[scorpionwoman]

Sheila, David and I headed out for a morning ride at Rocky Hill Ranch (near Smithville, Tx). I've been making a point of doing more rides from my door lately, and luckily there's lots of good stuff right in and around Austin. But today I splurged, burned some gas (with 30mpg for the trip!), and made the 50-minute drive to Rocky Hill. It was well worth the trip, because the trails there are very different than what we have in Austin: swoopy, twisty, fast-running ribbons of dirt amongst the pines. Oh sure, there are some rocks and some roots, but coming from Austin, those barely register as we zip along.

It's the kind of trail that has you grinning from ear-to-ear while you ride, if not whooping and hollering. Hmm, so if a rider smiles approximately 75% of the time, and the ride is 18.5 miles long, how many miles of smiles does that make?

And now I'll let the pictures do the talking. First, riding shots.

 

[scorpionwoman]

More riding shots. (Hey, it was a long ride! )

 

[scorpionwoman]

A few more riding pics, then some shots of interesting things along the way.

 

[scorpionwoman]

To wrap it up, some flora and fauna.

 

[ArmySlowRdr]

RHRanch a fave of mine; I saw all the posts and was seriously considering showing. But I was just there several months ago and had only a 70 oz bladder (idiot that I am--and the water stops unmaintained out there now). Also it was the day after a big event they had and RB was in no mood to cater to any mountain bikers that day--read--no eats at the salloon.

Did they have food today? Wasn't some type of charity event going on at the salloon?

Idiot that I am to save on gas I thought I'd hook up with the ACA ridegroup in Walburg (only 45 miles from Killeen vs 100+ for RHRanch). Did I know it was an 8 AM ride?--yes--what did my brain insist on regestering?--830 AM. OOPS. So I get there at 750 and a bunch of people gathered at the cemetary 4 d ride. But I needed to take care of business. In Walburg there's no place that early to do such business. I rode and rode til I got to Shwertner--which had a portalet out back of the one business. I made it back to the ride start at 817 and there were 2 lone cyclists--I said--isnt there an 830 ride--they said 8--I thought what a dumfug I am.

So I drive about 110 miles 2day 4 nothing.

Idiot, idiot.

But I did ride in the hottest part of today my 27 mile south of the house rte here in South Killeen. Triple idiot. Wham I just got it in the left with a calf cramp-and wham in the right with a quad cramp.

Will probably ruin tomorrow's BLORA ride.

I suppose I everyone has the occasional idiotic day.

The scenery in New Corn Hill--population looked to be about zero with one nice looking catholic church serving the surrounding towns, looked nice tho.

And now I know where that good German restaurant in Walburg is. So not all lost.

Sorry to hijack ur story with mine Claire.

Rocky Hill looks as marvelous as ever--as do the peeps who ride it--hehe.

 

[dosboy]

Nice pics

You ladies have got some pimped out bikes..Thanks for sharing

 

[knives out]

sweet stuff!! looks like a fantastic ride.

 

[TLL]

Nice ride pix as always.

 

[austin_bike]

We missed you, you should have started at 9 with us. ~20 miles total, a gallon of sweat, and one snake.

Maybe Ted will post a picture of it, it didn't seem happy, but other than stopping us for a few minutes as we tried to get around it.

 

[bear]

My day started a tad earlier than most...

... I was being obsessive and doing an early lap before hooking up with AB and the rest of the gang @ 9, I encountered some other of the local fauna than Clair did ...

... I managed to finish my lap and connect with the gang, and we cruised. Eventually, we found yet more fauna ...

... and upon travelling further, AB was much happier ...

 

[-Devil-]

that looks like a trail i wouldn't mind driving from louisiana to go see ... (err i mean ride)

 

[tillerman]

nice shots, all. been to Bastrop SP, but never made it over to RHR.

AB:
I figure with your frequent flier miles, you could get the airline to install a tanning bed?
I mean, whoa, dude: you could pass for a New Yorker.

 

[JeffSkisMontana]

Texas..........

Pictures give a good idea of what the riding is like in the Austin area........thanks for sharing. One of the bikes looked like a Willey too.

 

[bear]

i forgot to say - I was sorry to not even see Clair & Co. even in passing, but I'm glad they has as good a day at the ranch that I did.

Lady has really embraced the art of pixels well, am very appreciative.

 

[Hang 21]

Last time I was out there (about a month ago), we popped out of the woods into a clearing and found ourselves face-to-face with 5 rather frisky looking black longhorns. We sat really still, us staring at them, and them at us, for a couple minutes. We were somewhat on edge, knowing that they could catch up and poke us with those pointy things on their heads before we could get back into the safety of the trees. Eventually, they gave us a really unimpressed 'meh...whatever' look, and turned around and walked off.

 

[poff]

When I lived in College Station I rode RHR quite often. It is perfect for 29er SS.

 

[grungePoodle]

AB:
I figure with your frequent flier miles, you could get the airline to install a tanning bed?
I mean, whoa, dude: you could pass for a New Yorker.

LOL. It's okay, he's got the $3,000 business suit tan. :thumbsup:

 

[ArmySlowRdr]

Last time I was out there (about a month ago), we popped out of the woods into a clearing and found ourselves face-to-face with 5 rather frisky looking black longhorns. We sat really still, us staring at them, and them at us, for a couple minutes. We were somewhat on edge, knowing that they could catch up and poke us with those pointy things on their heads before we could get back into the safety of the trees. Eventually, they gave us a really unimpressed 'meh...whatever' look, and turned around and walked off.

back in the day Bluff creek ranch had pretty onery onesI hate snakes:nono:bad posting pics of them..

 

[mylesofsmyles]

Hey, wait a minute...I'm Myles of Smyles!

 

[bajamtnbkr]

Nice ride report Scorpionwoman, I always enjoy your pictures and write up and this is for sure one of the best ones, thanks.