Let’s Ride.

[Sorry to keep you guys waiting in suspense.  But we had a travel day AND we went to the Chinati Foundation AND we spent today canoing up and down the Rio Grande.]

So we brought our bikes on this trip as we’re still training for the MS150.  And we figured we might get in a few good climbs (riding uphill) in the hills out here.

Does that sound like a bad idea yet?  No?  Okay, I’ll keep going.

My old boss, the most avid cyclist I know, loaned us a few cycling books with routes in West Texas.  Some of them look totally hard core and we decided that no, we’re not ready for that.  We’d decided that the road from Fort Davis to Marfa and back would be a good ride.  42 miles total, with cute restaurants and shops in Fort Davis.  A few small climbs but no major hills.  Mostly a straight path through the desert.

But then Dave said, Why don’t we do the whole route?  From Marfa to Alpine to Fort Davis to Marfa?  We can spend all day, go as slow as we like, take pictures, take lots of breaks?

72 miles.

What about now?  Bad idea?  Well, I agreed.  72 miles is completely doable!  We have to do 100 in one day in 2 weeks.  So we might as well!

Um, a few things to note.  Those “climbs,” those “hills” ARE THE DAVIS MOUNTAINS.  Also, we’re between 4,000 and 5,000 feet above our normal sea level.

So the ride form Marfa to Alpine was GREAT!  Tailwind the whole way.  Lots of hills but with the tailwind I was still going uphill in my hardest gear.  Good times.  Except for Dave, who has never had allergies until this trip.  His allergies rose up and punched him in the face.  We got to Alpine and asked directions to the nearest pharmacy and got him eye drops, nasal spray and allergy pills.  They worked.

We had lunch and headed off to Fort Davis.  The crosswind was a BITCH.  Not even kidding.  Dave said, “Well, do you want to turn around and go back to Marfa?”  I said, “In a headwind?  No thank you!!”  So we kept on.

Then it became a headwind.  Oh, and it was 25 miles UPHILL.  Alpine’s elevation is 4,481 and Fort Davis’ is 5,050.

Yeah, um, I crashed.  Not as in I ran my bike into something.  But felt like I did not have the mental and emotional energy to finish the ride.  The wind beats you down, man.  And I let it.

15 miles to go felt like forever.  10 miles.  I was taking tons of breaks.  This was getting dangerous for a few reasons.  We’d already decided that when we got to Fort Davis, I’d hang out in a café and rest (sleep, cry, whatever) while Dave, being a stronger cyclist, would ride to Marfa alone to get the car and come back to get me.  But the sun was getting lower in the sky.  And soon it would set behind the mountains.  And there was no moon.

I asked Dave several times to just go on to Marfa, let me get to Fort Davis at my own pace.  He wouldn’t.  He refused to leave me, even though I was an emotional slow whiny pants.  I’d TOTALLY have left my ass!!

Anyway, after stopping and resting a million times and walking up several hills- maybe 3, maybe 17, I don’t remember- we reached the final stretch which was relatively flat.  We rode into Fort Davis and stopped at a pizza joint to go to the bathroom and my brain gradually returned.  I’d been in auto-mode, pedaling simply because there was no other option.  No SAG wagon, no turning back, no hopping on Dave’s handlebars.

We discussed our options.  The ride to Marfa was going to be significantly easier.  But we had maybe 30 minutes of daylight and 21 miles to go.  And we didn’t have our headlights on our bikes.  (They were in the hotel room, being completely helpful.)  We discussed the plan of Dave going alone but I felt much better and he hadn’t left me on 118, I wasn’t going to leave him alone going to Marfa, esp. with it getting dark soon.

Also?  Did you know they have BEARS out here?  And mountain lion?  And javelina?  And rattlesnakes?  And coyotes?  Just sayin’.

So we decided to ride until it got too dark and then we’d hitchhike.  The pizza joint owner said the hitchhiking out here wasn’t too bad, plus everyone’s got trucks and lord knows we don’t look dangerous in our padded cycling shorts.  (I know, that’s the best idea yet, right?)

Yeah, we went a whole 5 miles and it was pitch black.  Beautiful sunset and beautiful stars but we didn’t care.  It was also getting COLD.  FAST.  I’d half-joked earlier about calling the police and getting a ride, but Dave said no.  This time, I said, “No.  For real, this is dangerous.  We can’t see the road and I’d rather call the police now when we’re just cold than later if we’re injured.”

So we did.  Called 911 and said it wasn’t an emergency, but we needed a ride back to Marfa.  The sheriff from Jeff Davis came and picked us up but seemed none too happy about it!  He took us to the county line where we got into the truck of a sheriff’s deputy from Presidio county to take us to Marfa.  His name was Omar and he was a total sweetie.  He told us all kinds of cool stories about the mysterious lights from around here.  (More on those and Marfa in general later- such a cool town!!)

So we got safely back to our hotel room and took long hot showers and got ready for a nice dinner.  All the best restaurants in Marfa are closed early in the week and open on Wed or Thurs through the weekend.  So we were looking forward to eating at a number of places.  Aaaaand they were all closed.  The only thing open was the gas station, which is how we ended up eating Tostitos chips and queso for dinner at 11pm.

So that’s our biking story.  At least we didn’t make it into the paper, like my brother.