2021-03-30 Day 19
The road to nowhere.
Today we are riding from Ft. Hancock to Van Horn, TX. This is a little longer ride – about 75 miles – with a fair amount of climbing. For some reason, when a ride is more than 70 miles, if feels long to me, even though we have done numerous rides in the 60+ mile range. A good part of this riding long mileage day after day is the mental challenge.
Overall, this was a good day – despite the distance and climbing. We had some favorable tail-winds, particularly on the second half of the ride. The day started out cool, but soon we were shedding layers as the day warmed up.
Sometimes, because there is no other option, we have to ride on the shoulder of the interstate. Today it was I-10. It is not too bad in general. The trucks mostly move to the far left lane to pass us. The most inconsiderate drivers are the ones driving the big RV units. They stay in the right lane and don’t give an inch.
Today, though, after just two miles on the interstate, there was this little frontage road that started in the middle of nowhere and paralleled the interstate for 10 or 12 miles. I call it “The Road to Nowhere.” It was enough to get us back onto back-roads after that, but the surface was new “chip and seal” a brutal surface designed by the Texas DOT to punish bike riders.
“Texas” Al rides these chip and seal roads all the time and warned us as to what we were going to experience. He did not understate it.
We also started to see some interesting geological formations. When you are riding mile after mile through the desert, you are always looking for something interesting!
And we went past what we were told is the only operating Talcum mine in the country.
We ended the ride with a really fun 10 mile downhill and came screaming into Van Horn. Check out the elevation on the ride statistics today to see the profile. So fun!