Mt. Nebo

Mt. Nebo

January 2020

Grape Creek, Texas

On a nice January day, Christine and I decided to get out and try to keep in shape for the upcoming cycling season. Little did we know that the organized tours we had signed up for would be postponed or cancelled. So I am glad I brought my camera with me on this ride. It seems that all we will be doing is local rides, unless we are ordered to shelter in place. 

By mid-afternoon, the temperature was reasonable--for us. We started from the Grape Creek Baptist Church in a little community just outside of San Angelo. 

 Christine jumps out ahead at the start. I used to call this being dropped, but now I call it social distancing.

 Christine "allowed" me to catch up as she was rubber-necking. Not much to see yet. 

 However, we would settle for any scenery as we only biked twice in November and once in December. 

 As we had "cabin fever," we would accept even a straight level road with little greenery. 

 Pretending to go down a steep hill.

 Pretending to go up a steep hill. 

 

 Cattle guard. I was once asked by a person living in the northeast what a cattle guard was. The "bridge" of spaced, parallel pipes will not be traversed by cattle, thus a gate is not needed. The Fort Davis ride has about 19 cattle guards as the road cuts through ranches and allows free flow of traffic.

 In the country, find something green, take a picture. In your yard, pull it.

 Mt. Nebo peeps over the horizon on the right. The Mt. Nebo ride has two loops-one 18 miles and the other 10 miles. We were on the 18 mile route, so Nebo was on the right side of the road.

 We have yet to get into the roller portion of the ride.

 Finally we get to some rollers. Not tough but they break up the level roads.

 This one is the fun incline as it is long and steady. The incline continues beyond the curve in the distance.

 The down side. Generally the wind is to one's back on this stretch so the combination of decline and wind greatly assists in increasing the average mph of the ride. 

 We are now on the short 10 mile loop and Mt. Nebo can be seen in the distance on the left side of the road. 

 The open gate with no cattle guard tends to indicate that no livestock are on the ranch at this time.  

 Despite the brown pasture, these cows appear to be well fed.  

Back to the start. Was one of three rides in January and it felt good to get out again.