Diary

Mileage:  82 miles

Elevation Change:  2126 feet

Weather:  sunny and hot

Morale:  great after a glorious short day

Incidents:  4 flat tires in the last 4 miles!!

Daily Summary:

Today was a glory day as payback for the last difficult few days of cycling.  Today was short (only 82 miles), we had a tailwind, it was downhill, the weather was perfect, and the scenery was stunning.  What more could you want from a day on the bike?  We got to sleep in this morning and didn’t leave until 8am.  Northern New Mexico is absolutely beautiful.  I have never been to this part of the country and was really impressed.  It is remote and very thinly populated, clearly not very affluent, but there were fabulous vistas everywhere we looked today.   We are back down to a more livable altitude of 5700 feet, but that has raised the temperature considerably.  I have a feeling it is going to be a hot week.

 

The only problem with New Mexico that we can see is the roads are really hard on bicycle tires.  There is glass everywhere, much gravel on the shoulders, and the pavement they use is sharp and abusive.   We had cyclists all over the side of the road all day long changing tires.  Raymond and I were lucky until literally the last few miles.  Then we had four flats between us on the home stretch.  We only had materials to change 3 flats, so had to flag down a fellow cyclist and bum an inner tube.  Plus, when we got in to the hotel, we noticed a big cut on one of Raymond’s tires that would have blown any second.  We were lucky to not have 5 flats!

 

So, despite being in early to the hotel today, we have a lot to do.  Laundry is first, bike maintenance and tube patching is second, and then a trip to the internet café as the hotel does not have internet.  Tomorrow is another short day, though we will have some climbing to do.  Only one more century to do before the end.  We are getting there!

 

Below you see our favorite sign:  Truck on Cheese!  There were a lot of these today!  Then Ray in front of two great vistas, and Lil cycling off down the road.  Finally, a few scenery shots.  What a great day!