Last night before stopping I noticed my butt was starting to hurt. Thinking nothing of it I just went about things normally. Then I sat on the saddle today and it hurt even more… great another butt zit like in Newfoundland. They are just the worst I guess it’s from having a constantly sweaty butt, all I know is they blow rocks. And the fact you have to pop them is even worse.
Wow I managed to talk about butts, and zits within the first paragraph really no segway into that one sorry about that.
Today’s ride was tough from the get go. Mentally I have been having a tough time getting pumped up for the rides the past few days because I know they are going to be tough on a new level. When you only have one small town (if your lucky) and you know your going to spend 8 hours riding alone its hard. Adding to that you know that more then 70% of you day is going to be spent riding on chip seal pavement. Chip seal if you haven’t ridden on it is just the worst. It not only shakes the pee out of you, but it adds extra resistance so the ride even if you have a good wind feels like you have a head wind.
Now a favourable wind here is next to impossible to impossible to come by when your traveling west, and today was no exception. Luckily I was heading north as well so I was paralleling the wind, which was a nice change.
Things were going smooth and I have confidence back in my bike. The previous days I kept stopping to check tire pressure whenever I felt something weird but now I feel like I am set to roll for a while at least.
The road levels out today which makes long distance riding a lot more difficult because as much as hills are a pain to ride they give you short-term goals. When it’s flat your goals very quickly become long-distance goals.
About 40 miles into the ride after toping up with a truck stop sandwich and a cinnamon bun I saw something on the horizon. I could not figure it out at first but within minutes I saw that it was a wind turbine. Then I turned the corner and saw 100’s of wind turbines lined up. It was really a mesmerizing thing to watch because the whole structure is just designed so elegantly. Depending on the angle you look the machine looks as if it is functioning differently. Like the stars in the morning I just had to take a break in the middle of nowhere and watch for a minute.
The short break also had another purpose because I was broken. I was at the glasscock county line and wanted to give up. The days just are not getting easier and my body is aching. I know it will be with it, and I know my body will adapt but it is unspeakably hard when you are in the middle of nowhere. To put it in prospective 2 days ago in a 90-minute span 10 vehicles passed me. Even if you want to give up there is no one around to care so you just have to keep trucking.
After my short break I was back rolling and was hauling. I kept pacing myself to the next section of wind farm and before I knew it I saw a water tower on the horizon, which meant my rest stop, was literally in sight. But not before riding through an oil field. This was the strangest and the most unpleasant part of the day. It was the strangest because on one side of the road I had a wind farm, and on the other rested these industrial oilrigs. It was just a strange thing to think about. It was the most unpleasant part of the day because of the smell. It was a smell I have never experienced before but it almost instantly gave me a pounding headache. When I say I travel at the speed of smell I am not joking.
Trip Distance: 146km
Ride Time: 6:56hr
Avg. Speed: 21.16km/h
Total Distance: 14608km
Total Ride Time: 676hr
Destination: Big Spring, Texas
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