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Best place to ride a bike in Central Texas
My favorite place to ride a bike in Central Texas tied for fourth in the A-List’s poll this week.
What’s wrong with you people?!
Haha.
I’ve ridden all 10 places that made the list. The first place winner — the Barton Creek Greenbelt — comes as no surprise. The Greenbelt, which snared 21 percent of the vote, is right in town and packed with challenging terrain. You can hop on at the trail head near Barton Springs Pool and pedal for miles, crossing streams, clattering through fields of “baby heads” (grapefruit-sized rocks) and generally hammering your spine while you try to stay on your bike. It’s a back-to-nature fix in the middle of the city.
I prefer the park road linking Bastrop and Buescher state parks, but that’s just me. (It also depends if I’m looking for a mountain bike route or a road bike route.)
If I’m on a road bike, the park road is perfect — a series of rolling hills on a lightly-traveled road thick with pine trees, toads and sound-damping pine needles. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the park from Austin, and from there you can park near the swimming pool. Pedal the loop around Bastrop State Park first, then hop on the road to Buescher. It’s enough to work your quads, but not turn your legs to jelly. You’ll feel like you’re in the Piney Woods of East Texas.
Other top finishers on the A-List for Best Place to Ride a Bike?
The Lady Bird Lake hike-and-bike trail got 20.7 percent of the vote. Nice, yes, but it gets crowded. You can’t air it out on the trail, either. You’ve got to be wary of pedestrians and baby strollers and other traffic. (I once encountered a motor scooter on the trail!)
The Veloway, that paved loop near the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, tied with the Lady Bird Lake hike-and-bike trail with 20.7 percent of the vote. It’s another good place to ride (watch for snakes and armadillos), but closed loops tend to get boring after a while. But if you’re leery of cars, this is a good place to start.
I love Walnut Creek Park, which tied for my park road for fourth. It’s got lots of manageable trails, including one my husband and I call the “whoop de do” trail. You can lose your self out there in the spaghetti bowl of trails through the woods. That’s a good thing.
Also getting votes were the Shoal Creek hike-and-bike trail with 7 percent (part of my weekly bike commute to work); the Driveway with 5.7 percent (check out the weekly crit races!); the Dam Loop (all I have to say about that RM2222 downhill is “Wheeeeeee!”) with 4 percent; and Muleshoe Recreation Area with 2.2 percent.
No love for Pace Bend Park …
Here are the complete results:
Where’s the best place to ride a bike in Central Texas?
- Barton Creek greenbelt — 21.1 percent
- Lady Bird Lake hike-and-bike trail — 20.7 percent
- Veloway — 20.7 percent
- Walnut Creek Park — 9.25 percent
- Park road linking Bastrop and Buescher state parks — 9.25 percent
- Shoal Creek hike-and-bike trail — 7 percent
- The Driveway — 5.7 percent
- Dam Loop — 3.96 percent
- Muleshoe Recreation Area — 2.2 percent
- Pace Bend Park — 0 percent
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