| Cross-Country Ramble 23:
Mid-Course Corrections Sent: 96-06-01 01:31:23 EDT
We limped into Del Rio the day before yesterday, completing map
three of the seven Adventure Cycling maps that cover our route from
California to Florida. That's 1500 miles down, 1900 to go.
Our ride from Marathon to Del Rio did not turn out to be the
idyllic drop from 4500 feet to 1000 feet that we had expected from
our map. We encountered one steep hill after another. Along the way,
we asked, "What the heck criteria did Adventure Cycling use to
determine this route?" After we cooled down in our suite in Del Rio,
we began to talk about our own criteria for the rest of the trip. We
listed our preferences and talked about how we could achieve them,
and we listed our dislikes and talked about how we could eliminate
them.
Hills are still giving us trouble, even after 1500 miles of
pedaling practice. We walk a lot more than we like. Worse, the
strain on Ken's knees has made them pretty sore. Ken's worried that
they may give out completely. We figured that one way to address
this problem would be to get lower low gears on the bikes, so when
we got into Del Rio, we went to the bike shop and had lower gearing
put on. When we started the trip our lowest gears were 22 inches for
Carol and 20 inches for Ken (these are both considered to be pretty
low already). Now, we both have 15 inch gears (for those who are
interested, that's a 20 tooth chain ring on the front driving a 34
tooth cog on the rear). Ken figures this low gear will allow us to
spin at 80 rpm while doing all of 3.5 mph--walking speed. Carol
hopes that when we are in our lowest gear it won't be so slow we
fall over.
We prefer terrain that allows us to enjoy the countryside and our
own thoughts. Steep hills interrupt our flow. We have taken a
serious look at the Adventure Cycling maps of our upcoming route.
Their preference seems to be for hilly terrain. From now on, we'll
determine our own route as needed to better suit our preference for
gentle terrain.
We like small towns. They provide pleasant places to stop, rest,
drink, eat and meet people. We like to pass through a couple of
towns each day. We like to end each day in a small town, so that
after we have rested up a bit we can walk up and down the street,
look in store windows, talk to the shopkeepers and have a pleasant
meal. We are tired of talking to only the cows, goats, buzzards and
jack rabbits. Our Adventure Cycling Maps seem to have a preference
for camping in scenic, out-of-the way places. We'll adjust our route
to go through more small towns, while still avoiding the big cities.
In case you hadn't noticed, the sun and heat are getting to us.
Before we got to Del Rio, we figured that all but a couple of days
were above 90 degrees and all but a couple of days were under a hot
sun shining in completely cloudless skies. We'd started talking
about renting a car or getting on a train and going North to get a
break from the relentless sun and heat we've experienced. Happily,
Del Rio has been blessed with overcast skies since we arrived and
it's rained for the last two nights. The mornings would have been
delightful for bicycling--too bad our bikes were in the shop. Maybe
now we're entering a phase of our tour when we'll see some real
weather, which to us means weather that actually changes from day to
day. We may not need to make a major course correction after all.
However, we are keeping this option open.
After experiencing 1500 miles of America at an average speed of
about 10 mph, we're wondering if we need to experience each of the
remaining 1900 miles with the same degree of intimacy. Perhaps some
parts could be experienced at a faster clip, using alternative means
of transport, while still accomplishing our objective. We're still
planning to go cross country and to do it mostly by bicycle, but
we're going to be open to interesting alternatives that may appear.
Carol and Ken
Del Rio, Texas
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