Today I tried a new bicycle route. A local bike store, Sugar Cycles, has a club ride every Saturday that goes from the store out to Rosharon and back. I followed the same route they use with a few extra legs to get from my house to Riverstone Blvd.

The route is really quite a good one. On Sunday morning traffic is very light and the route is well-designed to avoid most of the traffic issues on TX-6. The small stretch on TX-6 itself has no real retail entrances or side streets to worry about and it has a wide shoulder to ride on.

The longest stretch of the ride is on FM-521. I’ve always seen a lot of cyclists on this stretch of road when I’m out driving in the country and it is a good road for a ride overall. The shoulders are wide through most of it and traffic is light. Unfortunately there is a lot of road debris on the shoulders increasing the likelihood of a flat.

The gas station at the corner of FM-521 and FM-1462 is a great half-way point for the ride. The store has all the goodies you’d need for a rest stop and it is fairly easy to park your bike in plain sight while going inside.

From my house to the store and back is ~57 miles so it makes for a great work-out without having to be stuck with a supported ride.