Below are excerpts of my blog posts from our first ever bike tour of the Texas Hill Country in March 2012. Six days of riding through the Hill Country through more wildflowers, especially the infamous bluebonnets, than you can imagine.

This tour was also my first opportunity to be paid for biking and blogging, which was a goal of mine for 2012. I received a significant discount on the cost of my tour and enjoyed my first paid writing experience greatly. As far as the tour itself, it was awesome. We were completely surprised and blown away by the great riding in the Texas Hill Country.

To read the full blog and view pictures simply click on the Title or “Read on” on each post below. ~Susan

Texas Hill Country-Classic Adventure: “Determined to get a jump on our biking goals for this year, we decided to do an early tour. While searching online for a bike tour in the March timeframe I came across the Classic Adventures Texas Hill Country tour. Although I hadn’t heard of them before, Classic Adventures is far from new and offers a wide range of bike tours in places we would like to ride at some point – including Europe and the northeast; plus they even offer a Coast to Coast Tour across the U.S. which you can do in its entirety or in sections. Read on…”

 

 

Texas Hill Country–Boerne Arrival – “We drove down to Boerne, TX the same day the bike tour officially began – Sunday. We would get our loaner bikes fitted, take a short ride and get acquainted over dinner. By the time we arrived everyone else was already there. We were a small group, only ten of us, including Dale and Dianne, our guides for the week, and as I mentioned in my first post Classic Adventure – Texas Hill Country, founders of the bike tour company, Classic Adventures. Read on…”

 

Texas Hill Country-Boerne to Comfort:  “After our morning meeting over a hearty breakfast at Ye Kendall Inn (not too Texan-y is it), we saddled up and headed out on the lovely roads of the Texas Hill Country. My definition of lovely roads: very little traffic, no potholes that will swallow up your bike, no beasts on 2 or 4 legs, and lovely scenery. Our ride from Boerne to Comfort offered us all of that and more. The weather was perfect for those of us that prefer to ride without the sun beating down on us and mild temperatures. Cycling utopia. Read on…”

 

 

Texas Hill Country – Fredericksburg:  “Every day there were mileage options, with Mark and I usually riding the longer option. The legs could complain if they wanted to, but we just ignored them. Case in point: After lunch we decided to back-track on Grapetown road about 5 miles because the roads were so darn nice and the scenery so bucolic! This time stopping to smell and shoot the flowers.  The afternoon ride was more of the same – miles of empty roads and easy riding. The kind of day when you could just keep riding. When we did roll into our home for the next four nights, Inn on Barons Creek, our luggage was in the room (as it was on every other day too) so all we had to do was grab a cold beer and relax outside by the creek. Read on…”

 

Texas Hill Country–Willow City Loop: “The Hill Country is known as the mecca for the infamous Texas bluebonnets. Due to drought conditions in the last several years there haven’t been the usual number of bluebonnets. Instead of fields of bluebonnets, aka lupine, you were lucky if you saw more than a few clumped together. Thanks to a wetter winter and early spring, bluebonnets are again in abundance. Although we had seen bluebonnets and other wildflowers the last few days, they were nothing like what we saw on the Willow City Loop. We got our first taste of what would be a bluebonnet bonanza early on in the day’s ride. Read on…”

 

Texas Hill Country – Ride to Doss: Today was our second of three Fredericksburg loop rides. There are numerous ride options originating from Fredericksburg, I have a feeling we will try more of them in the not too distant future.

Fredericksburg is more of a town than the actual population (10,500) would indicate. There are numerous good restaurants, shops, and lodging options so it is a great place to serve as a base for riding in the Hill Country.

Every morning after breakfast and the route meeting, Dale would have all of our bikes lined up in a row having topped off the tires and doing a quick check to see if any of them needed adjusting. I saw him more than once with chain lube in his hand checking out our chains and gearing. Read on…

 

 

Texas Hill Country-Hilltop Ride: Another last day of another bike tour. About the time the last day rolls around, I find I’m getting into a good groove and don’t want to stop! I love riding daily and exploring new places by bike. One thing is for certain, we will ride in the Texas Hill Country again. Soon, hopefully next year.

Every bike tour has a “Queen stage”, the toughest day of the tour – the ride to Hilltop, Enchanted Rock and back to Fredericksburg would make it the most challenging (and longest at 67 miles) of the week. Daily mileage options are always provided and on this day in particular our group utilized all the available options. Read on…

 

I highly recommend the Texas Hill Country for your biking pleasure and the same goes for Classic Adventures. Dale and Dianne managed to make a highly organized tour seem flexible and relaxed, I’m not quite sure how they did it. The accommodations were very good, the dining choices also very good and the daily routes superb. They provided each of us with excellent support throughout the week and treated us like friends rather than customers. ~Susan


P1020684P1020719P1020594