Our ride into Clovis was a testament to how crazy Texas weather can really be. We started our morning out from Lubbock at a pretty easy pace, around 15 mph, and cruised towards our first rest stop. Morning temp was around 75, so it was a pretty pleasant first 20 miles. As the day progressed (we had about 100 miles to cover to get to Clovis), the temperature jumped up pretty high, probably close to around 100. The nice thing about being so far from the coast, though, is that the humidity finally starts to drop off and doesn’t have as much of a roll in me sweating my butt off.

By the end of the ride, the wind had really started to pick up. A storm was starting to come in from the south, and caught a few of the riders (Charlie Saginaw and Taylor Smith) in a hailstorm. You’d think that after riding through something like that, Charlie and Taylor would be pretty dejected and beaten down. Their attitudes, however, couldn’t have been better. Taylor told us about how she actually heard the hail hitting her helmet, laughing the whole time. She’s got remarkable spirit. I’m lucky to have her on my route.

About 8 miles outside of the TX-NM border, the team grouped up for the border race. David Santino, Jared Muston, Gabriel Cintron and myself all fell into a pretty tight paceline for the first 6 miles or so, keeping a pretty quick clip for the border. I tried to break from the group around here, which ended up costing me the border win. Ended up wearing myself out too soon before the border, and fell behind once the final break came. Jared took the border for TX-NM, followed by Santino. Santino and Gabriel both ended up flatting their tires on some train tracks just before the border line.

We rode into our destination with a group of riders from Clovis who came to the border to meet us. Great group of guys, very patient to put up with us being so road weary after a century ride. We rolled into the Wageman’s house, our hosts for the night, around 6 or so. They’ve hosted Texas 4000 for multiple years, and each year they show the team so much generosity. They helped organize homes for the riders to stay in for the night, and put together a wonderfull dinner complete w/ grilled chicken and the best black bean salsa I’ve had. True story.

Tyler Mann and I stayed w/ Ann and Tim Palmer for the night. Tim is an officer in the air force, as many of our Clovis hosts were. They welcomed two complete strangers into their homes (dirty and smelly, mind you), and showed us such great hospitality. Tim showed us their impressive garden in their back yard (complete w/ corn, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, and much more), and the quails they’ve been raising. We even had the opportunity to have quail eggs for breakfast, if you can believe it. We stayed up pretty late w/ the Palmers, just talking about what we were doing w/ Texas 4000 and why we were riding, Ann told us about the number of people in their family who had fought w/ cancer, and introduced us to their two kids. Ann and Tim, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for taking Tyler and me into your home. I can’t tell you two how much that night of rest meant to us.