About 5 miles into the ride (still in Las Cruces) Brianne's shoe clip broke off in her pedal again. The good thing about this is that we were still in Las Cruces and it was just a matter of going back to get another screw. Yep the day was warming up nicely. My feet were no longer ice cubes and I was feeling good. Taylor made up a game to keep our spirits high while riding. Seeing a train was worth 1,000,000 points, a Roadrunner was worth 5,000,000 points, seeing a exotic car was worth 50,000,000 points, mooning an exotic car was an automatic win, and seeing a tractor with pink wheels beats everything.
After a couple of hours my ass was really starting to feel the miles. I really liked my new saddle and the pressure it took of of my special area but my sit bones were killing me! Lunch was a nice break. Mmmm... Powerbars. I think it was Truth or Consequences (yes that is the name of the town) where we stopped for lunch which was a little over 8o miles. After lunch we had a wonderful tailwind. We were averaging close to 20 mph. and hardly pedaling. Pretty soon it was getting dark and finding a spot to camp came up. We drove off a random dirt road into the desert scrub and threw the tents up. Xavier was so funny as we were trying to go to sleep. He must have been so spooked out because he kept saying "Did you guys just see that! A shadow just moved across the tent." Then he proceeded to tell us that cowboys slept with their boots on so they could jump up and onto their horses at a moments notice. "I'M SERIOUS!" said Xavier. Well then we had better sleep with our bike shoes on since we don't have any horses.
Around 11:00 PM or so the strangest thing happened. The wind picked up to a pretty serious level. It was dead calm when we went to sleep. The tent was flapping around like crazy and I was sure I would never get back to sleep. But don't worry, I did. Then a couple hours later some Coyotes began to howl. T-Ride in a dozy, sleepy state shouted "HEY!" Yup you definitely scared them off. I thought it was pretty funny. Then about this time the gale just stopped. It was so weird.
Morning was cold cold cold and the tent was stinky stinky stinky. Poor Deanna had to sleep with 3 smelly guys who ate hard core Mexican for dinner. Even for me it was almost unbearable. Once on the ride I'm glad I brought my toe warmers. They saved my life. The second day, unlike the first there was a constant cold head wind. Instead of averaging 18 mph we were only managing 11 or 13. It was very discouraging. By the time lunch rolled around we had covered only 50 miles and everyone was exhausted. My butt had seen better days too. Riding close to 200 miles in 2 days on a brand new saddle will definitely turn it different shades of black and blue. The big idea for lunch was to gorge at the New Mexico Tech University cafeteria. Really it was pretty good or I was just that hungry. I must have eaten my weight in food but that is pretty easy to do when you have bonked.
We made it another 40 miles or so before it got dark and cold. Taylor (the energizer bunny) kept going all the way to Albuquerque. Maybe another 30 miles. The rest of us had had enough of all this fun and we drove the rest of the way to Albuquerque. At Deanna's house we promptly ate a big bowl of home made chili and cornbread then basically collapsed on the floor and fell asleep.
Deanna was so kind to share her home. A warm dry place was heaven on earth at that moment. Monday (the next day) was our rest day. We spent it at the Albuquerque aquarium (yeah there is a pretty nice aquarium in the middle of the desert) and botanical gardens. We must have spent half the day at the aquarium just watching this fat grouper do laps around its tank. The other half of our time was watching the sharks swim around. Then we realized this wasn't just any shark tank but it was the tank that housed all the injured or retarded fish. For example there was the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" sea turtle, a blind turtle, and and albino turtle. Most of the sting rays had chunks taken out of them or kinked stingers, and the sharks and barracuda had bad over bites or under bites. "Hey I'm a Dork-fish. Caught me on a corn dog." Didn't really need to say all that. Okay moving on.
Tuesday, (the next day) everyone except Brianne, Tyler, and me stayed in Albuquerque. Tyler wanted to rest so we let him and said we would call when it got dark. Soon after leaving Deanna's we were back on the highway heading south. A little while later on the other side of the highway was a truck with a blown out tire. He shouted something at me but I couldn't hear him. He shouted again and it sounded like he said "Do you have a tire?" I shouted back "Tire?" and he nodded. Ummm yeah, as a matter of fact I have a truck tire here in my back pocket. What kind of stupid question is that? Do I look like I have a truck tire on me? I am riding a bike here. Just weird and funny.
Tyler picked us up after Brianne and I ate then we decided to spend the night at Tyler's Mom's house who only lived an hour away. Then the next day we would have somewhere new and exciting to ride. The motto for new and exciting was massive hills and mountain passes at elevation. The morning started out okay but after several passes over 7,000 ft. and after 300 miles being tired was an understatement. The traffic was ridiculous too. Where were all these people coming from. Hardly anyone lives out here. Frustration levels rising, we stopped at a redneck casino, and I repeat redneck, to eat something and regroup. I felt much better but the hills I think were getting the best of Brianne. Finally we crested the high point of our ride at the Apache Pass at something like 7,500 ft. It was downhill the remaining 40 miles or so all the way to our stopping place at Alamagordo somewhere around 4,000 ft. Brianne and I called Tyler and then celebrated by having three delicious hot chocolates each at the local Denny's.
Now I'm sitting here at my computer thinking about this crazy fun filled adventure which strangely makes me a little sad. It will be a long time, most likely, before I top this adventure and the things I saw. Things like riding through the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and seeing the thousands of birds and cranes, the complete solitude and peace while watching the sun set behind the rocky New Mexico mountains, the crazy wiener dogs that come barging out of their yard determined to rip your legs off, and the tractor with pink wheels that Brianne supposedly saw. I can't wait to just do it all over again.
