These last two days I've been riding almost normally. Nearing the end of the tour, especially with the three remaining days being short, I'm less concerned about preserving myself for tomorrow and more interested in asserting myself. So yesterday, our last day of significant climbing, I took off strong and rode strong, on my own, all day. Where for most of the trip I'd been worried about doing too much and paying for it tomorrow, these last two days when it hurt I went through it as opposed to retreating from it, and I've been finishing earlier as a result.
Yesterday we left Espanola heading for Santa Fe on the freeway, then after Santa Fe got on Rte 14 through Madrid, a cute artsy town, but definitely downscsale--sort of a hippie haven maybe what Bolinas was like in the 70's. We then cruised through some high farmland to the lunch spot at 14 and 344, then headed out 344 over a 15% grade down to Moriarty. Pretty farmland, reminded me of ending the Davis Double, heavy thunderstorms all around, but they missed me. Some peo;ple got wet.
Best thing about Moriarty is my Internet worked; we stayed in another of these freeway villages.
The funniest thing that happened yesterday--when we were in Santa Fe, a local rider out for her morning ride joined us for a bit. We told her we were taking 19 days to get to El Paso, and her response was, "Wow, you must really like El Paso if you are taking 19 days to get there!" Priceless.
Mostly, though, yesterday for me was about riding fairly hard and keeping it up all day.
Today's ride was our last long day, 119 miles to Socorro. I started out riding like yesterday, but didn't quite have it, so at the second stop, I joined the Rich train. Rich Ruge, from NY, is a very strong and steady rider. He can power on at the same speed, for a long time. The train ended up including me, Ruth, Lil, Ray, Joel and Matt (Rich's friend form hign school). We pretty much rode together from the second SAG to the end. There was a long downhill after lunch, then we got on I25 and heading into a very strong headwind. The last 25 miles were hard, with headwinds, bad roads and tired bodies. Got in, and our room is right by the breakfast truck, which means a lot of steps saved in the morning; I showered and played for an hour, got my massage and went to dinner. A good one, tonight!
The terrain is surprising--rolling farmland with a lot of trees, giving way to scrub brush and desert. Somehow I didn't visualize New Mexico this way. The vast open plains here reminded me of Africa; I was looking for herds of animals, but I guess they are gone. It's dry and hot. We're riding these rollers that go down into these wadis; flash flooding is a way of life here, I guess.
So, 210 miles in 3 days. Should be easy--except it never is on Pac Tour. Despite wonderful support, it still is just you and the bike.
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