What a difference a day makes

Today was a short ride (41 miles) from Bastrop to La Grange, TX.  We started out through Bastrop State Park and if you are ever in this area, I recommend it highly.  Two years ago there was a storm ignited fire and a lot of trees are dead, but the areas that were not affected let you see what it was like before.  They are removing dead trees and have planted a lot of pine seedlings.   I would love to see it 30 years from now - it will be perfect again.

Much of the ride was on bike paths or country/park roads with very little traffic.  There were hills involved.  I climbed everything up to 10% in my granny gears (thanks Chris) but walked up several that ranged from `2-17% grade.  As you could probably guess, that meant that there were a lot of fun downhills too.  The weather was cool and cloudy all day with high humidity, which really feels good after 4 weeks of the desert.  And of course, we got our usual daily dose of "invisible hills" (wind) but it was mostly tolerable.

The road surfaces varied from fair to excellent except for one stretch of US77 that is evidently "maintained" by the Texas DOT.  It was a medium grade of chipseal with a two foot shoulder..........18 inches of which was rumble strip.  It was gusting a bit at that point and traffic was getting heavier so I walked the half mile or so until we got back to normal federal highway shoulders.

Flo is one of our riders and she lives in the Houston area.  Her regular masseuse came up to give her a mid-trip massage and brought 4 other massage artists with her so the rest of us could get one too.  I had a foot massage and my feet feel like gummi bears right now.  

Tomorrow we go to Navasota, where we will have a rest day.  I plan to spend some time inhaling yarn fumes at W.C. Mercantile, a well known fiber shop.  There may be some damage to the credit card.

I didn't get pictures today because my camera isn't polite enough to tell me when the battery is low, it just surprises me.  But Dolly, of course, has lots.  You can see them at www.dollybikeusa.wordpress.com

Still in Texas

My decision to van it today was justified (as if it needed to be) when I saw the roads we were to ride on.  No shoulders, and since we are skirting the very southern fringe edges of the Austin suburbs, the traffic was fairly heavy.  Road surface continues to be poor too - with areas today where they had scraped the roadbed with the intent of resurfacing.  The guides tell us it was exactly like that when they came through here TWO YEARS ago.

I am no longer the slightest bit concerned about miles.  I see absolutely no point in putting myself in danger for some illogical notion of "doing the tour".  There is nothing magical about being on a tour that makes you immune to the hazards of biking, so if the conditions are such that I would declare it "too dangerous" for me to do at home I am certainly not going to attempt them here.

I am still  having fun being with this fantastic group of women - it's fun to see groups forming and rearranging and dissolving and starting over again.  People agree, disagree and agree to disagree.  Sort of like a family......if your family consists of 30 high powered, self-actuated women with minds of their own.

Kerrville to Blanco

Today had its moments, some of them good, some of them not so.

Coming out of Kerrville it was quite cool and cloudy with threats of rain.  Once we turned off onto a rural road the ride became quite pleasant, smooth surface, very little traffic and lots of interesting things to see and take pictures of.

Guadalupe River - we crossed it several times today

Historic marker for the Armadillo Farm.  At one time the Armadillo  Factory was a thriving business turning out baskets made from Armadillo shells.

Moira (from Scotland) making new friends

I would LOVE to live in this house, those windows are at least six feet tall

Goat ranch

There were a few small businesses and even a winery (converted from an 1850s cotton gin). Then we got off the rural roads and onto a state road.  Hills (8-10% grade), rough chipseal, no shoulders, relatively heavy traffic, considering the hills and curves - including many motorcyclists.  I think there is a law in Texas that mandates that every. single. hill. will have its own special headwind.  Because of the chipseal, you can't even get any momentum on the down hills to help get up the next hill.  If I EVER complain about the roads around West Plains again, you have my permission to slap me up the side of the head and remind me about Texas roads.

Eventually we turned back onto a rural road.  Mostly the surface was better, the road was wider and there was less traffic.  There were more hills, but not nearly as steep. There was one patch of bad pavement that made me glad I was clipped in.  I nearly got bounced off the bike and if my feet had come off the pedals I would have crashed for sure.  In a few places I could pick up some speed and hoped dearly that those shadows were not concealing potholes.   I was tiring, it was hot and Tim (rider Molly's son) came by several times with top ups for my water bottle and the offer of a lift.  I really wanted to do the whole ride ,but I was grateful that he offered.  Eventually I made it to Blanco and when it turned out that the last  mile was on a busy street with no bike lane, I just decided that I was fed up dealing with traffic and walked the rest of the way.

So I got in a lot of weight bearing exercise because my climbing legs abandoned me at about the 45 mile mark, but I did make the whole distance.  My knees are sore, my shoulders are threatening to climb back up under my ears and I have had enough chipseal/no shoulders/heavy traffic.  I am riding in the van tomorrow - no point in making a miserable day for myself since it will be more (much more, 93 miles) of the same.  And because of one very obnoxious motorcyclist today, I am not anxious to spend any more time with them.  "Hey buddy, if I can feel your exhaust, you are WAYYYYYY too close.  

Good news

I saw the therapeutic optometrist today and after extensive exam and testing, his conclusion is the same as mine.  An unfortunate (really?) conjunction of several random factors that led to an untenable situation.  Hopefully not to be repeated.

I am greatly relieved that there is no major problem with my eye, and also somewhat reassured that the problem wasn't the result of anything I did (or didn't) do.  Back on the bike tomorrow, headed for Blanco, TX.

Kerrville is a nice town with friendly people (two offered me rides as I waited for the hotel shuttle), the Y.O Ranch Resort is a very nice hotel with a gargantuan stone lobby area and a very nice restaurant. We've gone rather feral on this ride and have had to remind a couple of people that the bathrooms are on the INSIDE here, not behind the bushes.

There will be more chipseal, but there will NOT be any more mountains.  I should be able to handle most, if not all of the riding from here on in and will get three more chances to do my first Century.

Thanks to all that expressed concern and caring, it means the world to me and helped avoid the "poor me" pity party that was threatening to develop.

Texas Hill Country

For the past two days we have been in the Texas Hill Country - quite different from the dry, parched look of west Texas.  I had looked forward to this part of the tour because I expected it to be most like the Ozarks hills where I do most of my riding.

It is that and then some.  Some of the grades have been in the double digits and quite long - steeper than any of the mountain passes we have crossed so far.  Like the 18% hill going south out of the Square in downtown West Plains........but close to a mile long.  Lots more hairpin turns on roads with no shoulders so I decided this was no place to try figuring out whether my vision problems were resolved.  I did take some pictures from the van but they really don't capture the depth of field necessary to appreciate the awesomeness of this ride.

I see the therapeutic optometrist in the morning and hope he confirms my belief that this is a minor problem that was exacerbated by a specific set of very weird circumstances.  We are in a lovely hotel for our rest day and their shuttle will take me to my appointment and bring me back.  My bike is relatively clean (since I haven't ridden it much) so I will have the whole day to just rest and relax.  I might spend some time window shopping at Lowe's across the street.  Since the hotel doesn't allow us to cook or eat in the parking lot, Linda took us out to dinner in the hotel's restaurant - tablecloths, cloth napkins, drinks in glasses rather than plastic chairs, paper plates and plastic cups in the parking lot.  We even wore clean clothes.

This may seem like an odd kind of trip and an odd way of spending days off, but that is part of the charm, part of the fun and part of the joy.  However.  I DO want to spend more time riding my darn bike!

Party Time

Bubba's Tours is camped in the same area we are staying in and since this is the last time we will be traveling along the same route, they invited us over for an Ice Cream Social.  They even came over and picked us up!

We have supported each other's tours over the past couple of days and this was a nice opportunity for the two groups to get together and socialize.  The ice cream (with fixin's) was wonderful, but it was even more fun to meet their riders and find out more about their tour.

Bubba is the big guy in the blue shirt and he is the one that gave me a ride to the lunch stop yesterday.

There are no easy rides....

Remember what I said yesterday about being in the moment and enjoying the trip for what it is, instead of what I wish it was?  I had a hard time holding that thought today.

We started out from Del Rio for a nice 43 mile recovery ride.  It was cool and overcast and though the breeze was from the east, it wasn't unpleasant.  Some folks stopped in town to visit the bike shop and other stores we haven't seen for a while, but I was just enjoying the ride and didn't really need anything, not even retail therapy.

The first 20 miles were very nice, town traffic, but manageable.  Smooth roads instead of chipseal.  Tanked up at the SAG stop, ate my banana and trundled down the road, riding by myself today.  It soon became chipseal.  This is tar with gravel pushed into it and comes in varying levels of roughness.  Today's was the "shake your fillings out" variety.  And as is typical in the southwest, the sun came out and the winds increased, though still at tolerable levels (where are those westerlies?).

I started having some visual disturbance in my left eye.  Small smudged or pixelated ovals that weren't always in the same place.  Since the surface of the chipseal also looks rather pixelated and the  vibration was fairly severe, it became rather disorienting because I couldn't tell the difference between "normal" and "distorted".  I gave up in frustration and took the SAG the last 10 miles.  VERY annoying.  I am waiting for it to be my turn to ride my bike from point A to point B with no problems.  I think I'm due.

Tonight we are staying at Fort Clark Springs.  This is an old Cavalry post that was decommissioned in 1946 but the old buildings have been preserved and are now privately owned.  It reminds me a great deal of Ft. Huachuca, AZ which was my first assignment in the Army.  The pool is spring fed - a creek runs in one end and spills out the other.  I stomped around the place this afternoon working off my irritation and found a few places that I wouldn't mind living - like the Commanding Officer's quarters.