Albuquerque to Santa Fe, New Mexico

67 miles, 5:08 riding time, 4148 feet of climb, and 3,262 Calories

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.

Grants to Albuquerque, NM

78 less 16 = 62 miles of riding, 4 hours, 1,711 feet of ascent, and 3,200 Calories.

Lots of new things today. It was raining when we left the hotel! Part of I-40 was impassable to bicycles! We had to be ferried part of the way, around the construction on I-40!

Despite the light rain that was falling when we left Grants, it was a beautiful morning, riding along old Rt-66, within sight of I-40. Very little traffic and a smooth road surface made the first two hours go by quickly. I stopped to take a picture of this old gas station; note the old style pump. At the first SAG stop, CrossRoads loaded us and our bikes on the support vehicles and took us to a spot past the area where it would had been impossible to ride on the interstate; the freeway narrowed to one lane with no room on the shoulder for bicycles. It was a good call by CR to get everyone safely beyond the construction. It also lessened by sixteen miles the distance we were to travel on I-40; you can guess how upset I was with that! Al and I rode together the remaining 32 miles into Albuquerque and our hotel for the night. After checking in at the hotel, we joined Fred at Little Anitas for chicken burritos, which came with a side of sopaipillas! There was even honey on the table to go with the sopaipillas. For those of you who are unfortunate enough not to have ever enjoyed them, sopaipillas are a fried bread that puffs up into a little pillow; you tear off a corner and eat it with honey. Delish!!!

Each night, we have a "route rap" to go over the next day's ride. We have route sheets for each day, with detailed instructions on how to get from one hotel to the next. The sheets can be folded into quadrants and clipped to the bicycle's handelbars.

On the way through town, we passed over the Rio Grande river (isn't that redundant? River large river?).

Rider of the day: Mark is from Louisiana. Mark builds ship interiors, among other things. His pretty wife, Melissa, came along in their car, following the group. Mark is one of those great folks who is leaving us, here in Albuquerque. The others are Barbie and Jack W. Jack R is going one more day, into Santa Fe. That will leave only eighteen riders to continue this cross country adventure

Gallup to Grants, NM

68 miles, 4:02 riding hours, 915 feet of ascent, 3,521 Calories

We changed time zones when we crossed into New Mexico, yesterday. (Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings.) As a result, the start for today's ride was an hour later than normal, which allowed for a much more leisurely breakfast. I guess you could call today a recovery ride. The distance was only 68 miles, with an easy, steady climb up to the Continental Divide and then downhill into Grants. Most of today was spent on Route 66, with the exception of a ten mile stretch on Interstate 40. The shoulder on I-40 was awful - very rough, potholed, and covered in loose gravel. Needless to say, we were very glad to put those miles behind us. Although tempted, we didn't tinkle on the Continental Divide sign to see which direction it would flow. I rode most of the day with Peter and got into Grants early enough to grab some chocolate milk and a sub before checking into my room. We just beat a rain storm - some of the later riders weren't as lucky.

Rider of the day - Jack W (there are two Jacks on this trip) is from Israel. He's a tri-athlete and in great shape. Unfortunately, Jack is only going as far as Albuquerque; tomorrow is his last day.

Holbrook, AZ to Gallup, NM

88 miles, 5:10 riding, 1,894' climbing, 4,419 Calories
And NO FL*TS!

Last night, after my three f-words, Fred handed me a set of tire liners and said, "put these in your tires!" I graciously accepted, pulled both tires off the bicycle, inserted the liners, and put the wheels back on the bike. No fl*ts today! During the ride, I pulled three pieces of wire out of the tires that would have caused catastrophic deflation at the most importune times on the road without the liners. Fred saved my bacon today. Thanks Fred!

BTW, Fred is 67 years young and a damned strong rider. Normally a mild mannered banker from Indiana, he's one of the first people to sign in at the end of the day; he's one of the thoroughbreds.

Today's ride was from Holbrook to Gallup, New Mexico, along Interstate 40. We essentially climbed all day, although the gradient was never steep. As we neared the New Mexico state line, the topography changed from flat, high desert to red cliffs and colorful canyons. The picture above is Window rock.

Riders of the day: Karen and Hank are both from Sacramento, CA. They did not know each other before signing up for this trip even though they are both members of the Sacramento Wheelmen. Karen runs a Physical Therapy office and is a PT Asst. Hank is 73 years young, having worked for years in the plumbing supply industry - he still consults in the field. Hank is one of my "heroes." At one point, he was leading a pace line of younger riders and soon left them all in the dust. I don't know what he had for breakfast, but I should have had some, too.

Rich

Rich is one of the nicest and most outgoing people I've ever met. Unfortunately, he's scheduled to leave the group in Gallup, NM. He's off to ride the Iron Horse Bike Race in Colorado. At dinner in Flagstaff, he brought some "awards." Peter and I were given Hot Wheels. Mark got a huge Kmart bike cycle seat for the "monkey butt" prize (Mark has been having some bottom issues). CrossRoads' staff member, Rick, got a Jedi knight, in honor of his touch with bicycle maintenance ("be one with the bike"). Margaret, who staffs the SAG stops and cleans up after us, was awarded a doggie-doo bag dispenser. Mack got a clothes pin (his roomie snores). Willie and Chris were given the "good sports" awards, jerseys. There were a couple of others, but this is a G-rated blog, so I won't mention them. In any case, Rich will be missed.

Flagstaff to Holbrook, AZ

95 miles, 5:00 hours riding, 1,056 feet of ascent, 4,915 Calories.
THREE FL*TS!!!

"Get your kicks on Route 66."

Although Interstate 40 isn't the prettiest highway, it is way better than I-10 in California . Unfortunately, there aren't any alternatives between Flagstaff and Holbrook, but we did get to ride a little on Historic Route 66 in Winslow.

Remember the song?

"Take It Easy" - The Eagles

Well, I'm running down the road tryin' to loosen my load
I've got seven women on my mind,
Four that wanna own me, Two that wanna stone me,
One says she's a friend of mine ...

Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see
It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me ..."

I didn't see any girls in flatbed Fords, but I did get my picture taken.

The Wigwam Motel, the Jackrabbit Trading Post, and a couple of abandoned gas stations are still here! We made good time, despite my three flats (damned steel belted radials, anyway). A couple of miles from the hotel, Rich took off like a rabbit trying to beat his best time for a century ride (yes, 95 miles counts as a century by the US Cycling Federation, so it's official). He made it!

Rider of the day:

Big Al (63) from Michigan, a runner turned cyclist. Al is a world-class orienteering racer (look it up); you get a map and have to run through the woods, checking in at designated sites. So, he's as crazy as the rest of us. He joined the thoroughbreds today, finishing strong with Jack W.

Rest day in Flagstaff

What do you mean, we're taking the day off? No riding? What am I supposed to do all day?

Breakfast in the hotel with the early risers.

Laundry - instead of washing out my bicycle togs in the sink, I used the washer/dryer in the hotel.

Clean the bicycle - CR has buckets, rags, degreaser, etc. available for this task.

Take a ride - I took a leisurely spin up into historic Flagstaff, visited a bicycle shop, and even found a dive store!

Eat lunch (took home the leftovers for dinner.)

Work on my blog.

Take a nap?

Eat left-overs from lunch for dinner.

Go to bed early in anticipation for tomorrow's ride on I-40.

[the rug was on the wall of the place I had lunch yesterday]

The bags supplied by CR for our clothes - we get two bags, total weight not to exceed thirty pounds. You don't need to bring much on this trip. As soon as riders arrive at their hotel, sign in, and go to their rooms, they find their bags already in the room with the A/C on full. SWEET!