Finally, back on my wheels

Yesterday, I went bike riding for the first time all semester! I cannot tell you how amazing it felt to finally be back on my bike. It has been waay too crazy and I am so glad I finally got the time to do it. I hope to be riding much more now that band is finally settling down. I'm hoping to hit the trails with Steffi this Wednesday. My parents come in that day, but they can wait for me to get back. Riding is important. Considering I am way behind in my training for this ride, riding is especially important right now, whenever I get the chance. Truth be told, I should probably be riding right now instead of blogging, but I've got a few saddle sores from yesterday, so I don't think it is going to happen.

So, about the ride. I went exploring the Far West area basically. I found this place called the Bull Creek District Park on MapQuest, and found out some information about it, and it sounded pretty sweet. I headed out to see what it was like, and first of all, the hills up here are amazing. I was actually scared a couple times because they were so steep and I started flying down them. I cannot wait to ride these hills on a road bike. I cannot wait to ride a road bike period. Riding my mountain bike is not so much fun on the streets. It's rather clunky. It's not bad for descents and it's awesome because you can ride on just about any type of terrain, but for purely road riding it's not too fun.

Anywho, I made it to Bull Creek, and it is a very beautiful place. There is a creek (Bull Creek) which runs through the area, cutting through limestone so that there are solid banks on either side and the bed is solid as well. I think it will make for a good swimming hole in the spring when the rains come and the weather begins to warm up again. I did not have much luck finding trails however. I rode on one very rocky, aggressive trail that had my feet off the pedals half the time to catch myself, but it seemingly led to nowhere. I got to a point when there seemed to be water trickling down the side of a hill I was next to, and I was curious as to where the water was coming from. So I climbed this rather slippery, moss-covered hill/bank of some sort of rock, not sure what it was. Needless to say, it would have been considerably easier had I not been dragging my bike up with me. But I made it. Although, I did not realize until I reached the top that I had ended up behind a row of houses and came to the assumption that I was on private property...

I did not want to climb back down the hill as I feared it would be much too slippery, especially carrying my bike. So, I tried to casually walk between houses to get out to the street. Naturally, the house I would end up behind would be hosting a family gathering sitting down to eat. The man who owned the house came out and asked if I needed something as I passed between the houses. I was honestly quite scared at this point, thinking of the possibilities as I was technically trespassing on his property... But, I explained what had happened, and he told me that he had owned the property for some 40 years and every time he puts up signs, they get torn down and that he is mostly concerned about people's safety as it is a rather steep, slippery hill. I was relieved to know he wasn't too terribly upset. I mentioned to him that I had just recently moved to the Far West area and was a student at UT, and it turned out that he was a professor in the Music school at UT for quite some time, which was quite a coincidence. I told him that I was in the Longhorn Band and we discussed music and his schooling for a while, and he told me he had conducted in 35 different states and 25 different countries. It was amazing to hear what this man had done. He did his undergraduate schooling at Colorado State University, Masters at Oregon, and Doctorate at USC. I told him I was involved in the Texas 4000 and he seemed impressed and wished me the best of luck.

To sum up what I've been babbling about, I ended up on someone else's property where I should not have been, and this man who owned the property could have very well come out and been a complete jerk, and very well understandably. But instead, he was a very kind, knowledgeable and all around interesting person, and I consider myself very lucky to have met him. It was somewhere between leaving his house and returning to my apartment that I decided that I was officially in love with Austin. The beauty of this area is breathtaking. I never knew Texas could be so beautiful. I want to explore more and more, and cannot wait for the Spring now. I love the cold weather to death, but I fear soon it will be too chilly to go on adventures like yesterday's. All in good time. And of course, once I get my road bike, I will be able to see even more of the city, just not go off-road. But I am young and there will be time for that in the future. It is getting harder and harder for me to say I want to live in Colorado or Oregon, because I'm not sure if I will be able to leave Austin when I get the opportunity to do so.

Peace and Love,
Trespassing Tito