I’m planning on camping (solo) overnight soon at Pedernales Falls State Park, so I was putting all my gear into my backpack in preparation to hike into the primitive campsites. I also wanted to bring my bicycle along and explore the park by bike if time allows, and when researching the bike activities in the park, I learned that most of the trails are open to bicycles, and that the trail to the primitive campsite that I will be staying at is very bike-friendly, therefore I will try my hand at a bit of bikepacking.
One of the nice things about having some ultra-light camping gear for backpacking is that it is also great for bikepacking. If you aren’t familiar with that term, bikepacking is similar to bicycle touring, but more off-the-beaten-path.
With my current pannier setup, I can fit all my camping gear, food/water, camera, and clothes. As much as I dislike having anything on my back while riding, I will probably wear a small daypack which will come in handy if I want to hike at all, and also, I can pack it with my kindle, camera, and camp clothes which will be very light (just a beanie, sleep clothes, and extra socks & underwear), and not stuff the panniers too much.
I think this setup will be good, but I’ll let you know how it goes!
Today I headed out west to the Texas Hill Country to do my first proper gravel ride. The route I took starts in the small town of Castell, and loops around to the south before ending back at the town for a total of 31 miles. I rode in the counter-clockwise direction, which pretty much starts out on gravel, and ends on paved roads. I think that worked out great, because at the end of the 31 miles, I was pooped, and hitting that smooth asphalt was welcomed.
As I mentioned before, this is my first proper gravel ride on my bicycle. I used to ride roads like these on my motorcycle quite a bit and that actually gave me some good experience that translated well to the bicycle. For instance, when there’s a sandy part, it’s best to have a decent amount of speed so you can keep your momentum going, and when things get squirrelly, the best option is to give it some gas, or in the case of the bicycles, to just power through. You might think being in a granny gear would be good for sand, but no… if you are going that slow, you won’t have enough momentum. Better to be in a middle/low gear and push down hard!
But this route is really not too difficult as far as sand was concerned. I only had to get off and push twice, and each time was only for half a minute or so before reaching firmer dirt. For a newbie like me, this route was perfect. Not too easy, but not too tough either. About half way through, there was a pretty steep hill where I had to shift into my lowest granny gear. It was awesome! I have a triple chainring on my bicycle, and I keep it in the middle chainring 95% of the time, but I had to throw it into the low chainring in order to make it up that hill without spending too much effort. So much fun!
One thing about this trail is that there’s plenty of washboard surface to deal with. You can usually find a smooth line but it takes a lot of attention, which means that it’s not a completely leisurely ride. You have to actually watch where you’re going! 😄 A couple of times, there was no smooth line through, or it was on the other side of the road and I couldn’t reach it quick enough, and I went over the washboard a bit too fast. I thought my bike was going to fall apart with all that rattling! But luckily she held together, and the only “damage” was that my top-heavy phone/holder would work its way downward with each big bump and I would just have to readjust it. 😊
My bike has a cheap suspension fork, which just about everyone says is junk and should be replaced. I think that is good advice if you are are using the bike for proper mountain-biking, but for the type of riding I do, the simple spring suspension is really nice. It doesn’t require maintenance, removes road vibration, and I don’t think there’s a lot of energy loss when pedaling. Modern gravel bikes have rigid forks, but I’m very happy with the simple suspension fork and appreciate the comfort that the 2.5 inches of travel provides. I’m sure my wrists are better for it after all the washboard today!
The nice thing about this gravel route is that there were no cars to deal with. For the first half of the ride, which was all gravel, I only saw one ATV. That meant I could ride anywhere on the road to find the smoothest line. It was great! Towards the end of the ride, where there were more homes, I saw maybe 4 or five trucks, which were all going at a slow speed and gave me a wave. I suspect most gravel roads have a similar lack of traffic which makes gravel rides so appealing.
The remoteness was refreshing, but if you are riding this route, make sure to have some basic tools and a way to fix a flat tire, since you might not see another person for a while. I always carry a tube, patch kit, pump, first aid kit, and basic tools in my pannier, so I wasn’t too worried about getting stranded. If worse came to worse, you could always walk back and pick up your bike later.
This loop goes to the south of Castell, but there’s also a north loop, which looks like it would also be fun. I’m looking forward to riding that in the future. Actually, there’s an event called the Castell Grind where you can ride the South Loop, or both loops if I understand the description correctly. It looks like quite the race! Not really my thing, but it’s neat that something like that exists.
If you are a newbie to gravel riding, and live in Central Texas, I highly recommend a visit to Castell. It’s a terrific ride! I enjoyed the solo trip, but I think it would be great with one or two friends, and pack a lunch to enjoy together halfway through the route. Next time!
We took a mini-vacation not to far from home at Getaway Hill Country with a couple of good friends. Mariko and I were in one of the tiny cabins, while our friends were in another one, but we got to relax together outside and enjoy a campfire and some yakiniku in a safe setting. And even though the moon was out, I was able to take a half-decent photo of the stars. 😀
I’d never been to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston before, so I was excited to visit today. There was an exhibit of Francis Bacon’s later work which was pretty good. I was not familiar with his work, so it was a nice education. But what I really enjoyed was the permanent collection on the 2nd floor.
This Greek wine vase was very interesting to me because I just recently finished the novel Circe, so I was familiar with the characters shown in the painting: Ariadne, Theseus, the Minotaur, and Daedalus. I love the style of these Greek depictions.
One of my favorite artists is Henri Matisse so it was thrilling to see two of his paintings. I especially love his line work in the faces of his subjects.
I’m not so interested in religious depictions, but I thought this painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was excellent.
I would have liked to stay longer in the museum to look at the paintings more closely, but sadly it closed at 5 pm. I guess I’ll just have to come back again! 😊
This morning I did a bit of hiking at Inks Lake State Park, which is about an hour away from our house. There’s a nice group of trails that meander around the hills just south of the lake, and also several primitive campsites that I wanted to check out. I also wanted to try my hand at making a hiking video using my Fujifilm X100T and tripod. I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt! Please check it out:
On a side note, I noticed that there was a nice representation of Subarus at the trail-head. In fact, the only other car when I arrived was this brand-new Forester. And when I left, a much older Forester was parked next to me. It’s fun to be part of the Subaru family!
I hope you had a great day!
またね~
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My camera & photos
I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?