Have y’all noticed the weather has been just a bit on the warm side lately?
This summer, we’ve all suffered through more than 60 days over 100 degrees, shattering a record set in 2009. The relentless heat and drought have dried up most of our area’s more enjoyable rivers and lakes and turned most outdoor excursions into steamy death marches.
That’s why the only real outdoor activity I’ve been doing lately is road biking. When it’s so hot and humid that not even sweating cools me off, the evaporative cooling gained by riding at a decent pace feels at least tolerable.
There’s a certain South Texas summer feeling of leaving a trail of sweat droplets sizzling on the asphalt behind you as you shake your fist at the scorching sun and shout, “Is that all you got?”
Southside/Elmendorf Road bike route
Offers: Cycling
Miles: 42 miles of paved road
Location: This version begins and ends at the Pearl, at 303 Pearl Parkway. Other versions can be found at RideWithGPS.com.
Restrooms: Restrooms and running water at San Antonio Missions, Concepcion Park, and businesses along the route.
That’s why this month I wanted to share one of the most popular road bike routes that originates from downtown. I’m not sure if it has an official name; I call it the Southside/Elmendorf Loop. It travels through some of the more interesting and scenic areas of the South Side, passing four of the five San Antonio missions (including Mission San Antonio de Valero, better known as the Alamo). Local cyclists have charted several different versions of this route. A quick search of the popular route-mapping site RideWithGPS.com turned up dozens of routes that follow a similar pattern. Here’s a link to download the version discussed here.
For me, this 42-mile route was where I truly got the hang of road riding, a discipline I’ve only spent a couple years practicing. I grew up mountain biking and got into gravel riding after moving to San Antonio, but I didn’t own a real road bike until I purchased a cheap Vilano Forza for $100 from an Austin guy on Facebook Marketplace in 2020. Last year, I upgraded slightly to a used Specialized Allez.
Though I’ve found the Southside/Elmendorf route to be one of the safest longer road routes from downtown, it doesn’t include any protection from car and truck traffic. In multiple sections, there are no bike lanes and barely any shoulder. Consider riding it with a larger group at first if you’re not used to riding assertively in traffic. This post has a roundup of the weekly group rides, several of which follow some version of this route.
The version I mapped started at the Pearl and began with a right turn on Broadway to head south. Use Jones Avenue to get onto North Alamo Street, which offers a relatively easy route through the heart of downtown. When Alamo becomes one-way at East Travis Street, take a right on East Travis and then an immediately left on Broadway, then continue past East Houston, East Crockett, East Commerce and East Market streets as Broadway becomes Losoya Street, which then becomes South Alamo Street as you pass the Hilton Palacio del Rio.
Most of the time, riders will continue to be hemmed in by traffic as they follow South Alamo past Hemisfair Park on their left and cross under Cesar Chavez Boulevard into Southtown. This section of the route is one of the few with dedicated bike lanes — not that they offer any protection from vehicles. Stay right at the South Alamo-South Presa intersection and then take the next left onto South St. Mary’s Street. Pass by Brackenridge High School on the right, cross under the train tracks, and St. Mary’s becomes Roosevelt Avenue.
After passing the playgrounds and swimming pool of Roosevelt Park, take a right onto Mission Road, a mainstay of road riding through the South Side. Mission Road passes alongside the defunct Mission Road Power Plant, then crosses under Interstate 10 and passes by the Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center, where some cycling groups meet to begin their rides.
After crossing East Mitchell Street, Mission Road becomes a little less busy as you ride through the mission corridor. Mission Concepción will be on the left, followed by Riverside Golf Course as Mission Road crosses the San Antonio River. At Mission San José, Mission Road runs back into Roosevelt Avenue for a short distance, but cyclists then turn left onto Napier Avenue. The scenery becomes leafier, made up of parks and large residential properties. Turn right onto Padre Drive and parallel the Mission Reach trail for a short distance.
The left turn onto Mission Parkway often marks the spot where cyclists can start to pick up speed. There’s a brief downhill at the beginning of Mission Parkway, which hooks right as it reaches the river. Be careful checking for cars after crossing under Southeast Military Drive — drivers entering Mission Parkway from Southeast Military could easily miss a cyclist speeding southward and popping out from under the bridge.
The next section is my favorite part of this ride. The route meanders through some of the most scenic and historic spaces on the South Side. It follows Mission Parkway alongside Espada Park, speeding downhill past Espada Dam and then over the bridge across the river, climbing back uphill and entering a stretch of riparian forest. It then meets Mission San Juan at the intersection of Mission Parkway and Mission Road, where riders should turn left and continue following Mission Road as it approaches the railroad tracks and becomes Villamain Road.
The next 1.5-mile section is another opportunity to gain speed. The road parallels the railroad tracks and passes alongside the fields of the Mission San Juan Farm, with fruit trees cultivated by the San Antonio Food Bank.
Villamain then crosses under Loop 410 and brings cyclists to another landmark, though visitors wouldn’t know it without having heard the backstory. The train track crossing where Villamain hooks left and becomes Shane Road is known as the Ghost Tracks, one of the city’s most well-known urban legends.
Most believe the story began with a 1938 San Antonio Express-News headline about the tragic death of nearly 30 schoolchildren when a train plowed into their school bus. People say that if you stop your car over the Shane Road track crossing and put it in neutral, the ghosts of those children will push the car to safety. Some even put baby powder on the backs of their vehicles in hopes of capturing a tiny handprint. In reality, the 1938 train crash didn’t even happen in San Antonio — but instead outside Salt Lake City, Utah.
After crossing the Ghost Tracks, cyclists climb up a hill on Shane Road and take their first right into the Heritage Oaks subdivision. Follow Buescher Lane south and turn left onto Engelmann Oak, navigating the roundabout and continuing until Engelmann Oak ends at Southton Road.
The next stretch along Southton Road is not the most pleasant part of the ride.
Even early in the morning, the traffic pressure can be a little intense, and the road has almost no shoulder. Southton curves left and begins heading southeast, passing alongside rural properties and some new subdivisions before approaching the crossing under Interstate 37. The Shell gas station on the west side of Interstate 37 is a popular break stop for cyclists to use the bathroom and grab snacks.
Traffic tends to improve after the I-37 crossing, where the scenery starts to feel truly open and rural. The stacks of CPS Energy’s Braunig power station loom to your right as you climb a slight hill where Southton becomes Streich Road. Streich Road then ends at a “T” at Old Corpus Christi Road, where you’ll turn right.
From that right turn, it’s only about 1.5 miles to Elmendorf, where you continue right at the fork. Stay right at the next “T” to make it a longer loop, or cut out 3 miles by going left on FM 327 and then left again at Old Corpus Christi Road. To be honest, the Elmendorf turnaround can feel a bit anticlimactic, with no scenic vistas or even much of a small-town Main Street to stop at. However, riders interested in putting in more miles can find plenty of rural roads that branch out from Elmendorf, making the small town a bit of a waystation for cyclists.
The ride back into the city takes a slightly different route, following South Presa Street into San Antonio rather than Southton Road. Instead of taking the left from Old Corpus Christi to Southton, continue straight into the intersection with South Presa. Turn left and follow South Presa under I-37.
Cyclists could continue 1.7 miles, then make a left on the tiny Graf Road and end up back on the original route. On a weekend or during the evening, it can be more fun to turn right on Research Plaza and cut through Brooks, a former air base that’s now a mixed-use development. This route meanders through Brooks and ends up back on Old Corpus Christi Road, which parallels South Presa for 1.6 miles before rejoining with Presa again near Acequia Park on the east side of the river.
From there, continue heading north on South Presa through the neighborhoods on the east side of the San Antonio River, passing the Hot Wells ruins on the left and then crossing back under Interstate 10. South Presa passes Freetail Brewing on the right before crossing over some train tracks and entering into the Lavaca neighborhood. South Presa continues taking riders through the strip of restaurants and bars of Southtown, paralleling the St. Mary’s Street southbound route, but one block east.
The northbound and southbound routes reconverge at the South Alamo-South Presa intersection. The only place they diverge again is after passing Market Street headed back into downtown, where the northbound route cuts through Alamo Plaza. After passing the federal building, they converge again at North Alamo Street, where it’s only about 1.7 miles back to the starting point.
Overall, this Southside loop offers a route that can let cyclists ride at full speed while avoiding pedestrians, something the city’s greenway trail network can’t offer. While the route has some drawbacks, I appreciate how it lets cyclists experience the contrast of urban to rural and back again in only a few hours of pedaling.
