April 30 -- Albuquerque NM to Las Vegas NM

Las Vegas ? no, not the one with casinos -- this is Las Vegas NM.

This was a brutal day. We lost a few during the day -- who "sagged" part of the way because they were falling too far behind or "bonked" -- the biking term for what marathon runners call "hitting the wall". It's when your muscles run out of stored energy / you get dehydrated / you are low on essential electrolytes.

It's kind of a sleeper on the chart, since it isn't the longest day (135 miles) and isn't the most climbing (8,000+ feet) -- but in combination, and with the winds, it did a number on the group.

We started the day in Albuquerque and rode for 10 miles or so in the city and then 7.5 miles on Route 66. At mile 18 we got onto 14 N and started to really climb -- from 5000 feet to 7000 and then down to 6000 again and back up to 7200 before dropping down to 6400 for the first SAG stop. After the SAG stop we had rolling terrain and then dropped down to 5600 and climbed back up to about 7500 feet for the lunch SAG stop. About 10 miles before the lunch SAG we got onto I25 N and hit the worst few miles of the day. Those few miles did a number of people in -- even the racers in the group could only maintain a speed of 13 mph on flat terrain with the cross and headwinds. After the lunch SAG there was a lot more rolling terrain and a climb up to around 8100 feet, followed by a long, long descent to 6400 feet. The hills continued to roll with cross and headwinds, but not as bad as those first few miles on I25, with a last SAG stop 20 miles short of the end.

I started off the day with a sizeable group but when we hit the first hills and started to climb, Bob Papineau (you guessed it, the other Canadian !) kept pace with me. The two of us rode together for the rest of the day and kept pace with some of the fastest riders. We were both pleased with our day, finishing around 5pm after a 7am start. I got back from dinner a little while ago, around 7pm and there are still many suitcases in the lobby -- riders still on the road. There will be some tired puppies tomorrow. Just to give you an idea -- there can be a 50 mile spread between the front riders and the last riders. That is a challenge for the SAG van to provide support !

The scenery was again fantastic -- for part of the day we could see snow-capped mountains and we rode through little western towns (eg. Madrid NM) that I definitely want to come back and vist in a car. These are places that you would never see from the interstate highways. I took a few pictures, but they don't do it justice.

Breakfast .... I happened to be the first one into the breakfast place, sat down, the waitress gave me orange juice and water -- and I told the waitress that I would wait for others to join me. "How many of you are there honey" (!) -- and of course I said around 30 ... well she (the only waitress on duty) had no idea, had not been told ... So -- everyone started arriving and a couple of us pitched in -- distributing glasses, OJ, coffee, etc. Poor Barb -- everything had been arranged, and confirmed the night before, with the restaurant - but of course that only helps if the restaurant tells its staff. We had a good time -- and no, I did not even get a tip !!

Tomorrow is another early day -- load the van at 6 a.m. then ride somewhere for breakfast. I hate that. 1) it's cold; 2) I cannot brush my teeth; 3) well, there must be something else that I don't like about it.

However, by all accounts we have had our last really hard day for a while - of course, in spite of some headwinds, we have had good weather. Even an easy day can be tough with bad weather.

Tomorrow we head to Tucumcari NM -- I thought that town only existed in Clint Eastwood movies ! -- Like Las Vegas NM, I learn something every day.

Am I having fun ?!? -- yes, absolutely. The days are really full -- there are shorter days later in the calendar -- part of the issue out west in the middle of nowhere is that it is, in the middle of nowhere. The towns are very far apart and so the daily mileage is high. The riding is on wide open secondary roads or on interstate -- so we can cover a lot of ground. I understand, however, that we do not ride on interstates any more for the rest of the trip. As we get further east the towns are closer together, there are farms and secondary roads that are useable for bicycles.

Ride stats -- elapsed time: 10 hours; mileage -- 135; rolling time -- 8:46.

I did carry the camera today and took some pictures --

The Lone Butte General Store -- just like Loring !



Mountains in the distance at Santa Fe NM



My fellow Canadian -- by coincidence we both wore our jerseys today !