Well, the day did not go as planned – I fell short because of weather, currently in Tyler, 35 miles north of Austin:
It was a day of intense weather. It was raining when I left Waco, then it cleared up for a stretch. It looked like I had a clear path between two storm systems. Then I ran into I-35 construction that eliminated parts of my route and I lost time figuring out detours. Made it to Temple and started hitting my stride – the wind had died down, literally the calm before the storm.
Then I spent the next six hours in a thunderstorm. I made it to Tyler (75 miles from Waco) soaked, cold and tired of fighting the wind. I’ve checked into a Best Western and I stood in a hot shower for half an hour. When I got out, sunny skies! but with an intense wind from the south east that I would have had to fight for another 2-3 hours and it was already close to five when I shut the ride down.
Right now I’m researching alternate routes to my Day 5 destination – Victoria – 140 miles if I choose to do this and get back on schedule.
Weather forecasts for all of southern texas are calling for rain, with winds out of the south, with the possibility of thunderstorms.