12-14-09 Canyon, Texas

Today was a long, straight ride due south to Canyon, near Amarillo. It started out below freezing in Colorado, each breath fogging the inside of my face shield briefly. There was also a nasty wind pushing me eastward and launching hundreds of tumbleweeds across the road in front of me. Things warmed up a little at the Oklahoma border, but I never actually saw the sun today.

I've seen a total of 3 other bikers in the 500 miles I've ridden thus far. All were going in the opposite direction.

At the end of the day I took a side trip to Palo Duro Canyon State Park at the recommendation of my buddy, Wayman. The canyon is the second largest in the US and has a great loop road running through it. I stopped at the visitor center where an elderly park volunteer informed me that the loop would take about an hour but would be a great ride.

He was right, the canyon road was almost entirely twisties and hills. The few straight aways allowed enough room to pull teh front tire off the ground briefly before diving into the next turn. The bike is significantly more powerful downhere at lower elevation, I'm looking forward to see what sea level does for it. There were also numerous concrete-lined river crossings with just a few inches of water in them. The crossings had steep entranrance and exit ramps which made nice little jumps, a pleasant change of pace after pointing the bike in a straight line all day. There wasn't a single other car on the road so I bent the speed limit slightly, completing the entire loop in 22 minutes including a bathroom stop.