texas Bluebonnets in full bloom
scenery on the ride- all that's missing is a cattle guard
among the bluebonnets
Part of the Willow City Loop
Why it's good to "share the road, ya'all"
St. Mary's, Help of Christians, built in 1841 , near Fischer, TexasI just got back from a five day tour of the Texas Hill Country with Woman Tours.
Last year Michelle, one of the guides on the Southern Tier Cross Country ride, was in the final throes of mapping, riding and organizing this tour and this year was it's first run.
It was a challenging but fantastic tour. There were lots of hills including two on one day which Andi, one of my riding companions referred to as "baby bitch Bertha" and "Big bitch Bertha." Michelle, the guide who came up with the route, is such a gentle person, she never really mentioned where in the ride on that day they were, and when ever someone asked her if they had gone over the "really big climb" yet, she would get this little smile on her face and say something like" well, it is hill country so....." Later she justified herself by saying she didn't want to panic anybody.
Thanks to copious winter rains this year, the wildflowers are out full. Last year when we rode through this same area while riding the Southern Tier Cross Country, Texas had had a drought winter and so there weren't very many wildflowers. This year the fields and hills were covered in Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush, Evening Primrose and miscellaneous little bright purple and yellow flowers, referred to as LPF and LYFs (little purple flowers and little yellow flowers.)
The weather was sunny to partially cloudy most days, and while it was warm and humid for the first two days, the rest of the week was cooler, drier and a lot windier, thanks to a cold front moving through. The day we left Fredericksburg, it started raining as we pulled into the cafe for breakfast, but by the time we had finished eating, the front had moved on south of us and even the rest of that day was sunny and fine. Actually the rest of the week was fine but windy. We rode mostly on quiet 2 lane farm roads through private property which meant lots of cattleguards - 42 in one day- loose cattle (including a wandering guard llama) occasional loose dogs and lots of hills ranging from mild to the Kentucky type- the ones that spring out at you from around a bend and you just know you are not going to be able to downshift enough to climb it at enough speed to ride safely over the cattle guard which is conveniently located half way up the hill. No , the Kentucky hills didn't have cattle guards but it was often the case that you couldn't downshift fast enough to maintain enough speed to keep from falling over. Aside from the Kentucky type hills, there were a lot of not so gentle rollers, moderately steep and long enough to feel like a grind, somesmaller and gentler rollers, and one really short fierce climb of 12% over the "Eagles Nest Pass" going from Fredericksburg through Medina into Kerrville.
We worked ourselves in a roughly counter clockwise circle from Boerne, north and east to Wimberly, north to Fredericksburg, did the Willow City loop which went in a smaller counterclockwise circle and returned to Fredericksburg, west from Fredericksburg to Kerrville, south east from Kerrville to Bandera and east from Bandera back into Boerne. We stayed in a range of places from the old inn in Boerne, to the one and only motel, colorfully decorated with 360 degree murals in some rooms and luminsescent stars and the milky way, complete with supplimental black lighting, in Bandera. But the best part, aside from the scenery, challenging riding and the wildflowers was a chance to cruise through a variety of small Texas towns in the company and with the cameraderie of 20 other older women, all capable of doing the ride, handling the mechanical problems and able to laugh about it and poke fun at themselves at the end of the day.
day 1- Boerne to Wimberly- this is the town we were warned to get out of by a local coffee shop owner last year who informed us that "they didn't much care for bikers around here". Since we came into town from the opposite direction, it wasn't until the next day that I recognized anything so obviously the comment didn't count. This is also the town we went to astray on last year and took Crabapple Road instead of old Blanco Road, leading to some creative route finding and several unnecessary climbs at the end of a long hot day. This time we took the right road and it was a much nicer ride. Also when we came through on the ST last year we had been climbing and my hill climbing legs and gear switching were in much better shape and coordination. It was one of those days when you stand on your bike for awhile because you aren't sure you can dimount without cramping or falling over.
Stats 61.5 miles at 12.4 mph-
day 2-Wimberly to Fredericksburg-Today as we rode out I finally recognized some of the Wimberly sights, but couldn't find the Maui Wowee Coffee shop. It was a lot of hills today, mostly going up and down the same 1,000 feet over and over as we looped up and off the higher area of the Edwards Plateau, the main limestone formation that makes this "hill country." We stopped for lunch at Luckenbach, Texas, population 3- which consists of a general store in the bend of the road, a row of porta potties, a very few houses, and a large motorcycle/tourist parking lot. The general store had a couple of old guys in the back playing live music and sold everything from locally put up sauces and jams to all sorts of "biker" (motorcycle style) gear and tourist kitch. It was a fun break in a day full of trying to get the gear shifting on the hill climbing right and some pretty fast downhills. Lots of miles and miles of miles and miles, wild turkeys and deer off in the wood and pretty but dry scenery.
Stats 66 miles at 12.4
Day 3- Willow City Loop out of Fredericksburg. We had the option of being jumped the 20 miles to Willow City and the Willow City loop which most of us took advantage of. Several people hung around Fredericksburg or rented cars and went off to do things and several of the die hard riders opted to ride the whole 67 miles. As it turned out, opting out of the first 20 miles was a good choice for me. The Willow City loop is a 25 mile circuit that goes down the canyon carved by Coal Creek between the Edwards Plateau and the LLano uplift and passes by Enchanted Rock State Park and the Enchanted Rock- a free standing basolithic form in the midst of the geology of the two headlands. The majority of the ride was in a downhill trend, although there were some pretty steep rollers here and there, even on the way downhill. The open spaces on either side of the road were dotted with junipers, prickly pear cactus, gamma grass and sweeps of bluebonnets climbing across and up towards the canyon walls. The bluebonnets were so dense it looked like there was a blue gray ground fog everywhere in the distance. There were a lot of stream and gulch crossings, fortunately dry thanks to the nice weather, and quite a few loose cattle wandering across the road with the calves all being skittish and the mother cows being defensive. There was a pretty long and grinding climb back out of the canyon bottom back up towards Enchanted Rock where we stopped for lunch. By that time the headwinds were increasing so we headed out to climb the series of "significant" climbs along route 16 back into Fredericksburg. The last 20 miles were primarily long moderately steep rollers back up onto the uplift and plateau, made nastier by the fact that the wind was blowing in our faces at 25 mph and gusting to 35. You know it's a bit windy when you have to pedal down the hill to maintain any speed above 10 mph. Although the loop was lovely and I wouldn't have missed it, I truly grateful when I pulled into the parking lot at Fredericksburg Inn and Suites.
Stats 47 miles, 11.4 mph
Day 4 Fredericksburg to Kerrville-The day started out with a heavy rain shower while we were eating breakfast, but fortunately by the time we were ready to roll out, it had decreased to light sprinkles, and by the time we were out of town we could see the back edge of the front rolling towards us with brisk winds and blue skies. This was the day when we hit the "Tennessee"type hills- surprise! and 42 cattle guards. There were more loose cattle on the road, mostly content to stand a watch us go by with the occasional cow getting spooked and bolting into the road way on a righ angle contact path with the biker. As we passed by the groups, they would moo which for some reason sounded like approaching motorcycles, so we spent a lot of time dodging over to the side of the road and then staying there. I'm also pretty sure that the fact that almost every really challenging roller had a cattle guard half way up it was coincidence, but when it happens 21 times in a row, you do have to wonder. This was also a challenging cue sheet day, you know the kind that is ride.5 miles, turn, ride.3 miles, turn, etc. but between the three of us (janet,andi and myself) we managed to stay on cue. Aside from the challenges of the cows and cattleguards, it was what we laughingly call a "rolling recovery ride." Pleasant, varied terrain and not enough of anything to really knock you flat, but enough to keep you alert and at a sustained energy expenditure. We stayed at the YO Ranch Resort Hotel- infamous for its' 53 varieties of stuffed game heads along with a mama and baby giraffe, also stuffed, in the main lobby.
Today's pithy church sign said "there are no utility bills in heaven, Jesus is the light." This is the only one I saw the whole trip because I guess we were too close to Easter for pithiness, or maybe too far west.
Stats 39 miles 11.6 mph
Day 6 Kerrville to Bandera Texas- The big event of today was climbing the "Eagle's Nest" at mile 18. Rumor had it that the grade was 12+ although after I had done the math, it evened out at 10% but it was still a pretty significant climb. What made it more challenging was the fact that the road was barely 2 lanes, and had several switchbacks. What made it doable is that it was, in fact, only about .4 miles of climb. The descent,being equally steep, narrow and switchbacked, was equally challenging. Several of the ladies had visions of their brake pads melting or failing. To me it felt as bad as the descent from Emerson Pass last year, with the major difference being that there was no where to stop even if you wanted to. On the other hand, there was just a gully and not a 300 foot drop off the edge. We got up it without walking and down the other side and then pulled into Medina, home of Love Creek Orchards and all things apple. Fortunately the van was there so I indulged in some apple cinnamon jelly to take home. I knew we were having pie for lunch in another half a mile so I opted for a cup of apple cinnamon coffee which was just right.
The rest of the ride was uneventful. We passed a "Wildflower Habitat" area and had visions of a nice side trail or ride. Unfortunately, although it was home to over 130 species of native tree and wildflower, it was completely fenced off and posted as no trespassing. We rode into Bandera, " Cowboy Capital of the World", got an ice cream on Main Street and then checked into our last motel. After seeing some of the rooms that other ladies had, which had murals which started on the back side of the door and continued on all the walls, completely around the room, including the bathroom and ended at the door again, my roomate and I were feeling that we had gotten the short end of the stick, that is until we turned the light off later that night and lay back to behold a ceiling full of stars with the milky way , in all it's glory, bisecting the room. It only took us about 15 minutes to stop laughing and disable the black light, but the star took about twice as long to fade to blackness.
Stats 44 miles, 13.2 mph
Day 7 Bandera to Boerne- A short ride, mostly on route 16 with some more of its' famous "challenging" climbs, although by now the hill climbing legs were back and the gear shifting was automatic. The worst part of the ride was that the last 20 or so miles were on chip seal paving, which made for a less than pleasant ride. It's like riding on cobblestones, it jars your teeth, rattles the fillings, and the only way to get through it is as briskly as possible, although we had to keep stopping to let our eyes focus long enough to read the cue sheet, if only to see how much further we had to go. Lunch was in the park in front of the inn we started from and was pretty much broken up by people coming in, running into the bathroom to change, grab some lunch and climb back onto the van to commute to the airport.
Stats-28 miles, 11.6 mph
All in all it was a lovely week, and an excellent chance to do some fun and challenging riding, but I sort of felt like I was just starting to get into shape for the hills. Next year, I hope they extend the tour for a few more days.
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