Day 28: Houston, I have a problem (with the heat and the hills!)

Day 28

Ellington to Houston 71miles

Well that's not a nice start to the end of my 4^th week on the road! I had read other peoples accounts stating that the 30odd mile stretch from Ellington to Alley Springs was a particularly tough section with lots of ups and downs. And it certainly was tough. The fierce sun, even early in the day made it doubly so. There were some really severe up and downs. Probably the best way to describe how steep some of them were is that I set a new highest speed of 43.5mph on one of the downhill sections!

The going was pretty slow, and it took me around 3hours to do the 27miles to Eminence for some food and a much needed gatorade. Afterwards there was one more horrid climb up from the Jack's Fork river. I ended up having to push my bike up it at one point. I dont think I've ever sweated so much in my life!

But eventually reached a plateau in the Ozark mountains, and afterwards the last 35miles were easier. Having reached the plateau, the route tended to stay up there, with only small undulations meaning I could slowly get my average speed above 10mph for the day!

Whenever I could I would stop to fill up my water bottles and drink as much cold gatorade as I could. At one stop I managed to drink over a litre in a matter of minutes!

Eventually made it to Houston, Texas (county!). I wonder if there is also a Dallas and a San Antonio in Texas County too!

Just so hot today. Combined with the tough hills at the start, I can feel my legs are a bit sore tonight.

Probably not the most interesting entry, sorry! Today was just one of those days that I kind of just had to get through without being overly memorable. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some more interesting stories!

But that wraps up 4 full weeks on the route. Things seem to be going pretty well in the last couple of weeks. Managed to get my mileage up nicely. It seems to have gone really quickly – without looking back through my blog I would never be able to remember all the places I have stayed! Hopefully the next 2 weeks, taking me up to half way, will see me cross Kansas and get beyond the approximate half way point of Pueblo, Colorado.