Comfort - Kerrville - Fredericksburg Map Is Up

I just posted a map for routes from Comfort to Kerrville to Fredericksburg and back. There are two options, with one going through Harper and the other skipping it. These are long rides. My Comfort photo set has pictures from along these routes.

Enjoy!

Comfort Easy Rides Map Is Up

I added a map today with some easy rides out of Comfort. I took some pictures along these routes a while back as well.

Enjoy!

Mission Trail Maps Are Up

I just finished posting two maps for the Mission Trail. The first ride is a family ride and stays on the trail completely. The second ride spends some time on the road and is longer. I also put up pictures of the rides.

Enjoy!

New Tuesday Nighter Is Up

The map for the new Tuesday Night ride/race is up here.  There are photos here.

Enjoy!

Flat Rock Ranch Map Is Up

I just added a map and some pictures for the mountain bike course on Flat Rock Ranch outside of Comfort.  I love riding this place, so it's a fitting first mountain bike ride for the site.  Coming soon will be McAllister Park and Government Canyon.  Then I'll get on to the other mountain bike rides in the area as I can.

This week I'm hoping to get up maps for the Mission Trail, the new Tuesday Night course, some more Comfort rides, and some rides from Po-Po's (Nelson City).  It remains to be seen how ambitious this plan really is.

Enjoy!

Tour de Gruene Time Trial Courses Are Up

Today I finished the time trial courses for the 2009 Tour de Gruene.  They're on the site now.  These are the same as from years past, so there's no surprises, but I still thought they'd be useful.  The profiles are enlightening (at least to me).

I also added some pictures from Gruene and River Rd. to the sabikerides Flickr account.  Check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabikerides.

Tour de Gruene Tour updated

I finished the map for the tour portion of the Tour de Gruene.  It now has 21, 32, 53, and 10 mile options, and includes all stops and points of interest.  I'll work on the time trial courses tomorrow.  The updated tour is out on the site now.

I also fixed a problem I had with elevations.  I hadn't looked close enough to notice that my data was in meters, not feet.  This made for some skewed profile data.  The profile graphs were shaped correctly, but the labels on the Y-axis showed elevation differences that were too small.  Now all the graphs have been converted to feet and it looks like it's supposed to.  Thanks to Shawn for pointing that out to me.

I'm planning on doing a field trip Friday to take pictures and make notes for the Mission Trail maps.  I'm going to do a casual rider map and a serious rider map, so there should be something for everyone there.  The Mission Trail is a great place to ride, and I can't wait to get the map for it done.  Look for that to come out early next week.

Enjoy!

New Version Released!

I finally squashed the last bug.  The new version has been released.  Please take a look and tell me if you see any problems.

New features include points of interest, off-route stops, elevation profiles, comments, road conditions, and a bunch of tweaking and fixing.

By the way, I hate Internet Explorer 6. I really do.

Question

Michelle (via email) asked me a great question today:


Why is it that on your SA Bike Rides site, there aren't any bike rides in San Antonio??? It's all surrounding cities. Aren't there places to ride here? That's why I went to your site.

~Michelle





Hi Michelle!

This is a great question!

The short answer is that I haven't gotten any of the San Antonio rides up yet.  I've got a few in progress, but I haven't completed the maps yet.  The Mission Trail on the south side of town is one in particular that's coming soon.  I've got several variations of that route that should serve all skill levels.  There are also some rides starting from the Blue Star and La Tuna areas that are fun and safe that I have in progress.  I am currently planning several rides that start from Bullis County Park out Blanco road.

The long answer is a little more nuanced.  San Antonio has exploded with growth the last 10 years or so.  There were once some really great rides in town, but now most of those roads make me nervous to ride on.  I'm working on coming-up with routes in town that I'm comfortable sending people out on and that are fun to ride.  It's difficult to generate an urban route that doesn't put people in significant danger, either from traffic or from questionable neighborhoods.

The park-n-ride at I-10 and 1604 used to be a great place to ride from.  There were good rides going in all directions and I rode from there several times a week.  Now that The Shops at La Cantera and The Rim have been built, those roads are just too crazy.  Some of the people that used to start from there have now moved the ride starts to Leon Springs near Rudy's, but those roads as well are just too crazy with traffic these days.  I'm thinking of mapping some rides from off of Babcock and Chase Hill Blvd. near UTSA, because some of the back roads around there haven't gotten unreasonable yet.

There also used to be some good rides that went through the Stone Oak area, but you can barely even drive a car through there now, much less a bicycle.  It's kinda sad.

The areas with good possibilities are Kirby and on out east, and some of the areas on the south side of town.



And later I replied:



I've been doing some more research, and I think I found the trails you are referring to. The cit of San Antonio has them listed on their website here: http://www.sanantonio.gov/creekways/. I've ridden the trails off Bandera behind OP Schnabel Park, which are probably the ones that the guys at Ride Away were referring to. There are some neat trails back there, but I can't vouch for the skill levels they require. I have reports of the trails between Huebner and Blanco road from a friend that says they have both paved and unpaved trails. They may be exactly what you're looking for.

Almost Ready with New Features

I've almost gotten done with the new features I've been working on all week.  These include points of interest, off-route stops, elevation profiles, comments, road conditions, and a bunch of tweaking and fixing.  I'm going to wrap them up this evening, then test all day tomorrow.  I hope to have them out Monday evening.

Up next is a host of new ride maps.  I've been collecting data and doing scouting for several weeks and I've got a big stack of rides to enter.  In the works are rides from Po-Po's, more rides from Comfort, more Tour de Gruene maps, the new Tuesday Nighter, and maybe some mountain bike rides.

Stay tuned!

Working on New Features

This week I'm devoting myself to adding new features to the site.  I've got a bunch of rides scouted and ready to go, but I'm making myself wait on those a little while.  I got a bunch of good ideas while creating the last batch of rides, and I want to get those ideas into the site before I move on.  There just aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to.

Here Come Pictures!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a very good photographer.  Hopefully that will improve over time, but in the meanwhile it really helps to have lots of neat things to take pictures of.  Also, I'm still trying to figure out the best ways to integrate the pictures into the website.  I need to use the pictures effectively without making my hosting costs go through the roof.  Pictures tend to be large files and too many can just kill things.

Until I get all these things figured out, I've started posting them to my new SABikeRides Flickr account.  Take a look!

Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabikerides/

Recent sets:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabikerides/sets/72157619307806086/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabikerides/sets/72157619210315915/

I Have Added Ads

I finally got around to adding ads to the sabikerides blog, and I'm in the process of adding them to the site.  This has been on my list for a while and it floated to the top today.  I plan on tinkering around with placement for a while until it all feels right.  I don't want to bombard people with advertising so much they get turned off, but I need for this site to generate some income for me.  If anyone has input on how the adds are working out, please send me any feedback you can.

Thanks!

Tour de Gruene 2009 Map Added

I'm working with the Tour de Gruene organizers to help them do the maps for the 2009 event.  I just posted the first of these.  This map covers the short 21 mile tour option.  I'll soon add the maps for the 30 mile and 50 mile tour options.  After that I'll get the maps for the individual time trial and the team time trial.  The time trial courses are the same as years past, so there's no surprises there.  Hopefully, though, the time trial maps will really come in handy when I get elevation profiles and other goodies added in the near future.

Enjoy!

Comfort and Utopia Rides Added

I just added two maps for Comfort and one map for Utopia.

The Comfort rides go through Center Point, Kerrville, and Fredericksburg.  They're mostly on pretty, lightly traveled rural roads that are a true pleasure to ride.

The Utopia rides are not for the faint of heart.  There are some major climbs for both distance options, and both options are tough.  Still, these are great, lightly traveled roads in the heart of the Texas Hill Country and shouldn't be missed.

This week I'm researching some rides from Po-Po's, which is a restaurant between Boerne and Comfort.  This is a great place to park, a great place to eat, and provides some really nice rides.  Keep an eye out for these new rides coming soon.

Enjoy!