696 - 969; bicycling in suburbia is the worst

My roommate for this conference, F, says that when she checked in to this fancy-schmancy hotel, she said, "Oh, that's right, in fancy hotels, they make you pay for internet, while it's free in the cheaper places down the road." So they gave her a free promotion code.

Which is my way of saying, if I'm quiet for a few days after this, that's why.

Anyway. Ahem. Today, I finally rode my bicycle from Bryan out to Austin. I don't know what the total distance is, because my odometer has been crapping out and failing to measure speeds/mileages correctly.

What I will say is, this is a hum-dinger of a ride. The middle segment is along Farm Road 696, which featured hills, headwinds, barking dogs (fortunately none dangerous, but more than I care to encounter), and speed-sucker.

And then, to add insult to injury, The Cramp reared its ugly head somewhere right outside of Elgin. Also, I spent way too long scratching my head and route-finding in Elgin, in my efforts to avoid riding on a shoulderless section of Highway 290. I'm SO GLAD scrottie loaned me his GPS for the ride; it was invaluable and I can see why he finds it so useful.

I can also see now, why scrottie wants to just ride the highways between the two cities, instead of bothering with the Farm-to-Market roads.

After Elgin, I headed to the small town of Manor. The back roads into Manor were all fine, minus The Cramp, which refused to be subdued. We joke a lot about how eating is an important part of training for long rides, but it's the absolute truth. I probably should have stopped for a full meal in Elgin, instead of pressing on. But I pressed on, and had to stop repeatedly to chew down some banana bread and cashews.

And then. When I reached Manor, I stopped briefly at a convenience store for a granola bar and chocolate milk (slim pickins), and checked the GPS notes about S's prior trip in the region. He noted heavy traffic along a segment between Manor and Austin proper, so I decided to try a slightly different route into Austin: take Farm Road 973 down to Farm Road 969, which would get me across some toll roads and on into town.

FR 973 wasn't too bad. The sun set, so it was just me with a little blinky light and a reflective triangle on the back of my bike. Most of the traffic was heading in the opposite direction, so no sweat there. Plus, stretches had wide shoulder, particularly the uphill stretches.

FR 979. Well. It was dark, traffic was fast-moving, and there was no shoulder. I found myself wondering about jogging back up to Decker Lake Road, but I just soldiered on until I finally reached Webberville Road, which had a bike lane. I could have kissed it. Then up some hills, down some hills, a turn here, a turn there, and off to Wheatsville for some REAL provisions. Once provisioned, off to the hotel to bathe and rest.

(I'm being conversed at while I type; apologies for stuff that makes no sense)