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Ride
the Rim Tour Options
Family Tour
OK
gang, this is for that leisurely tour with the kids. Or, that
leisurely tour without the kids. We'll take you to the rhinos,
cheetahs, and wolves without
making you work too hard along the way. Start out with a little pavement
(there is one big hill, but it's early in the tour and you can do it).
Then we'll turn off the road and pedal through a nice grassy
pasture for about
2 miles until we come to Hamstring Hill. Don't be frightened by this, we're
already at the top. We'll leave our bikes here and walk down into the valley
to see all the animals. After about an hour in the animal area, we'll hike
back out and ride our bikes back to the cars. This tour is perfect for
children 6 years and older, or for the younger kids who are in
trailers or bike seats.
Plus, it's a great tour for you if you enjoy the outdoors and animals,
but aren't a really experienced off road bicyclist. And, you
can join us with
a true mountain bike, or a hybrid, since there isn't any technical rocky
stuff. Wear your helmet and get ready to see some of the most
beautiful country
in Texas.
Moonlight Tour
You'll
be blown away by riding at night and seeing animals in the
twilight. We'll begin this tour early enough to enjoy
a sunset from the top of Hamstring Hill.
From here we'll hike into the Intensive Management Area to see the animals
just as darkness falls on Fossil Rim. After we've seen all
the animals (and maybe
even heard some howling by the wolves or the wild coyotes)
we hike back up Hamstring
Hill and ride our bikes–under the moonlight–back to our cars. This tour
is also perfect for everybody. Kids, older folks, Hammerdogs
and novices will
all love this ride.
Beginner's
Tour
Despite
the name, we've found that this still isn't exactly easy. Yes,
you'll ride some pavement, and yes, you'll ride through
some grassy pastures. But you'll
also
get to experience some rocky singletrack that will keep you on your toes.
This tour requires a true mountain bike (one with shocks
is even better). If you've
ever ridden Dinosaur Valley State Park, Cleburne State Park, virtually anywhere
in Austin, or Johnson Branch Unit or Isle Du Bois, you'll have seen some
of this terrain. If you like riding around White Rock Lake, you
might prefer
the Moonlight
Tour or Family Tour.
Experienced
Tour
We're still working on a good name for this tour. We used
to have three skill levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.
We eliminated our advanced tours
because they weren't very popular. I think the people who want to ride
hard, don't want to stop to look at animals and take rests. So,
now we have Beginner
and
Intermediate. That doesn't really work because Intermediate sounds like
it's in the middle of something, and it's not. So, with that
all said here's what
you have
in store. On the Experienced Tour All 12 miles is off road. You'll start
out with a nice grassy pasture, followed by a pretty intense
rocky, ledgy downhill.
Then
wander through a creek bottom and climb out via Shelley's Demise. Pedal
through some more pasture (or hammer through if you'd prefer) then
hit pavement
for about 100 feet. Back into the woods for The Grind–a nice,
long, rocky, nasty,
descent
into the animal area. Ride around and look at (and talk about, and photograph)
rhinos, cheetahs, and wolves for a bit, then climb Hamstring Hill (Just
for fun, cause we're just gonna turn around and come back down).
Then we'll ride
out on
the Bridle Trail which regains our 300 feet of elevation in 5 small and
somewhat painful climbs. Then we're back in the pastures to
the descent of Shelley's
Demise where we'll crank up our speed and get it to about 25 miles an hour
to the base
of The Switchback. This challenge hill will score you a Ride the Rim baseball
cap if you can climb it without getting off your bike or putting a foot
down. I know this might sound intense. It is. |
