Three strikes! Uphill, into the wind, and raining! More about the ride in a moment.
Last night we had dinner with Rich in Albuquerque. He gave me a New Mexico bicycle jersey! I'll post a picture of me wearing it later. In the morning, he turned up at the hotel with bagels and was standing on the side of the road screaming and ringing a cowbell as we pedaled out of town. I think he misses us.
Barbie, Jack W, and Mark left the group this morning. Hugs all around. The rest of us are going to carry their flags to Boston! It was wonderful meeting them and riding together for the past two weeks.
OK, back to the ride. When we left the hotel this morning, the skies were cloudy and threatening. The weather channel predicted a 60% chance of rain. The wind was blowing hard out of the East, the direction we were traveling. It was a hard slog out of town. I rode with Hank for a while, behind him, drafting; can you believe it, I'm drafting behind a 73 year old? Hank's an animal! It was uphill out of town and the rain began to fall. It took an hour and a half to go only sixteen miles! Even when we turned up the canyon on Route 14 north, the rain continued and the wind was in our faces, making the uphill crawl even more difficult. At one point, I looked up and saw the CR truck with several of our crew cheering us on. Who said riding uphill, against the wind, in the rain wasn't fun? There were a couple of nice downhills, but headwinds slowed our progress even then. Coming out of Madrid, we had a short downhill and then a slow, steady climb up to Santa Fe. Peter and Tom were my riding companions for the last twenty miles. It was a joy to finally reach the motel and get my chocolate shake! Tomorrow is a rest day!
Rider of the day: Tom is from Colorado. He's a graduate from Cal State Long Beach who is an economist. He has done the cross country trip with CR before. He's helping Tracy out on this trip and riding, too.
Jim, keep up the good work! Your photos are absolutely incredible. You certainly have a knack for finding things that are photo worthy. Geri Chaudhri
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ReplyDeleteDay 8 (or is it 9? When you're on the road as much as we are, the days all seem to run together...). We, too, have had to wrestle with our share of weather- and road-related ordeals. When the domestiques and I set out this morning, it was calm. Too calm. Kind of like the calm before the storm. [And that's never a good thing.] We were worried, as we had packed no survival gear and were riding light. Nonetheless, we knew we had to hit our first marker by 7:30, so we continued on. As we approached the turn-around point (elementary school), we were horrified to find the road completely blocked by a horde of ill-mannered non-riders, some in cars, some on foot, all in the way. The road was impassable, but we had no support crew to help us. We were alone. All alone. We struggled to pass - one of our crew (D2) was almost swallowed among the teaming multitudes, but we managed to maintain the formation amid shouts of "Lassie, Lassie!" and "Is that a Sheltie?" Once past, we breathed a collective sigh of relief. Our relief, however, was short-lived. The sun, dear God, the unendurable sun came out! As the temperature climbed to 72, we felt our resolve weakening. There is, after all, only so much a body can take. Shaking our fists/paws at the cruel sun, we turned and fled back to home base. Perhaps tomorrow the weather and road gods, fickle as they are, will smile upon us, and we will once more join you in spirit as you make your way across the country...
Wow, Jim, your have quite a few people following your blog these days. Or maybe it's just Pamela. We are having a bbq tomorrow, wish you were here.
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