Fredericksburg Fall Foliage Frolic

Ein prosit der Gemütlichkeit-and a toast to the Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club.

Fredericksburg Fall Foliage Frolic

Saturday October 30, 2010

Fredericksburg, Texas

For 11 years the Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club has been hosting an outstanding ride at Fredericksburg. The club seems to be as laid back as the ride. For example, the website for the ride states that those riding the longer rides can start any time between 8:30-9:30 AM.

Some of us arrived Friday evening to enjoy the flavor and atmosphere of the German heritage village of Fredericksburg. Jerry Middleton, above left, Christine, and I arrived a little early, and after checking into the hotel we went outside to the veranda, sat in the rocking chairs, and chatted. We were waiting for Dorothy Langdon, above middle, to arrive and go out to eat. A short distance from the hotel was the Bavarian Inn, one of our favorite places to eat. Besides bratwurst, Chrisine made sure she had plenty of carbs in her system for the upcoming ride.

As we were eating, a gang of gaily dressed clowns came into the bar area. Our waitress said that it was a cycling club, and each year they dress up and make the rounds of the bars in town.

I went over to the group and asked a big clown if they were the Hill Country Bicycle Club. With a big false tooth grin he said yes. Foot note: The next day each and every one of the HCBC members denied being clowns. I thought it was neat that a club would get together and go out for a social outing even if they were just clowning around.

Bright and early (sort of) the next day we were finally ready to take off. Since the start time was between 8:30-9:30 AM or whenever, we had agreed to meet at the registration area about 8:30 and plan on leaving at 9. Jerry was there at 8:30. Christine and I were going in circles trying to load and check out of the hotel, and Dorothy was waiting to follow us out to the staging area. We probably got there just before 9 and Jerry had been standing in the chilly parking lot waiting, and waiting, and waiting for us. But first, I wanted their picture. We mounted to take off, and I remembered I hadn't put on my heart monitor (actually the Garmin told me), so I went back to the truck to put it on. Off we went. About two miles into the ride, I wanted to take a picture of some scenery--I left my camera back at the parking lot somewhere. I told Jerry I was turning around and he let Dorothy and Christine know that I had dropped out. Backtracking, my camera was on the rear bumper, right where I put it as I was putting on the heart monitor. It was safe because all of our delays resulted in our being about the absolute last riders to take off.

Now that I had my camera, I wanted some shots of our route as I knew the gang would wait for me at the first rest stop. After maybe five miles on highway 16, we turned off onto Morris Ranch Road.

Morris Ranch Road was relatively flat so one could make pretty good time. Up ahead I spotted a human being on a bike so I wasn't all alone. I passed about six riders trying to catch up to Christine and the others so I did not have the distinction of being the last rider to reach rest stop one.

Spanish goats were fat and healthy.

Neat rock house with two inviting rocking chairs on the porch.

The winding road was nice, but look what caught my eye on the right hand side of the road.

The deer ran in front of me, then beside me, finally it took off and jumped the fence.

Christine, Dorothy, and Jerry were waiting for me at the first rest stop. They were studying the route map as the decision to go short or long was at this stop. Everyone agreed to hold the route to the 50 mile one.

The route began with a deceptive flat area. "If it stays like this, this ride is a peice of cake."

Texas terrain is like Texas weather. Wait a while and it will change. And we hit some good hills. As I recall, this one topped out at 10% grade. When I mentioned it to Jerry, I got a "I really don't want to know."

In our travels, this is too common of a sight. Some blight is attacking our oak trees and killing them off.

The hills continued. The good thing was that they may have been steep, but they were short. I think this one was about 8%. Jerry didn't want to know.

At the top of one hill, we had to stop and let the ranchers move their ewes and lambs from one pasture to another. I was too fancinated to take the picture, but the rancher had a working dog that was having a ball encouraging the straglers.

To date, our weather has been too warm for the leaves to start turning.

Christine and Dorothy waited on Jerry and me to climb a measly 10% grade. Of course, the real story is we are gentlemen and believe in "Ladies first."

Give Christine a good downhill and she is gone. She is the little speck on the top of the hill. The hill coming up registered 11% but as Jerry didn't want to know the grades, I only told him it was just 1% more that the last hill.

We turned right on Frederick Road and this stretch alone was worth the ride. We had the wind to our backs and there must have been at least 5 miles of winding downhill before we intersected with FM 2093.

Despite not much rain lately, our streams still have a little water.

Joy ride over. We turned on FM 2093 for the trip back to Fredericksburg.

A rancher's gate and halloween decorations caught my eye so I pulled over to admire his (or her) efforts. As we had said all along the ride, it is not a race--enjoy.

Jerry joined me at our unofficial rest stop.

Hang in there Frankenstein. Halloween is tomorrow.

A lot of the farmers and ranchers along the routes had decorated their gates, fences, houses, and fields with symbols of the season. If they do this for halloween, I would like to see their Chistmas decorations.

On the way to town. They call this region hill country for a reason. At the bottom of one of these hill is a turn-off to go back to the rest stop #1 which serves as the return rest stop. Christine in her love for downhill speed flew right past the turn off. I got a call from her saying she would just wait for us at the top of the hill. Dorothy, Jerry, and I chose to go to the rest stop.

And look who we found at the stop!!

Gary (cowboy) from Maypearl, Texas. I think this was about the fourth tour that we crossed paths. If we tried to coordinate our meetings, it wouldn't turn out as well. Later at the ride lunch, Gary said that he had one or so more rides lined up this season, but this was Christine's and my last tour.

After the rest stop, we started on the last leg of the trip.

Two riders taking an unofficial break under a shade tree. No rush, it wasn't a race.

As the lady passed me she asked what I was taking pictures of, the hills? "No, of people-you." Later I rode beside them and we had a nice chat about everything but the weather.

The Fredericksburg area is known for its peaches. People drive a good distance just to buy the peaches in season.

Soon, the ride was over. Entrance into the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park marked the end.

The Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club always has a lunch after the ride. This year they had an outstanding stew, and lots of cookies and candy.

As we were leaving to go home, Christine wanted to back track to a fruit/vegetable stand we saw on FM 2093. I protested as it was "8 miles back down the road." She turned onto 2093 anyway and fewer than two miles down the road was the stand. "Well, on the bicycle it seemed like 8 miles."

Christine was able to but some vegetables and fruit, so all is well that ends well. And the Fredericksburg Fall Foliage Frolic marked a good ending to our touring season.