A Day Without Granny

Poor granny was totally ignored today :). That's not to say we didn't have hills. We climbed 3700 feet again today over the course of 89 miles from Blanco TX to Bastrop TX. Some of the hills were even double digit - up to 13% grade. But they were short and kept the ride interesting. We lost a lot of elevation today and finished the day at an elevation of just 400 feet. I don't think we've been under 1000 feet since we left San Diego!

Weather was humid and overcast to start the day. A tiny bit of drizzle in the AM and then the skies cleared and temp up to about 30C after lunch. And wind - anyone who tells you the winds are always (or even usually) from the west is lying! We fought a stiff headwind for a while after lunch, but then thankfully had a tailwind for the last 10 miles or so. The road construction angels were with us again today. Lots of road improvement has been completed since WomanTours was last through here a few years ago.

Not much stopping for picture taking today. It was a fun ride, but not particularly scenic. More ranches at the beginning of the day and a bit of agriculture (eg. corn) down lower. Lots of deer in the fields and my first sighting of (dead) armadillos. Traffic was a bit of an issue but most gave us lots of room. The highlight was 2 DQ stops as well as a wonderful coffee/hot chocolate stop in Wimberley (photo below). I feel like I've gained five pounds; wonder how that happened. The second photo is a the Caldwell County Courthouse in Lockhart TX. Another photo below is of our van stopped at one of the DQs. A lot of people chose not to ride the distance and face the wind today. Unfortunately it seems many women have seen (it seems) more of this trip from the inside of the van than from the seat of a bicycle. Hopefully as we move in to easier terrain there will be more riders and fewer passengers.