It is hard to believe that we have been on the road for 19 days already. The time seems to have just flashed past us. There have been zero riding accidents to date and hopefully there will be none. There have been three riders drop out so maybe this is going to be it. Normally you would lose 10-15% for trip of this nature either accident or drop out.
There seems to be quite a chasm developing between the riders. There are few who want to get up at 5:00 Am and then set about zipping and unzipping their tents. This of course wakes the rest of us up who want to sleep until 7:30 Am. Sunrise is at approximately 8:00 Am and first light maybe around 7;30 Am. There was quite a heated debate at rider meeting last night. I don’t think there was any resolution other than the early risers will be asked to please keep it down. Fortunately I chose the snoring section when we started out as there are generally fewer snorers in the snoring section and generally no early risers. However there have been two tents added to the snoring section in the last couple of nights of heavy snorers, and one of the heaviest snorers was placed right beside me last night.
To days ride was from Marfa to Marathon which was 60 miles. The actual routed distance was 56 miles but Ken and I went into Marfa proper to get a real cup of coffee. The cook for this tour bought a 2 pound can of Folgers and he expects that to last for the trip. The coffee is barely brown. So we rode around looking at the town which was a bit of a boom town in the 1930’s when oil was discovered near by. The oil boom is long since over and now it is kind an art community.
From Marfa it was an easy ride down 30 miles to Alpine where Ken and I met up with Wallace and Hans for lunch. Alpine is a really cute little town and we had a very nice lunch. However we spent a little too long before we got back on the road, as we still had 30 miles and we were only 8 miles out when the road surface went to chip seal and the wind turned into our face. There were gusts up to 45 mph and I could hardly make 8 mph. I pulled into the sag with 5 other riders. We waited about 30 minutes and as soon as there was a lull in the wind we took off. Five of us battled into the wind and rain for about 6 miles before we got though the storm. The last 15 miles were down hill and we had come through a little pass where the wind was now on our back. We just flew into. The five of us just had a great ride.
Tonight is burgers and brats. Tomorrow is a rest day And we are going down to Big Bend National park.
Terry
No comments:
Post a Comment