I had been threatening to go ride the park road that runs between Bastrop State Park and Buescher State Park for about a month now. After running through all the usual excuses (it's too late in the day, it's too hot, I'm too hungover) I finally decided to "just do it".
I left the house on Saturday morning around 11 which for me is about as early as it gets, but it wasn't early enough. The temperature was already well into the upper 90's and I still had a 45 minute drive to Smithville. It was 100 by the time I got there. Both parks, with the exception of the swimming pool at Bastrop, were completely deserted.
I'll embed the video footage I shot below. The park road is great for novice to intermediate level cyclist since it is low traffic and contains just enough hills to keep things interesting without wearing you out. I only saw 4 other cyclist that afternoon and all 4 were mountain bikers. I guess the roadies have enough sense not to be out in the heat. I completely drained my 70oz camelback around mile #8 so I'm really thankful the road is only 11 miles long. If you go "out and back" and circle around both parks you can extend the ride to 25 miles or so.
Some parts of the video are a bit jiggly since I'm holding the camera in my hand as I ride.
Cycling Park Road 1-C (www.youtube.com/mx4789) - if you have a youtube account please log in and rate/comment/subscribe on youtube as well.
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Jiggly footage or not, when I watch this stuff I think, "What the hell am I doing working out INDOORS??" These are always inspirational.
ReplyDeleteBtw, I got on a spin bike (indoors) for the first time last week. I have always been snotty about exercise bikes -- I used to say "No way am I gonna exercise sitting on my butt." But I decided to try it out.
And it utterly kicked my ass. I did 3 rounds (sorry, boxer timing) and was totally drenched and gasping for air. HOW DO YOU DO IT?? I'm convinced there's some kind of secret.
And I am NOT going to try that one-hour (ONE HOUR) spinning class near me until you people tell me what the secret is.
So give it up, dude.
Ah, so glad you posted about this ride. I'm finally getting around to doing it this weekend and am glad of the reassurance that it is a beginner-friendly route.
ReplyDeleteWould be interested to hear how/if your ride thru the park went.. did it live up to your expectations?
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