The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

Flowers In The Hills

April 2nd to April 9th

Ride Director: Becky Hettinger
Ride Co-Director: Charlie Hettinger
Report by: Rupert Smith

This was the second consecutive year I had ridden in Texas Hill Country, This ride and again as last year’s ride did not disappoint this member. The ride leaders Becky and Charlie Hettinger went above and beyond in their planning and execution to ensure a safe and comfortable stationary, wagon wheel, ride out of the host hotel, Inn on Baron’s Creek. It is a well established hotel that was clean and well run with a very good hot breakfast. The initial ride meeting, social hour and dinner in the conference room of the hotel's was a gourmet affair. This point was clear everyday at our social hour, so I will do it once here but keep in the mind that Becky and Charley’s local knowledge of this part of Texas have greatly shaped and added to the level of hospitality, comfort, ride experience and food along with the local knowledge and logistics in a fast growing affluent rural area. They understood that a group off 19 could not be accommodated at local restaurants so Becky brought the caterers to the host hotel. I was to understood this caterer had a 10 year relationship with Becky and Charlie. Daily, Becky went over ride maps and discussion of safety expectations were also extensively discussed which included shared riding experiences and local conditions which included cattle guards, creek spillway riding techniques, city traffic recommendations and route recommendations. Other post ride recommendations were discussed including lunch options and points of interest.

At our social hours daily, ride discussions were thorough with discussions of where you went, what you liked and what you did not like. There were over 24 route recommendations from 17 miles to 60 miles with 700 feet to 3000 feet of elevation in their respective rides. All levels of ability and motivation were accommodated. All of these rides were in written map form and also Ride with GPS. There was also written routes for people for an out of town start and finish. The route planning appeared very thorough to me. The hospitality of food and drink also at the social hours was top shelf. I ride an e bike due to a lung problem. It appeared there were more e bikes on this ride than last year. There was also good daily discussion about new cycling equipment and also previous riding experiences.

We enjoyed 4 excellent speakers/performer, the first speaker, Rick Balogi, was a retired zoo curator from some world class zoos including the San Diego Zoo. He developed a rhino and giraffe conservation areas with zoo raised rhinos and giraffes that required placement away from zoo populations just outside of Fredericksburg. His presentation focused on animal conservation and was greatly received. The best part, Becky had arranged with Rick the following afternoon, an expert led trip to the park where the riders were instructed about how to address the animals. The group was individually photographed petting and touching a young white rhino's head, neck and horns. It was understood that the rhinos were very friendly and really enjoyed this touch. We were then allowed into the second floor of a world class giraffe barn where we were instructed how to feed the giraffes and did so with fellow riders taking our pictures. This was a once in a lifetime experience which I have enjoyed twice. The conservation area is called Longneck Manor.

There was a presenter from the WW 2 Pacific war museum that spoke of the Kamikaze in WW 2. It was very interesting. A retired general manager of the inn who was an avid German alpine music performer playing Alphorn and bells for us. He was very funny and got some of the riders involved in playing bells. He was excellent. The last presenters were Bonnie and Dale Naumann. He was a retired school teacher and had begun working at a family Angora farm. It was a labor of love for both of them. They were experts and had brought with them their mohair wool in all its forms to show us how they develop it into products and also a baby goat. They have developed their mohair wool into all kinds of things but, for this cyclist, there wool riding socks are the best thing I have ever experienced. They were also enthusiastically received.

There were 2 days of rain where short rides were attempted on the first day and everyone returned to the hotel without incident. There where no physical accidents. There were minor tire flats with a tubeless rider requiring SAG and Charlie easily provided it. Although there was no formal SAG as per policy, Charlie gladly accepted this role when riders had a mechanical that could not be fixed on the road with materials to do so on hand.

The last group dinner was out of this world. I rode the last morning with 2 other riders which would have been normally a getaway day. For the three of us, it was icing on the cake because we did not have a busy travel day. We had been given an extra hour at the host hotel. Becky and Charlie were there to see us off after were done and packed. This was such a well run and planned ride because of Becky and Charlie.

Very respectfully,

Rupert “Tres” Smith