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

Ramble 24: Out of the Desert.