Central Austin Bike Sightseeing Tour

[Daniel Norton]

I'm taking my brother and his wife on a bike tour through Austin tomorrow afternoon and I thought I'd share the description and route for it. I think it's a great introduction to Austin for newcomer- and visitor-cyclists. I'll probably start hosting this as an ACA hosted ride sometime in the near future. (Right now it has no formal association with or sanction from the ACA.)

Central Austin Bike Sightseeing Tour

This is a 25-mile bike tour through central Austin I've mapped. I mapped it in such as way as to easily take shortcuts if you want. When doing similar routes in a group, we usually stop for coffee/carbs somewhere along the way. There are some very short sections where the traffic's a little higher, but 99% of it is low-speed/low-volume traffic. I recommend a road bike with slick tires.

Here's the route (with elevation profile & cue sheet):

www.danielnorton.com/austin-bike-tour

Here's a list of the sights along the route (in order of appearance):

• Zilker Park
• Lady Bird Lake
• Lady Bird Lake Hike & Bike Trail (mostly joggers)
  
• Deep Eddy Pool
  
• Shoal Creek Hike & Bike Trail
  
• Shoal Creek Blvd Bike Route
• Mt. Bonnell Park
• Views of Lake Austin
  
• The University of Texas
  
• Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum (and IMAX theater)
  
• The Texas Capitol
• The (Congress Ave.) Bat Bridge
  (700,000 to 1.4 million bats nest overnight from late spring to early autumn)
• Auditorium Shores
• Barton Springs Pool
  
• Coffee Shops, Bike Shops, & Restaurants

CAVEAT: Ride at your own risk. I make no representation as to the safety of this route or any other. I recommend that you wear a helmet, keep your eyes and ears open and alert for traffic dangers, and I strongly urge you to take a road cycling safety course. I highly recommend "Traffic Skills 101" as developed by the League of American Bicyclists. In Austin, this course is currently offered monthly and is organized by the Austin Cycling Association (of which I am board secretary).

--
Daniel

[Daniel Norton]

We did the entire route today and it was a winner. Along the way, my brother's wife said "I could live here." She wanted to gawk at the houses in Balcones. My brother particularly enjoyed the view from the top of Mt. Bonnell.

I made a couple of minor adjustments. I'll keep the link below current. (I added hyperlinks for most of the listed sights.):

 http://blog.danielnorton.com/2008/12/central-austin-sightseeing-bike-tour.html

--
Daniel