On Saturday morning, I left my parent’s house in Hollywood Park for an 80-mile roundtrip bicycle tour from north central San Antonio to Castroville, Texas.  I was joined by Kim, a coworker and friend who wanted to experience her first bicycle tour and having another rider with me was a welcome change from my previous two solo tours.  I’m very proud of her accomplishment!  Bravo!

Our little mini-bicycle tour to Castroville was, in a word, incredible.

Here are just a few of the highlights that made it so:

We arrived in Castroville on Saturday about 2pm and checked-in to the historic Landmark Inn.  From the moment we arrived we were greeted by the hospitality of Libby and other staff members.  They made us feel very welcome.  When I walked into my room for the first time I quickly learned that pictures did no justice to the charm of the “Castro Suite” that I had reserved.  The grounds at the lodge were picturesque and just a short walk from my room was the scenic Medina River and a waterfall guarded by huge bald cypress trees.

Typical for my bicycle adventures, it wasn’t long before most of my family descended upon me eager to use the excuse of my bike tour as a reason to come “check out someplace new”.  We ate some incredible nachos and enchilidas at Cora’s 471 Grille and I slept like a rock when we returned to the Landmark Inn.

We fought headwinds on our return trip home but once again enjoyed the sights and sounds of travel that only a bicycle can truly deliver.

This was my third bicycle mini-tour and once again my Trek Valencia proved it is a bicycle ready to tackle just about anything I throw at it.  I used this tour to put some new panniers to the test – a pair of Avenir Excursion bags and they proved up to the task.  Look for a review on these bags soon once I get some more mileage on them.

All-in-all, an outstanding experience that I look forward to introducing to other riders in the future!

I used the feature to see what route it would generate between my house and workplace.  I was impressed to see that it provided a couple of routes – both of which I use regularly!  Nice!

This feature is still in beta but there is no doubt that it is great tool you can start using now to plan your bicycle trips!

Here’s a video with an overview of the new features…

I planned the route using Garmin’s Mapsource program on my PC and downloaded the route to my Garmin Edge 705 so I’d have the benefit of turn-by-turn directions.  This arrangement worked flawlessly.  I also successfully implemented several lessons learned from my first tour.

Like my first tour, I came away from the experience with several key “lessons learned” including:

• Need to know elevation profile : A lesson learned from my first tour was to reduce the first day’s mileage so I’d have some energy left to explore my destination once I got there.  The route to Wimberley was about 15 miles shorter than my ride to Fredericksburg.  Unfortunately, a good portion of my ride to/from Wimberley involved climbing some big hills and a few monster hills.  One hill about 30 miles into the trip was so steep and long that I spent most of the climb in Zone 5 and even hit Zone 6 on my heart rate monitor.  As a result I found myself, once again, pretty spent by the time I arrived at my destination.
• Make it a three day tour :  While reducing mileage is one strategy, another would simply be to stay two nights at my destination.  A day of travel, a rest day to explore and a return ride home.
• Plan tours with more notice : I got to share the ride home with my brother-in-law and nephew.  Sharing the experience with others is a lot of fun.  I need to provide friends and family with several weeks notice to increase the chance they can accompany me.

Several things worked really well on this tour including:

• Planning the route through towns where I had lunch options, could refill my water bottle, buy drinks/snacks, etc.
• Most of the roads were bicycle friendly – road like Smithson Valley and Bulverde Road had light traffic while busier roads like Hwy 3159 and Hwy 306 had large, wide shoulders.
• The Mountain View Lodge where I stayed was incredible – a great value for the price and literally a room with a gorgeous view.  The establishment was also bicycle friendly as they allowed me to keep the bike in the room with me and even offered at not additional charge a nearby, vacant room as a place to keep our bikes if we wanted more room.

The experience of this trip proved, once again, that bicycle touring is a ton of fun.  It amazes me that you can travel so far on a bicycle.

Here’s a photo gallery of images from the tour providing a brief glimpse at my latest cycling adventure.

So, without further adieu, here they are in no particular order:

• Sunscreen is a must for any trip. Period.
• Better planning for water stops. The Waring General Store was open and provided a fresh meal and a spot to purchase drinks. What if it hadn’t been? Past this general store there were no other water stops which could have been catastrophic given this point is just before the route encounters several challenging climbs.
• If you pack rain gear and you get into the rain, um…WEAR IT. I encountered drizzle and fog on the first segment of the ride. Somehow I “forgot” I had a long-sleeve top and rain pants I could have donned to make that segment of the ride more enjoyable.
• The GPS route planning worked incredibly well. That is, until I was told to make a left turn onto a road which was supposed to create about a 5-mile short cut and saw that no such road really existed. Confirm roads using multiple mapping sources to help avoid this.
• Confirm operating hours of restaurants or break stops along your route or at your destination. I did this ride on a Monday. Many shops close on Mondays and Tuesdays!
• Be realistic on mileage. Really, Justin, did you think you could walk away from doing 130 miles two days back to back and still enjoy your destination? Consider the effects of terrain on your daily mileage and compensate for this.
• Bring the charger for your Garmin GPS. Yes, it has great battery life but why miss out on even the possibility of not being able to map your entire journey because you wanted to say a few ounces.
• Consider where your hotel or campsite is in relation to food and drink. I don’t regret staying at the wonderful Hangar Hotel but it was a good 4-5 miles from town and after a hilly 65-mile ride I was in no condition to add some unnecessary miles. Thank God for pizza delivery!

I’ll continue to add to this list as remember other things so check back on this article in awhile to see if you find some new lessons.

It was a physical challenge because:

• Much of the route involved climbing, including a long, curvy climb with a 3% grade. Oh…did I forget to mention? This occurred at about the 48 mile mark. Just about the time my energy levels were starting to head South!
• About 8-10 miles into the ride I encountered drizzle, fog and slick pavement. None present of course at my house when I left for the adventure. This took a high degree of physical diligence – to maintain control of the bike which had different handling characteristics due to the weight I was carrying – while navigating through a few spots of traffic congestion. At one point, I encountered a large mud slick across the road which I could not avoid – I sort of floated through the mud, kept my hands off the brakes and somehow managed to get through it!
• The humidity was 84% – one of the most humid days of the year. The last 1/4 of the ride started to really heat up when the sun broke out of the clouds from time to time.

It was a mental challenge because:

• I was alone (although I had my iPhone and a good connection so friends and family provided some much appreciated support by commenting on my Facebook/Twitter updates along the way).
• It was pitch black at the beginning of the ride on an interstate access road and I was soaked to the bone from the drizzle. I had a few moments where I considered turning back.
• At about the 58 mile mark my GPS told me to turn right on a “River Road” that apparently only exists as a figment of someone’s imagination AND in Google Maps! As a result, I had to do some “on the fly” re-routing.

Highlights of my little one-day tour included:

• Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area : sitting atop that nasty, 3% grade climb was a scenic overlook and an incredible place where millions of Brazilian Free-tailed Bats emerge nightly.
• The experience of riding through some incredibly beautiful and tranquil back country roads (like Old Highway 9) that made me feel like I was riding my bicycle in Europe or something (and I’ve never been overseas so go figure!).
• The hospitality of a woman in Boerne who said hello and chatted with me briefly.
• The hospitality and nice conversation with the owner of the Waring General Store, who cooked me up a damn fine cheeseburger at 10:30am in the morning!
• The friendly staff at the Hangar Hotel where I stayed overnight (and was my destination).

Despite the challenges I faced, it was an experience I won’t soon forget and the insights gathered from this little experiment have convinced me that a) I love bicycle touring and b) the next tour I plan will be even better since I’ve already gained some great insights (which I will be sharing soon in a separate entry).

For a little multimedia experience of my tour, check out my Flickr gallery where I have posted photos and videos of the ride.

A few months ago I joined the Adventure Cycling Association and have found the resources on their web site incredibly helpful. Just last evening I was reading “What to take and how to pack” – just one of many great articles for the novice bicycle tourist.

I consulted with several road biking friends for route insights and experiences, including a few great web sites like John Wolter’s CycleTexas.

Once I had a sense of what route to take, I used Garmin’s MapSource software to create a route I could download to my Garmin Edge 705 bicycle computer. The 705 will be a powerful asset since it has the ability, on the fly, to generate a route and has detailed maps – including points of interest – for my route. Once I get to Fredericksburg, it will become my primary means for finding shops, places to eat, etc.

Physically, I feel that I am prepared for this journey as I have been training for the past several months in preparation for my recent participation in the annual Conquer The Coast bike ride. Since I’ll be using my Trek Valencia bicycle for this journey and will be carrying some weight on my bicycle rack, I plan to make stops every 10-15 miles or so.

Mentally, it’s exciting to think that I could use a bicycle to travel to such a destination. That might sound weird for diehard bicycle tourists but for a newbie, it just seems kind of amazing to think of traveling on a bicycle to a location that at least seems far away.

I’ve packed “after ride” clothes, bicycle clothing for the ride home, some rain gear and the usual necessities for an overnight stay. I’m pampering myself a bit since I’ll be staying at the Hangar Hotel. Nothing like a nice hotel and a hot shower to reward myself!

Equipment wise, here’s a short list of items for my there and back overnight trip:

• Trek Valencia commuter bike
• Topeak DXP bicycle bag (with fold-out panniers)
• Topeak Road Morph G mini bicycle pump
• Two bicycle tubes
• Trek bicycle lock (cable, less secure but also a lot less weight than a u-lock)
• First Aid items
• iPhone (of course)
• Garmin Edge 705
• Cygolite Trion 600 headlamp
• Tailights including Planet Bike Superflash, NiteRider Cherry Bomb, Princeton Tec Swerve
• Performance Jersey (high-vis yellow)
• Hoss Bicycle shorts
• Reflective bands
• Canon Powershot A710IS
• A “bento box” on the bicycle frame (for quick grab items like nutrition bars, might put my iPhone or camera here)

I’ll be posting regular updates on my journey via my Facebook page.

I’m sure this will prove to be an adventure and a learning experience. I look forward to both and appreciate the support of my family (who have put with me from learning to fly an airplane to becoming a bicycle commuter).

This is an exciting event for a couple of reasons. One, it’s been the focal point for my training up to this point – 595 miles and 41 hours in the saddle. Two, it’s great to see that my family continues to find cycling a fun and healthy activity they want to participate in. I think my Dad is ready to conquer the 25 miles because he and I ramped up his mileage for the past few weeks and he passed with flying colors.

There are a couple of big variables we’ll possibly need to deal with on this ride. One, it is typical for there to be a 15-25 mph sea breeze which if active will make those 65 miles seem a lot longer. Two, the latest forecast is calling for a 40% chance of rain. Riding in the rain means slowing down which stretches those miles even further.

The other big cycling event that is just around the corner is my first bicycle “tour”. I use the quotes around tour because this is just an overnight 65 mile bike ride from my house to Fredericksburg, TX versus a multi-day, multi-state tour. That said, I’m looking forward to getting a little taste of what it is like to do some long-distance cycling with some weight on the bike, hills to contend with, etc. I’ll be using my Trek Valencia for that trip since it is well-equipped for handling gear and is an all-weather bike with its disc brakes, stable handling in wet weather, etc.

Looking forward to both of these milestones!