MT4

Two weeks ago, as Allison mentioned, some friends and I went on our annual Man Trip.  We have hiked to the top of Texas in the past as well as our river trip last year, so I decided that we should set out for an adventure on our mountain bikes.  On Friday we drove to the panhandle to ride along an abandoned rail road line that has been converted to a hike, bike and equestrian trail, which is near Caprock Canyon State Park.

The advantage of having an engineer in the group.

The plan was for us to start in the small town of Turkey, ride 32 miles uphill to South Plains and then back.  The forecast was for 55 mph wind gusts and blowing dust.  Well, it turned out that there were 61 mph gusts in the area. 

Aaron S., Ram, Bubba, Kevin and Crawdaddy in Quitaque ready to start.

The least scenic section between Quitaque and Turkey.  Mmm, breathe it in.

Aaron and Kevin standing by the Clarity Tunnel.  We had to walk the bikes through the tunnel due to the mounds of guano.

We changed our plans the night before and decided to start in Quitaque, ride 10 miles downwind to Turkey, then back to Quitaque before heading off to S. Plains.  The first 10 miles was easy, and only took one hour, but the same ride back to the truck took us 2 hours in the wind.  We were averaging about 4 to 5 mph on the bikes and about 3 walking the bikes, which at times was much easier.

On Saturday we ate dinner in Turkey, but Friday consisted of steak and West Texas Chili (includes steak, ground beef and chorizo) by our talented cook Crawdaddy.

By the time the first 20 miles was over, we had decided that failure had set in.  A couple of the guys ended up driving me and the two Aaron's to South Plains, which is at the highest elevation and they went back to the campground to ride around the canyon.  The three of us rode downhill and thankfully downwind for another 22 miles along the trail and five miles on the road back to the park.

We could only find one restaurant in town, but it was a good one.  Mexican food and homemade fried pies.

Bottom line, I rode 47 miles, but the plan was for 64.  The wind was absolutely ridiculous and the dust did not taste good either.  This was the first time we have failed to do what we set out to accomplish, but it leaves incentive for next year's International trip (Oklahoma and Arkansas).

While I was writing this, someone was not very impressed.  For those of you who only read this blog for Macey pictures, well, here you go.