Long ride with Rolling Hills in Austin?

Depends on what your definition of "fairly hilly" is. There are a couple of decent options.

Parmer Lane is one. Start anywhere between Mopac and McNeil Road. There's an HEB on the corner of Parmer and McNeil if you're going to be parking. Head northwest on Parmer and keeping going until it ends at FM 2338 about 24 miles later. There are 8-10 stop lights over the first 5 miles of Parmer and plenty of convenience stores. After that, there are only 3 lights over the next 10 miles and none at all for the last 9. The flip side is that once you're north of 1431, there are no stores to stop at. Shoulders are nice and wide and you'll have plenty of company out there. Terrain is mostly rolling with some moderate climbs, but nothing that should make you pant too much unless you want to. You could probably add 8-10 miles to this route by turning south on 2338. The shoulders look wide, but I've never ridden it. Anyway, even without 2338, it's about a 50 mile round trip.

There are a couple of variations on the dam loop as well. Basic idea is to start at Loop 360 and Hwy 183. Head south on 360 to Mopac. Take Mopac south across the green belt and exit onto Southwest Parkway. Take that to 71. 71 to 620. From there, you can take 2222 back to 360, or keep going on 620 to Anderson Mill Road. From Anderson Mill, you use some neighborhoods to get to Jollyville Road, which leads back to 360. This route has more hills than Parmer and some of them will probably get you standing on your small gear.

This route does have a few drawbacks. The section on 71 is probably the biggest. It's about 2 miles with no shoulder. A lot of cyclists use it, so traffic is generally aware, but the more of you the better. Taking 2222 back can be a little hairy as well. The first part of it doesn't have a shoulder and there is a screaming descent of about 1/2 mile where the grade is probably 10% or more.

Taking 620 to Anderson Mill requires making several turns in the neighborhoods to get back to 360. That's no problem if anyone has a Garmin that you can program. On the up side, if you're interested, you can pretty easily combine the dam loop and Parmer into a single route that should easily get you the 120 miles you're looking for.

If these sound good, let me know and I can give you even more specifics. Others will probably chime in with more options.

Dennis, thanks for all the info!, I really appreciate it.  All sounds like great routes. Definitely might check out that Parmer route or Dam Loop route. I rememebr early this year the Westside of Ausin was really hilly and pretty and I wanted to go back and ride it. Cant remember the roads specifically but those sounds familiar. I might be sending you a PM. Thanks again!

I'll second what Dennis said.    Never been out on Parmer but I do the Dam Loop pretty regularly with some variations to add a few miles as well.  I imagine a couple circuits around would net you a solid 120-mile ride.

You're not coming down from Dallas with a guy named Lorenzo, are you?  He's a friend of mine and  FB messaged me along the same subject as this post.

The Dam loop is quite the ride, Dennis is right that it can get you out of your seat in the little gear but some of the views are amazing. My favorite loop right now is 360 south to 2244 west to 620 north then 2222 east which runs back into 360 probably 30+ miles. And if you really want to suck some wind stay on 2222 heading east and go past 360 then hang a right on Mount Bonnell Rd.

Don't forget the Jester Hill climb.

Here's a video of it I shot out of my car.

 Jester Blvd Climb

Here's the location.

Add in W. Courtyard Drive and Beauford Drive off the above map and you got yourself quite a route!

Fair warning: Jester is not a rolling hill, it's not even a challenging hill. It's a brutal 1/2 mile that goes from 8% at the start to nearly 20% over the middle 2/10 and then "eases off" back to 9% before you crest the hill. It is not for the faint (or weak) of heart!

Great meeting you this weekend - Glad you enjoyed the route!  Happy to show you around.

Hey you too man! Thanks for the ride, what a great route! We're already planning our next trip down!

What did you end up riding?

We went from my place in Circle C up Escarpment to Wm Cannon and SW Parkway.  Continued on 71 to 620 to Bullick Hollow/Lime Creek Road to Anderson.  Then back down 620 to 2222, where we headed East to complete the Dam Loop circuit via 360 and Mopac back to SW Parkway.  I cut out at SW parkway and Wm Cannon and headed home to fire up the grill and chill the beers while they continued on for another lap (minus the Bullick Hollow/LCR bonus) to round out 120 miles.  I got in 74 miles, for the record.

Apparently there is no Triple B!tch equivalent in Dallas.    Everyone conquered it in strong form though.