Door Key Road

Door Key Road

February, 2020

San Angelo, Texas

Well, the organized tours for this season continue to be either cancelled or postponed. The next scheduled tour, Tour de Agua, is slated for June 13 but the organizers have posted that they will make the decision to cancel or not in May. 

Meantime, we have been trying to get out when the weather cooperates as much as we can.  The last part of February, we had cloudy skies but a high temperature of 75 so we chose one of our favorite rides--Door Key Road.

Door Key is just a few miles out of San Angelo and a good ride to try to keep in shape. 

The ride is a 14 mile stretch of rolling hills ranging from 3-6% grade.

Round trip is a little over 29 miles with an 892 foot elevation gain.

The Door Key Ranch originally comprised 90,000 acres.

It is rumored that outlaws such as Jesse James would take refuge in the large ranch, however, Wikipedia could not verify this.

So we can fantasize about outlaws hiding in the bushes--and occasional stands of trees--while riding in this isolated place.

Just down the road from the Door Key gate is the Pecan Creek Ranch. Pecan Creek was part of the original Door Key Ranch and consisted of 47,000 acres. Note the high fences as hunting is a part of the commercial enterprise.

Rollers coming up.

While not threatening, I was intrigued by the clouds this day.

Nearing the turn around point, I glanced down and saw that I had a healthy speed going. Spoiler alert: at the end Christine and I had just over an 18 mph average. Got to get out more often.

Turn around point. "All down hill from here".

And wind at our back. Didn't turn out but just to the left of the fire break at the top is a nice looking ranch house with a commanding view.

Just over the crest there is a long downhill that keeps the fun in the ride.

Oops. Temporarily ran out of clouds.

See the wire that starts slanting down?

The wire has been like this for several years and not been repaired.

Must not interfere with any service, so at the present it just presents another mystery to ponder.

Passing Pecan Creek Ranch again so within 6 or so miles from the finish line.

Soon things will start greening up.

Sheep, goats, cows, and feral hogs country. OK. Sometimes deer and rattlesnakes will present themselves, but not in vast quantities.

Final stretch of the ride.

Final intersection alert. Ride over.

Time to rest up for the next pretty day.