Recap of Yesterday's ride - 78 miles from Lubbock to Muleshoe - an Epic to be Remembered!

I wanted to do a quick recap of yesterday's epic ride - OK not really epic in the sense of like Tour de France or something - but it was epic to me.

First off, I got a late start - I know it sounds like a broken record. I guess as I've gotten older things take longer to do or maybe it's that there's just not the sense of urgency that was there 10 - 15 years ago..... I think slower, I move slower, things get done slower and I'm OK w/ that.

Anyhooo, I was sitting in my motel room the night before when I hear this pop followed by the sickening hissing sound of air going out of the rear tire of my bike..... the same thing had happened to me the day before in the Snyder Inn only I didn't witness the demise....

So I got to thinking, there's a pattern here... you know when 2 things happen in the same way, you kinda step back, take your hat off, scratch your head and think.

Because of all the load on my bike and to decrease rolling resistance I had been airing my tires up to about 60 lbs - very near the upper limit for tire and tube.... but I had been airing the tires up outside...... in 28 - 35 deg temps..... then at the end of the day I lead my Trek stallion into the stall (motel room) where it's 65 - 70 deg.....starting to get the picture.

I think it's possible that as the air in the tires heated up, it may have overpressured the tube thus causing a rupture..... anyway that's my theory.

So when I came into the motel room last night I bled some air out of the tires and I woke up this morning with all tires looking good..... live and learn - die and forget it all!

So that was one reason I was late - cause I had to change a flat tire - then since I had used 2 tubes in the last 2 days, I was down to only 1 spare tube and I wasn't gonna go traipsing off across 80 miles of barren wasteland (well barren of stores carrying bike tubes) without a couple of more tubes.

Bottom line - I had to visit a bike shop before I left Lufkin - so I called and talked to Clinton at Broadway Bikes and headed out..... in the wrong direction!

Yup - I went the wrong way on I27 - 'bout a mile and a half down the road I realized things weren't looking right so I pulled out my LG Env3 and accessed the VZW Navigator and punched in the address of Broadway Bikes and waited for instructions and the little voice lady comes into my earpiece and says "Make a U-turn and head....."

Having to make a U-turn is never a good sign..... oh that technology if I would just use it.

So I get my bearings straight and head off in the right direction and it's a beautiful day - I mean drop dead gorgeous - so I'm not in a really big hurry to go anywhere - I'm pedaling along and soaking up the sun - I mean it's the first time I hadn't had to wear that stupid camo Ninja spandex headnet in 3 days, so I'm able to blow the snot out of my nose without it getting all over me - you ever tried to blow snot out of your nose while you're wearing a pullover mask while you're riding a bike - ain't easy to do.

I finally get onto Broadway and admire the historic brickwork on Broadway - I guess it's the original stuff from '06 (pronounced "ought 6") or something because it looks it - yeah I admire it for about 1 block and then realize it's bouncing my ass around on the bike seat like popcorn in a hot skillet - so much for historic brickwork - get me off this crap and onto some pavement.

But I endure the jostling and approach the 2400 block of Broadway where B-way Bikes is and look over and see "The Copy Outlet" for all my printing needs and I have some printing needs - I have a Powerpoint file I did (on my VZW Gateway Netbook) that I created some business cards on and I need to get 'em printed out, so I just take a riggit and lean my bike up against the shrubs, get my Zip drive out of the Action Packer and go in and shoot the bull with Sharon Hammond (co-owner) - well she's the wife - so I guess she's the owner - the husband Jeff just works there - no I'm kidding - they're a couple of great kids - I say kids - I thought they were about 35 - they turned out to be 52. I couldn't believe it - so's anyway, Jeff prints my cards and I head over to....

Broadway Bikes like right next door so now I'm getting all my bicycle needs filled and what I needs is 2 tire tubes and a CO2 cannister and to hit the road - I talk to Josh, Wade and Clinton and, yes, they stood there in a line while I was talkin' to 'em - I couldn't decide if they were more 3 Musketeers or 3 Stooges but there they were so... I got my bike stuff bought and loaded and headed on off to hit 84 to get the heck out of Dodge .... I mean Lubbock.

I take University down to 84 .... I get on 84 and I run into a wall..... a 17 - 25 mph headwind and I mean headwind - it wasn't come in at any angle or anything - it was hitting me in the nose so I put my head down and dropped the gears and started grinding - I mean I could have got off the bike and pushed faster than I was going....

From that moment on I knew it was gonna be a long day.... and night.

After about 10 miles I finally got into a rhythm in 2nd sprocket 4th gear (about 11 of 21 gears) and I was making some headway at about 9 mph.

I had eaten a big breakfast at the Lubbock Best Western and nabbed a couple of cheese danishes and sausage biscuits for the road. which I polished off in the 1st couple of hours. I mean I was generating so much energy that you could've hooked me up to the flux capacitor and I'd've been going Back to the Future....

I stopped at a Family Dollar and picked up some Aleve and a Hershey’s bar with almonds because I realized it was going to be a long and painful day…..

Because I had decided to go to Muleshoe….. come wind, come snow, earthquake, plagues, it didn’t matter – I had decided that I was gonna ride my bike to Muleshoe that day...errr night.

I’m like that sometimes – I just get stubborn and bull my way through to an endpoint – sometimes it’s a good thing…. Sometimes it’s a bad thing…. This time I don’t know what it was…. I just decided I was gonna pedal against the wind to Muleshoe until I dropped or I got to Muleshoe whichever came first.

About 40 miles out of Lubbock I ran out of water – I had 2 – 24 oz Polar bottles full when I left Lubbock but I misjudged the temps - it was warmer yesterday than it had been the previous day so I sweated more and I drank more water and I ran out of water.

I knew if I could get to Littlefield (46 miles out of Lubbock) I'd be OK. Well, I grinded it out and looked up and in the distance I see the golden arches - that's right - Mickie D's.... and my heart leaps with joy and I up the cadence and in 5 minutes I'm there.

So I snarf down an Angus Burger combo, drink a gallon of Dr. Pepper, take a picture of the 2 girls that waited on me to put on the blog, meet a nice young fellow named Edward who came out and asked me for a card, bungee down an Angus Burger and 2 pies for the road and light out.

I left the McDonalds and was pedaling along the shoulder approaching a street coming across the highway with a gray Suburban approaching the intersection - I looked to see the guy's eyes who was driving and I couldn't see them, because his line of vision to me was blocked by the roof pillar at the edge of the windshield.

Biking Rule #1 - when approaching an intersection with a vehicle present, make eye contact and assess whether the person sees you or not.

I knew this guy in the Suburban couldn't see me because I was at a perfect angle to be obscured by the roof pillar - we're approaching each other pretty fast and I start easing down on the rear brake and sure enough - he pulls out right in front of me. I lock up the rear tire and skid to a halt looking the guy right in the eye.... yeah I was about 3' from T-boning a Suburban - wonder who would've won that one?

At this point, he sees me because there I am within spitting distance and he proceeds on through the intersection and I tool off down the road on my merry way none the worse for wear only sporting about a 200 pulse rate.

I hear something and look back and this guy in the Suburban pulls up beside me in the grass and I'm thinking "Oh boy - this guy's gonna chew my ass out for riding a bike on the highway"..... and you know what happened? The guy apologized for not seeing me and I told him "that's OK - you just scared the hell out of me" - we shook hands and I gave him my card and continued on....

So I round this bend in 84 coming out of Littlefield and Holy Blue Norther Batman! From the time I pulled out of the McDonald's parking lot to 5 miles down the road, the temp dropped about 10 - 15 degrees and the 20 mph headwind changed to a 30 mph crosswind from right to left (east to west).

I mean I was riding the outside of the shoulder (the last 1 foot) with my bike canted over into the wind and a gust would skid my bike 5 - 6' toward the drive lane and without my permission - it was freaky!

So I wibbled and wobbled my way down 84 fighting the pain and the wind and watched the sun go down and the darkness envelop me, dodging the tumbleweeds and tacking into every gust.

I stopped at the Allsup's in Sudan to put on my Frogg Toggs and put some handwarmers in my mittens and grab a cup of hot chocolate. I talked to the store manager Phillip for a few minutes about his LG Env2 phone, the weather and a few other things and then shoved off into 26 deg temps and 35 mph wind. I checked my VZW Navigator before I left the Allsups and it said 17.7 miles to the Heritage House Inn in Muleshoe.

This began the slow, death-defying final march - make that ride - into Muleshoe along which I was again embraced by humanity multiple times....

I'm bobbing and weaving down the dark 84 corridor and I see this guy go by me slow - go up about a quarter a mile and cross the median and come back slow.... then I see lights approaching me from behind.... on the shoulder.

Next thing I know this guy pulls up besides me on the shoulder.... says "Handy Randy" on the sign on the side of his truck and that's when I met Randy Sierra. Randy asked me if I was OK and if I needed a ride into town. I introduced myself, told him about my bike trip and gave him a card and said "No Thank You" on the ride. I got his cell phone number off his sign and asked him if I could call him if I needed help between here and Muleshoe..... he says yeah - he's staying in Muleshoe and he'll come and get me.

Then he asks me if I need any money and by this time I'm about to cry..... I mean I'm out in the middle of nowhere in a winter gale and this guy stops and asks me if I need any help and then offers to loan me money.....

...so if you need any remodeling or construction work done in the Muleshoe area - give "Handy Randy" aka Randy Sierra a call - anybody that would stop to help a stranger in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere has got to be a good guy to do work for you:

"Handy Randy" - Randy Sierra
Home Phone: 806-385-3108
Cell Phone: 806-632-5261


God Bless you Randy! I won't forget you.

So as Randy is disappearing into the night, I'm thinking to myself - maybe I should have just loaded my bike into the back of the truck and rode in - well I thought about that for about a minute and then bent my head down into the wind and kept pedaling.... why - cause I was riding my bike to Muleshoe - that's why!

..... so I'm pedaling for about another couple of miles when I look up and see a truck pulling a trailer with a car on it pulled over on the shoulder and this big ole fella standing outside the truck like he's waiting on me....

and I meet Good Samaritan #2 - Chad Jackson. I talke to Chad about 5 minutes and reassure him I'll be fine and then disappear off into the night towards this place called Muleshoe which I'm beginning to think has about the same reality of presence as Shangri-la, but I can't worry about that - I'm just pointing the bike down the dark shoulder, hunkering down into the wind and keep pedaling...

Finally I'm just entering the outskirts of town and another guy pulls up besides me and asks me if I'm gonna make it - I said Yeah I'm almost there and tell him thank you.

By this time I'm thinking if one more person stops to help me I'm gonna just take 'em up on the offer just so I can get there!

I mean I've spent more time shooting the bull and chewing the fat out there on the side of the road for the last 10 miles than I HAVE PEDALING!!!!

As I'm entering Muleshoe down the main drag 84, the snot on my mustache is freezing up, my water bottles are done froze up and I'm dodging frozen patches of ice on the road.... I look up at the bank sign and it says Welcome to Muleshoe "22 deg".

So now I'm in Muleshoe and where's the Heritage House Inn - other end of town of course!

I pedal for another 10 minutes or so, check my VZW Navigator and I should be there only I don't see the house that I saw on the website when I looked at it on my Netbook the day before.... I'm pedaling past this "Stripes" which is another convenience store chain in this area so I figure if all else fails I'll just go in and ask directions - old school I know - I just can't shake it.

I roll to a stop, stiffly lift my leg over the bike, take off my bike helmet and Ninja mask so they don't shoot my ass when I walk through the front door and go in and meet 2 real characters - Frick and Frack - otherwise known as Jesse and Junior - these 2 kids were a hoot - I tell 'em I'm looking for the Heritage House Inn and they say Oh yeah - it's just a little ways further down the road - that figures! They start asking me all about my bike trip and I give 'em my card, tell 'em I'll write about 'em in my blog like I'm doing right now.... and set off down the road.

Turns out the Heritage House Inn is just another couple a hundred yards down the road and it looks just like the picture.

I go in and get a room from Rocky and ride my bike around the parking lot to #116, unlock the door, roll my bike into the room and close the door.....

.....on the longest, craziest, most challenging, most rewarding, coldest....

.....and most heart-warming day of my life.