Starting from the Lingleville Country Store in Lingleville, Texas, you'll meander through local county roads before entering wind turbine country near the top of the map.
From CR 495 at the northernmost point of the map, you'll start a steady 3-4 mile climb culminating with some of the steepest gradients in the area at the peak of Rattlesnake Mountain. From there, spin out your legs through the rolling countryside until you arrive at the Cactus Corner Convenience Store in a former turn-of-the-century oil boomtown.
From Desdemona, you'll ride through beautiful farmland, often high with corn and other crops in the summer, and through the Leon River's meadows of century-old pecan and oak trees. Stop at the Allsup's to refuel before heading north toward Lingleville.
From DeLeon, you'll steadily head uphill through rolling ranchland before eventually reaching FM 219 for your final few pedal strokes back to the Lingleville Country Store.
Once back at the Lingleville Store, treat yourself to some of the best third wave coffee, homemade pies, muffins, tacos, and burritos to cap off your day. If you're so inclined, take home a mixed six-pack of always rotating craft beer or a premium cigar. Lance and Chelsea Battenfield, owners of LCS, have been a great asset to many a long day in the saddle no matter if you're starting, stopping, or just passing through Lingleville, Texas.
This is probably one of the most comprehensive routes of the area. Part open ranchland, part forgotten hill country, and part lost lands of the Comanches, you'll feel yourself riding through one of the often forgotten parts of the Industrial Revolution in Texas.
The areas you'll ride through were as much part of the Wild West in the last days of the Comanches (see Empire of the Summer Moon for further reading) and the early days of industry in the state. Desdemona is a ghost town compared to its oil boom of the early 20th century where an estimated 10-15,000 people called home. Much like neighboring Thurber, however, as industry came and left, so did many of the people along with their stories.
For more information on the industrial history of this area of Texas, visit Tarleton's WK Gordon Museum in Thurber which houses a rich history of the long lost industry of this route.
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