Departure: El Paso, TX Finish: Fabens, TX Distance: 40.5 miles
Elevation gain: 1,467 feet
Winds: Oppressive! Mostly on my face. 25 gusting to 30
Weather: Sunny again. Departed with 48 degrees. Arrived with 65 degrees.
On bike duration: 3 hrs, 41 minutes.
Average speed: 11 mph
Total Accumulated Miles: 883.8
This would be an “easy day”, Dennis said. “Rest and recovery”, Dennis said. He wasn’t counting on 30 mile per hour headwinds. Right from the jump we had horrendous winds that stayed with us the whole way. Of course, the short 40 miles was a blessing, but the work was challenging none the less. Occasionally, the road would curve to the right, which yielded a more challenging effort to stay upright. I watched the lead riders “heel over” to the left, as a sailing yacht would meet a headwind. When a large truck would pass us from behind, the momentary loss of wind posed a risk of losing control. We all succeeded without capsizing. There were many miles where I was in a climbing gear on flat roads.
To reach our destination for tonight we first crossed back over the New Mexico border (the Rio Grande) and re-entered Texas three miles up the road. I captured a picture of me at the sign, on behalf of the “Save One Life Foundation”. Scott Carthey - our companion who returned home last week - was carrying the flag, reporting each day’s progress, and snapping a photo at each state line. When Scott departed, I offered to continue the task. As I mentioned in Day 4’s installment, Save One Life exists to benefit people (particularly, in poverty) with bleeding disorders. If you are interested, their website is www.saveonelife.net.
We stopped for lunch at a cantina called Rafa’s Burritos. The group makes quite an entrance to a local joint when we park our bicycles on the outside wall and walk in with our ridiculous cycling getup. People always ask “what’s the deal?”, and they’re always amazed when we tell them what we’re doing. But, the conversations are fairly truncated because they don’t know what to think of it.
I had a Grande Burro con Carne Asada and a Mexican Coke in a tall glass coke bottle.
I would never have been out on the road in today’s weather condition if I was at home. I would have left the bike in the garage and climbed on the indoor trainer instead. But, the indoor trainer is not bound for Florida, so suck it up! Actually, I thought it was great! I was doing something I never would have done otherwise.
These are our accommodations for tonight - the finest Fabens has to offer. The howling wind has blown a small sand dune under the door sill of my room. Still, I’m very thankful I didn’t try to do this on my own, with a tent.
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