For today’s bike ride I drove to the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park south of Los Fresnos. From there I would ride the Battlefield Bike Trail to Brownsville. I knew it would hard pedaling to Brownsville due to the wind advisory. The Jeep was buffeted as I drove south requiring a firm grip on the steering wheel.

After going through the entrance I drove to a parking lot near the where the battle took place. Getting my Canyon Endurace CF 7 bike ready I rode the paths to various spots of battle. Along the way was artwork beside the path describing some of the scenes. I took photos of them and this is a link to them.

From there I rode to the visitors’ center and then onto the hike and bike trail. I rode north along FM1847 until the trail ended and move to the bike route on the shoulder. I didn’t want to ride farther north and turned around to begin riding south into the very strong wind. The trail crossed under I-169 and the trail surface changed to asphalt, some bumpy parts. A railroad overpass loomed ahead with the climb into the strong wind. The incline wasn’t too steep and I reached the top. Sadly, because of the wind I had to pedal hard to go downhill. Looping under the overpass the bike trail went west for a short time before turning south into that strong wind. Riding south the trail was mostly straight crossing several small streets and major streets. The major streets had crossing lights with buttons. Occasionally houses and trees on my left blocked the wind but it was still hard pedaling. I averaged 8 to 10 mph unless a gust hit me. Around 7.3 miles at Price Road a crew was working the trail across Price Road and I made that my turnaround point. Riding back to where I started was easy and at times I didn’t pedal with the wind moving me along. The railroad overpass I struggled up was almost like a flat road on the ride north.

I started the ride at 11:36 AM and finished at 1:42 PM. Not a fast ride with some of the time taken reading the artwork before getting on the trail. It wasn’t a long distance bike ride but it was a high energy ride due to the wind. Weather: Wind advisory. Start 83 degrees, humidity 63%, dew point 69, fair, wind S 30 mph gusts 54 mph; Finish 84 degrees, humidity 63%, dew point 70, fair, wind S 38 mph gusts 56 mph.