Rough Days

Since my last post we have had some pretty rough days and weather. We left the EMS station in Wimberley and headed toward Blanco. Here the hills were really starting to pick up. These things are mountains at a lower altitude. The hills here are really really intense. We are getting incredibly strong though. It is no wonder this was the training ground of a seven-time tour de France winner. The EMS station guys were awesome and we were sad to leave them. On our way out of town we stopped at a taco shack and I think I had one of the best quesadillas I have ever had. It had egg, cheese, ham, and bacon in it. I saw one of the guys eating one and had to get one. After wimberley, we headed to Blanco where we stayed with a host family from warmshowers. They were really nice and served us awesome food! They made us homemade pancakes in the morning with homemade strawberry syrup and eggs. I did not eat eggs before this trip but I am starting to eat them more and more because of their benefits. I notice that I ride a lot stronger after I have eaten them. From Blanco we headed to Kerrville with more huge hills the entire day. We both felt great though that day I remember. We had very nice weather that day. It was warm (in the 70's) and the sun was out the entire day. I am starting to get a pretty sweet sunglasses and helmet strap tan. We stayed with another host family in Fredericksberg. He was nice enough to meet us half way since we had already ridden almost 75 miles that day. They had a sweet guest house and made us an awesome dinner. We weren't really at that house much. Only stayed there until eight the next morning and then off again. This is when the weather started to really suck. It rained on us the entire day to Vanderpool which was close to 80 miles away. It was one huge hill after the other and drizzling rain the entire day. Our spirits were very low that night. By the time we got to Vanderpool we were exhausted and did not know where we were going to stay that night. Natalie glanced at a motel sign at the last minute and we decided to stay there. I was kind of against it at first because I felt like we were selling out. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip so far. The heavens opened up that night. Really bad thunderstorms all night. We would have been so screwed. A lesson to always listen to your wife. We had really good rest there and I was able to set our tent up inside the cabin to allow it to dry and I had to fix a couple things. Some of the grommets were wearing out and I was able to fix them with duck tape and glue. It has been a really good tent; we have just used it close to 50 times. Some things are starting to wear out. After leaving Vanderpool we knew we were going to have a monster day of climbing (See pictures of elevation profile). We stretched and plugged in a good mix to the ipod. The hills and grades were insane! I have been on mountain roads that were easier riding than today. Oh yeah, and we are pulling a 65 pound trailer over these things. Natalie did a great job and didn't complain at all during her stretch. Her hill that she had to pull over was arguably more challenging than the ones I had to deal with. That day was only 40 miles but it really kicked our ass. We did between 4,000 and 5,000 feet of climbing that day in only 40 miles. Also, the wind and rain started again. The temp was only in the 40s and I was freezing my ass off. Natalie had the trailer at this point so she was fine because she was expending way more effort than I was. We got to the bottom of the hill and actually argued on who GOT to pull the trailer. She continued with the trailer and I just put on all the clothes I had. We stayed at a nice campground that had REALLY hot showers. We both showered for around 30 minutes and then set our tent up. The lady running the campground was nice enough to offer us a cottage for the same price since it was supposed to be cold and possibly storm again. We took her up on that offer and slept almost 12 hours. We woke up and got a late start heading toward Del Rio. We didn't make it all the way and we are currently in Bracketville, TX. Tomorrow we will plan to go either to Del Rio for a short day or to Langtry for a long day. It will depend on how our legs feel and which way the wind is headed tomorrow. We are staying at a campground again tonight and have new food supplys. The weather is supposed to be nice for a while and we really hope it is. It has rained every other day on us in TX and we are really getting fed up with it. Especially since we are supposedly in a draught here. Whatever. Its just really pissing both of us off. We're tired of being wet and cold. I will try and add some pictures when I can. I have some really good ones.

~Drew