Day 31: Kerrville to Vanderpool

March 17, 2025

Guadalupe river, which we zig-zagged across.

Lots of motorcyclists riding the hill country roads.

It was very windy all night. The wind broke the pole on some person's tent.

Dinner in Utopia: ribeye, Texas toast, baked potato

It was so windy that it collapsed the tent. BD's tent pole was broken.

No internet last night so I am posting this today.

I went to bed about 9:30 and woke up at 5:20. It felt very cold so I stayed in my sleeping bag until about 5:40 and changed into my bike clothes and went to the bathroom. I came back and put all my tent stuff away before 7:00. It was so cold that it felt like my fingers were frostbitten. Weather on my phone said it was 41, but it felt colder than that.

I ate a quick breakfast (2 oatmeal, berries, raisins and pecans) and we went shopping. Shopping was extra urgent as there was no peanut butter, not much bread, and no meat or cheese. We left about 7:15 and returned about 7:45. I was still hungry when I got back and breakfast stuff was away. So, I ate a PBJ. I packed a cliff bar, crunchy granola bar, and kind bar plus a ham and cheese sandwich. It was colder than I planned, so I switched to tights and my red cycling jacket. I wore both my medium and light weight full-finger gloves. I used the Patagonia buff around my ears for both cold and sun protection.

I started a little after 9 and the winds seemed llght. The route went followed the Guadalupe river, crossing it multiple times. I stopped at a store in Hunt City, about mile 10, and bought a half liter of water to fill my water bottle. I took off my coat and stuffed it under my jersey, where it served to give me some wind protection. It doesn't fit well in my seat bag. There wasn't anywhere to resupply the rest of the trip, but I thought that would 2 full bottles would be enough. I also ate an apple. The wind started to ramp up at about 10:00. It wasn't bad while we were following the river as we were down in a valley.

I stopped next at about mile 23 where JE, SR, and PB had stopped. I took off my tights, which I put in my seat bag, ate a crunchy granola bar, and put sunscreen on my legs and renewed it on my neck and wrists. I stopped a 3rd time at with about 10 miles left and ate a Kind bar. I stopped briefly with 5 miles left to drink water and check the route. In tall I drank about 2.5 bottles. I think I started well hydrated as I had to urinate several times early in the ride. I was probably a little dehydrated at the end.

The wind was pretty bad, but got really bad with about 14 miles to go as we turned right into it. I was feeling good (my butt didn't hurt) and made a concerted effort to keep my power above 100 watts. i think yesterday I was feeling sorry for myself and didn't really push it. I think that is doubly bad because it makes my rear end hurt and the ride take longer. My average power was about 105 W and my normalized power was 128 W. I fellt a lot better tha yesterday. I did start to feel some pain in my left upper calf or ITB. I felt that earlier in the trip. I took a couple of ibuprofen with about 15 miles left. The pain never went away, but it didn't get worse.

I got to camp about 1:30 and was the second one there. The van wasn't there so I lay on my back and let my legs drain. The van came around 2:30. I took a shower, set up my tent, started charging my electronics, filled my sunscreen and on-bike ibuprofen bottle, stretched and rolled out my legs, then set up the inside of my tent. I still need to put out my clothes for tomorrow. There is no cell service at the campground, so i am not sure the weather forecast.

As I said, I am supppsed to cook tonight. Because of the burning ban, we decided to go eat dinner in town. How lucky that it is my night to cook :). It turns out that you can use a propanej stove, so we will be able to have hot water for breakfast in the morning.

We ate At the Lost Maples Cafe in Utopia. I had a ribeye dinner with pecan pie for desert. The salad was a bit wilted, but the steak was excellent and large and the baked potato was also good. I had pecan pie for desert, which was a little thin on pecans, but otherwise good.

Today's ride: 45 miles (72 km)
Total: 1,526 miles (2,456 km)

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