SanMo Rip & Dip | An Austin Classic Cycling Route

June 27, 2026

Austin, Texas. June 2026

SanMo Rip & Dip An Austin Classic

From Austin to San Marcos and back. A very flat route with very few turns. Lots of straight roads for miles and miles. You rip it, and once in San Marcos, you dip!

This route starts in downtown Austin. Our first group ride in a while. We had just raced Ironman Texas and we were getting back on the bike to ramp up the training mileage again.

The start of this route goes through some older Austin neighborhoods before hitting the big roads. To our surprise, we caught the first rain storm of the ride. It was a good amount of rain from just a few dark clouds. We had just raced in these conditions at Ironman Texas, so it didn't derail the ride. We were going to cover so much land, that eventually we would get through the storm.

Too Close for Comfort

This route is known to be close quarters with road traffic with no shoulder space on some of the longer segments. So we decided to change up the route a little bit. We zipped it over to the west side of of south Austin, adding 10 miles to the route, but finding a dedicated bike path that would take us directly to our next city.

Kyle, Texas. Warm up complete, rain storm passed, route change navigated, we were finally on open roads. It was time to pace it way up.

Rotations Begin

25 Miles in with clear skies. We began our drafting rotations making quick work of the miles. It was time for the first race pace interval. 23-25 mph and hold it for 15 minutes.

Race Pace Intervals

The race pace intervals were burning up the legs quickly. These find the upper limit of pace and force the adaptation to sustain that pace more regularly. During a race, the physical feeling of this pace can be scary. So it is very useful to simulate the pace, and feel during training.

The next town up was Buda, Texas. Possibly the smallest town along this route, with a couple stoplights and a single right turn.

Elevation Drop

Getting closer to San Marcos, elevation starts dropping and race pace picks way up into the high 20's. 25 mph quickly flashed up on our garmins. 27, 28, 29 mph. Finally the upper limit, 30 mph. The distance ticks by quickly at this pace, miles go by one at a time within a few minutes. For this segment, you held that pace as long as you could, before regrouping later on once the interval was over.

PIT STOP #1

At mile 40 we made our first pit stop. Drink refills, and a quick gel to keep the legs fueled. The only delay being a breakfast taco kitchen in the gas station. It was too good not to grab a quick bite. Potato egg and cheese, with red salsa and everything. Not the fastest pit stop, but still a good one.

Next Stop - The Dip

The San Marcos river runs through the middle of the city. It is a cold, crystal clear river famous for floating on, or jumping into post graduating from the Texas State University.

We put our bikes aside along with helmets, phones, and Squadron jerseys to jump in the river. A proper cool down. Hard to beat this mid-ride in the Texas Summer heat!

Back To Work

Fresh legs, carbs loaded, core temps nice and cool, it was time to get back on the bikes. Already having pushed so much race pace, we decided to keep it nice & easy on the way back. It was a hot day, and the ride was still far from over.

These rides are sweaty, so hydration and salt was key!

Stacking Up Miles

Miles 50 - 60 were incredible. Open roads without much headwind and a steady pace that kept the group close. This back half of the route repeats some of the first segments of the ride, with the opposite elevation. This was prime time for chatting and catching up. Some good moments for the social side of our training.

Miles 70 - 80 however. We had to scramble our way around storm number two. A much bigger storm than the first one. Since we had changed up the route early in the day, we were navigating back to our starting point on the fly, with the pressure of the storm coming in.

We ended up on an incredibly busy road without a bike lane. At the first opportunity, we turned into a neighborhood to have some space from the cars, one person checking weather, one checking routes, another with eyes out for cars, and the last one trying to navigate back from memory. Took a few minutes.. but eventually we found our way back to the roads that would take us home.