The route is something line 50 miles with a lot of rollers but no really long climbs.
The day started more or less like every day with waking up getting breakfast packing stuff and then getting on the road as soon as possible.
For some reason I slept poorly last night. I woke up frequently and didn't seem to get much uninterrupted sleep. I could blame the street lamp or the traffic noise but I've had those before. Maybe it was the Lobo beer I had. I only had one. Or maybe I just wasn't that tired. It was a fairly short day so I wasn't particularly worn out from riding.
I stopped at the start and picked up a Power Aid for later in the day.
Then started the ride and quickly ran into fog. We really haven't seen fog on this trip. As it turns out it wasn't a factor in riding. Here is what it looked like.
The ride was a lot of up and down. I don't think there was much at all where we were riding on the flat.
At one point we actually had to ride through some water.
As we got closer to Austin we started to encounter cyclists out for a weekend ride. A couple of them caught up with us and passed us just before they got to where their cars were parked. We talked to them and they gave us advice about the route into town.
Just before getting to town we encountered a short hill with in excess of 17% gradient. When I saw how steep it was I was surprised that I was still riding up it. But decided that walking was a better option and walked to the top. At the top I drank the Power Aid that I had purchased in the morning.
After that it was an annoying route into town with multiple unmarked streets at least a couple of wrong turns. But eventually we found ourselves in downtown Austin.
I had decided earlier that I would stop first at REI because my riding jerseys are in really bad shape. Surely a big town like Austin would have something. REI lived up to my expectations and I came up empty there. I did however find an inflatable pillow there so now I can stop stuffing clothes into a stuff sack for my pillow.
As I was leaving a couple stopped me and asked about my cross country ride. We talked a bit and they told me to try the Bicycle Sport Shop. I had previously noted that there was another shop called Jake and Adam's and they also mentioned Mellow Johnny's which was more or less on the way to the other two. I stopped at Mellow Johnny's but they had nothing that came close to being long enough. They tried to sell me a Jersey with their logo on it for $120. I told them no, they would have to pay me to be a riding advertisement for their shop. I was even more disappointed with Jake and Adam's shop. The Bicycle Sport Shop was only about a block away from there so I headed on down.
Luckily I found a couple of Jersey's that were long enough that fit well. They were both red, but at least I've got something that should last until the end of the trip.
After that I headed on down to the Hostel. When I arrived I was met by Jim Vincent who prepared dinner for us tonight. It was very good.
Tomorrow afternoon sometime I will get together with my NI buddies. I'll probably do some laundry in the AM.
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