Sierra Blanca - Van Horne, TX
Daily Route
Daily Elevation
I woke up in the Sierra Blanca Historic Hotel around 7 AM. Wow...10 hours of sleep...I guess I needed it. I did some blogging since I fell asleep last night really early, then took another shower because I could. There was an OK continental breakfast in the front office, so Tim and I went there for some food and left the room around 9:15 AM. By the way...Elvis stayed here at some point when his coach broke down near here. Mary actually stayed in the same room as Elvis did, and supposedly, the bathtub is the actual one that Elvis used.
Sierra Blanca Historic Hotel
When we arrived at the RV everyone was ready to ride. I thought we were pulling out at 10 AM, but there was a mixup with the time zones. We were staying in Mountain Time, but Central Time is not far away so many of our cell phones kept changing between the time zones. I thought we were leaving at 10 AM Mountain Time, but I guess it was supposed to be 10 AM Central Time, which is 9 AM Mountain Time...Oy. Anyway, Tim and I rushed as the other graciously waited for us. We finally pulled out at 9:25 AM.
Everyone patiently waiting for Tim and Gerri
Today we ride on Interstate 10 for the entire 35 miles (minus the 2 miles into town). Patrick promises that this is the last time we have to ride on an interstate. Patrick...I am holding you to this promise!
Entering the Interstate for the last time.
Holy wind! When we entered the Interstate, we had a 17 mile per hour tailwind. We were flying. I was watching the miles tick by in just over 2 minute intervals. We were maintaining over 25 miles per hour for 7 miles and then...you can guess it...my rear tire went flat. Jackie caught up to Tim and he returned to help me change the tube and the rest continued on to our scheduled stop around mile 22.
Since I am now an expert at changing tires, we were back on the road in just over 10 minutes. Now it was just Tim and I riding with this crazy tailwind. We made it to Allamore in 44 minutes making our average for the first 22.5 miles, 22.77 mph...WOW!!! By the way, Allamore is just an exit with nothing at it, so we just road to the bottom of the ramp and took our rest.
Since I am now an expert at changing tires, we were back on the road in just over 10 minutes. Now it was just Tim and I riding with this crazy tailwind. We made it to Allamore in 44 minutes making our average for the first 22.5 miles, 22.77 mph...WOW!!! By the way, Allamore is just an exit with nothing at it, so we just road to the bottom of the ramp and took our rest.
Resting at Allamore
Just after Allamore, we had a climb of just over 1 mile.
Jackie making the climb to Van Horne, just 10 miles away
After the climb, we had a decent for the next 10 miles all the way into town and through town right to our RV park for the night. On the way down the hill, and just outside of Van Horne, we entered Central Time Zone.
Tim passing into the Central Time Zone.
We made it to the RV park just after 1 PM Central Time. We finished today's 31.5 mile ride just over 1 hour and 37 minutes, giving us an average speed of 21.29 miles per hour. That is just incredible! What an awesome ride with an incredible tailwind.
After setting up our tents we saw another cyclist (Kane) enter the campground. Of course we had to invite him over for dinner. Since we got in pretty early, everyone (Mel especially) wanted to do laundry, so after showers were done, laundry was done, and then Patrick, Mel, and Jackie went to the grocery store. Meanwhile, I put a new tire on my rear hoping to stop my streak of flat tires. When everyone arrived back, we cooked dinner (hamburgers, salmon burgers, and black bean burgers). Kane joined us and decided to also join us tomorrow on our ride to Marfa, Texas. He was planning an alternate route, but decided to change his route to match our tomorrow. Since he is self-supporting (he is carrying all his gear on his bicycle), Patrick was gracious enough to allow him to put his bags in the truck tomorrow so he can "slack-pack".
Tonight the temperature is going down to 28 degrees. Tim and I moved our gear to the recreation room instead of freezing in the tent. There is a good chance that Mel and Bill may do the same thing in the middle of the night. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be very cold as well. We moved our ride time to 9:30 AM hoping that the the temperature might be above freezing by then. Just when we were getting used to the warmth, a polar vortex is heading our way. BLAH!
After setting up our tents we saw another cyclist (Kane) enter the campground. Of course we had to invite him over for dinner. Since we got in pretty early, everyone (Mel especially) wanted to do laundry, so after showers were done, laundry was done, and then Patrick, Mel, and Jackie went to the grocery store. Meanwhile, I put a new tire on my rear hoping to stop my streak of flat tires. When everyone arrived back, we cooked dinner (hamburgers, salmon burgers, and black bean burgers). Kane joined us and decided to also join us tomorrow on our ride to Marfa, Texas. He was planning an alternate route, but decided to change his route to match our tomorrow. Since he is self-supporting (he is carrying all his gear on his bicycle), Patrick was gracious enough to allow him to put his bags in the truck tomorrow so he can "slack-pack".
Tonight the temperature is going down to 28 degrees. Tim and I moved our gear to the recreation room instead of freezing in the tent. There is a good chance that Mel and Bill may do the same thing in the middle of the night. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be very cold as well. We moved our ride time to 9:30 AM hoping that the the temperature might be above freezing by then. Just when we were getting used to the warmth, a polar vortex is heading our way. BLAH!
RSS Feed
