Portales, NM

7.10.2010

Today’s ride was just awesome, plain and simple. It was a day of challenges. It was not necessarily challenges from the terrain, but instead challenges that we set for ourselves. We had to go a total of 95 miles today, from Roswell, NM to Portales, NM. It was flat, and there was pretty minimal wind the whole day, with a slight tailwind later in the afternoon, which made for pretty easy riding. We averaged between 19 and 20 miles per hour the whole day.

The way that we kept ourselves entertained was by setting personal challenges. For instance, I vowed that I would never take my feet off of the pedals for the entire day. This meant that at stop signs and red lights, I would have to balance and remain almost stationary. At crew stops and lunch I would lean on the vans, and if someone got a flat, I would do my best to keep my feet from touching the ground until it was repaired. I had gotten by doing all of these things for about 81 miles, until I got to the rack point and messed everything up. I had passed the van and was circling back around so that I would be able to lean back on it, when I slipped off my right pedal and fell over. That was the end of my challenge, and I was really bummed. I’ll just have to save that test for another day I guess, maybe I’ll try it when we get to Texas on one of the century days.

Some of the other challenges our paceline tried to perform were the no hands mile, the rumble strip mile, and relieving oneself while riding. These kinds of games kept us entertained the whole day. We actually had to stop to repair Mike Hurvey’s bike after he had ridden on the rumble strips for a mile. I think tomorrow he and I are going to try the no sitting down challenge, where we stand up on the bike for the whole day. Fortunately it’s only a 50 mile ride.

It’s great that I’m getting in good enough shape that I can focus on having fun on the bike rather than the difficulty of the endeavor.

Roswell, NM

7.9.2010

Today was our second day in Roswell. We got to wake up at 9:00AM, had an awesome breakfast at McDonalds (2 Egg Mc Muffins, 2 breakfast burritos, 1 hash brown, and an orange juice), and went to visit the international UFO museum and research center. Apparently in the 1940s, Roswell was the site of an alleged spacecraft landing and government cover-up. The whole museum was dedicated to telling the story. The people in the gift shop were the strangest people I’ve ever met, and I’ve attended school in Ithaca, NY for 2 years.

Later we had a friendship visit with the same organization that sponsored our arrival lunch, Tobosa Developmental Services. It was nice to see the same faces for a second day, when so far on the trip we’ve had to say our goodbyes after only a brief encounter. I said hi to Pat again, but spent most of the day talking to a woman named Margot, and her husband who was also a participant in the program. He was telling stories about hunting and fishing, while Margot was talking about her laundry and cleaning job for the united states border patrol. It was a great day for a barbecue, sunny and warm, and I may have had the best potato salad I’ve had in my life.

Now we’re back and getting ready for an early bedtime. Hitting the road hard again tomorrow with a solid 95 mile ride.

Roswell, NM

7.8.2010

Today’s ride was a total blast. We rode 95 miles from Carrizozo, NM to Roswell, NM after having a hearty breakfast provided by the First Baptist Church of Carrizozo. The first 10 miles took us nearly an hour. We had to climb out of the valley and were facing a tough headwind for the entire climb. After we reached the top though, the rest of the day was fantastic. It was essentially downhill for the remaining 80 miles, and we were cruising at speeds around 25mph for most of the day, even with the headwind. Our paceline was just goofing off the entire day, cruising to some sweet tunes, wasting time at crew stops, eating apple strudel, and generally being merry. We ended up cutting rack point pretty close, making it by about 5 minutes.

The weather today was great. The skies were overcast, which kept the temperature nice and low, and we even got a refreshing bit of rain for a couple miles. It was the first time it has rained while we were riding so far on the trip. We had an arrival at the local community center once we got to Roswell, and it was probably the most dangerous thing we’ve done on the trip. There was no police escort, so the vans were responsible for blocking off traffic and lanes of the highway, without any real authority to do so. Fortunately we the ride to the community center was short, and we were only obstructing traffic briefly.

We were greeted at the community center with fresh oranges, apples and grapes. I spent some time talking with the residents, all of whom were very highly functioning. Apparently this center specializes in preparing people with disabilities to live on their own and work at their own jobs. I was talking with a guy named Pat who was telling me all about his exploits as a real cowboy. Not only was he able to ride a horse, but he was able to rope and hogtie cattle. It was really quite amazing to hear him talk about it.

After the friendship visit, the pain started. The ride today was not that difficult, as I had said it was mostly downhill. Unfortunately when we got to lodging we found that there was no electricity or running water and that we would have to wait around in our stinky jerseys until everything could get running again. As I was waiting outside, I had my first experience with fire ants. I was standing outside in my socks when I started to feel some pain in my ankle. I looked down to find my foot over top of an ant colony, with little red soldiers sticking their pincers into my legs. The most unpleasant experience of the day, however, was when the team went to go see “The Last Airbender” in theaters. Save for some cool CGI fights, the movie was rendered worthless by poor acting and a corny script. I’m very ready for bed.

Carrizozo, NM

7.7.2010

Today’s ride was just frustrating. When we woke up this morning we were expecting an easy ride after yesterday’s marathon. What we found is that we had the hardest rack point we’ve had the whole trip. Our goal was to make 57 of the 80 miles by 10:00 AM. Also, today was my turn to be sweeper, which meant I had to be the last man in. This meant that for me to make the rack point, every single other person also had to make the rack point. James Lawrence, the other sweeper, and I left the parking lot at 6:45AM, which meant we had to keep an average pace of 19 to 20 mph the whole day in order to make the rack point … as would everyone else.

We were doing well for a little bit, and we came up on the first group with a flat just as they were getting it fixed up. Fortunately we didn’t lose very much time here. The next flat we came across we were stopped for a little longer, and our hopes of making the rack point were jeopardized. After they got fixed up we started out again, pushing a pretty good pace. Then we caught up with one of the slower pace lines. James and I had to stay with them, but the two guys we were with were able to continue on ahead. We were cruising on at about 13 miles per hour, and it became pretty clear that we were going to get racked. When Nick’s van pulled up, all we could do was get in and hope that at least some of the guys had pushed it to mile 57 fast enough.

As it turned out, nobody was able to make rack point. When we staged up for arrival, everyone was pretty bummed. There was talk about how we should have woken up earlier, how we should have distributed the people in pace lines, and the general crappiness of the demanding rack point. The arrival into town was my least favorite for that reason, but soon we arrived at our Friendship visit and things started looking up.

They had piles of food waiting for us. There was roast beef, sausage, pork, baked beans, pasta salad, watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple and all sorts of goodies. I was talking with a woman named Joy who had just got back from placing 3rd at the Albuquerque Special Olympics in golf. She was bragging about how she even beat all of the boys. After lunch, the residents went about their normal business (Joy was going to get her hair cut), and we went to the back room to relax. There they had a bunch of postage paid postcards where we could write to our families, some stand up comedy playing on the television, and FOOT AND BACK MASSAGES. The line for the back massage was pretty long, but I was able to get a foot rub in before we had to head to lodging.

When we started to walk the block and a half to the local high school, we were met with the first rain of the trip. It was sort of refreshing in the heat of the afternoon, and reminded me a bit of Ithaca. I’m lying inside now on my warm air mattress after having showered up, and we’re getting ready to head to dinner. Hopefully tomorrow won’t be quite as harsh as today was.

Just got back from dinner. A woman brought over her domesticated skunks for us to pet. That is all.

Socarro, NM

7.6.2010

I feel like this is the last time I’ll be able to play the “Hardest thing I’ve ever done” card, because I don’t think we’ll see a day on the rest of the trip that is quite as tough as today was. We rode 133 miles from Reserve, NM to Socarro, NM. Not only was it the longest day of the entire trip, but we also climbed over the continental divide, and faced 50 miles of direct headwind on the flats. Fortunately for our legs we did not have any programming today, so we could focus on the physical task of getting from point A to point B.

Our day started with a 4:30 AM wake up, but our bodies had not made the transition from Pacific to Mountain time, so it felt like it was 3:30. We peeked outside the hotel room and it was black. We hadn’t accounted for the sunrise with our early wake up, and we were not able to start on time due to darkness. We were finally done with breakfast and on the road by 6:30 AM.

The first challenge we faced was the cold. When we rolled out the temperature was hanging around 45 degrees, and stayed that way for the first 10 to 15 miles. As we were riding in the cold we also got our first taste of the day’s wildlife when two deer jumped out in front of our pace line and almost caused us to wreck. We were the lead pace line throughout the day, which meant we got to see all of the animals before they got scared away. We saw a herd of antelope, and one was even running alongside us for a while. It was something straight out of the lion king. With the mountains and parries all around, blue skies and big fluffy clouds, here was this animal running with us about 30 yards away. It was so surreal. After that we rode past some green pastures with cows and horses, and we even saw a herd of wild horses later in the day.

As the day went on, we found ourselves climbing over the continental divide, and finally clearing the dreaded rocky mountains. We stopped to take pictures, and as Ryan Larson noted, “As far as I’m concerned this is half way across the country”. The scenery was gorgeous the whole day, but we started appreciating it less when the headwinds picked up after lunch. We had lunch outside the Very Large Array radio telescope station, made famous in the movie “Contact”. While we were sitting there the winds picked up, and completing the remaining 55 miles became more of a challenge. We were pushing to keep the pace at 12 miles per hour, which meant not only that we were tired but that we had to spend even longer on the bike.

We passed the time by convincing ourselves that each hilltop would lead to a big downhill, and that each passing city was our destination. Needless to say we were repeatedly setting ourselves up for heartbreak, but it was kind of funny to laugh at our own desperate optimism. We finally reached the downhill on the way to Socarro, after passing through a town we were SURE was the end of the road, and over 4 or 5 supposed hilltops. Here we were met with more headwind, and we were cruising downhill at a sluggish 19 miles per hour. When we were finally able to see the city of Socarro, I was so happy. I was just reflecting on all of the things we had seen today, and how far we had just come. It was pure bliss. I doubt I’ll be that happy to see the capitol building in D.C. at the end of the trip.

Reserve, NM

7.5.2010

Today we rode about 110 miles from Lakeside, AZ and crossed over into New Mexico. The state’s motto is, I’m not kidding, “The land of enchantment”. We’re staying in a small hotel outside the town in a baller hotel room. The ride today was just as scenic as the past couple days, as we passed though mountain passes, rolling parries and along the coasts of some lakes. The beginning of the day went by crazy fast, especially after our tough climbs yesterday. We had covered about 45 miles by 10:00. The temperature hung around a cool 80 degrees for most of the day, which was nice because we were out in the saddle for pretty much the whole day.

The reason it took us so long to finish was because around mile 65 my back tire exploded. I mean this in every sense of the word. We were cruising along the edge of a mountain lake at about 22-23 miles per hour when I heard a bang. I thought somebody had run over a soda can or something, but it turned out to be my back tire blowing out. James Lawrence was behind me in the paceline and said there was white smoke spewing out in circles as my shredded tire went around. I pulled over to the side to inspect the damage, and found an inch long slit in the outside of my tire and my thorn proof tube shredded on the inside. I am absolutely baffled about what could have caused this flat. I must have hit something, but it seemed that the road was completely smooth where we were riding. We had to wait until one of the crew vans passed by so I could make the repairs. One of the other cyclists, Omar Espinosa, was racked due to mechanical bike issues, and I was able to use his tire to finish out the ride. Later when we met up with some of the other riders, Ryan Jepson said he had heard the pop too, and he was about 50 yards ahead of our group. Fortunately nobody was hurt, and I still have the tire as a souvenir.


After that incident we continued on for a while problem free until a bit of a demoralizing climb right before lodging. We were crawling uphill at about 5 miles per hour because someone in our paceline was having knee issues. Slowly but surely we made it to the top, and were welcomed with a buffet dinner at our motel.


Tomorrow we have a 130 mile ride. Oh lord. That means it’s time for bed. I lost an hour today when we crossed our first time zone.

Lakeside, AZ

7.4.2010

Happy 4th of July!

Today was probably the most memorable 4th of my life. We had a 95 mile ride today, the second leg of our 500 miles in 5 days challenge. We rode from Globe, AZ to Lakeside, AZ through a place called salt river valley. I hit a 43.9 miles per hour on my way down into the canyon, my fastest speed of the trip, and climbing out was easy because in every direction were spectacular views. I was in a good mood because the entire day was the type of up and down ride that I enjoy. Honestly, the pictures here can’t even capture how awesome the views were. As a whole, the day was my second favorite only to Cambria (Our first century ride along the California coast).

The only slip up of the day was when we decided to pick up frosties at Wendy’s a half of a mile from the end point. We had plenty of time to make our deadline, and we left someone at the street so that we wouldn’t fall behind the sweeps. Apparently, however, the trip was not “sanctioned” and we got ice and water duty for the next 5 days. It’s better than getting racked though, and it might have been worth it to drink frosty out of my water bottle on the remaining ride to lodging.

Today is definitely a 4th of July I’ll remember forever.