Finally Johnson City

No pictures from our ride from Austin to Johnson City. It took forever to find our way out of Austin. Riding through a strip mall parking lot to try to wind our way around a highway, I got a flat. As I was replacing the tube, I noticed a slight crack in the sidewall of the tire. There being a bicycle shop at the mall, I was able to purchase 2 new tires and another spare tube. With those in place, we continued on our way which brought us to a hill as steep as I have experienced. The swift ride down had to be controlled by some braking before it led us to a dead end putting us up to a busy highway. This meant pedaling back up the hill. One could not stand up to pedal as it caused the front wheel to lift off the pavement. Several times I almost dumped my bike because there was very little control with almost no traction on the front wheel. Going back to the bike shop, we asked for advice on getting out of Austin. ( I had asked the salesman before but he only knew by car.) The young lady behind the counter wrote out a series of roads and turns to get us on our way. (I wish our GPS could have been that helpful.) Twenty five miles after our start, we were finally out of Austin and on our way to Johnson City. Fitzhugh Road had some traffic at first. A favorite thing for a few of the car drivers was to get right up beside you and then blare their horn and sometimes yell out some obscenities. Texas friendly. And to think that at the start of Fitzhugh was a sign showing a bike with the words "Share the road." Having a late start caused by a flat tire and more miles to do than planned (61 miles instead of 47), we came into Johnson City in the dark. During my ride, my body was covered in sweat and I had consumed all of my drinking water with still 10 more miles to go. The hills to climb on the way added to the challenge. I was dehydrated and nauseous. By the time I got to our destination, I was physically spent. Sam not as much, but we were both glad to be done for the day. Best Western, a Mexican restaurant, and 2 games of farkle with a beer ended our night. It was a good respite from a physically and somewhat stressful ride.


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