Most of my blog entries are about my longer weekend rides. I also try to do some 25 mile rides on weekdays. I don’t usually deem them worthy of writing anything about, but today’s ride was different. I tried a new route, and, after all my talk about how flat it is around here, I discovered there are decent hills closer than I thought, close enough to reach, even on a 25 mile ride.
While I’ve been waiting to close on my new house in Gun Barrel City, I’ve been living with friends north of Mabank, just off FM 90, and starting most of my rides there. With most of the afternoons being 100 degrees or more right now, I’ve been trying to do my weekday rides earlly in the morning, before work. Taking off and riding north has kept me out in the country and away from much traffic. That is, it did until school started. Now, the early morning traffic on FM 90 is a bit more than I like to deal with on the bike, so I decided to start transporting my bike somewhere else, and start my ride there.
This morning, I tried starting out in the middle of Mabank itself. I think that after I move, I can reach that area by bike from my new Gun Barrel City home without too much traffic, so it seemed a logical place to start a ride. I took off a couple of blocks north of Business US 175, got on Bus US 175, and headed east out of town. On the way back, I remembered a quieter street that parallels Bus US 175, and rode it instead.
I then rode the US 175 shoulder for two miles. This stretch is not much fun. It is really rough boulder seal, with a rumble strip to cross if you want to move into the slightly smoother right lane of traffic instead. I then turned north on CR 2836. This is a quiet, tree lined road which travels northeast to near Purtis Creek Lake, where it dumps into FM 316. FM 316 is boulder seal, but the auto tire ruts are worn enough that it really isn’t that rough. I rode about a mile and a half east on FM 316, then where FM 316 turns north, I turned right onto FM 1861, to keep heading east.
After about 2 miles on FM 1861, I turned right onto VZ 2804. This is the the old Prairieville Athens Road which, it turns out, goes to the Big Rock Ranch. I was very surprised to find myself climbing an almost 10% grade, at the top of a mile long hill, following 4 miles of steady elevation gain, at this point. I ended up in my lowest gear on the bike, pedaling at 4 mph with a 160 heart rate, a decent hill any day in my book. At the steepest part of this hill, I was joined by a very large black dog. Thankfully, all he wanted to do was jog along beside me.
It turns out there is some pretty high ground in this area, compared to how flat things are near Cedar Creek Lake. “The Rock”, which is the highest point just off the road on this hill, is no longer accessible by the public, but when it was, it offered a view of all of Cedar Creek Lake. Its elevation is over 700 feet. I usually keep my 25 mile weekday routes pretty easy, but if I feel like some climbing, this may be where I go. I ended up with 25.2 miles this morning.
Today’s route, along with a grade and elevation chart.
