Goddamn China Hat Road.  I was so ready to like you.  Rolling, steady uphill (meaning rolling stead, fun downhill on the way back) and it went for almost 10 miles straight.  I had a route planned that would let me take a left in about 6 more miles, hit Hwy 20, and cruise back in style, after one huge hill.

I was fighting dust in my eyes again the entire time, so I almost missed the “Pavement Ends” sign, but I definitely felt the cattle guard.  I pulled over to take a look to see if I could get an idea of how far the dirt road went, when a guy in a minivan stopped going the other way and told me it would be a dusty route forward, and that the dirt went on for about 10 miles.  That meant turning around, since I was already having a hard time seeing, and I’m far from comfortable enough on the recumbent to go on a long dirt road.  That, and the lack of new tubes meant a U-turn.

As a result, the path looks like a big sperm.  I wasn’t ready to go back home yet, so I tooled around, and actually hit my max speed so far on the bike (31mph) on a steep downhill on Knott road.  That was a little scary because there was debris all over the bike lane.  But, quickly got to the bottom, found a nice mormon church parking lot to turn around in, and headed home.  My eyes are still hurting.  Those goggles better come soon.