The ride from Bastrop to Highway 290 was great. Not much in the way of a shoulder, but not much traffic either. There were pine trees as far as you could see and it smelled great. This road only lasted about 15 miles or so. On to the 290.
This wasn't bad either, but there was a good headwind the rest of the day (108 miles). I haven't checked yet, but I am fairly certain I gained a lot of elevation today because I climbed seemingly all day long. Hold on, I will check. .....Ok...that was not true. Cypress is actually a few hundred feet lower. However, I am still in hillish country and there was a fair share of climbing into a headwind.
About the title of today's post. There were a number of chemical plants along the way. It smelled like rubber cement; Unknown what they were actually making. After the third one I felt a little funny and wondered if I was getting a little tuned up. Past the plants now and feeling better, I figured I would turn around and find out for sure. Kidding.
About the bug in the eye. It happened. I was unable to wear my sunglasses all day because it was cloudy. I actually thought I was going to get dumped on pretty much all day but only got a few sprinkles luckily.
At one point as I managed to get up to about 20 mph a bug committed Hari Kari into my eyeball. He stayed there postmortem for at least 10 miles. Pretty uncomfortable.
I was on the road for 11 hours today...I will say that today was the third hardest day of riding because of the mix of long miles, headwind, and (seemingly) endless climbing. I also got a flat at mile 30. I hit a legit big ol' nail. I am pretty sure I am now on my fourth tire because of the hole in this one. I will examine it tomorrow and see if it will hold. When I replaced my tube I had heard that a folded up dollar bill will work in a pinch (you put it in between the tube and the tire to protect the tube). It held the rest of the day so I will say it worked fine.
I ran out of energy with about 25 miles to go, about when it got dark. I was pretty much on auto pilot and just gave it all I had, which wasn't much. Made it though!
I am now in Cypress where my parents live. My dad is home alone and made a great dinner of steak, potatoes, a (killer) mushroom salad, and other snacks. He told me during dinner that he had a dream that I got hit and was put in the hospital and he was forced to finish the ride himself. So, I have been forbade to get hit--He is not so hip on riding on a bike that long.
I have decided to rest up tomorrow and stay here a day. I thought there was going to be rain tomorrow but was assured there is not supposed to be rain for a few days, but I do need the rest. Also, I am going to work on my bike and i am going "bare bones" for the rest of the trip. I am dumping anything and everything I don't absolutely need. I think I can get down to just 10 or 15 pounds of gear.
One last thing. There were two donations last time I checked. My parents neighbors, Stanley and Trudy donated to the cause. Also, MSgt Brian Williamson (RET) made a donation and a face book plug yesterday. Thanks to y'all!
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