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Any roadies with lots of experience riding south of Austin?


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I've ridden some of these roads but it was a loooong time ago and I know things have changed with development and new roads and such. Can anyone comment on the route between Austin and San Marcos and beyond in terms of how dicey the route is? I can navigate through South Austin but I'm concerned with the FM/rural roads.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/6007516

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Same for me. It's been a while but I used to take roughly that route to 5 mile and back. I think we used to go down twin creeks road but I would not recommend that anymore. I rode the the livestrong challenge last year and did a lot of that same road to get out of Austin. It all seemed reasonable.

There are a few people I follow on Strava that do that route at least down to San Marcos regularly. https://www.strava.com/activities/2415493641 (not me)

I'm sure you could call and get advice from Buda Bike Co. They do a Saturday ride that I've been wanting to check out and I think they typically ride south starting in Buda. https://www.strava.com/clubs/budabikeco 

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I was going to point you to the Bike Austin Kyle ride, but it looks like they no longer do it.  I wonder if that says something about the route?  I know that even a few years ago. OSR didn't seem the safest road to take.

I did the Tour de Cure a few years back from San Antonio to Austin, but it was a lot more circuitous route.  I bet some of the south folks will post with more recent info.

I feel more comfortable out of the city.  IMO the suburban FM/RM are the worst.

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I'm signing in here in order to follow the thread because I'd like to know too.

I've not done this route for at least 5+ yrs.  However, a while back I did talk to one of my buddies who does.  He said its not as bad as you'd think.  I'm fairly certain that he rides it early in AM and with a group of people so take that FWIW.  I ride the road quite a bit, and ALWAYS prefer to be with other riders.  As a small tip, back when I was regularly riding this route we'd turn off on a small side road (at mile 19.5 on the link) and take it across to 1626.  I recall that the section this allowed us to miss was near the gravel pits and thus avoided some of the dump truck traffic and such.

Further note, on Strava I've notices that many more people are taking a more eastern route down to San Marcos.  I too have done this, but its been even longer than 5 yrs now.  I recall it going thru Creedmore(?) area as you meander East of I35 down to San Marcos.  I think its longer, less direct, but probably less trafficked.  I can't help with the route, I don't have a record of it (on my Strava) as example.  I bet the heat map may be a good start for references.

I sorta got a whole lotta nuthin, -CJB

 

 

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23 minutes ago, CBaron said:

Further note, on Strava I've notices that many more people are taking a more eastern route down to San Marcos.  I too have done this, but its been even longer than 5 yrs now.  I recall it going thru Creedmore(?) area as you meander East of I35 down to San Marcos.  I think its longer, less direct, but probably less trafficked.  I can't help with the route, I don't have a record of it (on my Strava) as example.  I bet the heat map may be a good start for references.

 

 

Yes, the eastern route is what we took for Tour de Cure.  I'll try to dig it up from my archives.

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For exiting Austin and into Buda the SH45 SW toll road that just opened has a sidewalk/bike path that goes from the end of Escarpment to 1626. 1626 has been widened with a shoulder but you only have to make it to Lakewood Dr to sneak through Leisure Woods and the Coves to 967 and into Buda. If you were coming from anywhere W of Brodie that's the way I'd go but it's brand new so I haven't done it.

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58 minutes ago, taco_junkie said:

For exiting Austin and into Buda the SH45 SW toll road that just opened has a sidewalk/bike path that goes from the end of Escarpment to 1626. 1626 has been widened with a shoulder but you only have to make it to Lakewood Dr to sneak through Leisure Woods and the Coves to 967 and into Buda. If you were coming from anywhere W of Brodie that's the way I'd go but it's brand new so I haven't done it.

I'm a northy and not exactly familiar with these details.  But... if I was riding South and used the pedestrian bridge at 360 to cross (from N to S) where would I go from there to get to SH45 SW?  Way back when...I'd ride Congress South from downtown and take it all the way past Slaughter.  But like I said earlier, thats been at least 5 yrs ago.  Your option, at a glance, seems like a cleaner solution.  

Thanks, -CJB

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I've done the ped bridge across 360 a few times and I got there and back via Southwest Parkway to William Cannon to Escarpment. Southwest Parkway isn't great for that first stretch. 3 lanes no shoulder and 50mph. There is a plan to make that better in a few years with the YBC trail assuming that's still a go. It should connect all that stuff from the bridge all the way to Oak Hill.

Other road options involve Brodie or sections of the 290 frontage.

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I did some digging around on that Ride W GPS site and here are examples of the eastern route to San Marcos.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/1978851 - Typically, we ride it clockwise (down Eastern, back Western)

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27477435 - I think I've done this route (maybe with this group) a few times?  Its a little "more" easterly and I see it goes through Creedmore, which is what I'm use to doing.  This ride was done for distance, not for directness to San Marcos (or beyond).  So the previous route above might be better?

Cheers,
CJB

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I was down in San Marcos yesterday and drove Hunter Rd from the outlet malls to TX State for the first time in a decade. Going S to N it’s now got a nice wide shoulder all the way ‘til where your route hops East a block near downtown. I’ve ridden S of FM 150 in Kyle a ton. Old stagecoach is a little 2 lane rd. Only concern is people driving to 5 mi dam from in SM. Time of day on a weekend could be a factor now that schools out. Post Rd into SM isn’t too bad and thru downtown to Hunter is pretty low speed and they’re used to students on bikes. I haven’t ridden that stretch from the concrete plant in Buda to Plum Creek/FM 150 in years. Don’t know if someone else has done that recently. IIRC, it wasn’t horrible but the trucks can choke the crap out of you by the plant.

Don’t know if anyone else has better internet Kung Fu than I do at finding old maps, but the early Wurstrides used to leave TXPWD HQ on the east side off Burleson and stayed east of 35 til around the outlet malls. All 2010/2011 maps I found roughly go your route.


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