A cold but good start to L5. It was raining lightly in Houston when Beth and Brian picked me up at my hotel. Back home it was subfreezing for the umpteenth day in a row. In Houston, temps were around 40, down right balmy I’ld say.
All three of us put our bikes together without any issues. ‘Its a miracle’ or the last leg was recent enough that we could remember the little tricks needed to assemble the bikes. We left the hotel Beth and Brian stayed in last night in Navasota around noon under partly sunny skies. That’s what fooled us. The sun went away and it got colder and colder as we rode the 42 miles which was today’s distance. We didn’t stop for lunch. We just wanted to get to our hotel and take a warm shower. On the plus side, average speed was 16.3 mph and very smooth road surface.
Figuring out tomorrow’s route in Beth’s room with our usual post ride beer(s). Thanks Beth for always having a few cold brewskies at the end of each day’s ride.

What a beautiful way to finish L4. I have posted pictures of some of our vistas on today’s ride. We all agreed this was one of the prettiest rides of the whole trip. It did nothing to diminish our appreciation of the State of Texas.

I was also impressed with the town of Round Top where we stayed last night. We stayed in the Round Top Inn, a B&B in several 18th century homes and a cigar making one room factory building that have been renovated into modern hotel rooms. Kudos to the owner and staff.

We are already talking about L5. Can’t wait to do some planning at home and comparison of calendars to set up the next trip. Hopefully it is sooner than later so I am motivated to keep up my training and stay in good riding condition. Over and out.

One of the many gorgeous vistas along today’s ride from Round Top to Navasota.

Another gorgeous vista along the route today.

One of many banana breaks.

Because of the unseasonably cold mornings and short mileage days, we are leaving the hotel a little past nine these last couple mornings. It warms up pretty quickly and we can shed the extra layers at our first rest stop.

Today we biked the first 18 miles or so thru Bastrop and Buescher State Parks on park roads that had almost no traffic. I think we passed 4 cars, all going in the opposite direction. Mark took his rest time by lying in the middle of the road. Go figure. Most of the time he sits in the middle of the road taking pictures.

We saw our first group of bikers this trip near Winchester this morning. They had biked from Austin and were on their way to Houston with a stay overnight in LaGrange. The road surfaces are definitely getting better as we travel east across Texas.

I would have to say this is my favorite state so far. We have talked to so many people because the people are just plain friendly. They have that ‘southern’ mannerism of ‘yes sir’ or ‘no sir’. So much history and they celebrate it with all the roadside historical markers. My kids know I’m in heaven with so many historical markers to stop and read. Best of all my brothers indulge me and stop with me. (Maybe it’s a Sullivan trait and they like to stop and read them too). Last day of L4 is tomorrow. I’m a little sad. Now Brian’s bike is making funny noises. Hopefully nothing to worry about. Life is good.

I’ll never understand why Mark likes to take his rest stops in the middle of the road. Laura, what’s your opinion? Be nice.

Some fellow bikers we met on the road to LaGrange. They are all ministers. They prayed for our safe return to our families. It was quite touching.

We decided on a leisurely start this morning since we figured our ride was less than 50 miles. Every day the road surfaces have been improving and we seem to have less chip seal roads. Today’s roads were a combination of state roads and farm roads (FM). I don’t remember any ranch roads today. The county roads still seem to be dirt roads.

Oil derricks and tanks were frequent sites. And dogs chasing us. I have no idea how Mark came up with the photo of a lunging dog for his post. It wasn’t that bad but it seemed every house had a dog that barked and ran after us (mostly on the other side of a fence).

I was struck by the amount of construction going on in Bastrop, our destination today. We rode into town on a road that looked like it was being widened and repaved. Commercial buildings were going up all around us and the Hampton Inn we are staying at seems brand new.

Only two more days of riding. My bike is working fine. Still wondering what caused the clicking. As always, lots and lots of laughs. Life is good.

The brothers firing up for a day in the saddle.

We passed a lot of oil small oil tanks in and amongst farm land. This one had a distinct oil smell.

Well we started out the door and immediately turned around as a heavy shower broke and would have drenched us if we had left 10 minutes earlier. After 40 minutes, the rains stopped and off we went. The wind gods were smiling on us today because we had a tail wind most of our 47+ miles. We were flying when it was directly at our backs and when it wasn’t, WOW was it a bear. The last 3 miles we were on a frontage road for I35. No wind break at all. We had a crosswind from left to right with gusts up to 30 mph. I seriously considered walking my bike.When the wind gusted, I had to lean left into the wind to keep upright. It was scary.

As planned, we spent the afternoon at the LBJ Presidential Library at the Univ. of Texas. It brought back so many memories from my high school and college days. The three assassinations, the race riots, the Viet Nam war, the lottery, the college campus sit-ins, even at Villanova. They were crazy times we grew up in. I won’t soon forget that museum.

The good news–whatever was clicking on my bike, stopped. Could it have been caused by the rainy/wet weather yesterday? I am hoping it doesn’t return. We’ll see.Three more days of riding.

Waiting for the rain to stop so we can get started on Day 4’s Ride.

Waiting for the rain to stop so we can get started on Day 4’s Ride.

One of our many short breaks.

After a scrumptious breakfast at the Diamond H B&B, we started today’s ride in a light rain. By the time it stopped raining, about an hour later, we were pretty soaked. A few drizzles here and there but no more rain. We would come upon wet roads, but somehow we avoided the rain. Lots and lots of hills, but at least the wind was not a factor today. We got a little lost in Comfort, TX, but no big deal.

We arrived at tonight’s destination in Blanco, TX around 4 pm after a 77 mile ride. Tired but not as tired as last night. Got barked at several times but not chased except for dogs in fenced yards.

I’m having a mechanical issue. My best guess is a bearing in my crank shaft is shot. The noise started around 25 miles into today’s ride, but doesn’t seem to affect the pedalling. I plan to call Frank to get his opinion on what to do. My hope is I can continue to ride L4 and replace the bearings when I get home. We will be near a bike store tomorrow if it has to be repaired in order to continue.

Really enjoying everyone’s company. We will be touring the LBJ Presidential Library tomorrow and having dinner in Austin, after a 42 mile day. Should be one of the highlights of L4.

The day started ominously with a light rain, a first for the Brothers Bike Ride. But the rain wasn’t the issue today. The wind was. It was coming out of the northeast which was the direction we were going. We went east for 21 miles; then north for 25 miles, almost always dead into a stiff wind and then northeast for 30 miles. A little wrong turn and some backtracking gave us a total for today of 79.7 tough miles.

We are whooped tonight. Tomorrow is 65 plus mile day. No rain expected but the direction of the wind is unknown as I write this post. The highlight for me was biking thru the Texas Hill Country. The hills are challenging but the scenery is worth it. No wonder so many famous people have ranches in this part of Texas. And all these ranches have lots and lots of cattle.

Thats it for me. Beddiebye time. We are staying in a B&B so breakfast should be quite nice.

The start of L4 seems to be a continuation of the headwinds of L3. Our accommodations at Fort Clark, in army barracks converted to a motel, were different. The building was named Patton. I wonder if Gen. George Patton was ever stationed there.

The ride today was noteworthy for the last Border Patrol checkpoint on Route 90 we will have to ride thru. We talked to an agent for a while about his job and the recent influx of children crossing the border. I don’t want to post his observations on the net, so ask me when you see me. Also visited the “Cactus Jack” aka John Nance Garner Museum in Uvalde. He was FDR’s VP for his first two terms. Uvalde is his hometown and they done good with this museum.

As predicted the weather is hot and humid. We are sweating a ton, so fluids are important. Today was a short one–42 miles–to get us ready for longer rides to come. I continue to marvel at how lucky I am to be able to see the USA from a bicycle. We learn so much about the regions we bike thru from talking to locals.

Tomorrow is predicted to have more headwinds and thunderstorms all day. It could be our first day of rain on the Southern Tier.

Not much you can say about relentless headwinds other than “they suck”. We had high hopes for today but all things considered, we did pretty well. Unfortunately, same forecast for tomorrow. I am fighting off a cold, so I’m a little under the weather. Got a lousy night’s sleep last night. Can’t wait to turn in tonight. I feel like I can beat it if I can just get a good night’s sleep.

The plan, at this hour, is to finish today’s ride tomorrow. 30 more miles to go in the ferocious headwinds/crosswinds. Gusts were getting up to 30 mph. It was a tossup whether the headwinds beat out a 30 mph crosswind gust or vice versa. We were really getting blown around. At least we are in a nice motel tonight and not a dump again.

Marathon to Somewhere East of Dryden

I am sitting outside our motel in Sanderson, TX, looking at the sky as the sun is setting. The puffy clouds are orange and purple against a blue sky. Another spectacular day in West Texas.

When we pulled out of Marathon this morning, Mark announced that he was going to entertain Brian and I today. (He entertains us every day). After passing a herd of deer and a few elk during the first 15 miles, we started seeing cattle grazing along the fence next to the road. (Point of interest, there has been a fence along both sides of the road this entire trip.) I don’t know what possessed Mark but he started yelling and whistling at this one herd of cattle as we road past. Much to our surprise, they started stampeding away from the road with more and more cattle joining in the stampede. Needless to say, Mark was scanning the fields on both sides of the road looking for more cattle to practice his stampede techniques.

At one of our stops, we were visited by a tarantula. I wondered out loud what a tarantula eats. Mark, who has an answer for every question, replied “bicyclists, preferably old ones.”

This was our longest ride this trip. We were trying to do some of tomorrow’s miles today to make to make it more manageable. We did 85 today and have another 90 to do tomorrow. Beth will drop us off where we left off and continue on to Del Rio to wait for us at our next motel. Should be a gradual drop in elevation tomorrow like it was today. I’m hoping.