Cycling – Kingsland / Sunrise Beach Loop 6/8/2011

We had 5 cyclists who made it out for the Wednesday Evening Group Ride which Mike Thayer organizes each week during the summer.  The temperature had been a pretty scary 101+ at 4pm, but as we were rolling out at 6:30, the temperature was down to a tolerable 92 degrees with a 6-10mph dry south wind making the start comfortable.  8 -9 miles later as we rode the loop around the waterfront development of Sunrise Beach, on the west shore of Lake LBJ, the temperature was into the upper 80s and really nice for riding.  Several riders had backed out on the day’s ride, worried about afternoon being too hot.  As usual, it was not too hot by ride time.  They missed a great and relaxing ride.

Route map and elevation profile for the Kingsland / Sunrise Beach Loop Ride

The route took us from the meeting point in Kingsland, at the intersection of FM1431 and RR2900, out 2900 to the south.   We dropped down the hill to the 2900 bridge over the Llano River Arm of Lake LBJ then began a 200+ foot gentle climb to the crest of RR2900, where we got a nice view of the Sandy Creek Valley with the Blue Lake and Horseshoe Bay communities visible off in the distance.

As we topped the crest on RR2900 we had a nice view.

Coming down the hill to where RR2900 Ts into FM2233, we stopped at the intersection to enjoy the cool breeze and rehydrate then went left (east) towards Sunrise Beach.

The closer we got to Sunrise Beach, the more deer we saw.  Once in the lakefront community we rode the loop around the waterfront and past the airport and then back west to rejoin Fm2233 for the return ride to Kingsland.  The deer were really thick in Sunrise Beach.  We saw numerous does and yearlings ( maybe 40-50 of them ) plus several large bucks.  As we rode along beside the airport we came upon three fawns that had been placed by their moms in deep grass.  A doe will place her fawn, somehow telling it to stay lying down to be less obvious to predators.  These little fellows let us ride past within 10-15 feet of them.  They just sat very still (and maybe a little nervously) as we 5 cyclists rode quietly past, each of us enjoying the fawn-watching.   My impression was that these were most likely triplets, an unusual occurance in Texas Whitetail deer.

As we rode back to Kingsland the temperature continued to drop.  As we got back to the starting point, it was about 85 degrees and the sun was just about to set.

I rode pretty hard on part of the return ride, the leg up and over the hill on RR2900, to get a better cardio workout, so my maximum heart rate for the whole ride was 158 beats per minute (bpm), but the average was only 119 bpm.  The total distance ridden was 17.3 miles and Garmin thinks I burned about 1,202 calories in the process.  Calories, distances, heart rates, elevation changes,… What I really had was a nice, easy, pleasant ride with four very amiable fellow cyclists.  It was great.  We will ride at 6:30pm next Wednesday (June 15) somewhere.  The starting point ( somewhere in Llano County ) will be posted on the Lake Buchanan – Inks Lake Chamber of Commerce Blog  sometime Monday.  Come join us.