Biking Austin

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The weather is, of course, one of the main reasons we travel to Austin in the winter. With the mild weather there are outdoor activities we can enjoy. We especially enjoy biking the many trails around the city. This year, like last year, we brought our e-bikes. In past years we've brought pedal bikes and I recall one time, many years ago, where we rented bikes. But renting a bike for a long stay is prohibitively expensive.

The e-bikes are a bit of a bother to travel with as you have to protect them from the elements (we see rain, snow and worse on our drive to Texas from Ontario). I figured out that if we take out the batteries and then shrink wrap the bikes thoroughly first before covering them with a tarp they survive the wet pretty well. If the electronics were to get wet I would guess we'd have a lot of problems.

There are two favorite rides in the city we often take. There's a trail around Town Lake (aka Lady Bird Lake) that must be about 10 miles or so. Most of that trail is on well maintained gravel paths, some of it is on what we call "The Belt Way" (that's a trail built on piers around the IH35 with brass belts that honor various Texas musicians), some of it is on city streets. This year they're busy working on improving the access around the dam at Pleasant Valley. Every year the trail gets better and better. This trail, in the heart of the city, is often busy with hikers, joggers and leisure bikers like us. We often only ride a part of the trail and usually on the south shore and east end. Going all the way around the trail wouldn't be difficult on e-bikes but it is a busy area.

The other trail we often take is the Walnut Creek Trail that starts to the east in Govalle Park and goes north to the very end near Lake Walter E. Long. That trail is not so busy, often we meet keen bikers who are serious about their exercise — they zoom by us. The trail head is nearly 8 miles from Govalle Park so riding to the end and back would be very tough were it not for the e-bikes. We often do part of this trail, this year we did it all one day. There and back is a big ride for us but not so hard with these bikes.

The photo album highlights the trail around Town Lake with vistas of the city. A city that has changed a lot in the years we have been visiting. There's also pictures of some of the wild life. You will see herons, egrets, lots of turtles and folks fishing. The garbage and plastic debris in the lake is disheartening.

We enjoy our biking adventures in Austin. At home we bike around town and sometimes go into the city (London) to explore the trails along the Thames.

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An aside. One day we took our bikes to San Antonio and were zipping along the IH35 around New Braunfels when an emergency vehicle pulled up beside us honking and waving to get our attention. One of our ebikes had fallen out of the cradle and was being dragged along the road still attached by the velcro holding down the front and rear tires. Yikes!! The bike was damaged, the one end of the handle bar was really warn. Fortunately, Doug, our bike man here in St Marys at Stonetown Cycle Shop, was able to fix it. We were lucky! The bike might have been lost or ruined completely.