Friday morning. 6am. I crawl out of bed and head out to the garage, where I am greeted by sauna-like conditions. The thought bubble in my head said “What the hell I am thinking?” Thankfully, as I opened the garage door cooler air rushed in and I decided to not return to bed. There is something enjoyable about exploring a new route, and doing it in the quiet of the early morning only sharpens the experience.

Brushy Creek Trail starts at the YMCA on old 183, and after a little bit of searching I found the trailhead and slid into the woods alone, or at least I thought I would be alone, but there were all kinds of wildlife visible almost as soon as I left the sounds of the city behind.

I digress…..

As I rode along I kept thinking about the advantages of designated greenways. I am willing to bet, regardless of heat, more people would utilize these luxuries for pleasure, purpose (commuting, general errands), and vacation. An outstanding post earlier in the week by Tim the Old Guy, made me think about my childhood annual family vacations to the Elroy / Sparta Trail in Wisconsin. Along with being the home of Trek Bicycles, the other regional claim to fame is the trail. Year round (bikes in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter) visitors to the trail pump money into these little municipalities by supporting hotels, B and B’s, and restaurants including my favorite – The Wilton Weenie. There is no reason Austin couldn’t have people scheduling their family vacations to ride as a family in our fair city/region.

Okay, so lets just admit that regionally connected trails that are vacation worthy may be a bit in the future, there are already trails that people use on a daily basis for recreation, but how many of these trails are also commuter friendly….I honestly can’t think of one right now…but please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. In Minneapolis, the Midtown Greenway, is about as close to a bike highway as you are going to see. At pretty much any time of the day you will find as many recreational users, as you will commuters. On snowy days, this route is often faster for people then hopping in their cars and sitting in traffic on I-35 (sound familiar). I know we have designated bike lanes painted on streets throughout Austin, I would like to think the number of “business” users would be very high if there was a designated greenway running north/south in Austin. Maybe I am just dreaming.

Back to the commute…..

I will let the pictures do the talking about the rest of my morning commute….it was a nice as the pictures make it seem.

AFTERNOON COMMUTE: 5pm – 103 degrees

I left school a little later than intended, but it isn’t like it was going to get any hotter. It really didn’t seem that hot….don’t get me wrong….it was hot….but it wasn’t an oppressive and life sucking heat, for lack of a better term lets call it a dry heat, ha. In reality, the heat wasn’t my biggest concern. You may have noticed (see below) that my morning ride looked like one long downhill glide (it wasn’t quite that easy, but it did feel like I was zipping along without putting in my effort) therefore my return trip was one long uphill climb. I don’t know that you can technically call it a climb because of the lack of hills, but lets just say it wasn’t downhill, and therefore required more effort.