The weather here in Central Texas has gotten a little cooler, making it just about perfect for bike riding. Once again, we hit the county roads outside of Leander, Texas for a ride through what’s left of Texas ranch country.
Not a lot of traffic on these county roads, most of the traffic is on the main highways(the ones with numbers), making it pretty nice for riding. Overall, the terrain would be described as “flat”, but there are some hills.
One thing about Texas; there is a lot of road kill. On this ride, I saw two dead deer, including a three point buck, two raccoons, a skunk, somebody’s pet dog(let your dog “run free” dimwit) and at least four dead armadillos. Problem is, even on these small backcountry roads, the speed limit is, like, 60 MPH. When the road is only twenty feet wide, there’s not a whole lot of room for animals to evade a full sized pickup doing sixty.
Today was overcast and cool, somewhat unusual for this part of the country recently and there were always thunderstorms off in the distance. Pick a route that takes you out of the storm’s path and you’re fine. It was also very windy. A 20 MPH headwind on these exposed, open roads is not much fun and a crosswind will send your bike flying off the road or towards the center line; keeps you on your toes.
Headed out from Leander, north on Round Mountain Road, then west on Farm to Market Road 1869, then north again on County Road 288/322 over to Farm to Market Road 1174 into swinging Bertram, Texas.
Hung a right on Route 29 for a ten mile ride along a 55 MPH highway with narrow shoulders to Liberty Hill. This was not the best part of the ride, but after riding on 29 between Bertram and Liberty Hill, you really appreciate the county roads with hardly any traffic. Once in Liberty Hill, it’s back on County Road 279 and headed back to Leander.