Fort Davis to Sanderson TX
May 4, 2015
107 miles to Sanderson made 78 miles
Heading out we knew there would be a good chance that weather conditions could deteriorate rapidly and change our day just as fast. The morning started out nice. It was a Monday morning and Fort Davis and routes connected to seem very popular so the road was busy. I reached Alpine early enough to get an espresso to go with my first energy bar. Yes!!! I have been wanting to do this since day one. It took until day 15 to satisfy my espresso craving.
As I left Alpine and turned onto Hwy 90 the wind had picked up significantly. Oh well I will just keep pedaling and hopefully I will start dropping elevation soon and the wind will weaken. Pedal, Pedal, Pedal. Wind is not getting weaker. I look to my right there is the Del Norte mountain range. It is very prominent and seems to be creating it's own weather around it. I think if I can get well below this the wind will weaken. No, not. I am well past the mountain range nothing has gotten better, in fact maybe it is worst. Royce catches up with me and rides to Marathon with me. By the time he comes back around with the car the wind has gotten stronger and the skies darker. The profile for the ride looked as if this would be mostly a downhill ride. It was more of a rolling hill ride and now with at least a 20 mph wind in my face. I continued to ride and Royce kept following along in the car. If needed he would be near by. This went on for some time. I was becoming mentally weary of battling the wind. I kept pushing on. I wanted to get to the 74 mile point where in the profile it appears to be a big downhill run to Sanderson. I had my doubts on this as none of the profile had matched up yet. I told Royce to bump ahead of me exactly 7 miles. This would put me 3 miles into the downhill run and I would know if I was going to make good time or not. To this point I was only averaging about 7 mph and downhill meant nothing into the wind. Some where in that 7 miles I had decided I am done. It was 3pm and with 30 miles to go I would be getting in later than I wanted with a storm upon us. I am going to ride up to the car and tell Royce I am done. Wait, these shorts are driving me crazy. When I get to the car I am throwing these shorts off, getting a new pair then I will be okay. No....I am done. No...I hate these shorts. Well I do not hate this shorts I just want a different pair. In the middle of my mental gibberish I look up and here comes Royce. He pulls up next to me. I say what is there a tornado near us? No, he says you were taking so long I was worried about you. He looks tired and worried, but he says nothing to discourage me. I said you know Royce I am done let's go to Sanderson. I did not have to say it twice. I could see the relief in Royce's face. When we arrived in Sanderson we learned that the wind was 28 mph with gusts at 38 mph. Crazy storms were going on all around us. We were glad to be in our safe haven. I still do not know about those shorts.
May 4, 2015
107 miles to Sanderson made 78 miles
Heading out we knew there would be a good chance that weather conditions could deteriorate rapidly and change our day just as fast. The morning started out nice. It was a Monday morning and Fort Davis and routes connected to seem very popular so the road was busy. I reached Alpine early enough to get an espresso to go with my first energy bar. Yes!!! I have been wanting to do this since day one. It took until day 15 to satisfy my espresso craving.
As I left Alpine and turned onto Hwy 90 the wind had picked up significantly. Oh well I will just keep pedaling and hopefully I will start dropping elevation soon and the wind will weaken. Pedal, Pedal, Pedal. Wind is not getting weaker. I look to my right there is the Del Norte mountain range. It is very prominent and seems to be creating it's own weather around it. I think if I can get well below this the wind will weaken. No, not. I am well past the mountain range nothing has gotten better, in fact maybe it is worst. Royce catches up with me and rides to Marathon with me. By the time he comes back around with the car the wind has gotten stronger and the skies darker. The profile for the ride looked as if this would be mostly a downhill ride. It was more of a rolling hill ride and now with at least a 20 mph wind in my face. I continued to ride and Royce kept following along in the car. If needed he would be near by. This went on for some time. I was becoming mentally weary of battling the wind. I kept pushing on. I wanted to get to the 74 mile point where in the profile it appears to be a big downhill run to Sanderson. I had my doubts on this as none of the profile had matched up yet. I told Royce to bump ahead of me exactly 7 miles. This would put me 3 miles into the downhill run and I would know if I was going to make good time or not. To this point I was only averaging about 7 mph and downhill meant nothing into the wind. Some where in that 7 miles I had decided I am done. It was 3pm and with 30 miles to go I would be getting in later than I wanted with a storm upon us. I am going to ride up to the car and tell Royce I am done. Wait, these shorts are driving me crazy. When I get to the car I am throwing these shorts off, getting a new pair then I will be okay. No....I am done. No...I hate these shorts. Well I do not hate this shorts I just want a different pair. In the middle of my mental gibberish I look up and here comes Royce. He pulls up next to me. I say what is there a tornado near us? No, he says you were taking so long I was worried about you. He looks tired and worried, but he says nothing to discourage me. I said you know Royce I am done let's go to Sanderson. I did not have to say it twice. I could see the relief in Royce's face. When we arrived in Sanderson we learned that the wind was 28 mph with gusts at 38 mph. Crazy storms were going on all around us. We were glad to be in our safe haven. I still do not know about those shorts.
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