Remembering a trip through Freeman Ranch Road with Bibb Underwood
I am sure there are a number of active people that remember Bibb Underwood and his articles that he wrote for the Daily Record. He even published a book about many of the interviews he did for his column. He also wrote a column titled, “I Been Thinkin’” where he would write about some off- hand incident or thought that came to mind and he would give his opinion. Almost all of his “opinions” had a very humorous slant. I happened to come across one of the articles in that series where I was part of the column.
The article described a bike ride Bibb and I took one afternoon over what was once the “Freeman Ranch Road” (Fulton Ranch Road to some), that was a dirt road leading to Wimberley. There is no way I can compete with the description of the ride the way Bibb did but after reading it most of the memories of that ride came back. The road has since been closed when the land around the county road was sold and the new owner didn’t want a lot of unwanted traffic crossing his ranch. I don’t think he minded the runners and bikers that used the road but there were too many cars, pickup trucks, and a few hunters looking for something to shoot. Since he had cattle on the ranch he was a little worried some city slicker might mistake a cow for a deer and shoot it. So, the road is no longer available to runners and bikers which was a great trip for fitness people either on a bike or running.
The road was just off the old Ranch Road 12 and was a back road to Wimberley. The first three miles were great because the road was asphalt and mostly downhill. Then we crossed the cattle guard and the asphalt disappeared and what was supposed to be a road became a packed caliche path filled with ruts and rocks and loose gravel. There were a few level areas but between the six inch deep ruts and those washboard ridges on a bike with no shock absorbers it made for very concentrated riding.
The most memorable part of the ride was when we came to the famous “Switchbacks.” The Switchbacks were a series of sharp turns leading down a steep hill. The key to surviving this trip down the switchbacks was to avoid the ruts. Some were about a foot deep and almost a foot wide. If you rode into one of these ruts the only result was a knee-scraping fall into the dirt. You were always in a semi-crouch position with the hands gripping those brakes hoping you could avoid the ruts and make the turns safely to reach the bottom of the road. After the switchbacks, there was a nice scenic section with a few washboard areas until you came to the river. It depends on how much rain had fallen the last week as to how much water was crossing over the road. When we ran over the road we would take our shoes off and grip the edge of the bridge with our toes and hope you didn’t hit a slick spot of moss to send you floating down the river. Bibb and I paused to decide if we wanted to ride through the flowing water. A pickup truck came by and drove across the road to give us a little idea of how deep the water was. I went first thinking that my thin bike tires wouldn’t be affected by the flowing water. I was mistaken big time. The ice cold water came up over my ankle and was forcing me near the edge. I turned back upstream and made it to the other side. I yelled across the river to Bibb to use a low gear and be careful. Bibb was slightly hard of hearing and the rushing water made my shouting a waste of time. I thought near the end I was going to have to jump in the water to pull him out. But, by either luck or sheer guts, Bibb made it across.
We enjoyed some ice cream when we got to Wimberley and then headed back. We now knew how to cross the river but the switchbacks were now a steep uphill climb versus the downhill we had earlier. I made it about half way up and gassed out. Trying to avoid deep ruts and sharp turns and the slick surface did me in. Bibb was very competitive and was bound to go farther than me. He passed me and then hit a rut. His bike went up to the hub cap and he was done. We walked to the top.
The rest of the ride was considered very easy and enjoyable compared to crossing the river twice and navigating the switchbacks twice. It must have been a memorable ride because Bibb wrote a very humorous and descriptive article about our ride. The article bought back memories of that ride and his humorous description made it even more enjoyable to read one more time.
