Today was a big day, 100 miles and 2000 ft of climbing, all into the wind. The day started great, nice sunrise and temperatures cool but not too bad. It was nice rolling hills and desert scenery, and a big reservoir that borders Mexico. From Comstock it is 30 miles to Del Rio which was going to be my first stop. Today was a turning point for the trip, for a number of reasons. First I am finally leaving the desert and the mountains, seems like I’ve been in the desert for a long time! It’s nice to see some different terrain and more lush surroundings. Also the hills are more rolling now which is nice. Second my legs are finally starting to get used to hundred mile days, the riding is still hard but more and more achievable. Lastly it’s good to get into more developed and populated areas, less risk of something going wrong and not having a lot of help, which actually happened today! I broke the railing on my seat! I guess unlimited caloric intake, lots of Mexican food, beer, and candy, does have consequences! I better be a bit more careful with my diet LOL. Thank goodness it happened only 5 miles from Del Rio, the first major city I’ve seen in hundreds of miles! If this had happened anywhere else this week I would’ve been really screwed! I was able to find a bike shop and purchased a new seat and got back on the road. Very lucky for me today. I have only had a couple instances on this trip that could potentially alter it significantly (knock on wood), but I find that if you keep an open mind to all the possibilities the change opens up and/or may require, the event isn’t so intimidating or derailing. My family loves to joke that it always works out for me, but I don’t have some secret power of tremendous luck, I just happened to have an openness to embrace change and adapt quickly to a new environment so it just looks like that was the plan all along! Don’t tell my family....
A total of nine hours in the saddle today, but overall, while the ride took a while, my legs and body felt pretty good and I arrived feeling pretty strong. Unfortunately I now have to break in a new seat which is never a good idea on a long ride, so I will likely have a sore butt for a number of days. Good news is that I have a shorter ride tomorrow, only 75 miles to San Antonio, and then one more ride, 100 miles, to Austin where I get to have a rest day. Yay!!
