Day 20: Hobbs-Lamesa-Gail

Exhilerating! The weather today was to offer us a special opportunity so we went with Plan B. We were scheduled for a 71 mi ride to Lamesa, TX but there were strong tailwinds of 35 mph and gusting even higher. We crossed the Texas border only 4 mi out and the breeze was already quite brisk as we took our usual pics in front of the state welcome sign. Heading east on a fairly good road surface I was able to make speeds of up to 35-40 mph even on the level, propelled by dust storms getting grit in our teeth and sand in our eyes, arriving in Lamesa, 71 mi away, in 2 hour 20 min. We had changed time zones crossing the border so it was already 11:30. We were told to get some lunch and meet at the church at 1:00 pm and Plan B was put into effect. There were predictions of some head winds tomorrow and the route to Roby was 96 mi. It was decided to bike 32 miles further west to Gail this afternoon taking advantage of the tailwinds today. In Gail a lady named Sarah Sharp would let us place our bikes in her garage as this situation had risen before. So we set off and were propelled at similar speeds arriving only 1 hour and 15 min later. The total distance was 103 mi and my average speed was 28.3 mph, a personal record (as it was for everybody else). Dominic had turned 50 yo today and rides a recumbant and exceeded 50 mph at one point and averaged 30.6 mph. After parking our bikes in Sarah's garage (she even had a stock of cold drinks for our refreshment) we were driven back the 32 mi to our church accommodations in Lamesa in the van and truck. Tomorrow we will be driven back to Gail to complete the 64 mi to Roby, all-be-it, likely against some headwind. Over all, an exhilerating experience despite being caked in dirt.