Basically the Hill Country area and parts of Austin and San Antonio.

Pretty much the area in this map:


Maybe some areas in west Texas. Okay around Brenham and Chappell Hill. The rest of the state fucking sucks for cycling.

* Texas resident from 2004-2019

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I’ve barely ventured outside DFW, but west of Ft Worth is pretty solid if you ask me....very little traffic, solid elevation and can find some pretty parts near lakes.

The El Paso area is by far my favorite. Actual climbs (think 6mi up to 5500ft elevation), tons of open roads, shoulders everywhere, right by New Mexico where you have even more available.

Very helpful everyone, i much appreciate the detail and welcome any more feedback.

There's some great climbs between Leakey and Medina, and great riding all around that area. A favorite location for cycling camps. Stay in Leakey on the Frio river, lots of cabin options available.

Fredericksburg area is historically popular for riding - Hell Week has been hosted there for many years. Below are some links for you.

https://odiebaby.wixsite.com/...CF3iyUj5atqskBu3ifZA

https://wheelbrothers.com/...redericksburg-texas/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMXPnbGODuU

http://www.hellweek.com/texasinfo.html

chris

If you have a gravel bike, check out the courses that Spinistry put together on ridewithgps: https://ridewithgps.com/...he-spinistry/events?

Most are north texas. All of the races I've done with Spinistry have been A+


You can also look at Colin Strickland and Kevin Girkens on Strava. They put a lot of miles in the Hill Country, so i'd assume they pick some pretty sweet roads.

I've done every single bike rallies around DFW and N. Texas area.

Lancaster, Peach Pedals, Cotton Patch, Goat Neck, Collin Classic, Muenster Germanfest, Paulaxy Pedal, Cow Creek, MS-150, Tour de Paris, Tour de Italy, Up for the hills, Hot Rock, Hotter than Hell, Emmit Smith, Denton Turkey Roll, Mesquite Rodeo, Super Bowl Ride, Wish 100, St. Jude ride, Red Balloon, Blazing Saddle...etc.

You are right. West of Ft. Worth is pretty solid compared to other areas. The worst hill I've seen was at Palauxy Pedal in Glen Rose. I think it's like 13% or something like that called 'The Wall.' Germanfest rally is really windy and you will see hills after hills. Hotter than hell is damn hot, but it's one of my favorites riding with 12,000+ riders. I really like bike rallies but too bad all of them got cancelled and postponed this year.

Where are you riding at these days in that area? Far west over in Weatherford, etc is good. But west of Fort Worth in Haslet area has gotten bad last few years.

The roads used to be pretty empty, but so many housing divisions going up, but still stuck with two lanes roads. Last time I went out there about 9 months ago it felt very dangerous with all the cars buzzing by.

So if any good routes you can share that are accessible from Alliance area w/o having to drive would be great.

I really think you need to narrow down the geography of where you actually want to ride. Texas is 900 miles north to south and 900 miles east to west. Having great riding roads near El Paso is a day and half drive from me in Houston. If we knew where you wanted to ride that would make it easier.

Likewise, it would be nice to when you wanted to ride. Fall/Winter can be a weather problem throughout the panhandle, south to San Antonio. Spring can be a weather problem from the Panhandle, south through the Big Country and east through North Texas. Summer is brutal everywhere, but humidity is an issue within 100-120 miles of the Gulf Coast and 50 miles from the Louisiana border.

But in generally there are miles and miles of Farm-to-Market/Ranch-to-Market roads that have very low traffic (But I wouldn't put the Leakey/Kerrville/Medina/Fredricksburg area on that list, and no where withing 50 miles of a downtown city of 500,000 or more (other than El Paso).

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Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Southeast of San Antonio are Guadalupe and Wilson counties. Light traffic, OK roads, small hills, plenty of convenience stores. Easy to ride for hours out there.

Live and ride in ATX. We go west, south, and east mainly and have great roads all of those directions. We have done 5+ hour rides out east and have ridden roads that we may see a car once an hour. The west side is a bit busier, but very hilly and lots of good quality to be found, with an easy 6k in elevation gained in 5 hours on some routes. Happy to share more, or you can follow me on Strava to see the routes.

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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot | Cycle2Tri.com
Sponsors: SciCon | | Every Man Jack

I am about 8 years removed from living in Texas, so some of this may have changed. But Huntsville has some good routes, West of Katy (West Houston) also has some good roads, but I have heard those are getting pushed further and further out. The cool thing about Texas is the number of group rides to help you find new routes. I have never seen anything like it anywhere else I lived. In Houston there is a group ride every night of the week except Monday (again, at least there was) and on Saturdays and Sundays there is probably 6 to pick from. And since most of the them are flat to rolling at most, they stick together and generally run smooth.

A continued thanks for all of the feedback.

To be more specific, my profession and licensure gives me a fair bit of flexibility with landing location. I’m considering a move to the state and would want to at least virtually scout the area. I’ve been to San Antonio area, DFW, Houston, etc.

The area ideally would have sufficient pool access, ows and safe cycling. That might be reaching a bit for all three but it doesn’t hurt to dream.

I’ve also been to Kerrville / F-burg and really liked it.

If I could live anywhere in Texas and I was interested in tri training, I'd probably pick somewhere near Llano. It's small, yes, but there's ows, good/safe roads for running or riding. You can run or ride on a ton of back FM roads that have little traffic. They're not large, but that's because there's no traffic. You can swim in the Llano river right by the bridge or you can go down to Lake LBJ and swim there.

If you wanted more urban area, I'd pick Austin or Ft. Worth. Austin has a lot better training clubs and support, but the NW side of Ft. Worth is pretty nice (my son is stationed at the base there and he's always posting great rides, runs and ows on Strava). Ft. Worth is not as "swanky" as Austin, but up on that side of town it's not as crowded as Austin. There's little serious cycle support in Ft. Worth, but my son does all his own work so it doesn't matter as much to him.

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Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Not really the case...if you go see jason or James at Fort Worth cycling and fitness...you would never have an issue...ever...James was a very talented cyclist back in the day...riding against Lance and co...training in co springs, etc...he is a great bike fitter too...

I mentioned this in another thread but I still think San Antonio is the best place to triathlon train in the state.

Plenty of riding from home plus a huge network of paved greenways and mountain bike trails that form a roughly 50 mile loop around the city.

Tons of big and nice pools. US Masters LCM Nationals was here a few years ago and the Olympic team trained at the same pool before Rio.

Fredericksburg is an hour away if you want to drive to ride your bike and has some of the most remote and beautiful riding you'll find anywhere.

Llano and Vanderpool like Sean Hale mentioned is about a 90 minute drive. Super easy daytrip for use if we want some ultra hill riding.

Feel free to shoot me a message if you're interested in more details or in some routes. My side hobby is mapping new cycling routes on Strava to find cool places to ride.

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Mark Saroni
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COACHING | TRAINING PLANS
MS Kinesiology | USAT LII | USAC L3

Awesome, thanks Mark.

Hi Mark,

Is it possible to safely ride out your door if you live in SA or do you drive somewhere?

If you’re interested in looking into smaller town vibe, put Granbury on your list. Solo OWS at City Beach if you can’t get with a group to swim main body of lake. Indoor pool master swim run by superb coach at YMCA. Outside of major metropolitan area (DFW), with lots of gnarly short steep hills south of town near Glen Rose. A lot of roadies go to Glen Rose on the weekends, and you can ride to “the wall” from south side of Granbury. There’s also a long paved running trail through the city park system, too. Texas is a big place, so I’m sure you’ll have fun checking it out!

Sweet thanks!

Lots of cycling gems in West Texas along the border that most Texas cyclists have never even heard of. Hwy 170 between Presidio and Lajitas is world class, but almost unknown and gets very little cycling traffic. The climbs inside Big Bend National Park are worth anyone's time. This is a remote area to get to and doesn't have much in the way of amenities, but it provides fantastic cycling.I wouldn't recommend moving out there, but it makes for a fantastic cycling destination.