So I may be moving to Austin Texas in the near future (next three-four months). I’ll probably end up living in the Round Rock area. Any slowtwitchers in/around Austin belong to good tri club they might recommend or might be willing to help me find good training routes? What are your favorite triathlons (sprint - half) in the area. I really like small local races (200-1000 participants) as opposed to the big gigantic ones; they are just more fun for me.
ps - Don’t worry, I’m not very fast so I wont be challenging you for your age group medal anytime soon.
Decent hill training up and down Loop 360/Capital of Texas Hwy (lots of roads here have 2 names). Almost no flat sections and medium grades of 4-6% with wide shoulders. As mentioned above, there are side roads and developments where you can hit some more serious slopes. You can ride a loop from Hwy 183 down to Loop 1/Mopac that’s about 30 miles. Parmer Lane is much flatter with easy rollers and is another great 40-mile or so loop. Again, nice wide shoulders. Both have stop lights at regular, but not too bothersome, intervals. You can also head further west to hit what’s known as the Damn Loop that goes past Lake Travis. If you’re in Round Rock, you can head east and ride the country roads out past Pflugerville without too much concern. The drawback is that there aren’t a lot of hills on that side of that town.
Jack and Adams is the other tri-specific shop in the area. They’re just down the street from Austin TriCyclist on Barton Springs Road. Great guys there, as well. They also put on several of the smaller races during the year that are always fun and well-run: Jack’s Generic, The Rookie, and The Couples Tri, for example. There are others.
In addition to the training groups mentioned above, there’s also the Austin Triathletes Club. Not a member myself, just know it exists.
Hopefully someone will chime in on the riding in the Round Rock area, personally I don’t have any experience up there. But with the net work of FM roads I’m sure it is a decent place to ride. Like everyone here has said the riding in south and west Austin is not too shabby. The local group rides Sat/Sun from Austin Tri-Cyclist and Jack and Adams tri shops are very popular (which I need to participate in sometime).
I’ll speak to the local races:
-Frost yer Fanny Duathlon
-Texas Tri series (5 races throughout the year in the Austin area, 3 sprints, 1 oly, 1 HIM… great way to put together a cohesive race season and stay local)
-CapTex (super sprint, sprint, oly… they are trying to make this the premier race in Texas, well run but has ~1800 participants)
-Seidel Productions (Alamo tri series plus other sprint level events… great great small races here)
-Red Licorice events (Newish to the race production scene, but their races are solid and Female focused)
-Marble Falls triathlon (smallish popular local race)
2-3 local Xterra triathlons per year
Many more races if you are willing to put in a 1-2 hour drive
Not very hilly (some rollers), but you can do a lot of good rides out of RR/Georgetown, and down towards Pflugerville, east of town. You don’t get as much hill work as if you go west, but you sure can get used to the wind (well, as much as anyone can love the wind). I like to do the century ride from the Outlaw 100 (maps may be on the website), leaving from Old Settler’s Park. Not much traffic, a few dogs to give you some dog sprints, and the cars are relatively benign. You can ride up towards Salado, Walburg, Weir, or west towards Florence and Liberty Hill.
It’s all good.
Tons of races to choose from. I like the smaller races myself.
