With the increase in truck traffic on major highways, some area cyclists have been mapping out cycling routes that take them off the beaten path on rural back country roads.One of the newest rides, pioneered by San Angelo cyclist Rick Ogan, is on Guinn Road from the town of Knickerbocker to FM 915 southwest of Mertzon.
This 29-mile out-and-back ride offers a great combination of low-traffic smooth pavement mixed with some rough-but-scenic dirt road. Since over half of the route is unpaved, you’ll be a lot happier on a touring bike with fat tires (700x32 or larger) or on a mountain bike.
It’s also an out-and-back route so you can turn around at any time to make the distance fit your ability (connect.garmin.com/activity/433329507).
Ernest Hemingway once noted “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.”
Riding on Guinn Road personifies Hemingway’s statement and — even better — the route lets you pedal through some Tom Green County history.
The best place to start is at the post office in the small community of Knickerbocker. There are no public facilities there, so make sure you have water, energy bars, and visit ‘the facilities’ before you drive to the start of the ride.
From Knickerbocker, go south on the main road (FM 2355) for about 0.7 miles to the intersection with Guinn Road and turn right.
You’ll enjoy the nice pavement, lack of traffic, and rolling hills for the first six miles on this nice two-lane road. Relax, pedal smoothly, and take in the sights and scents of rural West Texas.
At about mile 6, the pavement will end and become a dirt road that has some Texas-sized potholes for a few hundred yards. No worries — just look ahead and emulate the downhill ski racers as you slalom around the craters.
As you continue riding southwest on Guinn, the potholes fade away behind you and you encounter some nice small hills on the gravel and calachie road.
A few of these hills will make you work, so — as Hemingway noted — you “have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.”
Stop at Dove Creek and reflect on history as the crossing is very near the location where a historic battle between the Kickapoo Indians and Texas Militia took place back in January of 1865 (gosanangelo.com/news/2009/jan/12/out-yonder-remembering-the-battle-of-dove-creek).
After crossing Dove Creek, you’ll continue on the rough gravel road as you pass near the headwaters of Dove Creek at about 11 miles into the ride and then over rolling hills toward the turnaround point at FM 915.
Look to your left as you ride the last couple of outbound miles and you’ll see a composite of modern day West Texas — cattle feeding in pastures, pumpjacks bringing oil to the surface, and wind turbines spinning in the steady breeze a few miles to the southwest.
Although you could follow FM 915 for five miles north to highway 67 and then an additional two miles on 67 into Mertzon, you would start to encounter quite a bit of traffic on those roads.
The best option is to stop at FM 915, have an energy bar, and then follow the same Guinn Road route back to Knickerbocker.
It’s an even nicer ride headed back and maybe — just maybe — you’ll get through the Dove Creek crossing on the return trip without getting your feet wet.
Give this route a try - it's a peaceful ride through West Texas history.
Upcoming Events
March 29: Run for the Wounded Warrior 5K, angelo.edu/asufit
April 12: Moon Pie night trail run, roadlizards.org
April 26: Lone Wolf Run, roadlizards.org
May 16: Relay for Life, relayforlife.org
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