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Message started by goatstick on Apr 25^th, 2009, 3:23pm

Title: I35 frontage road discontinuities
Post by goatstick on Apr 25^th, 2009, 3:23pm

In case anyone is interested, here are the places along I35 between San Antonio and Waco where the frontage road does not go through. (Note, I didn't take southbound I35 from Waco to Salado so don't know about that stretch)

North of Kyle
Exits 215 to 217 - southbound only
Reason? unknown

Turn west at the Home Depot at Dry Hole Rd, which turns south. At the barricade either turn left on Old Bridge Trail then left into the shopping center parking lot then find your way back to the frontage road, or turn left and ride through the dirt path around the mud hole back to the frontage road.
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Georgetown
Exits 259 to 261A - northbound only
Reason - routing through G'town was close enough?

Take S Austin Ave through Georgetown to exit 265. I suspect I'd route through G'town both ways as I think it's a little nicer than the frontage road.
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South of Belton
Exits 289A to 289B - northbound only
Reason - Old Hwy 81 was close enough?

Dumps you out on the I35 shoulder to cross the river.

Maybe take Toll Bridge Rd - Old US Hwy 81 at 289A back to I35 at exit 290 but you are only on I35 for about a block so it's probably not worth it.
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In Temple :
Exits 300 to 301 - both directions
Reason - train tracks

We circled back to Ave H eastbound, left on 1741 (S 31st), left on W Adams back to the service road - didn't work well.

Exits 302 to 303A - both directions
Reason - train tracks

We circled around to southbound frontage, turned right at Enterprise Rd, right at Eberhardt Rd to 363 (HK Dodgen Loop), back to I35 at exit 304. This one was a ways out of the way but not too bad.

It might work to take W Loop 363 around Temple. The northern end we took was very rideable but I don't know about the rest.
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North of Eddy
Exits 318A to 318B - both directions
Reason - train tracks

We circled around, right on First St, right on N Bruce, right on frontage road south, circle back under I35 to north frontage road. This was pretty workable and would be much easier when southbound as you don't have to cross under I35.
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Riding back I took 317 from Crawford to Belton. Decent chip-seal with a decent shoulder most of the way. South of Moody the shoulder narrows a bit but is still pretty easy. We heard that Spring Valley Rd was resurfaced with boulder-seal so we didn't attempt that route. In general, I'm still not sure how I would get around the Temple area if I needed to go through Waco. I'd probably try Loop 363 either to the east or the west. My sister is some new planner for traffic and other issues for Belton (she won't tell me her new job title or description :^) but she had recommended the loop to the east. It's further and she's not a cyclist so tends to be conservative. To the west might be fine if it's like the northern stretch we took. If you know, please report back.

On another note... I was stopped at the traffic light at W Central Eastbound and S 31st St and was intentionally right-hooked by a grey Dodge pickup. Knocked me off the bike and ran over my foot at the same time. Was a bit strange getting stretched out like that but it probably kept me from falling hard on my hip. No problem other than a sore left foot, however... I want to say that there were two motorcycle cops who came to the rescue almost before I had pulled myself up off the road. I'm used to all the crooked cops here in S.A. who hate cyclists, but these two guys completely amazed me with how professional, nice and helpful they were. I sure wish there were more out there like them. My sister knows the dispatchers for the county there and I asked her to try to find out who the two were and to thank them again for me if possible.

Title: Re: I35 frontage road discontinuities
Post by goatstick on May 20^th, 2009, 10:04pm

[quote author=goatstick link=1240691030/0#0 date=1240691030]In case anyone is interested, here are the places along I35 between San Antonio and Waco where the frontage road does not go through. (Note, I didn't take southbound I35 from Waco to Salado so don't know about that stretch)

Update... Rode almost to Waco and back again this last weekend to ride with my daughter back down here to prep for our trip. She decided to try Spring Valley Rd out of Waco to 317. Took Bagby south out of Waco to Old Temple Rd and west on Spring Valley on Monday. Spring Valley has been recently redone and she said it was fabulous, so that is likely the best way to get around Temple. I met her north of Belton on 317 and we rode back down to Helotes Mon/Tues.

The weekend before I set a personal record on my run from Helotes to downtown Austin. Elapsed time of 4hr 2 minutes, 23.1mph average for 90 miles. Tailwind, but I'll take it! I blew through San Marcos at over 35mph and generally was doing 28-35 on the flats. Sort of tunnel vision ensued I was cranking so hard and I was trashed, but I still made it through the heavy traffic in Austin to average 21.6mph for 106 miles. Careful of tailwinds on the Corsa - "hey, I think I can faster. Yeah. I wonder if I can go faster yet? Yeah..." Until you nearly spontaneously combust. The next ride on Tues (took me a few days to recover) I completed 50 centuries and over 10,000 miles on the Corsa in just over 14 months. So far this year I've done 18 centuries in 20 weeks. Trying for a century-a-week average for this year.

Forgot. Set a new flat-ground record on both Mo and Tues also. Near Jarrell, when the stars (tailwind and legs, etc) aligned for a 40.7 mph flat ground speed (for about 3 seconds), and then things aligned again on Tues in South New Braunfels when I rolled just over 40.1 flat ground, keeping up with traffic on the access road for about
30 seconds. I suspect I was picking up a slight draft from the cars in the left lane to help me on that one though.

Title: Re: I35 frontage road discontinuities
Post by bikerteam on May 21^st, 2009, 6:21am

Wow Kent - it's great reading your ride reports, and setting PR's. Do you have any upcoming races planned? Have you considered riding solo at the TTTT later this fall? Schlitter has the 24 hour and 500 mile bent record. You should challenge his record. Quite a few of the DFW area bent riders participate in this event. I would be a great opportunity to integrate with us.
http://www.tt24tt.com/

Title: Re: I35 frontage road discontinuities
Post by goatstick on May 21^st, 2009, 10:18am

bikerteam wrote:

Thanks, I'd like to try TTTT. Still have a lot to learn about ultras and there's no way I could challenge Schlitter but I would like to ride with some really fast bents though. I can't find anyone around here who can keep up with me though we have a new Corsa rider I've been riding with lately. He was strong on a road bike before and he's gaining speed and strength really quickly on the Corsa so watch out! :^) He's doing a long ride up in Colorado this summer and he'll come back a strong climber, which is his main weakness right now.

No races planned but we're prepping for the ride to Long Island starting next week. External influences are yanking with our schedule so we aren't sure how that will work out. ~2500 mile there and we'll try to really cover some territory each day. One of the Bacchetta racers said the hc600 would be a lot harder than the touring I had done, but after doing both, I'm not so sure. I think just 3-4 days of centuries with loaded panniers going as fast as I can go all the time (at least 5mph faster typically) is pretty close. You have more stuff to do - find food, pick routes when things don't work, fight traffic, pack, repack, clean, etc. which I think is more exhausting than just riding. I think it's a great way to get base miles for ultras (in case anyone wants to join us. :^) I have trouble just going out for a ride. After commuting 30+ miles a day for years, I need a purpose and a destination or I have trouble climbing on.

The traveling centuries I've been doing the past two months with panniers has made me noticeably faster. We had a local test track opened for us to race on yesterday and though my legs were still trashed from the weekend, I did a mile sprint 17 seconds faster than anyone else there. Cornering at over 35mph on a relatively flat and narrow oval is not like riding on the road. I could hear my tires scuffing really loudly I was leaned over so far. Not a comfortable feeling so held back on the corners a bit.