Another unbelievably slow ride! I started the ride with a very sore low back. Had been sore most of the week, As usual, not a clue what triggered it. I thought maybe I wouldn't feel it on the bike - perhaps wishful thinking. As I was keeping Sharon company, I knew I wouldn't be doing much in the way of hard riding. That is because she was still not recovered from her previous week's 24 hour race in Sebring FL, where she managed 375 miles. I later learned she was coming down with the flu and I seriously wondered if she could finish the ride. But, she reached down into the reserves and we did finish together, thus insuring a couple sick days in bed for her, following the ride. The pain in my back eventually eased, replaced by pain in my right knee. That too passed, but then the low back pain came back. As I wasn't pushing much, I didn't seem to make it worse.  
 
I'm sure I've described this ride many times, but in a nut shell, the ride goes from Cleburne to Glen Rose, then Bluff Dale, Lipan, and to the turnaround point - SH 4 and I-20, where we had an information control. This is a very desolate ride - the only services are in Glen Rose, Bluff Dale, and Lipan - that's alot of miles where you are fending for yourself. The ride is also loaded with climbing, especially the part from Glen Rose to Bluff Dale. But every section has a good bit of climbing. We didn't have much tail wind on the outbound, but of course the wind did pick up, and we had loads of strong headwind and crosswind on the way back.  
 
There were perhaps a dozen riders doing this distance, but they were all strung out when we saw then, well into the ride, so I only counted myself and Sharon as doing this one. Our ride was immaterial to anyone else out there.
 
This is definitely redneck country, where 90% of vehicles seem to be F250 or dually trucks. We pass through the small towns and most everyone has acreage, where every car they've ever owned is parked, most rusting and in various stages of disintegration. That goes for appliances and furniture, too. One house we passed in Lipan had 4 sofa chairs out on the unmowed, weedy lawn and a full size sofa, also in various stages of falling apart. I guess the homeowner's association out there is weaker than mine!
 
We did 64 miles of night riding. The big fear in night riding, is the nocturnals coming out and occupying the road at the same time I'm flying down a big descent. This is not far fetched - I know a few people who have hit something - an armadillo or a skunk or possum. One even grazed a deer as it crossed right in front of him. Fortunately, the most exciting thing I saw was a gray fox crossing the road about 50 feet in front of me.
 
There were several times I would get well in front of Sharon and park myself at a turn and wait. During the final miles of the ride, it of course was dark, with few if any artificial lights around, so views of the Milky Way were stunning, and while the moon was still in view, it was crescent, closely bracketing a nearby planet it was in conjunction with. I even saw a fireball meteor, streaking to the east, and then disintegrating soundlessly before my very eyes, in a shower of reddish sparks. It was a great night to be out, enjoying Mother Nature's night time spectaculars. We don't get that as much in town, so the long rides give a good opportunity to view these spectacles.
 
miles: 193 / AVS 13.5 / MXS 40.3 / climbing 8681 ft