Mon, 10/20/2025; 44 miles, 575 feet of climb
Today was a very discouraging day. It was actually the easiest riding of the trip so far, but technical tragedy really got me down, not to mention the four-day forecast.
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I had another magnificent breakfast at the Hampton in Alpine. I really do get my money’s worth, with eggs, meat, waffles, cereal, juice, muffins, etc.
I suppose I didn’t really need that much fuel, because it was a pretty easy day. In fact, I wish I could’ve gone further! It was mostly tailwind again, with a little bit of a headwind sprinkled in when the road turned south. This was the first time I got into a town and wished I could go further.
The problem is, you can’t just go a LITTLE further. Today the choice was 35 miles or 95 miles. Even with the tailwind, I didn’t want a chance risk exacerbating my saddle sores by doing 95 miles. So I settled for 35.
That means tomorrow will be a little more difficult day, because I’ll face a pretty stiff crosswinds for 60 miles. But it is sure is nice to be done for the day at 2 pm.
The other good news is that my saddle sores are less sore — even with my regular shorts! Maybe that benzoyl peroxide is working. Or maybe the shorter days help, imparted to the first two days.
Oh, and my tires are holding up great, thanks to the sealant applied by my Good Samaritan Jane in the Marfa 100!
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Sadly, the real story of the day is my iPhone. Yes my brand new iPhone 17 Pro, all of three weeks old. I had it set up on a tripod to get a ride-by shot, and it fell over and shattered the screen. I feel so stupid not getting AppleCare, or even a screen protector. All the hype around iPhone 17 said it was the strongest screen ever, so they said you don’t need a screen protector. (I bet “they” don’t set it up on a fragile tripod in west Texas winds.)
And the only reason I was using the iPhone in the first place was because my GoPro tripod broke a leg a few days ago. I have a new GoPro tripod coming from Amazon, but not until Del Rio. I am shipping it to Nate‘s bicycle shop. Nate has been very helpful in receiving things for me on Amazon that I can’t send anywhere else because these towns are too small to get speedy delivery.
Anyway, the iPhone is really bad. It still works, but there are super bright vertical bars on either side and right down the middle. It makes it very hard or impossible to read a lot of things. I have to rotate the phone, when the app allows that. When apps don’t allow rotating, the only way I can read something is to take a screenshot of it and then pan around the photo. It is very, very tedious.
And with that tedious iPhone today, I had to do a lot of work getting a contract signed, and background checks finished for a new short-term employment gig this winter. That was very painful with this current phone.
I also spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get my phone fixed. I was assuming I could have it fixed in Del Rio, four days away. But I’m glad I called a shop and talked to the person who fixes phones there, because he said that these phones are so new they don’t even have parts yet and they won’t get them for months.
Then I really started to panic. I think my only choice is to buy a new iPhone 17, and then have this fixed in a few months and sell it used.
I decided to go with that plan, but even that is fraught with peril. They are in short supply! There’s no place in Del Rio that sells them, and in fact, even San Antonio doesn’t have any in stock. I talked to Apple for quite a while. The only one they have available in the next two weeks is in Austin. That is the very end of my trip.
So I guess I really have no choice other than to use this hobbled phone for the entire rest of this bike trip. Oh well, I guess it builds character. And enhances problem-solving skills.
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The other thing weighing on me, is that after tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are predicted to have vicious headwinds from the southeast as I had directly southeast. We’re talking 20 to 30 mph Thursday and Friday. I definitely have to add a day between Langtry and Del Rio to avoid riding 70 miles in a day in those conditions, but even 35 miles in that kind of direct headwind can be pretty tough.
It’s just so sad that I finally conquered my tires and my saddle sores, and now I have problems with iPhones and headwinds. On the bright side, tomorrow I get to stay with “trail angels” in Sanderson, Pastor Mike and Kelli Ellis!
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TRANSLATIONS/BACKGROUND: “TEXBIRD” = Texas Bike Ride, my own nickname for the 800 miles in the middle of Southern Tier Bicycle Route, from El Paso to Austin, using maps from ACA (Adventure Cycling Association). This will complete my ride of the Southern Tier from the Pacific Ocean (San Diego) to the Atlantic Ocean (Jacksonville). (I biked the 1500 miles from Austin to Jacksonville in March 2024, and the 1000 miles from San Diego to El Paso in February 2025.)
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LINKS:
Old-fashioned BLOG if you have friends who don’t use Facebook:
“Old Scouter” Facebook page if you want to follow big adventures with more pictures and video clips (but not unrelated personal posts):
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066334039590
“Old Scouter” YouTube page (when I get time to edit after the trip):