A Batty, Starbucks Ride with Tragic Toads and Snakes

Round Rock has a 4-story parking lot downtown, and it is a good place to start a ride. You can park your car for free and go enjoy yourself on a bike ride. I know, I know. Who drives their car downtown and then parks and rides their bike. Round Rock is not the small town it used to be; it's a bit spread out, so this gives us a decent starting point.

I had not seen the bats in awhile, but it's awful hot out; so, I thought it made sense to go watch the bats and then get a cold drink at the StarBuck's by HWY 35. Here's the route:

Again, I recommend clicking on the elevation button which takes you to the MapMyRide site. Once there, click on the "Watch Course Fly-By Video" because it's so cool.


A Few Pointers:
The ride is fun. From the bats, I take a lesser known/used road back to Mays. I'd say Mays is the most dangerous part of the ride because we're going uphill over the railroad tracks and there is no shoulder on Mays and by this point, it's dark out. As a safer alternate, there is a sidewalk that you could ride your bike on.


After turning left and getting past the schools and turning right, get ready for a steep downhill ride. It's easy and a blast to pick up lots of speed, but you are going into Memorial Park's parking lot, so watch out for cars and people. The park has lights, but they were not on when I went through. Incidentally, I ran over a snake on the sidewalk. It was moving slowly, I was going too fast, so by the time I saw it, I swerved but I think I was too late.  Also, a little toad freaked out as I rode by and I heard it ping off the spokes of my back tire. I really never meant to squash or kill anything. That was a bummer. So, while in the park, go slow.


I highly recommend riding to the top of the parking lot and back down. The building is lit so it feels safe (except for the top level where the lights have been broken and at times you may spot amorous mementos people have left behind).


Well, enjoy!


(Ironically, I'm writing about StarBuck's while I eat and blog from Star Co., a little cafe in downtown Round Rock. Good coffee, tasty breakfast tacos, free wi-fi. I've got a breakfast ride I do on Saturdays that ends here. I'll have to write about that route and include hot air balloon pictures.)

Biking for a Book

I was surfing on the web and came across a video featuring Michio Kaku. He's a physicist and futurist who happened to be discussing civilizations. He's a good speaker, so I looked him up on Wikipedia to find out some more and there was a list of his books. A sudden impulse came over me. I had to get one of his books! I grabbed a few things, jumped on my bike, and rode up to Half Price Books. If luck was on my side they'd have a book there at ... gee, half price!


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It wasn't the best ride: head wind, uphill, and lunch-hour traffic. And it's hot at 1 o'clock in central Texas. Traveling south on Mays Street, however, seemed the fastest route, so I took it. I did stop once, after the first "hill" just past the intersection of Mays and Main Street. No, there wasn't a breeze, but it felt good to just sit there under a tree. A few people stared at me as they drove by.

One thing I don't like about Round Rock is the lack of bike racks. Half Price Books is part of the Renaissance Square, like a mini-mall. I had to lock up my bike on a handicap post. The public library has one, and it's great because there are so many places to walk to downtown. Just the other day, I was at the library and decided to have a beer, so I walked over to Junior's. They had a good selection: Guiness, Fat Tire, Fireman's #4, Blue Moon, and a few more. But anyway, I was three miles south of the library at Half Price.

I was sweating profusely and I slowly paced outside to try to cool down. The funny thing about sweat is that it dries faster outside. In the building it just gets cold on my shirt and stays there. Not a good feeling. Well, long story short, I browsed the science section hoping to spot Kaku's book. It was not there.

It was no great loss. Back on the bike and crossing over for the trip back, at least I knew I'd have a tail wind going downhill. I was able to keep up with 30-mile-an-hour traffic! That was a blast. There is a spot on the road though that has Herpes Simplex 13: two globs of warty cement jut out and if you hit them, you could hit the pavement and lose a body part.

The library had Kaku on CDs, and I also picked up The Dancing Wu Li Masters, An Overview of the New Physics -- in cassette! I'll have to dig up my boom box to play these.

Next to the library is a corner store, P & A Snack Center. I had to get a Snickers candy bar and a Gatorade. Glad they're there.

Hot day to be riding.