Best ride so far!

Today was best riding conditions of the tour.  We had our first real tailwind for most of the 62 miles.  About 2000 feet of climbing - but it was rolling hills and if you planned it right you could coast up most of the hill. 

Plus pretty as a picture with bluebells and other flowers....

Our rude took us through Kyle, Texas (at least 4-5 more days in Texas) which claims to be the Pie Capital of Texas.  Pie stores were all closed when I rode through.  So can't verify claim.

Tonight we are staying in Lockwood - which also claims to be the barbecue capital of Texas.  I was going to stop to verify their claim but it started raining and I had 3 miles to get to camp.  Decided that did not want to get wet.

A thing about fences.  We have passed a lot of ranches, really big ranches.  There appear to be two type of fences.  The short 4 foot fence made out of barbwire and wood...

These ranches are either cattle, horse of sheep ranches.  Then there are the 8 foot fences with metal poles.  I am told these are hunting ranches.  These ranches raise domestic and exotic animals and host hunting parties.  Amazed at how many ranches there are like this and even more amazed on how big they are.  You can ride by them for miles.

We are staying in another State Park.  Not the best park to date.  First the ranger informed us that we could not drink beer and he would be issuing citations.  Second, there is only one crappy shower for 40 guys.   

Tomorrow we have a 80 plus mile ride and over 3000 miles of climbing.  So it won't be as easy as today.  Hopefully the rain stops and the temp goes back up (dropping into the 40's tonight.

Half Way to Florida

We just passed the half way to Florida mark...

Not a lot of fanfare.  They normally take your photo in front of the arrows but I finally caught the dreaded disease and I have not ridden for the last two day.  My illness took the form of a stomach bug that just completely wiped me out.

But nevertheless still a long way to go!

Pretty sure I am riding tomorrow and will get back to "better blogging"....  Hopefully I can get some shots of the blue bells that are in bloom.

Get the Shredded Chicken

Another long ride to Concan, Texas (damn this state is long).  74 miles with 2500 feet of vertical climbing.  Decent sun but another day of headwinds.  We can't shake the wind.  Took me 7 hours to finish the ride.

Best part of the ride were the wild flowers all along the highway....

We stopped for lunch in a Tex Mex restaurant and I ordered a salad.  It came with a choice of grilled chicken or shredded chicken.  I asked the waitress which type she would recommend...  She responded...  I get the shredded chicken - but then again I don't have any teeth".  

So I order the grilled chicken!

Not a lot of other photo ops as it was hard to stop as we were on a well traveled highway with lots of trucks for most of the ride.  Texas continues to amaze with the variety of stores.

The other day I posted a photo of the waitress wearing the gun.  I also posted this on Facebook in a group called "Cyclists over 60" as I thought this was quite an unusually sight.  To my surprise I created such a stir from a bunch of progressives that they complained to the Group Admin to have me removed from the Group.  "Get rid of the gun guy".  

Photo generated a bunch of weird comments " I always carry when I ride my bike".  etc.  So much so they booted me from the group. 

So much for free speech.  Gotta start worry about this as a nation.

Today we are staying in a combo hotel and RV camping site.   Bubba the night before asked if we would like to stay in the hotel or camp.  It amazed me how many people wanted to camp.  I didn't think about which option....  for even a second.  Here is my room.

So many people elected camping that we had a free bed in our cabin.  This morning a couple of the "tent" guys said to me "what the hell was I thinking!".  "Can I use your bathroom - ours are broken".

Today is a rest day and so we get to stay in the cabin one more night! Then it is back on the road tomorrow.  We are in Texas Hill Country so we have a couple more days of tough 70+ mile rides in front of us.  

Hopefully we get lucky and get a tailwind....

Sanderson to Comstock to Brackettvile Texas

Two days of blog as I got in late last night after an 82 mile ride with some strong headwinds the last 25 miles.  We stayed in a State park and we met the ranger who informed us that we should keep our tents closed so scorpions and rattlesnakes would not get in our gear.  Also that when we got out of our tents at night to bring a flashlight so we wouldn't step on any of these critters.

The night before in Sanderson we had some visitors.  Bubba the tour owner has a tradition of inviting riders who are crossing the country self contained to stay with us and have dinner and breakfast with us.  This night we had two gentlemen from England and two doctors (men) from Australia.

The blokes from Australia were quite interesting. 

They had been travelling since last August and were in the process of trying to break the Guinness Book of Records for two men on a tandem going across the world in less than 290 days (18,000 miles).  

They gave told us how they had two accidents (got hit by a truck)  in the snow in Siberia, got robbed at knife point in Mongolia and fell into a sewer hole in India.  The night we met them they were 500 miles ahead of schedule.  They needed to reach Sand Diego, then Seattle before flying to Australia to complete the ride.    Pretty cool compared to our "little" jaunt across the US.

From Sanderson we rode 81 miles with over 2500 feet of climbing.   We had lunch at Langtry Texas.  It was the home of the famous Judge Roy Bean.  He named his town after a silent film movie star  Lillie Langtry as he was infatuated with her.

Supposedly he build her a house and invited her to visit him.  He died one year before she came to the town.

 Not much more to see other that the Rio Grande and Pecos river.

We keep riding along the border to Mexico and keep passing b order patrol agents and border control holding areas.  In Sanderson we were supposed to visit one of the centers but they had just captured 34 illegals and were busy processing them - so they called off the tour.

Today we did a 75 mile ride and are staying in a decommissioned Army base (camping of course).

The day started out with a heavy fog, turned to rain and ended in the sun.  The road was really dangerous as the shoulder was really rough and there were lots of trucks on the highway.  Seems they are building a pipeline and every other truck was carrying pipe.

The rain really put a damper on the day.  And prevented me from taking any pictures though I doubt there were any shots worth taking.

Another long day tomorrow....

A Beautiful Day - Finally

Today is why we all signed up to do this ride.

Sun was shining
No Wind
A little cold but warmed up quickly
55 mile ride - All Downhill

The ride was from Marathon to Sanderson Texas.   Very little traffic.  At the end of the ride we were completely out of the desert that we have ridden through the last 20 days.  Now we head to Texas Hill Country.

Before we left Marathon I visited the only other hotel in town....

One strange place indeed.  Look like a hotel for hobbits....

Here is what Trip Advisor said about the place....   

Avoid This Place At All Cost

Anybody staying here especially those who are going through airbnb to rent a room / cabin should have their heads examined. This was probably one of the worst places that I've stayed at. This is not the place to take children.

This establishment is at the end of a dirt and stone dead end road. This place has so many safety issues that it should be closed and taken down.

There is a strange warning sign on the wall next to the door of the bunkhouse that states that the people of the establishment does building and other kinds of experimentations (not specified) and by staying there you give them permission to include you in the experiments

On the way into Sanderson the True Value had some interesting art...

Not quite sure why these were in front of the hardware store.

We had lunch at the Ranch Lunch place.  Again an interesting place with some unique waitresses....

I left a big tip!

Tonight we are staying in the High School and the seniors are catering the dinner to raise money for the Senior Class event.  Sure hope the parents are backing them up (but rumor has it the lunch place is providing barbecue).

Tomorrow is a 74 miles and the weather is going to be in the 80's but we are facing another headwind.

Another long day.

The Saga continues

We had a quick 55 mike ride from Van Horne to Marathon  TX (pronounced Marathin).  But again we had heavy headwinds that slowed our average speeds down from 14-15 mph to 8-10.  Left early as they also were forecasting thunderstorms.

We just can't shake this weather pattern.  It was supposed to be great views but we rode most of the day in sort of a fog....

The one great shot before arriving in Marathon was another "local art" display.....

Not quite the caliber of the Prada store near Valentine.  According to local legend it is the world's smallest Target store.....

World's Smallest Target Store

We arrived in Marathon and are camping for the next two nights as we have a rest day scheduled for Friday.  Of course it is located right next to the railroad and we were woken numerous times in the night with the blare of their horns.   Funky little town...

At 3 am we were treated to a thunder and lightning storm - but luckily it did not rain. Woke up to a beautiful day.  Sun and no wind.  And of course we are not riding today!

Beautiful little hotel in town (Hotel Gage) that (of course) was sold out.  Must have called them 4 times during the ride to see if there were any cancellations.  But a bunch of us did walk to town and have a glass or two of real wine (the kind of bottles with a cork) and real wine glasses (real glass with stems).  Built in the 1800's we took over the bar....

Tow of the staff members

Our wine selections in Camp and being purchased by non wine drinkers.  Our best wine has been the liter of Barefoot wine with a screw top. On one of the first days of the ride they bought a liter of Sangria with a screw top that 20 days later is still 1/2 full (or 1/2 empty depending on your point of view).  I suggested they run a close out sale on it (we did this with the Bud Light they bought the first day of the ride).

There was a side trip to Big Bend National Park on the rest day 0 but I elected to stay in camp.  My plan for the day is to complete the 4 B's.....

Barbecue  (downtown)
Beer (local brewery)
Bank (running out of cash)
Bike (really needs to be cleaned)

Tomorrow's forecast is for cold in morning with warming to the 70's in the afternoon.  With WSW winds.  That would mean we would have a tailwind - tie first of the ride.  And the first time over 60 degrees.

Please pray for a west wind and sun (I know it is there somewhere).   Please....

Getting Tough to Blog Everyday

Between limited WiFi, time zone change to Central time, and continued bad weather - its is getting tough to blog everyday.

Last time I blogged we were staying in Fort Hancock.  A piece of trivia...

Fort Hancock is where Andy crossed the border into Mexico after his escape from Shawshank State Prison, and sent a post card to Red on his way to Zihuatanejo

Andy and Red would have a tough time today as the Wall spans the length of the farmlands here.

Our ride was 75 miles with a 2000 foot climb.  We passed a lot of abandoned farms - seems the irrigation here is from the Colorado River and it has been in drought for a long time.

We had to get back on the interstate (I thin it was I 10) and climb though some mountains.  They peaked at about 5000 feet.

When you are riding you are saying to yourself - how the hell am i going to get over these damn things!  The last 10 miles was a big climb followed by a quick descent.  There was construction on the Interstate and we were told we could by-pass the construction by entering a closed weight station and going to the left of the construction.  

What they didn't tell us that there was also construction on our side of the construction and I hit a ditch that was at least 18 inches wide.  I am lucky I did not injure myself.  A bunch of people fell and either hurt themselves or broke a wheel rim.  The bike mechanic was quite busy....

At least 40% of the riders lost a tube, rim or tire today.

We arrived in Van Horn Texas and camped out.  It sucked.  It dropped to 40 degrees and as we changed to Central time - it was pitch black until 8 am.    We had another 75 miles ride and again encountered 20 mph headwinds.  Tough day for most people.  Not sure how I made it - as half the people elected to get a sag into the finish line.

My new friend John M from Steamboat was slightly ahead of me and we took the strategy of stopping every 3 miles to rest.  Proved to be a good strategy.

Again not a lot of photos to take - except the Prada store....

Someone took an abandoned building in Valentine Texas.  They painted it and named it the Prada Store.  If you get close up they have a display of Prada shoes on the inside.  Pretty cool art.  Everybody stops to take shots of it.

It also is the only store in Valentine.  We had lunch at the library with lunch being catered by the high school travel club.  The school K-12 has 80 students.  Amazing 100% of the graduates go on to college.  Obviously they are quite product of this stat. 

We are staying in the rec center in Martha tonight.  Forecast for tomorrow is 45 to start and 65 degrees to finish. Total ride of 65 miles with possible thunderstorms.   And we camp for the next two nights as we have another rest day after tomorrow's ride (I have no idea what day it is today). Trying to get in the local hotel - but everything is booked as they are building a pipeline in the area and every place is No Vacancy.

Oh well...

Heading to Fort Hancock

We left El Paso heading to Fort Hancock, TX.  A 63 miles ride.  Again the weather did not cooperate as we continue to fight headwinds (10-13 mph).  The weather was a little better in that starting temperature was about 40.  It did manage to get up to almost 60 today - so let's hope that trend continues.

We climbed to the highest point in El Paso on the way out and got to take a photo of the city. 

The big red sculpture in the background is the border crossing between US and Mexico.  The town on the other side of the border is Jaurez.   

Again nothing to really take pictures of .  Just run gown houses, pecan trees and cotton fields that seem to have just been planted.

To put our ride in perspective here is my US map with our route blackened.

 Sure do have a lot to go!

Tomorrow we have a 74 mile ride - looks like another day of headwinds.  Damn.

We're in Texas Baby!

Our ride today was 75 miles from Columbus, AZ to El Paso, TX.  We are going to be in Texas for the next 800 miles!  It is one wide state.

The wind and weather challenged us again - started out at 36 degrees and we had another 10-12 mph headwind. 

But compared to two days ago today was a walk in the park.  Tough but doable - took me 6 hours and only averaged 12.5 mph (well below my normal speed).

 Luckily not too many cars - mostly border control vehicles.  They have an interesting technique.  They drag two tires behind their vehicle on dirt roads that run parallel to the border.  They when they come back they check for footprints to see if anybody has crossed their dirt roads. 

People on the ride today said they hear a lot of gunfire coming from the vicinity of the border on the ride this afternoon - so be curious to see if something big happened today.

We rode on one road for 70 miles today (70 out of 75) and there was not one thing to take a photo of.   Just miles and miles of scrub brush. 

 So I am recycling one from yesterday in Mexico..

And a late entry of Poncho Villa....

We are staying in a Quality Inn tonight - we call them the "Ritz Carlton" of the Bubba ride. Real beds and real showers - hot showers!  Today is supposed to be a DSL day (Dirty Stinking Laundry Day).  We have DSL days every couple of days where they do you laundry.  But I got to the hotel early and shoved a load of my warm riding clothes in the washer and dryer.  

Quite honestly I could not ride in this gear another day.  I was even embarrassed to wear them to breakfast this morning.  I brought 5 short sleeve shirts and 4 shorts but only one set of warm clothes.  Who figured I would need just the opposite?  The problem with DSL days is that it takes a day to get your stuff back.  So hence the need to wash/dry the stuff myself.

I think tomorrow we have a 65 mile ride - and the forecast is for slightly better temps (46 versus 36) but still strong headwinds to slow us down. 

 Hope we are not camping tomorrow.

Rest Day

Today was a well deserved rest day.  Ad thank god as about 5am it started raining again.  Then it turned to snow.  Glad we are in the community school gym.

We just can't shake the bad weather.  Tomorrow we have a 75 mile ride to El Paso.  Supposed to start out in the 30's with another headwind of 13 to15 mph.    For me that will add at least another hour or two of riding.

Again thank god tomorrow we are scheduled for another hotel.

In the morning we stopped at the Poncho Villa State Park in Columbus, NM.  I was surprised to learn this was the last time (1916) that the US was invaded by a foreign force.  Columbus also marked the end of the US using horses and  started using trucks and tanks.  Also was the first use of airplanes by the US military. 

After the tour we crossed into Mexico for a lunch at the Pink Store.  A real tourist trap.  But it was a lot of fun with 45 other riders.  Lots of guys hit the tequila - which I (to my surprise) stayed away from.

Bubba led the charge.....

We are now heading back to the warmth an comfort of the school gym.   

Hopefully we catch a break tomorrow.  

Wind 1 - Riders 0

Today's ride which was supposed to be a 92 mile ride to Columbus, NM was cancelled half way into the ride.

The weather started out at 32 degrees with a headwind of 10 mph.  Given that the ride was 92 miles we all started out at 7 am.  Coldddddddd and it stayed cold all day. 

About 1/2 hour into the ride, the wind picked up to 25-30 mph with wind gusts to 40 mph.  The wind was so strong that I was averaging 5 mph on my bike (1/3 speed of what I normally ride at).

At one point I had to get off my bike to get up a hill.  I was going about 4 mph on my bike and walking I was doing 3 mph.

I made it to mile 27 and had to get picked up.  The strongest riders made it to mile 35 before they sagged.  We all got driven to our lunch break which was an old community center in the middle of nowhere.

The center had no heat but they were able to find some old blankets for us to use. They were life savers!

At about noon, Bubba declared the ride over as it was becoming too dangerous.  Riders were being blown into the traffic lane.   It would have taken even the strongest riders 10-12 hours to complete the ride were they allowed to finish.  Never did get above 38-40 degrees (at best).

Tonight we are staying in an elementary school in Columbus.  Luckily we have a break day tomorrow and hopefully the weather will change.  Plan is to go to Mexico on the break day.

Bubba said that in the 10 years of running the event he has never had to stop a ride.  

An update - two riders actually finished the ride.  It took them over 11 hours.  That is about 8 mph.  These guys usually average 15-20 mph.  Of course we had to give them a standing ovation when they arrived during dinner.  

So today we made history!

The Sun Finally Decided to Show Up!

Today was the kind of day you envision when you decide to ride your bike across the US.  Sun, great smooth road, favorable wind and fantastic scenery through the desert.

The ride was about 55 miles and we started the day in Arizona and ended our day in Rodeo, New Mexico.

We are staying at the former ranch of John McAfee the founder of the antivirus software company.  John envisioned that his ranch would become the epicenter of lightweight airplanes.  John after he sold his company went weird.  He lost most of his fortune, went to Belize and is now wanted for murdering his neighbor.  Also has announced that he is running for President of the US.

Here is a link to learn more about John...  McAfee

In any case we are in the middle of nowhere.  

As I said last night we stayed in Douglas AZ and some of the riders got to stay in an elegant hotel (for me it was the Best Western).  Really a nice old hotel with lots of stain glass.

Then the bikers showed up!

One last story.  It seems Douglas is right on the Mexican Border.  Most of the stores in the downtown are shut down.  A Walmart and a JC Penny opened up on the outskirts of town and put most local businesses out of business.  Only one store survived.  It is a gown store for young Mexican girls that 

are going to celebrate their Fiesta de quince anos

The fiesta de quince años (also fiesta de quinceañera, quince años , quinceañero and quinces) is a celebration of a girl's 15th birthday. 

It is a gown store for young Mexican girls that are going to celebrate their fiesta de quince anos

The fiesta de quince años (also fiesta de quinceañera, quince años , quinceañero 

and quinces) is a celebration of a girl's 15th birthday. 

According to the local historian all the girls come to the US for the "latest fashion". And of course Fashion R Us is the place to shop.

Tomorrow we have a 90 miler - hopefully the weather will cooperate.