Mike's Bike Blog

This was the first annual Strawberry Classic that starts at Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls, TX over to Cedar Park. The total route was 60 miles. Going out to Sweet Berry Farm and picking strawberries is a tradition for my family. This was the third year, we went a little later in the year, but the berries were still good. In fact the potatoes were ready so we dug up some potatoes as well.

This was the first year that I brought my bike along. The plan was for me to ride back to the house while Jennifer drove the boys back. The wind was really whipping and it seemed to be blowing from where I needed to go. After sampling some of the pickings I headed out. For this inaugural event I was the only rider. Hopefully more people will be able to go next year, of course there's always the fall when the pumpkins are in season.

I had the route programmed into my trusty Forerunner and off I went into the wind. Besides the wind there were only 2 problems, when I mapped the route I was going from what google map had available. Out of Sweet Berry Farm there seemed to be a road that cut through to CR 120, that road doesn't really exist or if it does it was a dirt road that looked more like someone's driveway than a road. I pulled over got out the trusty iPhone and made sure there was a way out, which there was. The second mapping snafu was on 281. I had another "shortcut" that would meander on the back roads to Burnet. This road didn't exist. It was all the way to Burnet on Highway 281. This wasn't bad, except for going into the wind, which was coming out of the Northeast. For most of the way there is plenty of room on the shoulder for a bike so having the cars whirling by at 70+ miles an hour wasn't bad. However, there is one section, a bridge over a little stream a few miles out of Burnet the shoulder narrowed a bit. I had to hug the line as best I could.

Once I got through Burnet and got onto the back roads it was very peaceful with very low car traffic. I was actually surprised I did not see any other cyclist out, maybe the wind had kept them at home. At this point the wind seemed to be coming out of the East, of course most of the mileage was heading in this direction.

When I was recruiting riders I was estimating the ride time would be 3:34:00 and a total of 53.44 miles. To the end point I was quoting people it took 3:31:30 and the mileage was 57.3. All the way back to my house was 3:43:03 for a total of 60.5 miles. I averaged 16.27 mph, my top speed was 34.27 mph. The total climb was 2394.5, I wouldn't call any of the hills too big, none like 360 or Jester. There were only 1 where I got out of the saddle, it was a short steep one that I got out of the saddle to finish up the crest.

One other interesting stat for this ride, I actually had a higher average speed further into the ride. From outside Liberty Hill (CR 285/Round Mountain Road) I average 17.4 mph on the 14 mile stretch (77.1 rpm). Compare that to Burnet to Bertram I averaged 16.6 on the 12 miles (76.1 rpm). From Bertram to 285 my average speed was a whopping 18 mph on the 10 miles (79.3 rpm).

This was a fun ride and will do it again next year or if we head out to Sweet Berry Farm for pumpkins this fall I'll give it another go. This ride got me really excited for next weekends Armadillo Hill Country Classic as there should be some of the same roads around Burnet, Bertram and Liberty Hill. Those back roads are very low traffic, in fact it was kind of eerie to be the only one out there. If you ride this one make sure you bring enough water and carbs to get you through. On this route once you leave Burnet there won't be anything until you get to Nameless Road and the gas station there.

Get the route and more photos on RoadBikeRides.com.