Day 26 - Wednesday, December 17

Description: Finished the 32 mile ride today in Kirbyville TX (yes, still in Texas) at 2:30. The plan is to ride to Oberlin LOUISIANA tomorrow.

Note: I have lots of new pictures on my camera to post to but have not been near a computer for the upload. Will do as soon as possible....

Carl and I woke up fairly early at 6:30 to load up our bikes and be ready for breakfast at our hotel at 7:30 and hoped to roll at 8:00. However, the hotel staff must have overslept as there were no lights in the office and breakfast area. Bummer - so we decided to make a quick dash to The Donut Palace to carbo load. While feasting on donuts, breakfast sandwiches, and coffee, it started raining and then pouring. We decided to delay our start and wait for the storm cloud to pass as there was only a 30 percent chance of rain today. I checked the radar on the Bberry and there was only one small storm cell and it was right over us. After a while, we decided to go for it and hopefully ride right behind the rain. WRONG! Our pace ended up being exactly the same pace as this one storm cloud so we got dumped on the entire day. It was raining so hard that we could hardly see the road and we got soaked to the bone. After 10 miles, we stopped in Buna at a hardware store (Orange County Building Materials) where Carl had the bright idea to buy waterproof concrete gloves to keep his hands dry and warm which worked until he left the store. The folks in the store were bored from a slow day and had a lot of fun talking to us, taking pictures with us (posted on my site), and pumping us full of coffee as we tried to dry out and warm up. They were great folks and we enjoyed their company. We then layered up, mounted our war machines, and pressed on into the driving rain. Our goal was to reach Kirbyville (17 miles) by lunch and then look at our options. It continued to dump on us but we did not care as we were about to escape Texas. In Kirbyville, we found a great little coffee shop called Dave's Java Cafe. We dripped into the place and made a heck of a mess on the floor as the water drained from our clothes and shoes. We looked like a couple of drown rats. We were just about the only ones in the place and the owner and his staff had a lot of fun listening to our sob stories and tales of misery. After some discussion (Wilson was not included), we decided to call the day a washout and to seek shelter after lunch. We then ordered some hot coffee and a big lunch. Carl ordered a tuna fish cressent and spicy fries and I went for a Mexican blowout (yes, I am trying to get off of Mexican) that included a tortilla wrapped taco, a bean and cheese burrito, and a meat and bean tostada. Carl said I should have just ordered the whole menu. The food was awesome and everyone was a lot of fun. They insisted on us eating some of their homemade desserts which we "reluctantly" obliged to. Carl pounded the strawberry iced cake while I hammered a huge piece of chocolate cake. Then they broke the bad news to us that the county was "dry" which we thought was a joke. Carl, like me, believes that several pints per day helps recovery and enhances performance. We were devastated and asked how far to the county line. They said it was not far but that with the pouring rain, it would not be worth it. We reluctantly agreed and then said our goodbyes after taking (and posting) pictures to my blog site. We then rolled about a mile down the road and grabbed a room at the only motel in town. Carl talked the woman at the front desk into drying our wet clothes which was great. We then had to lay out everything else to dry and covered up the entire room. It looked like a big flea market. Then Carl realized that he left his backpack out front of the coffee shop or the gas station next door to the coffee shop. Since I was still in my wet riding clothes, I offered to roll up the street to find the bag. I blasted up the street without all of my heavy bags and could not find the lost bag. We think someone took it! It did not contain anything major, just food, drinks, "medicine", and other stuff. After striking out, I asked the girl at the gas station how far to the county line so that I could get a few pints and more "medicine" for Carl. The girl said not far and gave me directions. I rode and rode and rode into the driving rain thinking the store would be just around the next corner. It ended up being just about 5 miles - ouch. I bought some Fat Tire Ales and some stuff with the number "07" on it. Then I rode as if on a time trial all the way back to the motel. After drying up, we walked up the street to a grocery store and bought some dinner to cook in the room. Carl went for a salad, Creole Shrimp Fricassee, and some cheese sticks. I opted for the extra large Stouffer's Lasagna Italiano and a cheese stick. We also each ate a bag of popcorn before finally backing off from the table. The plan tomorrow is to get up early and get the heck out of Texas. The planned ride is just over 70 miles.

Good night.

Weather: Nasty, nasty, nasty. Chilly temps and heavy rain all day. There was one very small storm cell that hovered over us all day. It was as it the cloud was following the same adventure Cycling route map as us!

Performance Metrics:

Miles: 32 Trip: 1,938
Total travel time: 5:30 Trip: 196:00
Bike Riding time: 2:50 Trip: 156:01
Avg speed: 11.20 Trip: 12.65
Max speed: 17.53 Trip: 41.87
Total ascent (ft): 118 Trip: 50,313
Avg pedal RPMs: 79 Trip: 86
Avg heart rate: 80 Trip: 113 - wow was it low today!
Max heart rate: 117 Trip: 195
Calories burned: 1,643 Trip: 112,875

Weather Statistics:

High temp 49 Trip: 75
Low temp: 47 Trip: 28
Hours of rain: 5:30 Trip: 13:30
Hours of snow: 0 Trip: 0
Total days of rain/snow: 3
Wind factor: Against
Total good wind days: 9
Total bad wind days: 17

Misc. Stats:

Flat tires: 0 Trip: 8
Mechanical failures: 0
Hotel or camping today: hotel - Gateway Inn
Total hotel nights: 24
Total camping nights: 2
Cups of coffee: 5 Trip: 88
Pints: 3 Trip: 38

Mood rating (1-10): 9.5 - nasty day but I had a great time meeting some really good people along the road.

OK Texas, We Give!

Carl and I tried to escape Texas today and could not! We looked at the radar this morning from The Donut Palace in Silsbee and only saw one small storm cell that was right over us. After clearing out their donut shelves and draining all of their coffee, Carl and I figured we would ride behind the bad weather. Boy were we wrong. The cloud stayed right on top of us all day and we now believe it was also following Adventure Cycling's Southern Tier map. It POURED all day as we were making a mad dash for the Texas border. We finally gave up at Dave's Java Cafe in Kerbyville Texas. Currently drying out all of our gear and enjoying some Fat Tire Ale from New Belgium that I rode 10 miles to get as Kerbyville is in a dry (far from it) county. In case you are wondering, I had no idea it was going to be that long of a ride as the locals said it was just down the road to the county line.....



Cheers!



Steve and Carl

OK ESN:0-7458562

This is Steve and I am checking in to let everyone know that I have finished my ride for the day safe and sound.
ESN:0-7458562
Latitude:30.6579
Longitude:-93.8935
Nearest Location: S Margaret Ave, Kirbyville, TX, US
Distance: 0 km(s)
Time:12/17/2008 12:28:09 (US/Pacific)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=30.6579,-93.8935&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Carl enjoying Daves Java Cafe in Kirbyville.

Stuck in Kirbyville TX at Daves Java Cafe.

Having fun in Buna at OCBM. Go away rain.

Official Rain Delay....

Carl and I are "stuck" in The Donut Palace until a heavy rain backs down just a little. We are suffering in here stuffing our faces with Croissants, donuts, coffee, and chocolate milk. If it does not stop raining soon, we will not fit out of the door. Based on the radar, it looks like we will be rolling fairly soon..... We are hoping it keeps raining!!!

Steve and Carl

Good folks at The Donut Palace in Silsbee