Coast to Coast Ride on Two Wheels (2022)

This was a short ride of 54 miles mostly on US 90. It has great shoulders that makes the riding comfortable even with large trucks. Thunder storms were predicted for 1:00 and so we were moving fast. We stopped for BBQ for a quick lunch. YUM! We made into camp by 12:30.  I’m writing this at 4:00 p.m. and still no rain. It’s nice to have the afternoon off. 

I have had numerous folk ask me what a typical day on the ride consists of. They’re are all a bit different, but essentially the same. I will attempt a brief description of an outdoor camping day.  Previous evening : Organize your kit (bicycle clothes) for the next day. Shoes, socks, bibs/tights/shorts, leg warmers if cool, sports bra, base layer, jersey, gloves (long and/or short finger), jacket (for warmth or rain), etc. Depending upon the weather other accommodations may need to be made.  5 : 30 a.m. : Alarm goes off. Crawl out of the sleeping bag. This is really the toughest part of the morning if the previous day was long or hard. Stuff the sleeping bag in its compression bag, deflate the pillow, and take the bathroom bag to the restroom. Sometimes the restrooms are heated and getting dressed may be more comfortable in the restroom rather than in the tent. In any event, get dressed for the day. 6:00 : Coffee is ready. Get coffee and return to tent to finish organizing and...

Today was a long and difficult ride. We started with a short ride to the ferry and took the ferry from Dauphin Bay to Fort Morgan, AL. It was lots of fun moving 35 bicyclists and support vehicles via ferry. Everyone was in a great mood. Aboard we met 2 self-contained cyclists who were doing our ride, but in one month! That was humbling. Once ashore we started riding about 9:00. Great roads. Thank you Alabama! Nice temperatures and great scenery. We rode most of the day along the shore. The only downside - you guessed it, the headwinds. They were 18-20 mph with gusts up to 25. At dinner some folk said the gusts were up to 35 mph. They were the most exhausted. I’m able to handle the headwinds now. I get in the drops and focus on riding. Too bad I couldn’t spend more time enjoying the scenery. Once we reached Pensacola and turned inland the gusts subsided. This was my longest ride of the trip. It’s good to have it “in the book”. The highlight of the day was entering Florida. After my “mis...

Almost 75 miles of flat riding. The only “hills” were on bridges. (See the little peaks in the elevation diagram.) That was great except once again we were headed east to southeast and had head/cross winds (over 20 mph) most of the time. I know, stop whining about the #$%^ wind!!! That said, I was riding stronger than I had for a while. I was even leading at good pace for quite a while.  The worst part of the ride was the bridge to Dauphin Island. There were very strong winds that peaked at the top of the bridge. Some folk worried about being blown over the side. You just had to take it slow and steady. Earlier my feet were hurting and so I had loosened my shoes about 15 miles before the bridge. That was fine until I stood up to climb about two-thirds of the way up the bridge and almost lost a shoe. ARGH!!!! That made me stop and because of the wind I had to walk up the rest of the climb…. I am strong enough now that I do NOT like to miss a climb. We entered Alabama today. What hap...

75 miles of basically downhill riding. We started at about 300 feet above sea level and ended at about 30. Yet we had over 2,250 feet on the climbing rolling hills. We road though a national forest on terrific roads and little traffic.  This was one of the best days of the ride, except of course for the inevitable headwinds. I am riding stronger each day. This was an good day. Tomorrow we head for the shore.   LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 74.04 1740.45 2326.16 Elevation Gain (feet): 2254 52788 Pedaling Time: 5:58 Average Speed (mph):  12.4 Maximum Speed (mph) 26.1

This was a great first complete ride since the stitches came out. My legs were good and Rick helped me modify my biking glove so I could get my swollen knuckles into it. Essentially he cut the fabric between the middle and ring fingers to create one large hole for both fingers. It did the trick! I was able to ride the entire day pain free and in control. Hurray!!!! We are moving through the Gulf coast states quickly. Today we left Louisiana for Mississippi and soon we enter Alabama. Then it is onto the last state of Florida! …and in case you are wondering, Yes, the headwinds continue. LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 45.65 1666.41 2252.26 Elevation Gain (feet): 1581 50534 Pedaling Time: 3:55 Average Speed (mph):  11.6 Maximum Speed (mph) 22.1

I had the intention of riding the full 84 miles today. The day started cool and as usual I dressed in layers. The issue was my swollen hand. The only gloves that fit were my cold weather gloves. They were the only ones that my swollen hand could fit into and that was still tight. After about 20 miles my hand went numb. I stopped at the SAG at 25 miles and got a ride to the third SAG at about 70 miles. By then my hand was good and I rode the last 15 miles for a total of just over 40 miles. Tonight Rick and I will tackle the glove situation. The ride was usual - rolling hills and headwinds. So what else is new? LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 43 1620.76 2206.61 Elevation Gain (feet): 2838 48953 Pedaling Time: 4:40 Average Speed (mph):  9.7 Maximum Speed (mph) 23

A nurse on the ride removed my stitches. Things are definitely better, but my hand still has a lot of healing to do. Rick took me for a short ride (5 miles). It was enough to test out my new hand. It went well enough that tomorrow I plan to ride.

This was to be a long day, 81 miles. I was a bit concerned about the length. That was the longest I would have ridden since my ditch incident. The weather was cool and I was feeling very good. There were lots of hills and I was flying down them! Such a great time.  Then it happened. Near the bottom of a hill was an enormous patch of extremely rough road. I was going too fast and hit the road. I ended up with stitches on my right elbow and hand. End result - I have a very large bandage on my hand and won’t be riding for a few days. Bummer! (I really used stronger language.)  In reality I rode about 34 miles, including 3-4 after I crashed as I made my way to the SAG. You will hear from me after I start riding again.

The wild flowers only continued to get better. It turns out the Lady Bird Johnson lived in this part of Texas. I suspect that has something to do with the beauty of the flowers.  We continued to have tough head winds. I was told we have some of the worse this ride has ever seen. Maybe they are saying that to make us feel better? In any event by the end of today, my hands were tired from holding my line. We had ten miles on busy roads. That meant we had to concentrate on keeping a line. A few folk struggled and had to stop until the winds died down. Thank goodness tomorrow is a rest day! LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 69.44 1486.9 1740.94 Elevation Gain (feet): 2759 44143 Pedaling Time: 5:21 Average Speed (mph):  13 Maximum Speed (mph) 33.9

The  ride was one of my best yet. I finished early for me. That means we got an early start and I was riding well throughout the day. Of course it helped that there were no significant challenges.  It is interesting that we have been gradually descending even as we have hilly days. Our elevation is now between 300-350 feet above sea level. I find that remarkable because we climbed 2,283 feet today. The winds were strong, but mostly from the southwest as we headed east. The best part of the day were the wild flowers. We saw Blue Bonnets, Indian Paint Brush and lots of other flowers I don’t know the names of. We literally saw fields of them. Sometimes mixed and sometimes a single type. It is absolutely stunning! LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 61.27 1417.46 1671.5 Elevation Gain (feet): 2283 41384 Pedaling Time: 4:54 Average Speed (mph):  12.5 Maximum Speed (mph) 26.7

The day started out very cold at 40 degrees F and ended in the mid-80s. That temperature range is hard to dress for and I ended up underdressing. I was so cold, we had to stop for breakfast. After breakfast it had warmed up enough that I was fine although that put us at the end of the riders. By the end of day about 15% of the riders finished after us. The day was not very remarkable. We continued to leave hill country and instead enter the Austin/San Antonio suburbs. We had decent rural roads in the morning and then suburbs in the afternoon.  I prefer the rural roads. One thing that was very nice is that the general trend was downward.  We ended the day with winds again. Those weren’t supposed to happen today. No new photos. That indicated how uninteresting the suburbs are.  LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 63.2 1356.19 1610.23 Elevation Gain (feet): 2303 39101 Pedaling Time: 5:04 Average Speed (mph):  12.8 Maximum Speed (mph) 28.7

We are approaching the end of Texas Hill Country. There are plenty of hills, but no single one is difficult. We are starting to see pine trees now and a few wild flowers. We stopped for lunch at a very unusual place. I’ve included a few photos.  A stage behind the bar decorated with car grills. Note the Maserati grill. LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 59.27 1292.99 1547.05 Elevation Gain (feet): 2926 36798 Pedaling Time: 4:47 Average Speed (mph):  12.4 Maximum Speed (mph) 31.1

The first half of the ride was not very pleasant. Rough roads and headwinds. The second half was very pleasant winding through exotic animal ranches and other scenic rural areas. We had some good climbs with exciting downhills. I didn’t like the ones with a 90 degree bend at the end. I had to slow down when I wanted to let it rip! The highlight of the day was the boot fence. This marked  the half-way point. When in actuality it was about 12 miles before the fence. We celebrated with Texas BBQ for lunch and champagne at dinner. Rick checking out a loose longhorn steer. . LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 70.7 1233.69 1487.78 Elevation Gain (feet): 3015 33872 Pedaling Time: 6:10 Average Speed (mph):  11.5 Maximum Speed (mph) 25.5

  We have reached the mid-point in terms of days. Tomorrow we reach the mid-point in terms of miles. It’s hard to images we have gone that far.  Rick and I enjoying a day not on the bikes.

Looking at the elevation, it looked as though is was going to be a tough uphill day. The grade turned out to be only 1-2% and so we just rode it. When you compress it onto such a small elevation chart it looks tougher than it actually was.  Texas is setting record highs for early April in this part of Texas. Mid-90’s today. Huh!?!?! We took our time and stopped for breaks. We take “butt breaks” for 2-3 minutes about every five miles for the last 20 miles of the day.  It definitely helps me finish the day! This is the start of Texas Hill Country. That means we are getting into a combination of desert with an increasing amount of greenery. I am ready for some green and changes in scenery.  It takes us a day to bike what it takes approximately an hour to drive. Thus, scenery changes are slow. Bicycling definitely gives me a better understanding of the vastness of our country.  Matthew McConaughey was born in this county. The folks here are encouraging him to get into po...

Today the headwinds were horrible again. Part of the ride was across a bridge over the Amistad Reservoir. The bridge was in horrible shape with very low guardrails. To be safe we would cross in small groups with a car behind us with its flashers on. There were definitive concerns about being blown off the bridge. About 1/3 of the group decided to start from the side after the bridge, including me. I have had my fill of wind gusts for one trip! I rode with others part of the time and myself the rest. It was OK riding. Not easy and not too tough. I feel as though I am start to get my biking legs back. LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 43.3 1162.99 1417.08 Elevation Gain (feet): 820 30857 Pedaling Time: 3:55 Average Speed (mph):  11.1 Maximum Speed (mph) 20.2