Kansas: Fifth State Line Crossing

Before getting into today's ride, I would like to once again thank all of you who are taking the time to follow my travels as well as make comments on my blogsite, which are very much appreciated.  Unfortunately, I don't have much time in which to make individual replies so I hope you understand.

Today was advertised as a day of rest / recovery, with only a 40 mile jaunt and  minimal climbing.  However, the Hawk from the north was blowing NNE at a steady 21 mph, gusting to 35 mph, almost on our noses.  The Wind gods have exacted their karma for all of the terrific WSW winds that we enjoyed the first two weeks.  Once again, we started off in a longer pace line but Tom and I abandoned it because it was too slow and unwieldy.

Rider on left in front is rotating to the end of pace line, after completing his "pull"

The aroma of livestock is ubiquitous in this part of the world.  The locals must be completely de-sensitized to it or everyone would have moved away long ago.

We could smell this livestock yard at least a mile before reaching it.

As you can undoubtedly tell from my narrative, I have a definite "separation anxiety" upon leaving the Southwest.  I very much enjoyed the rugged majesty of the mountains and craggy rock formations.   Middle America has its own story which I'm sure will unfold over the next weeks.  There was a kind of fun incident today on the ride.  A train was passing us going the same direction.  The engineer had his window open and waved as he also gave us a blast on his air horn.  Out on the plains with golden early wheat swaying in the breeze, it all seemed to add up.  If that doesn't bring out the boy in you, I don't know what does.

There was an unfortunate incident on the ride today.  John F. (UK) took a hard fall and may very well have broken ribs.  His riding status for tomorrow is uncertain.  

  There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place Like Home.....

The town of Liberal, KS somehow has deemed itself to be the home of Dorothy Gale, of Wizard of Oz fame.  Not quite sure how that works but I'll go with it.

Me with my buddies Dorothy and Toto

Walking the Yellow Brick Road

Total Miles:   40                      Total Vertical Climb:    500 ft.

Addendum To Tucumcari

On her way back to Albuquerque yesterday (May 29th), Diana traveled our Tucumcari ride route and got some great photos.

We could really crank it up on that nice downhill curve.

What can you say?

Section of a climb aptly named "The Wall"

Looking down a stretch of the .7 mile Wall.  The key is not to look up to the top while you're pedaling.  Gives Heartbreak Hill a run for the money.

Oklahoma: Fourth State Line Crossing

By way of historical background, the general area of the Dalhart, TX and Guymon, OK corridor experienced some of the worst effects of the 1930's Dust Bowl disaster.  Drought, overplanting, and lack of crop rotation all contributed to the catastrophe that Steinbeck so poignantly dealt with in "Grapes of Wrath".  The area seems to have recovered from those dark times as the business districts at least look more robust than the Route 66 towns.

The weather improved today although we still had a NE 13 mph wind to deal with.  There was also a threat of thunderstorms which never materialized.  This was also the least climbing of any day of the tour thus far.

Our group of eight set out with the intention of pace lining to combat the headwind.   Four of the riders are our "rabbits", the strongest of the tour, and they couldn't dial it down sufficiently to a pace that would work for the rest of us for 72 miles.  So Tom and I formed our own two-man pace line, switching out every half mile, and it worked extremely well.  I should point out that there is really no competitive angle to the tour.  Riders naturally seek out other riders of comparable strength and style and they wind up riding together.  There are also days when you may feel stronger than other days, and you just go with it.

Early morning, leaving Dalhart, TX

Statue of "Tex" in Conlen, TX

Construction zone on US 54 gave us a lane to ourselves (as so often true, no actual construction going on). Note the ominous clouds - no problem.  Tom in the foreground - taken on the fly.

I'd Sooner be in Oklahoma, or Oklahoma is OK with me

 

Total Miles:   72             Total Vertical Climb:   500 ft.

Texas: Third State Line Crossing

Everybody was feeling pretty beat up this morning from yesterday's 109 miles in the high desert with major climbing tossed in for good measure.  It was in this weakened condition that we took on what was to be quite possibly the most challenging day so far.

As we left New Mexico, we also left behind the mountains, dramatic rock formations and a fair amount of trees.  While we all agreed that NM kicked our collective butts (which are already in bad enough shape), we also believed that it yielded dividends commensurate with the price we had to pay.

Early morning photo as we were working our way toward Texas.

Going up a slight rise in eastern NM; nothing too exciting

Diana drove to the first SAG stop, about 30 miles out of Tucumcari, for a final farewell.  At dinner tonight, several people mentioned how much they are going to miss her sunny disposition and how well she meshed with the group.

Diana left the SAG stop and began the long drive back to Albuquerque for her evening flight back to Detroit.  Gonna miss her.

The story of the day was starting to develop early with increasing (14 - 16 mph) winds coming out of the NE, right on our nose.  This combined with a constantly undulating terrain, temp at 92 degrees, and a exhausted group from the day before made for a long day. 

The windmill became the symbol of our day's riding woes

We crossed into Texas late in the morning. 

Tom (CA), John (UK), MK, Mike (CA), Craig (CO)

We were advised to be on our best behavior.

Some shots of Texas Panhandle landscape.  Great for cows, not so exciting for humans.  I realize that there are parts of TX that are much different than the Panhandle.

As we came into Dalhart, it was amazing the number of cattle and the size of the ranches and corrals. 

One of many

 

 

Total Miles:  96            Total Vertical Climb:     2200 ft.

Travelin' To Tucumcari

Consistent with the elevation (6000 ft.) in Las Vegas, it was comparatively cool this morning at 43 degrees.  We donned our cold weather gear which consisted of two jerseys, arm and leg warmers, full fingered liners for the riding gloves and a shower cap over the helmet to help contain the heat.  Some of the other riders wore additional clothing.

Due to the length of today's ride, everybody started a little earlier than normal.  "Normal" starting time is an evolving concept.  The first couple of days of the tour, we all started riding at the same time in the morning.  CrossRoads was "evaluating" the strength of all the riders during those days.  Their goal is to have everybody arrive at the SAG stops within a reasonable time window.  To make this all work, riders of varying ability (as determined by CrossRoads) would need to start at different times.  Thus, there is a large group (14 of the 22 total riders) who start earlier so they will have extra time to get to the SAG stops.  They have called themselves the "B" Team.  The other group starts up to one hour later.

The route to Tucumcari is marked by the stark lack of people, stores, cellphone service and about every other sign of human presence.  There was nothing for a 76 mile stretch.  In other words, it's a wonderful road to ride.  My riding buddy, Tom, and I did not see a single car, in either direction, for the first 6 miles of our ride.  All the while we were enjoying the high country desert rimmed by didstant mountains.  This was the kind of road that cyclists dream about.

Riding in New Mexico Dawn

Little House on the Prairie (I couldn't resist)

The terrain was major rolling with one milestone climb, appropriately dubbed "The Wall", that ran for .7 mile at 8% grade.  Temperatures were approaching 90 by this time and we had long since shed our cold weather clothing.

Early in the ride, we passed the ceremonial 1000 mile point of the tour.

The scenery was rugged in some places and amenable to cattle ranching in others.  Here'a a few shots:

Bottom Line: In terms of degree of difficulty, today was right up there with the desert crossing days.  That said, it was still one of the better rides of the tour thus far.

Total Miles:  109           Total Vertical Climb:  4200 ft.







Viva Las Vegas...

Before getting into today's ride, let me spend a couple of minutes on our time in Santa Fe during the rest day (May 26th).  Diana and I spent most of the day there, walking the Plaza, looking at the very old cathedral, St. Francis Assisi, and thoroughly enjoying the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. 

We had dinner at Tomasita's in the Railyard District.  Consider yourself warned.

The weather this morning in Santa Fe was decidedly cooler, at about 50 degrees.  The fires in Mew Mexico had continued top spread overnight, fanned by the unusually strong winds.   Thus we started our ride to Las Vegas, NM. 

Note the smoke above the mountains.  Medical authorities advised against any outdoor exercise today.  What do they know?

Our first stop was at Pecos National Historical Monument which preserves some of the buildings and artifacts of the Pueblo and Plains Indians dating back 10,000 years.  Also in this area, we climbed to 7570 ft. at Glorieta Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which is the highest elevation that we will see on the tour.  Guess you could say that it's all down hill from here.

We were riding on the Santa Fe Trail for almost the entire day.  The only exception was a 5 mile stretch on Interstate 25 which is to be our last encounter with the Interstates.  The Santa Fe Trail is a historically significant western trade route dating back to 1821, and originating in Franklin, MO. 

Had an encounter with a dog chasing me.  I yelled at him, raised my hand and pedaled like hell.  He broke off the chase.  No photos available.

Some shots of the scenery during the ride:

Crossing Interstate - 25

Santa Fe Trail paralleling I-25

Riders coming into turn; me in foreground

MK checking tires and spokes at SAG stop

MK goin' down the Santa Fe Trail

Riding into Las Vegas (NM)

Pulling into hotel

Total Miles:   73           Total Vertical Climb:    4900 ft.

 

Steamin' Into Santa Fe

After an unpleasant rush hour exit from Albuquerque, we were on our way via "Scenic Byway" Route 14 to Santa Fe.  The skies were significantly hazy due to the out of control wildfires burning in the immediate environs.  The high winds have made the firefighting next to impossible. 

The haziness on the horizon from the fires

Directly across from our first stop area. a motorcyclist got a flat tire and, while moving to the shoulder, was clipped by a car and knocked to the ground.  Nobody hurt.

Diana had her camera today and was able to get several shots at the SAG stop and elsewhere along the ride.

On Route 14; not generally this congested

The quaint little town of Madrid is situated about 22 miles from Santa Fe.  Everybody stopped here for ice cream and food.





Although you readers must be getting tired of hearing this, today was another big climbing day.  Unlike the mountain pass ascents which are continuous uphills, today was marked by steep uphills followed by steep downhills.  I hit a new high today at 44.1 mph and that was with braking when the road surface started getting gnarly. 

On the tire front, I started off the day with the rear tire feeling slightly mushy.  I filled it up and decided to hope for the best.  By this evening it was beyond mushy but, fortunately, had gotten me to Santa Fe.  Tonight I extracted a half inch piece of wire from the tire and, of course, replaced the tube.  On Sunday, we will do our last bit of Interstate riding and this should dramatically reduce the tire failures.

Here are some more views from the bike today.





One quick observation is that, since leaving the California desert and southern Arizona, we are now for the first time seeing more regular law enforcement than U.S. Border Patrol.

Tomorrow is a non-riding day so Diana and I will spend the day in Santa Fe Old Town, which we both really enjoy.

Total Miles:   67                Total Vertical Climb:    5200 ft.