Boom or Bust - 53 Miles - Gravel - Challenging

One of the original RIDE GRVL favorites, ride through primitive ranchland and through the former boom town of Desdemona.

Your spiritual refresher awaits. One of the original RIDE GRVL routes out of the Lingleville Country Store in Lingleville, Texas, you'll experience some of the most quiet county roads that Erath County has to offer all while seeing an area of the state steeped in industrial and pre-industrial history.

This route shares many roads with the Windmills and Meadows route but cuts off some of the southwest corner of that route in favor of somewhat friendlier terrain on the south side of FM 8. You find yourself in some of the most remote part of Erath County and enter parts of Eastland county at the northwest corner of the route. Much of this area was once inhabited by the Comanche Native American tribes and was once part of the last stand of the Comanches under Quanah Parker.

From almost alien terrain, you'll meander through Desdemona, a once bustling oil boom town in the early 1900s, before heading back into Lingleville's dairyland. This route is perfect for fall and spring riding as you can often benefit from northerly tailwinds for the majority of the way back. Be sure to pack your supplies; however, there is a stop at approximately the halfway point at the Cactus Corner Convenience Store in Desdemona.