Quote from Richard on Nov 30th, 2007, 9:14am:Robert,
When did you live in Midland? Big Bend was my play area for many years. It is the most beautiful part of Texas. I back packed in the mountains ( froze my buns off one winter) many times. I camped right on the river at the southern tip of the park one time also. Talk about remote. Soaked my tired bones in hot springs a couple of times too. Funny how so many of us came from the Permian Basin. I moved to the metromess looking for a job like many others after the bust in the 80s. I do still miss the place a bit.
I lived there from 1990-2005. Worked for Burlington Resources, Parker & Parsley and Vintage Petroleum. I was a serious biker in Houston previous to that and was dissappointed Midland did't have a larger bike community. What was there mostly (not all, to be fair) just catered to racers (and still does, IMO). Despite Midland being one of the friendliest places in the world, for some reason that didn't seem to be true with the bikers. I lost interest in riding by myself all the time and didn't really start picking it back up till 2002 when a friend of mine who jogged had to switch to biking becasue of joint pains. We talked some other friends into buying bikes and eventually had a group of 5 guys that could ride together most of the time. Funny how riding by myself now seems to be just fine!? Didn't go down to Big Bend very often (it IS remote!) but spent plenty of time in the Fort Davis-Balmorrhea area. Everyone needs to take a dip in the 48 degree springs in Balmorrhea at least once in their lives!
I am a native Fort Worther, however, and have lots of family here, so was glad to move back after 27 years. And it's a far superior place for biking - much more variety and plenty of clubs and friendly types to ride with. There are no 45 mph downhills in Midland - though there are plenty of 10 mph into-the-wind routes!!
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