Vega to Groom, TX 04-29-2026 Day 19

In the original planning, today was supposed to be long mileage, with gentle downhill heading east. I was counting on westerly winds. We had winds, but they were not gentle and they came at us from slightly front to completely in the front to very strong and in our faces. While were still 20 miles out from the finish today, we did everything we could to maintain 9 miles per hour on what was basically flat terrain, we were stopping to rest almost every 2 miles for one of the segments. I kept thinking that tonight’s musings would be me rambling into the dictation mode. Whatever got recorded would be published without edit, grammar check, spelling.. Then maybe add some pictures. A shower, dinner, and ice cream put me in a better place. This still might not come out well, but better to have something acceptable that is completed, than perfection that is never delivered.

We were out the door the earliest ever so far at 7:30. There were a few more interesting buildings as we were leaving Vega. Down the road about 16 miles was Wildorado. It was a quarter mile of abandoned or closed business buildings and gas stations. Down another 5 miles we came to Bushland. It had a working restaurant and a fully stocked gas station where we got some snacks and drinks.

We had been keeping a 14+ mph pace up to this point. We were feeling the wind, but it wasn’t so strong that it was beating us down. We were still relatively fresh and now sugar infused. From there we had a short 4 mile ride to the Cadillac Ranch . Per wikipedia – The Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas, US. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group Ant Farm. The installation consists of a row of ten Cadillacs (1949–1963) buried nose-first in the ground.

By this point we were on the outskirts of Amarillo. We crossed over I-40, rode through some smaller roads towards downtown. We eventually were able to get onto a nice Bike trail. Oddly enough named the Rock Island Trail. Mental Jukebox, turn to the Lonnie Donegan channel.

Once off the trail, we meandered south and east through the streets of downtown in search of the Walmart Supercenter. I wanted to get a couple more tubes.

Once resupplied, we came out of the Walmart and headed east. We were 39 miles into an 83 mile ride and the wind had hit its full force. We had a 40+ mile duel of death with the wind. It was a constant 10-15 mph with gusts of 20 mph. Into that we would struggle to hold 9-12 mph. Since it was a headwind, the net effect could be 25 mph working against you. Since I tutor math, wind resistance is not a linear function. In fact for objects such as cyclists and cars, it is a quadratic. In english …. If it was linear, then 20 mph would be twice as bad as 10 mph. However, with a quadratic, if the wind speed is twice as fast, the wind resistance is 4 times as bad. So, when we were riding at 10 mph, making our own 10 mph resistance, the wind could easily add another 10 mph resistance, making it 4 times as hard to pedal against it all!

Once we left the Walmart we didn’t have a formal break for 25 miles until we came to a rest stop 19 miles from our hotel. There wasn’t much to stop and see, but we made our own stops just to get a break from the wind and the saddle. Sometimes we were stopping every 2 miles because the wind was so bad.

We did finally make into Groom. We were ready to get to the only hotel in town. It was right next to an Indian restaurant. My Chicken curry was delicious, but I couldn’t finish it all. That didn’t stop either of us from getting a pint of ice cream at a nearby convenience store. We will both see what it is like to have Indian food for breakfast, reheated!

I believe we spent more time in the saddle today than any so far. It was probably second in mileage and number one in mental anguish and sheer exhaustion! BUT NO FLATS !!! Ride stats are here. The 3D video is here.

The Not So Lone Rider