Rose Pedals . . .: Hello Texas!

Day 11

Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Clovis, New Mexico to Amarillo, Texas
111 miles
1,100 ft. of climbing

Today we’d be moving on to our 4th state of the tour - the great State of Texas. We entered Texico, a border town, at mile 7. The most notable aspect of today’s ride was the 10-15 m.p.h headwind that was in our faces the entire day. Many in our group overcame that obstacle by riding in pace lines and taking turns at the lead. Art rode in a pace line with Lon and several other strong riders in our group and was miles ahead of me the whole day. I attempted to join and keep pace with that pace line, but was quickly (and gladly) spit out the back. That’s OK, because we all have to ride at our own pace, otherwise, you get worn out very quickly. I puttered along by myself for much of the morning and was just slightly maintaining the 12 m.p.h. average pace we were advised we had to maintain to make the cut-off times. At mile 37, Susan joined me and we formed our own two-person pace line and made great time to the lunch stop. It was fun riding and chatting with Susan. We rode a comfortable pace in the headwind and, between the drafting and the good company, the miles seemed to click by quickly. After lunch, Susan had to go back to work and I rode by myself again for the rest of the ride. Although it took me almost 8 hours to go 111 miles, I thoroughly enjoyed every mile. It was a gorgeous day, I had plenty of time, and I had nothing else to do but ride my bike. (It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it!) At one point, our route took us down a quick drop through Palo Duro Canyon, where there was road construction going on. As I made the steep climb out of the canyon, I actually was applauded by some of the construction workers. : )

Our destination in Amarillo was the Big Texan Restaurant and Motel - a quintessential Texas establishment. We had dinner as a group at the Big Texan Steak Ranch. In true Texas style, it was big, loud and lively with people, country music and, of course, big platters of food. One of the restaurant patrons (not anyone from our group) took on the restaurant's famous eating challenge: if you finish eating its hugest steak (72 oz. or something ridiculous like that), baked potato and a salad in 60 minutes or less, the meal is free and you get a free t-shirt, your picture on the wall, and all the prestige that goes along with that. The guy that accepted the challenge (a huge behemoth of a man, of course) had to eat the meal sitting by himself at a table that was on a raised platform in view of the entire restaurant. There was a big timer on the wall above him. People were walking up to him and snapping his picture while he was eating. It was an absolute freak show. He didn't seem to mind. Only in Texas.

In all, it was another spectacular day. Having the time of my life. : )