Now Back To Regularly Scheduled Cycling

After spending the past 12 days NOT cycling, it felt good to wake up this morning knowing that I would once again find myself back on the road. Yes, last week was a fantastic week. And yes, I miss Cuba, and Marleah, and perhaps the rum. But getting back on the bike would be a good way to take my mind off such things.

That said, today did not pan out the way I would’ve liked. At all. No, nothing terrible happened. There were no mechanical issues. No close encounters with vehicles. But there was rain. A lot of rain. Not when I first started, but when the rain came it came in buckets. Big honking buckets. And by “honking” I mean thunderstorms.

Despite my eagerness to resume my ride this morning, I was a bit late in getting on the road. The plan was the usual – to be packed and on the road by 9:00 – and I woke up early enough for that to happen. Or so I thought. Unfortunately, there was a slight oversight on my part. I forgot that my bags had to be repacked and that process took a bit longer than expected.

With my bags eventually repacked, I did a quick check of the weather forecast for the day which revealed some pretty varied weather in the area. Most of it potentially unpleasant. There were very high winds and very heavy rains in my future.

With my bike once again loaded up, I said my goodbyes (and thanks) to Robin and Sheila, snapped a photo with them, and pedalled down the driveway.

The wind welcomed me right away. Surprisingly, the wind was somewhat in my favour. Although, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised. The easterly portion of this ride is much like the westerly portion I did a few months back. The weather is either sunny with a headwind or rainy with a tailwind. Today it was a tailwind (at least, partially).

The first hour of my ride went very well. The road wasn’t the most cycle-friendly I’ve ever travelled but, contrary to what I’ve heard about drivers in Texas, the traffic was very generous and patient as they passed me.

My first stop of the day (other than traffic lights) was at Subway. Hardly surprising at this point. I took my usual photo but, I won’t lie, I actually thought, “What’s the point?”. I mean, after 108 Subway locations you’d think I’d figure out that the chances of getting a sponsorship now are pretty slim. That said, I took Subway photo 109.

I placed my usual order for an oven-roasted chicken footlong at which point the woman behind the counter asked me about the photo. I proceeded to tell her about my trip and how I’ve taken photos of every Subway store I’ve been to. And that’s how I met Terri Barringer.

Terri is a Business Consultant with Subway (of southeast Texas). She was sitting at one of the tables working on her report on the store and overheard me mention my numerous Subway stops. We started chatting and ended exchanging cards. I mentioned how I keep hoping for a Subway sponsorship and she (somewhat light-heartedly) said they’re still trying to get over the whole Jared thing. Understandable. Of course, I think the best way to do that would be to sponsor a reputable ambassador of the company. Someone, like … oh, I don’t know … me! Anyway, she took my contact information and included it in her report. Maybe something will come of it. To put it mildly, that would be nice.

In the time it took to stop for lunch, the weather had really started to change. The skies were getting noticeably darker and I was pretty sure the rain wasn’t far away. Spoiler Alert: It wasn’t.

I was back on the road for about ten minutes when the temperature dropped about 10 degrees (Celsius). Pretty much instantly. I’m not a meteorologist but I suspected that wasn’t good. On the upside, the wind continued to be blowing in a favourable direction. On the downside, the rain had officially caught me. Fortunately, I had taken a brief moment to put on my rain gear before that happened.

I continued to ride along as the rain poured down. The visibility was certainly less than ideal but the shoulder was wide so I wasn’t too concerned about the traffic. I was more concerned with the downed wires that had fallen across the road. Of course, by the time I noticed them I was essentially on top of them – and brakes on a loaded bike in the pouring rain are essentially useless. I rolled over the wires and hoped for the best. Happily, I didn’t get electrocuted which leads me to believe that they were just telephone lines. Whew.

The rain continued its assault and I started to reconsider my plan of making it to Beaumont today. After all, I still had another 90 km to go. I decided to ride to the next town and reassess the situation there.

The next town was Dayton, TX. Dayton is a small town but it does have a McDonald’s which means I had a WiFi connection. A quick Google search didn’t reveal much in the way of accommodation – at least, none that suited me. The rain was still falling heavily but I figured I would try the next town which was only 12 km away.

The rain was pretty much relentless for the entire 12 km and I decided that staying on the road probably wasn’t for the best. I didn’t really want to stop as it felt good to be pedalling again and the 12 day layoff didn’t appear to have any impact on my progress. The rain wasn’t really hindering my progress but I was beginning to get a bit concerned about my gear. Specifically, my computer and various hard drives. They tend not to react well to water. These days, my rain covers are more effective at increasing my visibility to those in cars rather than keeping out a deluge of rain. And today there were definitely deluges of rain.

As such, when I arrived in Liberty, TX – a mere 50 km ride from where I started this morning – I decided to call it a day. I’m not going to lie, it was a bit of a letdown to do so.

I’ve now been settled into a motel room for a few hours. I’m not really sure if I made the right decision by stopping but what’s done is done. Of course, I say that with the benefit of hindsight and knowing that the rain stopped (or, at the very least, eased) shortly after I checked in. That said, there was definitely some water penetration through my rain covers and panniers. As such, the pouch I use for my laptop was a bit wet. Not soaked. But definitely wet. I guess stopping was a good idea. And it would seem that from now on I should carry a few extra plastic bags – just in case.

Hopefully I will make better progress tomorrow.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 53.56 km
Ride time: 2:16:12
Average speed: 23.59 km/h
Maximum speed: 43.17 km/h