Save 22 A Day Trans-America Cycling

The link to today's route and statistics is found here . To day was a partial rest day after the tough ride yesterday.  The ride was only 32 miles, but it was into a 10 to 15 mph headwind. Most of us had dinner at the Sirloin Stockade.  After dinner our two riders from Malta checked out a serape and sombrero.  John tried them on for size.  The captions for the photos are by Ray, John's friend from Malta. We have a Mexican riding with us. Can you tell me where I can get a good taco around here? Riders wore Veteran Energy jerseys today in anticipation of an interview raising awareness of veterans' suicide with a Del Rio newspaper set up by Veteran Energy.  The ensuing newspaper article featured Kip's photograph. Veteran Energy team Climbing hills can be challenging. I think I can.  I think I can. SAG food nourishes cyclists during the ride.  A major dilemma occurred when we ran out of crunchy peanut butter.  To ...

The link to today's route and statistics is found here . Today was probably the hardest day of riding of the tour so far.  Most of the 89 miles was into a headwind, peaking at about 15 mph.  There also were plenty of extra long dips to negotiate, some a mile or two in length.  To compound matters, because the wind slowed us down, we were riding in the late afternoon sun and heat.   At the first SAG stop there were happy faces, before the riding conditions deteriorated Climbing up the far side of a long dip, one of very many on our route today Another difficulty was the rough surface of Texas chip and seal, which will often be referred to as chipseal in the blog.  Instead of rolling smoothly, the bicycle wheels go bumpety bump down the road and loose good road contact.   Some Texan cyclists have described it to us as chunkseal, which in the rough areas is a better description than chipseal.  All in all the chipseal that we ...

The link to today's route and statistics is found here . Gun control in west Texas differs from that of the rest of the country. West Texas gun control What do the Europeans on the tour think of Texas gun control? We thought that we had seen our last antelope of the tour, nope. Buck antelope trotting to three does that he protected from us in a face off As usual, the scenery was outstanding. Mesa along ride Today we began seeing dense fields of wildflowers beside the road.  Texas spreads wildflower seed beside many roadways, and we are cycling through in what could be the peak of the wildflower season.  The Texas wildflower display is the premier display on our Southern Tier tour, beating Florida hands down.  If you take pictures for the blog of wildflowers, please try to identify them.  You can do so by asking locals, or our local Texan Kip.  If that fails, there is a wonderful wildflower identification guide at : http://...

The link to today's route and statistics is found here . Scenery in west Texas is brilliant.  Out of Fort Davis we rode past Mitre Peak that rises to an elevation of 6190 ft.  The Peak bears a resemblance to a bishop’s hat, thus the name.  Very appropriate to ride by on Good Friday. Mitre Peak and the lone bush Several cyclists went to Mass today, because on Easter we will not be in a good location to attend Mass.  Cyclists met a group of teenagers from El Paso doing missionary work in Marathon during Holy Week.  Kristine, Ray, John, and Roberto interacted during the Good Friday service at  Regnum Christi Missionary Family Apostolate at St. Mary Catholic Church in Marathon. Cyclists meet teenagers from El Paso doing missionary work in Marathon Today's ride was invigorating.  There was more descent than ascent, which always helps.  The temperature at the start was 45 F, and the wind was generally a crosswind during the...

The link to today's route and statistics is found here . A great, yet difficult, day in the saddle in west Texas.  Our tour leaders picked a superb route that was a deviation from the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) map.  There was a lot of wildlife and scenic beauty along today’s route. It was a tough slog climbing  into the wind of 20 to 25 mph on Texas Farm Road 505.  Eventually we climbed to an elevation of  5860 ft.  The gently downhill for 10 miles near the end of the ride didn't seem like a downhill, because of the wind.  Several riders commented that today was the most difficult of the tour, due to the wind. At least three herds of pronghorn antelope were seen as we rode up Highway 90 in Antelope Valley.  One herd was on the shoulder of the highway as the author rode up.  Antelope are extremely skittish, so they run off before one gets an opportunity for a close-up photograph.  In fact the antelope that were on the sh...

The link to today's route and statistics is found here . Special Blog of Rest Day in Las Cruces on April 14 by Guest Author, Kristin The best possible way to rest is to have fun!  Our Trans-America Cycling team spent our first full rest day, Day #14, “resting” in Las Cruces, NM. I planned a full day of visiting key spots around town for the team, and we had a blast. We started by taking Uber downtown. Just ordering an Uber from my iPhone was a cultural experience for our Maltese riders. They found the drivers and vehicles to be, “quite exquisite.” When we arrived downtown, we found a comic store, museums, a movie theater that plays the classics, bookstores, and restaurants, all with a fountain for kids to run through in the center. We made our way to Beck’s Coffee where we got coffee that met our Swiss riders’ standard. In front of Beck's Coffee From there, we walked to Little Toad Brewery where we shared flights of beer  Toasting at Little Toad Brewer...