April 15, 2025
Day 10 - Austin to Bastrop
Today started cool and overcast in the mid-60's, and the wind was blowing again. It was hard to tell from our campsite which direction the wind was blowing, but it didn't really matter anyway since we were set to go to Bastrop today.
Big Dave needed ice for his water bottles and we wanted a little something for breakfast on the way out of Austin, so we stopped at QuikTrip 3 miles from camp. They had good breakfast tacos and we found some benches outside to sit and enjoy them.
There were mostly nice sidewalks and bike lanes from the park past the South Terminal of the Austin airport. As we were riding by the south end of the airport at the end of runways, a Delta jet flew right over our heads when landing. It happened way too fast for a picture so you'll just have to imagine it! It was pretty cool.
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We were about 15 miles out of Austin when I felt a weird tilt in my saddle, and then heard a snapping sound. That's not a good thing! We stopped at the side of the road to assess the problem. My saddle rail had broken where the clamp ended at the back. I've had the saddle for awhile and so not surprised with the weight the saddle has to carry.
Interestingly enough, Big Dave had a similar issue a few months back on a Saturday morning ride. He was able to get it rideable by moving the saddle a little forward to clamp the seat rail over where the break was. The same fix worked for mine as well!
Of course, Bastrop is too small to have a bicycle shop and we weren't going to ride back to Austin. So I pulled up Google and found there was an Academy and a Wal-Mart in Bastrop. Hopefully one of them would have something that would work!
Instead of taking the original backroads we had planned, we decided to ride a state highway that had a shoulder at least as wide as a car lane even though it had more traffic. We knew the state highway grades would be more moderate than the backroads can sometimes be, and we didn't want to press our luck with the saddle holding.
Academy was the first store we came to in Bastrop so that was our first stop. Academy didn't have much of a selection, and the best they had was a very wide, very padded Bell saddle with shocks/springs. It would have had to work in a pinch, but I was worried it would cause more problems!
So I stood in the aisle and went back to Google again to see what saddles Wal-Mart had in stock at the Bastrop store. Success! They had a Selle saddle that looked like a better option than what Academy had so we headed that way. It definitely isn't a plush Brooks but it will get me home to Houston!
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About a half mile from the Bastrop State Park, Big Dave's rear tire stated losing air. It was mostly flat by the time we pulled into the campsite. Now we had two bikes to work on before starting on camp. It was just one of those eventful days for us!
After taking care of the bikes, setting up camp, getting showers and doing wash, we headed out to the Roadhouse right outside the park for dinner on the bikes. A few tweaks are needed to the saddle position but it should work in a pinch. Phew!
I think I'm going to sleep good tonight!
Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 278 miles (447 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 6 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 7 |
2 weeks ago
Breaking in a new saddle... or rather your seat, since the new one is not leather that slowly conforms to your anatomy.
Did that on a tour in 2008, and it was such a pain for so long!!
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That big old seat would never have worked. What I got is touch and go towards the end of the day!
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