Day 1 – Death’s Door, Heaven’s Table
Monday, June 8th
Helotes, TX to Lockhart, TX
Though I got to bed after midnight last night, I was too excited to sleep more than three hours, so I woke Dad and we had the bikes packed up ready to go by about 5:40am. The ride through San Antonio’s outer loop is always more pleasant in the pre-dawn hours, and though today was humid from the start, we still breezed through the first leg of the trip. We turned onto Green Mountain Rd – part of the back roads cut to get to I-35 - and though Dad got a burst of energy and disappeared over the hill I started to struggle a bit. The sun had finally risen by the time I turned onto Evens Rd which made what I saw much more vivid. At first I thought there was a shredded burlap bag in the middle of the road, tendrils tossing in the wind, but riding closer I found a possum who head was smashed and bloodied, pinned to the asphalt by the immense force of whatever ran over it. The accident must have just happened because the legs and tail on the upended body where flailing with life, stuck in the air still trying to run. So many drivers barrel down the road expecting it to be free of obstructions and so many couldn’t care less about the lives they might take. Maybe it’s just due to the inherent vulnerability associated with riding a bike, but watching the last moments of a creature’s life begs the questions: What if that had been me? What if I die that way? Being exposed on a bike forces you to recognize and respect the dangers wildlife face everyday.
The rest of the ride along I-35 was largely uneventful, and surprisingly peaceful. While the South-bound lanes funneled bumper-to-bumper traffic heading into the city, we only had to share the North-bound access road with the few early-risers who didn’t work in San Antonio. North of New Braunfels, we turned off the interstate onto Old Bastrop Hwy and enjoyed several more miles of a wonderful road through beautiful country with almost no traffic. In fact the only non-relaxing part of this stretch was when I had to dodge a baby turtle making it’s way across the road’s shoulder.
Though the GPS (for reasons we later understood) routed us differently than we had planned we summoned some extra strength and fought a headwind heading the last 10 miles to Lockhart. We pulled into the town and stopped to see my dad’s cousin, Rick, at his office. We refueled and relaxed, discussing the day’s ride with Rick and his employee, Kathy, then got directions to his house (where we would be staying for the night) and headed out. On the way to the house we stopped to photograph Batman at Lockhart’s city hall.
Unfortunately, I had ridden over 80 miles on little more than oatmeal, tea, a hard-boiled egg, peanut butter cookies and Gatorade, so halfway to the house I bonked. I warned Dad and found he was failing fast as well, so we pulled over to the side of the road and began the frantic search for food, all the while fighting wobbly legs, weak knees, shaky fingers and a swimming head. A pack of peanut butter crackers came to the rescue and gave us just enough to get to Rick’s house where we promptly took turns showering then passed out on the couches for a much-needed nap. Rick found us sleeping when he returned home from work and teased us about it all evening.
My mom and sister drove up from San Antonio to meet us for dinner, and drove up to the house shortly after Rick’s wife, Cindy, arrived home. We all went to Kreuz Market for dinner and ate the best brisket I have ever tasted. Their motto, “No sauce, no forks” is a good reminder to those of us who are used to slathering brisket with BBQ sauce and wrestling it away with a knife. This juicy brisket needed neither. Try it if you find yourself in Lockhart. You won’t regret it. (You can even order online!)
Today’s Quick Stats:
Bike Distance (mi) Average Speed (mph) Trip Odometer
MiniWini 91.53 17.7 91.53
Sti(ck/g) 91.27 18.2 91.27