Austin Group Rides?

Jack & Adams bike shop hosts a goo dSunday ride.

The ACA rides can be hit or miss.  Here's a link to their website: www.austincycling.org

On Sundays, Violet Crown meets at Freewheeling bike shop.  A great group of older racers who host a great ride.

I second the J&A Sunday ride.

There should be some good riders you can hang (or try to hang) with. They also usually have some no-drop folks, much slower than 17mph. Remember, there are some pretty good hills in Austin, and if its windy, it should be a good challenge!

I believe Barton Springs is back open for morning swimming.

If you don't find a group to ride with...

Bee Caves (The Damn Loop)

From Bee Caves > rt. 620 > rt. 2222 > rt. 360 > rt. 2244  > Bee Cave it's roughly 35 miles.

Here is one article on the ride.  You should probably look up the route on maps.google.com to verify the route.

It's a great loop with lots of hills.

Good luck and welcome to Austin.

Yup...I failed to mention "the hill", sorry. I do the hill all the time. I live in Steiner Ranch. The best time to do the hill is early morning on a weekend before traffic. I get in the middle of the right hand lane, making it clear to anyone coming up from the rear I'm not trying to stay on the shoulder, so if you want to go around me do it in the left hand lane.  So far so good, normally you can get up to around 50+ MPH today in the wind I only managed 45 :-(

The wind this morning was killer!

I just had to jump in because I'm in Austin for the week attending SXSW - I've never been here before and omg, WOW. This place is off the charts amazing. Bike stores everywhere (totally geeked out at Mellow Johnny's yesterday), triathlon stores everywhere, half the population in spandex, Zikler park packed with runners, families walking, bikers, people flying kites - this entire population seems to be outside doing something. Honestly - I've never seen anything like Mellow Johnny's - the constant stream of bikers just milling around chatting, having coffee, lunch, checking out each other's bikes.... we have a few shops in wisconsin but nothing with that sort of vibe. I could have sat there and just watched the parade all day.

Everyone always told me that Austin was it's own little bubble and that it was awesome and amazing but I had no idea it was this gorgeous - you guys are so lucky to live here! I'm so bummed I have to leave in a few days. 

If you are out and about today, I'll be doing software demos at the Convention center for Google SketchUp. Just ask for Brad. Hope you see you there.

That would be the Austin Tricyclist ride.  It's huge and the front is well known for being a hammer fest.  You'll find all abilities scattered throughout, though.  Free breakfast tacos at the end, too.

The difference between the two rides is, in many ways, a reflection of the differences between the shops.