Shifting Gears

DAYS 24 & 25: 10/13 Bracketville, TX 71 miles to Leakey, TX and 10/14 Leakey, TX 87 miles to Fredericksburg, TX – As we were leaving Bracketville, we passed a school and could hear them over the PA system reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. We patriotically stopped, placed our hands on our hearts and joined in. Having just come from staying in a military fort, the Pledge felt more meaningful.  Heather reciting the Pledge About an hour later we were pleasantly surprised to meet Will who had just staged a snack stop for Jack. He graciously offered us a refueling pit-stop as well.   Our friend Will and his support Just before 10am, I came around a corner and saw a state trooper and another car with their lights flashing. As I got much closer, I could also see a man and 3 youths sitting or squatting in the grass, with their hands behind their backs. It was an immigration stop. It was heartbreaking to see this so upfront and real. I pulled over shortly past them to pull mys...

10/10-10/12 Alpine, TX to Sanderson, TX (84 miles);  Sanderson, TX to Comstock, TX ( 89 miles );  Comstock, TX to Bracketville, TX ( 63 miles ) – These 3 days had a similarity to them that is the challenge of West Texas: bumpy chip and seal paving, long stretches between any food or drink services, hot afternoons, and endless nothingness. That meant lots of time for mental gymnastics aka mind games, contemplating life, and what I’ve come to think of as cycling therapy.  Typical road look for three days Leaving the cabin in Alpine unlocked as instructed by our host, and as it was when we arrived, was quite foreign to my “lock-the-door” mentality I grew up with. Can I change my mindset or am I programmed for life?  It was very hot early on that I felt myself perspiring heavily after just 5 miles at 8:20am. The local idea of a “rest area” was pretty basic, but at least offered shade without resorting to lying next to bales of hay. We came to appreciate the few that exis...

DAYS 19 & 20: 10/8 Van Horn, TX 75 miles to Marfa, TX; and 10/9 Marfa, TX 25 miles to Alpine, TX – We left Van Horn before sunrise and the sky was already spectacular. It was the classic look where clouds make the sunrise prettier. Funny how the pre-sunrise sky is prettier than the actual sunrise. Sometimes anticipation of an event is better than the actual event. Happens to all of us more often than we realize.  Pre-sunrise anticipation and beauty Sunrise also not too shabby It was a beautiful morning and I was riding in a near trance state induced by the mountain scenery, particularly in one spot where I was taken by the layered effect of one range behind the other.  Loving the layered mountains.   This was short lived and I was brought back to reality when a warning sign appeared.  One more thing to beware The chip and seal was worse today than yesterday.  Feeling every bumpy stone along our way We could see the smoothest places to ride were where th...

DAY 18: 10/7 Fort Hancock, TX, 77 miles to Van Horn, TX –  Leaving Fort Hancock at 6:53am trying to get a head start on the heat, we were delighted to immediately reunite with Jack, and with Will who is professionally supporting Jack’s ride. Biking without the weight of paniers, Jack is faster than us so we hadn’t really gotten to ride with him for any real length of time. For the first 20 or so miles, the three of us rode together. The first 10 miles were a comfortable, smooth surface, but after that the chip and seal road left me feeling every stone in the micro-bumps. I enjoyed chatting with Jack about the spiritual aspect of the trip. His take was, “how could cycling through this not be spiritual?”  Jack a fellow cycling philosopher and Mark Beautiful morning ride Around the 22 mile point, a slow and challenging climb began, so Jack cycled ahead of us and disappeared from our view. It was great riding with him. Over the next 16 miles, we climbed straight from about 3,500’ ...