The Dirt on Jarachinas

A few posts back, I wrote about how Jarachinas was the best road for cycling in the Rio Grande Valley.  That is, unless you went north on Jarachinas from 107, in which case Jarachinas turned into a sandy beach.  Piojo wrote a response, explaining that the truly best road in the Valley IS a dirt road like the sandy section of Jarachinas.

I was out riding with Speedo today, and we rode a route that included Jarachinas.  We approached the intersection of Jarachinas and 107, and Speedo asked "have you ever SEEN the sandy section"?  I hadn't, so we rode north through the intersection, and 50 yards down the road turns into a sandy, gravelly mess.  The 1st photo below tells part of the story.

This photo of Speedo's wheel sinking into the gravel and sand tells the rest of the story.  With just a little movement of the wheel, you sink about 3 inches into the mix.  That's enough to bring you down pretty quickly.  The road gets even sandier, but we didn't ride far enough to get a good photo.

I liked the desolate feel of the landscape in this area, so I took one more photo that captured the field bordering the road.  The plowed, barren field seems to go on forever.

I'll close the post with a photo of me taken by my talented daughter, Betsy.  Notice how she captured the rakish tilt of my helmet, the sheen of 30SPF sunscreen on my face, and my truly massive quads.  Fatty would be jealous.