STAGE 7 ABILENE TO BROWNWOOD
I woke up at 4:45am to face the toughest day of my journey to date.
Leaving Abilene the roads were my toughest challenge but I still have many great and funny stories to share. The roads started out great - smooth and flat. Approximately 7 miles later the roads changed as did my good easy ride. I found myself riding on a chip seal shoulder and highway. Chip seal is tar then topped with chunky rocks - it was like riding on cobblestone for the duration of the 77 mile ride. Even the white lines were rough, however, it was not the bikes fault, wasn't the routes fault, It was the ASPHALT. (LOL) Then I was faced with about a 5mph head wind along with the rolling hills of the outer hill country. Put them all together along with 85 degree temperature and high humidity and it made for a long ride (77 miles in 4 hours and 11 minutes). This was the first day I had to make multiple stops during the ride instead of just one. There was a lot of road kill on the highways from skunks to deer. Fortunately the buzzards I saw were pre-occupied with the deer and they didn't circle me, therefore I knew I was doing better than I felt. My knee pain I discovered was due to fatigue and my knees coming away from the frame of the bike while peddling instead of a smooth circular motion. Once I figured that out I focused on my spinning and the pain subsided. I also saw my first redneck today. I knew it was a redneck when his boat trailer stuck out further than his vehicle and seemed to be very close to me as he passed. When I looked up, I saw a pole sticking up in the rear of the boat with a pair of pants flying full staff as he drove by me at Brownwood lake. You might be a redneck.......I couldn't help but laugh. When I arrived into Brownwood, Emily and I stopped at a gas station and a gentleman from Verizon came up to me and asked if I was the guy that is biking to Austin. I said, "yes" and he reached out and handed me $20.00 and said, "I think it is great what you are doing." I asked him how he heard about my ride and he said it was on the front page of the newspaper on Monday. After he left, I turned around and there was a lady checking me out in my cycling shorts. Emily and I smiled at her and she asked if I was riding cross country. I told her about my mission and and she replied, "Oh Lord, God be with you." We left there and went to the Chamber of Commerce. Emily went to visit with them to see if we had a room for us in town. A lady that was in the Chamber at the time asked if we had a room yet and when Emily said no. She replied, "I will take care of it." This young German lady was Anna Iller, owner of the Gate 1 Motor Inn. The room must have been a suite because it is so large with everything you could possibly need with two very comfortable queen size beds and a steak house right next door. Thank you Anna and Jessie for your hospitality and generosity. It is greatly appreciated and we look forward to having breakfast with you in the morning. We also stopped at the Brownwood Bulletin, the local newspaper , and I was interviewed and photographed by Managing Editor Gene Deason. Due to your efforts, I was recognized by several individuals throughout your lovely community. I would also like to thank Nadene Lyles in Abilene for offering to put us up. Unfortunately I decided to ride on to Brownwood and after a long day I didn't feel like driving back to Abilene only to return back to Brownwood to travel on south. Tomorrow I am sleeping in until 6:00 tomorrow and hoping for smoother highways. Until then,
Live Strong and Ride On.
Leaving Abilene the roads were my toughest challenge but I still have many great and funny stories to share. The roads started out great - smooth and flat. Approximately 7 miles later the roads changed as did my good easy ride. I found myself riding on a chip seal shoulder and highway. Chip seal is tar then topped with chunky rocks - it was like riding on cobblestone for the duration of the 77 mile ride. Even the white lines were rough, however, it was not the bikes fault, wasn't the routes fault, It was the ASPHALT. (LOL) Then I was faced with about a 5mph head wind along with the rolling hills of the outer hill country. Put them all together along with 85 degree temperature and high humidity and it made for a long ride (77 miles in 4 hours and 11 minutes). This was the first day I had to make multiple stops during the ride instead of just one. There was a lot of road kill on the highways from skunks to deer. Fortunately the buzzards I saw were pre-occupied with the deer and they didn't circle me, therefore I knew I was doing better than I felt. My knee pain I discovered was due to fatigue and my knees coming away from the frame of the bike while peddling instead of a smooth circular motion. Once I figured that out I focused on my spinning and the pain subsided. I also saw my first redneck today. I knew it was a redneck when his boat trailer stuck out further than his vehicle and seemed to be very close to me as he passed. When I looked up, I saw a pole sticking up in the rear of the boat with a pair of pants flying full staff as he drove by me at Brownwood lake. You might be a redneck.......I couldn't help but laugh. When I arrived into Brownwood, Emily and I stopped at a gas station and a gentleman from Verizon came up to me and asked if I was the guy that is biking to Austin. I said, "yes" and he reached out and handed me $20.00 and said, "I think it is great what you are doing." I asked him how he heard about my ride and he said it was on the front page of the newspaper on Monday. After he left, I turned around and there was a lady checking me out in my cycling shorts. Emily and I smiled at her and she asked if I was riding cross country. I told her about my mission and and she replied, "Oh Lord, God be with you." We left there and went to the Chamber of Commerce. Emily went to visit with them to see if we had a room for us in town. A lady that was in the Chamber at the time asked if we had a room yet and when Emily said no. She replied, "I will take care of it." This young German lady was Anna Iller, owner of the Gate 1 Motor Inn. The room must have been a suite because it is so large with everything you could possibly need with two very comfortable queen size beds and a steak house right next door. Thank you Anna and Jessie for your hospitality and generosity. It is greatly appreciated and we look forward to having breakfast with you in the morning. We also stopped at the Brownwood Bulletin, the local newspaper , and I was interviewed and photographed by Managing Editor Gene Deason. Due to your efforts, I was recognized by several individuals throughout your lovely community. I would also like to thank Nadene Lyles in Abilene for offering to put us up. Unfortunately I decided to ride on to Brownwood and after a long day I didn't feel like driving back to Abilene only to return back to Brownwood to travel on south. Tomorrow I am sleeping in until 6:00 tomorrow and hoping for smoother highways. Until then,
Live Strong and Ride On.
posted by Pauls Peloton at 6:09 PM
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