(January 14)

Day 20 - Camp Wood to Del Rio TX

Declaring Victory 

 

Today the views and terrain around me started to really feel like what you would imagine West Texas to be: pretty flat, "dry season" style vegatation and endless vistas in all directions.

Wow, was I happy to see this sign today! My longest attempted ride.

As soon as I rolled into Del Rio, I stopped to treat myself and look for a place to stay in town on my phone on McDonald's WiFi. Once again, saved by The Ronald!

This is salt that came from all the sweat from the rather hot day. Up to 85 degrees after lunch in the stretch from Brackettville to Del Rio! I definitely had to break out my sunscreen.

In addition to earning a PhD in Roadkillology, I also have now earned a Master's Degree in Asphalt Science. I had to take a pic of the smoothest asphalt I think I've ever ridden on. Unlike the chipseal roadways I've been riding on almost all week, this asphalt was as smooth as glass. It made me feel so great to ride on it!

 

 

Though I dreaded my planned ride yesterday (rain + wind + steep, long ascents), I figured I'd have a good chance of making it even if it was really tough.

 

However, when I started this morning I really thought I might not make it at all. Though I knew the rain would likely not last too long in the morning, and I also knew the wind would help me a bit in some places in addition to slowing me down in others (unlike the past three days in which it always was bad), I also knew this was my longest ride I'd be trying to get done so far. 78 miles.

 

Again, trying to plan out my ride days ahead was an important factor. Sure, I could have stopped in the tiny town of Bracketville after 48 miles today, but that posed one possible major problem. As I learned in Camp Wood, tiny little towns may give me no phone signal at all AND the wifi might be useless-to-nonexistant. The need for wifi/some sort of decent phone signal was important because I knew Sunday would be a rest day.

 

Now, remember, my original plan had me taking a rest day every 10 days. That, of course, is completely laughable. After this week of wind and climbing I need a rest day like I need water and food.

 

But tomorrow is not just any day to rest. Most importantly I wanted to be resting on the day the Dallas Cowboys...my beloved Cowboys...play the Green Bay Packers in a playoff game. There is no way I'd be on my bike during a Cowboys playoff game!!

 

So I really, really needed to make it to Del Rio today so that the I could cheer Dallas to victory. But that wasn't the only reason. The other reason is the way the various towns are positioned for the next week or so. From Del Rio I can make it to my next stop in a roughly 55 mile day. If I'd stopped in Bracketville, there was no way I'd make it to that same town because that would be almost a 90 mile day...just NOT possible. So that means I'd end up adding an extra day into my trip, which I'm trying not to do unless I really have to. As mentioned before, while I don't have any specific date in mind to finish, I also don't want this to take until Christmas because I give myself too many breaks.

 

But needing to make it and actually riding 78 miles...two different things. So, to help myself mentally, I used my audiobook strategy in order to keep my mind off of the "how far have I gone?/how far do I have to go?" endless mental loop that I thought might happen on a long, uneventful ride like today.

 

And it worked! I started a new audiobook entitled "The Boys in the Boat." It kept my mind away from how I was feeling and on...something else. Some days I don't need mental help like that, but today I was really glad I had that option.

 

And I had other helps as well. Mostly the road was flat/slightly downhill. A marked difference from this past week. And, in parts of the ride the wind did favor me a bit. And, I also got lucky in that once I'd waited until 8:15am for the initial burst of rain to pass through Camp Wood, I had overcast skies to keep the temps mostly in the high 60s/low 70s. Yes, it did get hotter this afternoon (around 85 degrees), I was pretty close to Del Rio so it was fine.

 

But the final, quite surprising, help I received was from my body. Turns out that today I was able to ride for 2+ hours at a time before I needed to get off the bike to stretch a bit and get a drink and snack to keep my body fueled. And, my legs were able to keep up a pretty decent pace all day. But, most interestingly, I ALSO found that my body felt at its best while pedaling. When I stopped for a break (or lunch, which I enjoyed at the Bracketville Subway) I could definitely tell my legs were sore. BUT, when I was actually pedaling, those same tired legs just...worked. Hour after hour, I was able to just keep pedaling. Mile after mile.

 

It was very strange: if I was riding, everything felt good. It was only when I stopped riding that things got difficult!

 

Of course, I have no frame of reference for a ride of this length and level of difficulty. So, I'm thinking that this may mean the one thing I've been waiting nearly three weeks for: maybe my body is actually getting used to this.

 

Because this week was SO difficult, I'd begun to think that maybe my body would NEVER get used to this. That I'd always feel "not-so-strong" no matter how many days I kept doing this. But today was probably my best-feeling ride day so far. Yes, the short little ride into Austin fueled by a nice tailwind was nice, today was my longest distance so far and I STILL felt perfectly normal pedaling. No pains, aches, etc.. Just the feeling that I could keep going and going if I really needed to.

 

Despite feeling like I'd finally gotten my body to some sort of milestone, I was still really excited to actually make it to Del Rio. Sure, it took me from 8:15am until roughly 5:15pm (Roughly 9 hours of riding) to make it to Del Rio, but that doesn't matter. What DOES matter is that I'm finally experiencing what I know other bike tourers get to experience: a body that is learning to get done what is being asked of it. And, really, what more can I ask?

 

So, having ridden 78 miles in one day, self-supported with my full rig, I can now confidently declare that I beat the pants off of the ride today! Victory is mine! Eye of the Tiger!