RUGGED ROUTE
Fit City takes on a 26-mile Hill Country trail
A few years ago, I found myself grinding up a sandpapery expanse of granite at Reveille Peak Ranch, moaning a little as I hopped on and off my mountain bike to navigate the potentially rib-cracking terrain.
Steep, rugged, able to shear the skin right off your kneecap at the slightest provocation, the ranch’s twisty trails have garnered comparisons to the slick rock trails of Moab, Utah. For cyclists like me, though, that swept a lot of the terrain into the unrideable category. I’m just not a skilled enough athlete. But now I’ve got options. Vol Montgomery, who opened this mountain biking and trail running mecca in 2009, recently cut what he calls a 26-mile endurance loop that snakes its way around the 1,300-acre ranch outside of Burnet in the Texas Hill Country. The pathway offers cyclists and trail runners a long loop where they can ramble among wildflower-scattered granite outcroppings.
Not that it’s an easy route. The trail — a corridor 10 to 12 feet wide with a single track down the center — features something like 5,000 feet of climbing, Montgomery says. That makes it perfect for endurance athletes who want to test their fitness mettle by logging long, heart-pumping sessions.
It unfurls fast and flowy in some sections, steep and grinding in others. But none of it is so technical that a beginner can’t ride it. And it’s beautiful. Chunks of pearl-colored quartz shimmer in the sunlight; lumpy rock formations stand sentinel. From the top of Decision Point, a detour off the new loop, you can see all the way to Buchanan and Inks lakes, which glint far below.
In Austin, mountain bikers can weave through the ledgey, limestone trails of the Barton Creek greenbelt or tackle the smoother, shady, root-studded loops of Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park. Reveille Peak Ranch offers up more than 60 miles of trail and a whole new palette of terrain.
It’s not quite Enchanted Rock, but parts of the ranch come close.
“The views and the terrain are so different than what you’re used to seeing with all the limestone around Austin,” Montgomery says.
Another advantage? Montgomery created the trails here to drain quickly, and the rock gets gritty, rather than slip-
pery, when it rains. That means things rarely close due to mud or standing water.
Paul Carrozza, a running coach and founder of the now-defunct RunTex stores in Austin, told Montgomery long ago that what the ranch needed was a wide, accessible path similar to the one around Lady Bird Lake.
“He said there was an enormous group of runners who wanted to trail run but did not want to expose themselves to the risk of injury with technical trails,” Montgomery says. “He also said that with growing regulations and expense of running events in the city of Austin, the demand for a runner-friendly endurance trail in a rural environment would grow.”
Montgomery balked at first but, after getting input from others in the cycling and running world, began to see the advantages. The ranch had gotten incredible reviews about its trails over the years but never Erich Schlegel relaxes beside his mountain bike on a break recently from riding on a rigorous trail at Reveille Peak Ranch in the Hill Country. landed any major races. A wide new trail could help bring in more events.
Crews started building the endurance trail last September.
“It allows people to enjoy the ranch and the Hill Country, but not at risk of turning an ankle or tripping and breaking a wrist,” Carrozza says. “It opens it up so people can open the outdoors without worrying about injury.”
Montgomery named the trail Carrozza Boulevard, a nod to the man who helped him envision the new trail and connected him to principals in the Austin running community.
“(Carrozza) did more to help me gain knowledge of the fitness industry, meet potential race directors and unselfishly introduced me to anyone he could who could potentially help me get my business up and off the ground,” Montgomery says.
Others in the Austin fitness community are excited about the trail, too. It’s wide enough that riders can safely pass one another, making it an ideal place to stage races.
Beto Boggiano, owner of Pure Austin Fitness, thinks the trail could become a qualifying course for longer running and cycling races around the country.
“It’s hard to find something (in Central Texas) that gives you the elevation training, and that’s what this trail is going to be really good for,” Boggiano says. “It really simulates a lot of climbing, with quick recovery, steep climbs and some longer sections that give you a nice low-twitch burn, but nothing that’s going to get boring. When you have to do two, three or four laps, it’s not mundane. Almost anybody can do the loop, and if you want it challenging, do it twice.”
That means me, and I’m always up for a scramble through the rock-, root- and cactus-studded glory of Texas Hill Country, whether it’s in trail running shoes or on two knobby wheels. And especially when I’m not constantly worried about falling down and getting hurt.