Texas is a mixed bag when it comes to cycling. Road shoulders are the same width as a car lane which really helps when riding on a busy road, they do have roads with a designated bike lane and there are even a few bike paths in cities. Unfortunately, roads with shoulders tend to disappear without warning, bike lanes are few and far between, and bike paths are even scarcer. Heck, they don't even have sidewalks along most roadways!
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As John's Texan cousins informed us while we were in Houston, Texas is built for cars. They obviously do not consult cyclists or even pedestrians when planning their roadways.
We were began our day on a bike path, however, if you look closely, you'll notice that there are no cutouts to merge onto the street. Cyclists have to detour down a homeowner's driveway or get off of their bike every time time the path crosses a street!
With the exception of the weather, the ride was similar to the rides out of Austin and San Marcos. A lot of cows and countryside through the Texas hill country. We had more than a 1000 feet of climbing to do but without 90 degree temperatures, not only were we faster, but we had much more energy. Much to our relief, the difference was like night and day. We arrived in San Antonio full of energy and enthusiasm. We were worried that 3 weeks in GR had caused us to be horribly out of shape, but it turns out it is our thick northern blood that was the culprit.
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| A diesel maintenance station. Trains come here to get fuel for the road. |
The population of San Antonio is 1.4 million about half the size of Houston and much larger than the state capital, Austin.
It's home to the Alamo and, as we've been told many time a beautiful river-walk. We plan to take a tour of the city and will give you the complete story soon.
1 comment:
Hi Mrs. Peters! All of 8th grade says hi, and good luck!
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