Hard Ride to Austin

April 4th, 2018

There are three things that we have learned to dread while biking across the continent; strong head winds, heavy traffic and roads with no shoulders. Add in some steep rolling hills and it sort of sums up the worst part of our ride into Austin. The day started nice enough, a bit chilly but the roads were rural and the traffic very light, much like the past two days. However, as we rode closer to Austin, that changed. The wind was in our face from the beginning but by now that by itself was not too much of a bother. Traffic, especially commercial and truck traffic, when added to the wind and combined with narrow rural roads with small or no shoulders, make it tough to enjoy what you are doing. Your eyes are constantly on your rear view mirror, watching to be sure the vehicles bearing down on you at 50 mph or better are giving you enough clearance. Going up steep hills in a head wind often causes your front wheel to wobble leaving no room for error when some knuckle head decides to ignore the law and tries to skin past you without waiting for the other lane to become clear. Let’s just say we were all happy to finally reach our destination and park our bikes for awhile.

Austin is a charming city and known to be a foodie’s paradise, especially if you like BBQ. Hungry from our travels we quickly showered and set out to try one of the two top spots for the meaty treats. These are small locations with a limited menu and a limited supply of finely cooked meats. Once they sell out for the day, they close their doors until the next day. Both number one and number two choices were sold out by 5pm. However, across town was Terry Black’s highly rated establishment with a much larger supply on hand. One Uber ride for the six of us brought us to this mecca of meat. We overate our fill and all agreed that while not our number one or two choice, it was a fine meal indeed.

After a large meal, a long lazy walk was in order so we strolled along the waterfront where we took in some local colour. The evening was capped with a view of thousands of bats swarming from their man made caverns under the Congress Bridge over the Colorado River. Hundreds of people gather every evening at sunset to watch this spectacle from the bridge, both shores and from the river itself. While not as spectacular as the bats swarming from Carlsbad Caverns, it is definitely something to witness.