Day 28

We rode 126 miles today out of Louisiana and into Mississippi. It helps that it was flat and we had calm winds. Forecast was calling for rain but we had sun all day long. We kept a decent pace, 16.5 mph, for the day and spent 7 1/2 hours in the saddle. Brads navigation skills have paid off again. He found a rails to trails route (paved) that we followed for 30 miles. It was a great break from riding next to traffic all day. We finished around six and walked to the only real restaurant within walking distance, which was a Mexican restaurant, which was fine but that was our only real choice at lunch too. Both places, the food was outstanding.


Brad was to arrive in Baton Rouge Thursday night but he was snowed in , in Denver. So he came in on Friday. That resulted in me having a second day off, which was fine. I spent a fair amount of time tuning both bikes up and getting ready for the final push to the end. I shipped the tent, sleeping bag and therma pad home. That took a good 6 to 7 pounds of weight off which I clearly noticed and appreciated during todays ride. Those items were really emergency provisions. Riding in the west is so different than the east. There are huge gaps of space without any civilization. So, if I got stuck and couldn't make it to a hotel or couldn't find a hotel with vacancies, I would have a plan B. The other reason for bringing that stuff along was in case the weather turned against us. This time of year, particularly at elevation, the weather can get pretty lousy in a hurry so that would have also provided some "shelter from the storm". But the density of towns and population is so different here and the weather isn't as extreme ( at least from a temp standpoint)that I think I can do without the extra weight. It does bother me that we carried that stuff 3/4's of the way across the country and never used it. I almost slept in it two nights ago just to satisfy my regret for bringing it along but the Holiday Inn seemed like a better choice.

Tomorrow should be another good day for riding. Cold in the morning but sunny all day. Depending on how far we get we will connect with Hutch either Sunday night or Monday mid morning. He arrives into Pensacola Sunday late afternoon.


OK, I just posted the above and saw that Brad simultaneously put up a few choice photos. So, I am going to edit this post and add some clarification and self defense. For those that don't know Brad, there is still a fair amount of little kid left in him. He was hell bent to stop at a store and buy Batman and Robin costumes. He thought that would make for a fun Halloween day. He finally found a Walgreens and started shopping. He got his batman costume, as you can see. I wasn't in quite the same festive mood that he was in but he insisted that I have a costume as well. After telling him that we were burning valuable riding time, I was reminded that sometimes with him it's just easier and quicker to go a long with his nonsense. So, 30 minutes later, off we went with those ridiculous costumes and candy in our pumpkins mounted on the back of the bikes. I guess after a while on the road, you get amused easily. The costumes didn't last too much longer than the photo op. Thanks Brad for those photos.

Day 27

I made it to Baton Rouge, it helped having a youthful escort in Jon, Ryan and Caleb. We had a crazy entrance into the downtown area of Baton Rouge. We actually made our approach to the city on Interstate 10. While we were only on 10 for a short stretch it is the only road we could take to lead us to the MS River bridge. If you've been here you know that the interstate merges right onto the bridge quite abruptly. Its a huge bridge, with an extended 7% uphill grade ( which is a lot for a bridge), all kinds of traffic and several lanes merging ,seemingly ,all around you, very little to no shoulder and some hefty (think big gaps... not so good for bicycle tires) steel expansion joints. Of course we hit it right around rush hour. I'm not sure how often auto drivers see bikes on the bridge but based on how they were driving ( as if we weren't there) I don't think they have to deal with bikes too often on that bridge. It's hard to explain how much of a rush it was crossing that bridge. But from the look of relief on all of our faces when we got to the other side and found a place to pull over it was pretty evident that we had just navigated our way through the wildest road biking experience any of us has ever had.( A note to my kids: don't try that at home.) We pulled safely onto the LSU campus and the three young studs went off to find their friend and I took off for another hotel. We exchanged cell numbers and agreed that it would be great if our paths crossed again somewhere between here and there. All in ,the day was 68 miles for me. More than I thought but that was because the bike shop that we shipped Brads bike to from Austin was further away than I realized. I stopped at the bike shop before going to my hotel and was pleased the bike had already arrived. I'll go back tomorrow to pick it up and gladly put it back together again and get it ready for Brads arrival. There isn't much choice of hotels in this part of town and I wanted to stay somewhere close to the bike shop so the logistics of getting his bike back to the hotel weren't too complicated. So, I pulled into the first hotel I could find on my gps, which was a Holiday Inn. Without choice of hotel usually means not much choice of anything else either, like food. I got cleaned up and went to the hotel restaurant, finally a hotel that also has a restaurant in it. But, of course, they close at 8:00 and I arrived at 8:10. I was able to find an Applebees that was within walking distance. Soup and a ruben sandwich, it couldn't have tasted any better. Tomorrow is a day off so I allowed myself the luxury of staying up and watching game one of the world series. But going to sleep wasn't much of an option anyway because when I got back from dinner I realized the Louisiana State sanitation workers were holding their annual meeting in this beautiful Holiday Inn. Pretty loud and crude group. Finally fatigue prevailed over the sanitized alcoholics and I fell asleep.

Day 26

I don't think it stopped raining last night. In fact, it was raining so hard when we would have gone out for dinner that we found a pizza joint that delivered to the super 8 motel. We had possibly the worst pizza you could have but it tasted great. I'm amazed at how hungry I am all day long and not very picky about the quality of food either. On the news this morning I saw that the area got 5 1/2" of rain.

A legit tail wind that lasted the entire ride!!!!! We left Kinder, LA this morning late since it was just 50 miles to our next stop in Opelousas. We ripped through those fifty miles as easy as any part of the ride so far. What a difference the wind makes. It's either your friend or a miserable enemy. We got into town and had lunch at a local cafe. As usual, folks are interested in what we're up to. Always shocked that we are actually riding across the country. We talked to an older man for a few minutes and when we asked for our check, we learned that he paid for all four of our meals.

I learned a little more about what the three young bucks are up to on this ride. They all went to a Christian college , Palm Beach Atlantic, in Palm Beach, FL. They are raising awareness and money for several different things with this ride. Primarily for a medical clinic in Durban South Africa. Ryan will be travelling to Durban to help with the construction of a new church and to work with youth groups in the area. They have organized most of their ride through local church groups. Typically, someone from a local church, will meet them when they arrive into town. They will either take them to dinner or cook for them. They also will house them for the night. In return the guys will talk to youth groups or to local schools about their ride and other ministry experiences they have had. Sounds like it's working out well for everyone. At lunch they talked with pride about their families and their experiences growing up. It's been fun to spend these last few days with them. We will ride into Baton Rouge together tomorrow and they will peel off and go stay with a friend at L.S.U. I will find a hotel and look forward to a day off. Brad is to show up Thursday night if he can get out of Denver, they are expecting a big storm. Should be an easy ride again tomorrow and it's suppose to be sunny all day.

I finally have a solid wifi connection so, as promised, I will post some random pictures. No particular order, just some shots that capture some of the scene out here on the road.

Day 25

Wow, what a day. Rode 95 miles today and the last 68 were in a strong thunderstorm; pouring rain, lightening and thunder, style storm. They were expecting 2 to 4 inches of rain, I haven't heard the official tally but it was a lot of water. While it was a challenging day it wasn't as bad as it may sound. The winds were moderate, not really a factor. We averaged over 16 mph for the day which is pretty quick considering the weight we are carrying and the rain. It helps that it was mostly flat. I think when it's raining like that you quickly realize there is really no other reason to do anything other than ride as hard as the conditions allow, so we were focused on riding and made good time. Finally out of TX !!!

I joined the three guys I met last night, for todays ride, and probably a few more days as well. Jon, Ryan and Caleb are three young guys, just out of college. Great guys, very easy to be around and it was clear to me early that they are having a blast. They know each other well and like to have fun at each others expense. All solid riders, don't seem to have any worries and were talking and laughing during almost the entire days ride, even in the pouring rain. At one point when the rain kicked into high gear I noticed everyone was quiet and just focused, grinding it out one pedal stroke at a time. If they were thinking what I was thinking they were probably wondering, just how hard is this day going to be. And just as I was focusing on the suffering of riding in that weather, I heard Caleb, the musician in the group, who was riding behind me, start singing, quietly, to himself. It was perfect timing, actually caused me to smile and it put a whole new look on the ride, at least for a minute or two. It was great to ride with a group. One of the things I realized so abruptly over the last few days, when riding in the wind, was that I didn't have anyone to alternate with to get a break from the wind. It was great to have 4 of us in a pace line. We each took 5 mile turns out front and then "relaxed" in the back for the next 15 miles. Good communication all around, everyone had a role and delivered.

I am aiming to get to Baton Rouge on Wednesday. Brad is coming back out and arrives there Thursday night. We will ride for a few days and then meet Hutch, a lifetime friend of mine, in Pensacola. He has been planning to join me in FL from the beginning of the planning stages. We were in Las Vegas together this past March and I caught him at a weak moment and after saying yes, he has never looked back. He's totally fired up about the ride. His training has consisted of strapping a huge belgium block on his rear rack and filling his saddle bags with the heaviest power tools he can find in his garage and then riding whenever he can. That's a classic Hutch move. Although, he did call me the other day when he was fixing his first flat to ask me which side of the patch goes against the tube. At that particular moment I did briefly wonder "what was I thinking in Las Vegas last March". I am really looking forward to spending a bunch of time with him. Many of you probably know that he and I have known each other since I was 10. We went to Junior high, High school and College together. He was one of the primary reasons I went to John Carroll. We also had a business together during the summers of our college years. He and his wife Lucy have moved around a little over the years. They have 4 boys and Hutch is a stay at home Dad, another classic Hutch move and the 6 of them seem to make it all work . Although Lucy may have another way of expressing that last thought. Hopefully Brad will stay to the end because he and Hutch will be a riot. I'll be able to just sit back and watch the show.

OK, enough for one night. Looks like another rainy day tomorrow but I am only 105 miles from Baton Rouge and I am going to take two days to get there so it should be a more mellow day. It will be interesting to see what the three stooges have in store for tomorrow. After only one day I can tell there will be comic relief watching these three youngsters enjoy the freedom of a great adventure post college but prior to work life.

Day 24

Well as predicted, I had a bunch of wind in my face most of the day. I rode from Cold Spring to Silsbee TX which was just 72 miles so it really wasn't too bad. The last 10 miles were when the winds were the toughest. There was a stretch where it was all I could do to sustain an average speed of 11 mph on the flats. The gusts of wind would blow and almost stand me straight up on my bike. But the first 60 miles were manageable. I stayed down low and kept a fairly low gear and just tried to spin through the wind. It was a perfect day, other than the wind for riding. I pulled into the Pinewood Inn, as I was getting my room, three other bikers walked in. They are doing the same basic ride as I am. We ended up having dinner together and shared stories of the first 1,700+ miles. They are taking a slightly different route to Baton Rouge and I may join them. I will be out of TX tomorrow and will give LA a big high Five hello. Still don't have good WIFI to post pics but I will put some more up soon.

Day 23

Another great day for riding; sunny, clear sky and no wind.I spent a big part of the day riding through the Sam Houston National forest. It is beautiful with large pine trees dominating the landscape. I rode from Navasota to Coldspring. Just 70 miles but the only other option that assured me of a hotel room would have been another 100 plus day. I have a small tent and an emergency sleeping bag, more like a thermal blanket, but I am trying to avoid camping if possible.

I have the same restraint tomorrow where there are not many choices of towns with lodging so I am going to ride to Silsbe. I have enjoyed Texas more than I expected I would. However, this was day 23 and I have been in Texas for 13 of those days. I will cross over into LA on Monday and, with all due respect to my friends in TX, I will be ready to move on to another state. The roads here are good and bad. I think Brad mentioned that the roads are great and the pavement is lousy. That captures it pretty well. I can literally count the number of potholes I have seen in the entire state on one hand, they just don't have potholes here. But, on most of the state and county roads that I have been on, the pavement is rough. It's almost as though they don't put on the finishing layer of pavement. You get used to it but it also gets old after a while too.So here's to hoping for better roads in LA.

I will try to put up a few more pics that I have taken along the way. I have trouble downloading them via the 3G card in my computer. If I can log onto the wifi here I will put them up , otherwise I will wait until I get better wifi access. The National weather service says more"wrong way wind" tomorrow so I am intending to get an early start. The winds don't seem to kick in until 10:00 am or so, it's nice to get a jump on them.

Thanks for your comments. If I haven't responded directly back to you it's just because I can't do it from the blog and I probably don't have an email address for you. But keep them coming, particularly during this next week while I finish my solo riding.

Days 20,21 and 22

I am back on the bike. I was to leave Austin on Wednesday morning but it was raining hard when I woke up. I don't mind riding in the rain and did a lot of it this summer while training. But it is one thing to get caught out in the rain and an entirely different thing to start out in a thunderstorm with huge winds. So, I waited it out. I only got a short afternoon in on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday I covered less than 150 miles combined, winds and rain got in the way. Stayed in Bastrop on Wednesday, in Round Top on Thursday. Round Top is in the top three of great cities visited so far this trip. It's an amazing little town northeast of Austin. I took a bunch of pictures and will put them up later. Found a cool bed and breakfast and had a few beers at the local tavern with the owner, David, who moved from NY to Round Top to get out of the rat race. I will head for Coldspring tomorrow. Sorry for the delay in posting. Thanks Brad for filling the void. Almost everything was true in your post. But my diet has been better than yours, maybe not by much, given our limited choice of quality food but I have yet to purchase a six pack of chocolate donuts.

Thanks for all the comments. I'll be back. So will Brad. Looks like we may rally together in Baton Rouge, LA. I just got a text from him saying that he rode 100 miles today. I haven't responded yet but when I do I will probably just ask , Why?

A typical, atypical day

Shorty is off at a memorial, so I thought that I would take this opportunity to throw up another "guest editorial". I lost count, but apparently we've ridden 19 days together, 5 of which were with Darla (& she was an amazing riding companion for those 5 challenging days). Shorty's done a terrific job of recounting our day-to-day action, so I thought maybe the time would be right to give a sense of what it's like from the passenger seat... Every day has been different, but there are similarities. First, the night before, we take a look at the map, the predicted weather, and most importantly the elevation profile and plan our day. I don't recall any day of the 19 where we've really had any options of different towns to stay in. The distances dictate where we're going the next night and usually those distances are between 80-115 miles. So, based on the above, we choose a time to meet up usually between 5:30 and 7:00 am, retire to our respective rooms in our classic dive hotels (we have has some real winners, but some nice ones too), and set the alarm. In the morning, the organized one of us (I'll let you guess who that is) is usually 5-10 minutes behind. Once we hooked-up, we go to the nearest gas-station and get breakfast. For me, this consists of a 6-pack of mini-chocolate donuts, a honey bun, a cup of coffee, maybe a banana if available and slamming some H2O. Shorty usually eats about the same thing. We'll fill our water bottles out of the soda dispenser, purchase about 100 oz. of bottled water and get the day going. Our first real stop would be between miles 35-40 and that would be a ten minute affair after being in the saddle for two hours. This was somewhere on the side of the road. By then, the wind would be coming up, seldom in a favorable direction. This stop would be at about 10:00 am. I've been really impressed by some of the roads we've been on, and the lack of traffic - particularly in the morning. We've had some wide open roads, and that makes it so much more fun and peaceful. There is nothing like riding down the middle of a road for 10 miles without a (automotive) care in the world. Lunch would be wherever a town would fall into the ride mid-day. Sometimes at noon(ish), sometimes at 2:00. By then we would have 50-65 miles down and the donuts, Powerbars, trail mix, or whatever the snack du jour would be wearing off. I consumed some massive lunches - 8 slices of pizza, heaping plates of pasta, cheese enchiladas like they were going out of style. In fact, I gained 8 pounds over the last 3 weeks. Hmmm. Anyway, we would typically have a sit-down affair and be off the bikes for an hour and a half. Once we got the motor running again, it was usually a long afternoon and we would pull into our destination between 5:00 and 6:30. From there, we would lay-up for an hour or two and head out for dinner, which was usually pretty good, but sometimes choices were limited. Then, it was bed, and always lights out before 10:00 pm. Some of the towns we stayed in, I would not even consider to be towns. In fact, being on this trip has offered a completely new perspective on the western US. There is a whole lot of nothing, between the nothing - and that is a good thing. I think we were both astounded by some of the desolation we encountered, as well as a great deal of natural beauty that you may not take note of if you were whizzing by it at 70 mph (speed limits on back roads of Texas are 75!). Some of the things you pick-up on are litter (Arizona is replete, while Texas has almost none), road-kill (we've seen some wonderfully gruesome dead animals and I'll spare you the snapshots), fences (everywhere, the fences), pavement (was all great till Texas and then it got into the chip & seal, which is another word for teeth chatter), roads (Texas has the best roads and the worst pavement), and shoulders (without one, your day just got a lot scarier). Anyhow, it's about as much work as I thought it would be, but a whole lot more fun! Ride on, Shorty...

Day 19

Maybe our best day of the trip so far. We rode 110 miles right into downtown Austin. We started before sunrise, Brad in front of me, getting the benefit of my headlight since his mysteriously disappeared two days ago. We rode the first 45 miles hard and fast. No wind, no traffic and very scenic. We stopped in Blanco for a quick lunch and kept making tracks. My back started to tighten and I didn't think I would be able to last for 110 miles. But a quick stop to stretch, re hydrate and some motrin did the job and we were quickly back at a brisk pace again. It was another day of up and down.We climbed 4,200 feet in elevation over those 110 miles. We pushed ourselves and each other and made it to Austin. It was a great feeling crossing the CO river into downtown, the first big city we have seen since Phoenix. Since Sunday was an off day, that gave us the chance to have a night out. We found a little bar, not too crowded, and a fun blues band. A great day of riding, topped off with a great night on 6th street.

Brad left today but I am pretty sure I have convinced him, again, to come back out and ride some more. We're working through the logistics so we'll see how it all turns out.

Tomorrow, I am going to fly up to Dallas for a funeral. Graham Holloway, one of the long term American Fund associates (and arguably the person who had the most impact on the organization) recently passed away. There was a private funeral service last week and a memorial/celebration of his life service tomorrow. He was a world class individual and will be deeply missed.

I fly back to Austin (and my bike) on Tuesday and will be back at it. I am hoping to benefit from few days off of riding. We rode hard for the last eight straight days and my legs feel it.

Day 18

First just a few comments on my flats, since Brad has been often and precise in pointing out this issue. The first series of flats were legit and seemingly unavoidable back luck. Most all of them were caused by very small pieces of steel wire from truck tires. The last six were not normal flats. Each of those resulted in a complete blowout, sounding like a shot gun blast. In every case, when the tube exploded ,it knocked the tire off the rim, usually on both sides of the rim too. There was never any evidence of something causing a puncture. I may have been a little guilty of over inflating the tube on one of those flats while using an unusually strong air hose at a gas station. But after the others ,we finally came to the conclusion, even Brad is in agreement, that we had faulty tubes. We bought 6 new Bontragger tubes in Silver City NM and each one of them resulted in a failed tube explosion. So, we now have yet another fresh supply of tubes and our/my flat tire luck has improved considerably. Hopefully that frustration is behind us now.

Today we rode from Vanderpool, TX to Comfort TX, which was 72 miles. On paper, the distance made this day look fairly easy. But, as we are regularly reminded, it is all about the wind. We had another day of strong head winds. 90% of the time that we have had wind it has gone against us. So far, I would have been better off going East to West but I am confident that luck will change too and we'll get some deserved tailwinds soon. Another day of great scenery. After a long day of battling against the wind (you basically feel like you are climbing constantly)we found a beat motel on the edge of town. Of course there wasn't any hot water so no shower today. We are hoping to make it to Austin tomorrow which will be a full day so we're starting early.

Day 17

This was one of our best days and nights. We rode from Bracketville to a town called Vanderpool. It was an 88 mile ride with no water or food source for the first 51 miles so we loaded our saddle bags with enough water to make it to the first town, Campwood. The riding conditions were great. No wind, no traffic and the scenery was spectacular. If there has been a surprise so far it has been the last few days of riding, I didn't expect this part of Texas to be so pretty. The area we are in now is considered the heart of the "Hill Country". The first 50 miles were constant but gentle rolling hills. We had lunch in Campwood and encountered some great but very challenging climbing after lunch. We had four distinct climbs over the next 25 miles that got both of our heart rates higher than they have been the entire trip. It didn't help that the temps exceeded 100 degrees again. But it wasn't too humid and the peacefulness of the surroundings made the
climbing enjoyable and worthwhile. When we got to the top of a climb you could see one plush green valley after another. To my surprise ,I kept thinking that the scenery reminded me of what I saw travelling across Ireland 20 years ago.

We finished the ride 3 miles north of Vanderpool. We were able to rent a cabin for the night. It was the perfect end to the day. The night cooled down, the stars were out in full force and, of course, we had a fire and a few cold ones. It was a nice contrast to most of the cheesey motels we have been staying in. We decided to make a concerted effort to look in each town we stay in to see if there are cabins as an option instead of hotel/motels. We start the next day with an extended 10% grade climb that will get us warmed up right away.

Day 16

Today was to be a day off but since we didn't quite make it to Del Rio we had to ride into Del Rio in the morning. Brad rode another 30 miles in flip flops without once complaining. It had to be tough. We got into Del Rio early, went to the bike shop to ship Darlas bike and to get a light tune on my bike as I was without my climbing gear for the previous day and a half. The mechanic at the only bike shop in town should be looking for another job. He wasn't much of a mechanic, in fact, my bike was in worse shape after he worked on it than before. I spent some time with it and was able to get the low end working but still had some issues in the middle gears, but an easier problem to work around while riding.

Darla headed for the airport to fly back to Denver.It was great having you join us Darla, again, thanks for taking the time to keep us motivated and focused for five days. Those were five tough days of riding and having you on the ride made it easier.

Brad and I decided not to take the rest of the day off and got a jump on the next days ride which was to be a little over 100 miles. So, we rode another 35 miles for a total of 65 miles of riding on a day that was to be an off day. No rest for the weary. We found a cool little hotel/park/golf course place to stay, in Bracketville, TX. It was an old Army Barracks. Apparently General Patton spent a considerable amount of time their in his early years. We had a another simple dinner and called it a night, knowing that we had a full day ahead of us.

Day 15

Our intention was to start riding about an hour before sunrise but when we got up it was raining and the winds were big. We decided to wait until things settled down. Worked out well. It was cloudy and foggy around 8:00 but it had stopped raining and the winds went away. We had great riding conditions for most of the day. We were hoping to get to Del Rio today but we ended up settling for Comstock instead. Still a full day of riding, 90 miles. Brad ended up having unsolveable issues with his pedals/cleats. In fact, he rode the last 15 miles in flip flops, less than ideal. It was a good ride but demanding. It was up and down ALL day. We started out at 3,000' elevation and finished at 1,000' but we ended up climbing 2,200' in between. Think about that. It just shows how much up and down there was. Brad has been telling me what a strong rider Darla is and watching her ride this week makes me realize that was an understatement. She can ride... all day long and loves to climb. Tomorrow is our last day with her and we will miss her. Thanks for coming out Darla, I really appreciate it. Plus having any distraction from Brad is a huge bonus.

Each of us have commented on just how much space there is down here with absolutely nothing in between and not much more when you actually do arrive somewhere. The biggest industry here appears to be the Border patrol. They pass us in both directions constantly. We have had to go through two check points so far with another one coming up in a day or two. It's an entire industry here.

Tomorrow, we will ride the final 25 into Del Rio, ship Darla's bike back and get her to the airport. we'll take the rest of the day off and start a strong push for Austin the next day.

We really do look forward to your comments so have at it. Thanks.

Day 14

Today we rode from Ft. Davis to Sanderson, 114 miles. It was raining a little when we started but it quickly stopped. We had great riding conditions today. No real winds until the last 15 miles but that didn't slow us down too much. We covered a lot of ground in pretty good time, averaged 16.2 miles an hour. It helped that we had some down hill.

I'm not even going to mention the flats today ,as I am sure Brad will.

Sanderson is another dying town in west TX. We were lucky to find a place to eat; Dairy King. Maybe we weren't that lucky after all.

Yesterday we crossed into the Central time zone and gave " Hi Fives" for hitting our first 1,000 miles.

Tomorrow could be a harsh day. If we go all the way to Del Rio it will be a 121 mile ride. Winds, again, are slated to be right in our face and there is a 50% chance of thunderstorms. So we'll see. We are going to start before sunrise again just to try and cover some ground before the weather shows up.

Day 13

The weather in the morning caused us to make an essential course correction. The wind was incredibly strong early and would have been a direct head wind if we had gone the way we originally planned to go, which was 90 miles and a solid 40 of it would have been climbing. Brad has been the chief navigator and has done an outstanding job of it. He suggested we take a different route to the same destination, which proved to be a great call. We had a cross wind but it was manageable. We rode 82 miles and the last 5 felt like another 20 because the head winds found us.

We were tired but much better off than we would have been. We stayed in Ft. Davis. Found a nice lodge in town and had a great meal across the street, an early night.

Day 12

Another 100 mile day. We left El Paso and headed toward Van Horn. The winds were back and haunted us for the last 60 miles or so. Mostly cross winds so not as difficult as some of the direct head winds have been.

We found a nice Hampton Inn and then located a cool little restaurant where Tacos were the order of choice. Tomorrows ride will be a test. 90 plus miles with plenty of climbing and no water or food for the last 50 miles. We plan to finish in FT. Davis. Including today we will ride 400 plus miles over four consecutive days.

I am hoping to put up a bunch of pics that I couldn't upload earlier.

Day 11

I am back on the bike after a few days of meetings in Cleveland. I have successfully convinced Brad to stay with me longer. He is now planning to ride with me to Austin. And he has convinced his friend Darla to join us as well. So today the three of us road 81 miles from Las Cruces NM to Fabens TX which is 30 miles east of El Paso. Darla is a very strong rider and it was great to have another person in the drafting rotation. We spent most of the day each "pulling" for 2 mile segments and then rotating to the back and letting the next person do most of the work up front.

I did make the mistake of letting Brad guest post, so now, with his full access to posting at will this blog has been compromised and is at risk. His reference to my barely beating him in our little race was technically accurate but he did say when we were done that he had pretty much "red lined" and that was all he had left. What I didn't tell him at the time is that I wasn't even sure we were actually racing. I was just glad to finally have some company on a climb and for once I wasn't going to have to pull over at the top and wait again.

Today was cool in the morning but sunny all day. It was essentially flat for the entire ride. If you haven't heard of Fabens,TX don't feel bad, there isn't much of anything to hear about. There is one cafe in town and it was closed so we walked across the street and had dinner at a truck stop. It was probably exactly as you are picturing it.

I did get yet another flat today. I lost track of how many flats I have had, which was a good thing, but of course Brad reminded me that it was number 11. The cause was another small wire from the steel belted radial tires that litter the side of the roads out here. 11 flats is more than I thought I would have on the entire trip and the worst part about it is that Brad hasn't had any. Of course he takes every chance he has to make that point over and over again. And it didn't take Darla long to join that party either.

Tomorrow should be a good day. We are looking to get to Van Horn which is 100 miles out. Weather will be cool but with a strong chance of those ugly head winds back in our faces. Might be a long one. Early start so early to bed.

The Rest of the Shorty...

Brad Smith, guest blogger here. Shorty has graciously offered me editorial carte blanche - words and images - as his pedaling partner for these last couple of weeks. He may regret it. We're currently on a few day hiatus, as Shorty said, so I thought I'd lay-out a quick summary of our first 10 days in the saddle from a slightly different perspective:


~Hands down, without question, the most physical, high output, 10 consecutive days of my life. The first 7 days were over 105 with relentless headwinds (and plenty of climbing). The good news was that I could eat 2x as much as normal, and I did, and still felt hungry (depleted?). The bad news was that after drinking 200 + ounces of fluid each day, I barely had enough energy to choke-down a Pacifico each night, but, usually found a way. Each day was fun, unique and definitely memorable.


~I've never seen anyone get so jiggy with a hand pump, ever. Tools out, chain off, wheel off, tire off, old tube out, new tube in, tire on, pump, pump, pump, pump, wheel on, chain on, adjust brake, tools back. He never said a cross word or complained a lick, but I know he was PISSED. Ha. Why me? Why not Buford? 9 flats in 10 days of riding by my count (me, zero). He over-inflated & blew up a tube in front of the Indian Casino and it sounded like a .44 shot. Sent some of the natives scrambling, no doubt. Humor...


~Lots of amazing vistas in the Desert Southwest - we saw the sun rise together more in the last week (mainly directly in our faces), way more times than we saw the sunrise after the sum-total of the all-nighters we pulled together in our lives (and there have been at least a couple of those). Of course, we would do this because the plan would be to be done before 2:00 pm for the big heat. We'd consistently, however, roll in around 4:00 pm after some flats, pannier ejections, tires delaminating, fenders sucked up into the wheel, whatever it was that particular day.


~People provide top-notch entertainment on a regular basis. One day a nice young woman approached us at a stop on a 107 degree afternoon and asked the requisite "Where you been? Where you going? Where'd you start today?" We told her the story and she looked at us and exclaimed "ARE YOU MENTAL?" We said, yeah, probably right, guilty as charged... We had some good laughs calling each other some variety of mental for the next couple of days, and we're sure that at least one of is. There is never a shortage of people asking us lots of questions with about 50% of them regaling us with some form of their own lifetime physical exploits. We've also enjoyed playing good cop/bad cop with hotel employees, wait help, and generally whomever we can bait (me = bad cop). Overall, the people have been warm & wonderful (save for a school-marm proprietor of a Silver City B&B who seemed somehow put out by our freewheeling ways)...


~Shorty's been an excellent host and a good sport. I'm happy to wait for him on the climbs and let him draft off of me for miles-on-end. Not a problem at all. (Actually, he's a machine, a strong climber, and won that little race by a spoke-nipple). But, I know that I'll get a rematch sometime in the next 700 miles, somewhere in the Sonoran Desert of West Texas... I'm looking forward to it!!!

Days 8, 9, and 10

Day 8: 76 miles from Safford AZ to Lordsburg NM. A great day for riding. Had some head winds in the morning but things settled down as the day went on. There was one town between Safford and Lordsburg. We had lunch at the only place in town to have lunch and it was just right. Great downhill into Lordsburg. We contemplated riding to Silver City that day but decided against it. Found a decent hotel, walked to dinner and called it a night.

Day 9: 50 miles up to Silver City. Beautiful day, temps started to cool down a bit. Almost all climbing but a complete change of scenery and a great ride. We had an "impromtu"

race up the biggest hill of the day, I'll let Brad reveal the results of that event. Crossed over the Continental Divide (for the first time, we'll do it again). Silver City is a very artsy, throw back type of town. Definitely the coolest town we have stayed in so far. We decided to take a day off of riding. Did a quick day ride up to Pinos Altos, beautiful little town nestled in the New Mexico mountains.For me, Silver City has been the highlite of the trip so far.

My rear tire failed, similar to the same issue Brad had a few days earlier so we decided to take advantage of our day off and get set up with some new tires at the bike and hike shop in town. Great guys,they took good care of us. Intended to leave early on Saturday morning but it was raining early so we waited till sunrise and started to make our way to the bikes.

Day 10: We rode 115 miles from Silver City to Las Cruces. It rained on and off all day but we actually welcomed the cooler weather. In two days we went from having trouble keeping our water cool enough to drink to having hot chocolate at lunch to warm up. Very few stops a long the way. We had good roads, good shoulder and little traffic so we took advantage of it and put in a long day in the saddle.

I have to get back to Cleveland for some meetings at John Carroll University for a few days this week. Looks like I will fly out of Las Cruces, stop in Pittsburgh to see the gang, then head to Cleveland and then back to the bike in Las Cruces on Thursday. Brad was originally going to stop riding when I left for Cleveland but it looks as though I have talked him into coming back and riding most of west TX with me, which will be great.Texas is so damn big I will spend almost two weeks just getting across the state, so having riders a long the way will be a huge help.

I've gotten some grief via email and texts for not keeping this blog more current so I will try to give more frequent updates. But, I will not be riding for the next few days so check back later. It's great to get comments from folks after a long day so we welcome any and all comments. keep them coming!!