SXSFixed

As most of you know, I took a little drive down to Austin on business, however, took the opportunity to scout out the route (well, part of it) on the way back up. So, here’s the synopsis and some pics to boot:

Traveling out of Waco, the route says to take 84, which happens to be a highway-esk road, 4 lanes total, speed limit 55. The good news – there is a service road for most of the way and the traffic on the highway itself is comparable with Garland road (not during rush hour). There’s a bridge larger than the Ft. Worth or Zang bridges, but other than that, its relatively flat… a few rolling hills.

The rest of the trip is relatively flat – we travel through quite a few tiny towns with a ton of little eating spots… that’s really all I was scouting for, honestly.

Switching off between sections of rolling hills and sections of flat field land as far as the eye can see, the land was already starting to sprout for spring, so March should be gorgeous as far as scenery goes.

There’s another short stretch of highway-esk road when we hit FM 685 – but here’s proof that it is safe to ride around here:

Most of the crazy insane hills and not-so-Texas scenery starts around Dessau Road. The beginning of the road will take us through some pretty modern towns – HEBs, mini-vans, and pop up homes galore. But just when you think the suburbs will never end, the road turns into evergreen-lined road that meanders through the Austin countryside.

(Yes, I realize this photo isn’t the very meander-ey – but I was having too much fun driving to actually shoot a pic. Promise it’s there.)

I changed the route a little bit so we don’t hit 290 and the service road on 35. By doing so, we hit some killer hills right outside of Austin. And good news! There are actual bike lanes from this point on.

(Look close – you’ll see a few hilltops in the distance and the lane on the right.)

And of course, I couldn’t scout the route without starting at our endpoint:

I can’t wait to ride the hills leading up to the Capitol. Think Hampton Road or the White Rock Hills – just more of them in a smaller area. Again, bike lanes are everywhere, but I also saw cyclists take lanes, and – imagine this – cars were actually AWARE of them!

Overall – The roads, with the exception of a little town I can’t remember the name of, were AMAZING the entire time. Smooth, no potholes, no man-covers. Towns were spaced close enough for stops every 30-45 miles or so easily. Traffic was light the entire time.

I’m going to drive the rest of the route soon – updates will come shortly after. But I am completely pumped for this ride!

Dig the song, dig the bike… just watch it!

Now this is impressive. These guys went from Alaska to the tip of South America. Took them 3.5 years. Over 34,000 kilometers. I’d google that for mileage, but I’m lazy. Check out their site.

Here’s a trailer from 13 guys and gals doin’ a 350 mile journey through Japan. I think it took them a full week. Looks rad, hopefully we’ll have a chance to see a screening, *cough, Transit?

Tokyo to Osaka Teaser from John Murillo on Vimeo.

There’s this:

And there’s this:

Whether it’s awesome, or crazy, or the perfect combination of both, we’re doing it. On fixed gear bikes. And we’re psyched. Other people are interested too, so we’re making an event out of it. We’re going to document our journey: the good, the bad, and the ugly. We already have a few sponsors, and we’re looking for more. We’ve been training; we’ll train more. We’ll keep checking in with updates.