Day 11
Day 11 AM
Today we continue our bike across the huge state of Texas. We will finish today in Marfa, Texas. Not much climbing and. We will go 111 miles. But who’s counting?
Today is a huge team Alpha day as it is also the birthday of the love of my life Jane. And what a fun day we have in store for her. We will be cycling through a rather desolate area with few services so we will stop and pick up a to go lunch that I like to refer to as a charming picnic opportunity for midday. Then we finish up the day at what appears to be one of our better hotel choices The Pisano... a nice Italian place where friendship is in the name. A big birthday bash is on tap at the hotel restaurant with a surprise desert. A few quick dances and that will be the end of a full day. Might be time for Texas to see my famous dance move. Every man has one and I am no exception.
So after today we will be over 1100 miles into the trip. Many people want to know about food and how we are keeping up with our caloric intake. My 22 year old son tells me to eat, eat, eat which is easy for him to say with his youth metabolism. But our group skews a bit older so we have to have a better plan. For sure a full breakfast before we clip in for the day. By the time we take off we have planned lunch. Easier said than done as many days we are in an area with no services midday. Here is where the team is handy as the van can detour and meet us or just pick us up and deliver us to and from lunch. So far so good. Dinner has been easy and so far very satisfying. Mid morning maybe a protein bar and mid afternoon a banana. And of course constant hydration. Surely over ten 24 oz bottles a day. This is usually a mixture of water, ice and some sort of electrolytes. Plenty of thought going into keeping the Alpha team humming along.
But tonight we have Birthday Cake!!!
Craziest thing of the morning? Our start point was in mountain time and our hotel was in central time. Watches had one time and phones another. When you are on team Alpha you always go with the earlier choice. But mid morning and for the next 10 days we will be on central.
PM recap
What a full day we had for day 11. 1100 miles in and we are in Marfa, Texas for the night. We celebrated Jane’s birthday tonight with a delightful dinner here at the vintage Paisano Hotel. This is a fabulous property and I highly recommend. It is also famous as the sight where they shot the movie Giant. The photos throughout the place are mesmerizing and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Liz Taylor or James Dean walk around any corner. Happy birthday Jane and congratulations to both Jane and Antonio on each cycling over 50 miles today.
I have to admit that today’s 110 miles was a grind. We had equipment problems including 6 flats and I had a fall about 30 miles in which was also equipment related. Mike, frustrated with the flats even went with a solid rubber tire for 20 miles which proved to be difficult to spin across the ground to say the least. Needless to say we were quite relieved to peddle into town.
The ride was pretty much a straight line with little change of scenery. We did see some interesting things though:
On a barren stretch of land we came upon a Prada store in the middle of nowhere in the extreme heat. Clearly where the devil shops.
We also spotted a weather blimp which seemed perfectly out of place in the desert-like landscape.
As far as wildlife we did see some antelope. As far as I could tell they were playing.
Road surface was rough from start to finish which kept us wishing for a pavement change soon. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Another big day for MS donations. The most special one was in Van Horn when a delightful women approached me after my fall. She asked if we were riding for a cause (it must have been obvious to her it wasn’t for pleasure) and I answered yes, MS. She took one of our cards and donated tonight. Fortuitous fall you might say.