My cycling journey around the American perimeter

70 miles – Total so far: 293 miles

Left the beautiful campground on the Nueces River just North of Montell, to finish up what was left of the western edge of the Texas Hill Country. The first 15 miles or so were slightly downhill, the landscape looking more and more like the Trans-Pecos region I have come to...

My cycling journey around the American perimeter

47 miles – Total so far: 223 miles

Got started before sunrise, contemplating the three climbs that looked vertical on the ACA elevation maps. Two of the climbs were pretty short, but not exactly sweet (1.5 miles, 2 miles respectively). Both lay between Vanderpool and Leakey. The third climb, the steepest and...

My cycling journey around the American perimeter

53 miles – Total so far: 176 miles

Another early morning wake up call. Left Kerville amidst gloomy weather conditions, but things cleared up nicely. Stopped off at a local convenience store to pick up some supplies. Uneventful, other than the grandmother working at the store, who after hearing about my journe...

My cycling journey around the American perimeter

63 miles – Total so far: 123 miles

Woke up at 5am to the pitter patter of “10% chance of rain” on my tent. Got up, packed everything in the dark, and was on the road by 6:30am., rain gear in tow. As I suspected by reading the ACA map elevations, the first 25 miles out were the toughest. Lots of climbing from...

My cycling journey around the American perimeter

60 miles – Total so far: 60 miles

Didn’t sleep a wink, and woke up early with lots of butterflies.  My beautiful bride, my lovely sister, my parents, and my two youngest sons saw me off.  As I left the driveway, the feelings were confusing, if not a bit surreal.  Instead of turning right out of the driveway o...