Tonight's caption is a quote from Tracy Leiner, our tour leader . She made that announcemt from the back of her support truck as half a dozen riders were struggling up one of the series of climbs that made up today's ride. But I'm getting ahead of myself - more on today's ride later.
Sorry I missed last night - yesterday was a hectic day. Tom and I were up early and rode our bikes in darkeness to the Denny's for breakfast. I, who at home would have an English muffin and coffee had two eggs, two pancakes, two sausages, two bacon and the usual coffee and OJ - and that is just to get through the morning....Anyhow, back to the hotel to lather up with sunscreen, fill the water bottles etc...We get to the door with our bikes and the thing we don't like to talk about is actually happening - rain is falling in Grants. So back for rainjackets, plastic baggies for the camera and wallet - and let a couple of pounds of air out of the tires for the slick roads. The good news was that we were riding on olde 66 again, a nice road and lightly travelled - not bad if you've got to ride in the rain. It is not exactly fun but we rode for maybe an hour and a half before we finally left it behind. At that point we were scheduled to go back on I40 but Tracy had discovered a major construction project and so decided we would put bikes and riders into the (2) vans and we would jump around the dangerous detour. So we skipped around it and our 75 mile day turned into a 61 mile day. We still had about 20/25 miles on the interstate, most of it rolling except for one long 5 mile climb as we approached Albuquerque...We picked up 66 again about 10 miles from the city and rode in on the old historic route. We crossed over the Rio Grande river and then turned into the Old Town section of Albuquerque. It has the old plaza built by the Spanish a couple hundred years ago that is anchored by the lovely old mission church which is still in active use today. Daughter Beth had given me a name for lunch so we found a little Mexican restaurant and had lunch on their patio.
The highlight of the day was a reunion visit with Beth and Aaron and Sabine. Beth picked us up for dinner at their house. Sabine is just a delight and has grown so much since I last saw her - Skype is nice but does not replace the real thing. So Aaron made a terrific guacumole before dinner and they then gave us a marvelous mexican meal with all the appropriate attention to Sabine's antics....And so the photos above.
Today started with heavy clouds and winds whipping the flags viciously at the hotel. We had a 66 mile hike to Santa Fe and knew it would be a day of climbing - we were leaving 5000 feet and Santa Fe is somewhere just over 7000. We headed out old 66 and directly into an intense headwind. We also started a slight ascent but it was the headwind that wears on you. Actually it was kind of interesting to do the rest of 66 - there are lots of remnants of the old highway: the drive-ins, the tourist attractions, some of the old motels. We joined the road to Santa Fe, the Turquoise Trail as it is know at mile 16 and the climbing began in earnest. And the cloud cover got blacker and the temperature started dropping as well. The Sandia mountains were on our left but you would never know - they were covered in fog and low clouds. In short order we started feeling the first ominous drops of water..so along with the winds and the climbing add rain and a cold rain at that. And at that point we crested the hill and there was Tracy and her truck - and maybe she is right (the advertising DID promise adventure) but that line haunted me for the next forty miles or so. The highway is truly beautiful and I know because I have seen it in the bright sun (and in a car) and even today it had a kind of eerie quality to it which I tried to get a bit of in the two photos. Where are couple of old mining towns along the way and in one, Madrid, we stopped for lunch at a funky place called the Mine Shaft Tavern - filled with cyclists, bikers (the motorcycle kind) and ordinary tourists. They make a marvelous chicken quesidilla if you are ever in the neighborhood....And in the all honesty the rest of the ride was just sheer hard work:the neverending wind, more than enough climbing, lots of time spent in the granny gear, rain off and on, and just getting colder and more exhausted pushing on for the hotel...Found our rooms, took a shower at the hottest temp I could stand and fell into the bed for a pre-dinner nap. And am I ever glad that tomorrow is a day off. And now that I mention it I think I may be ready for bed right now...ciao and sleep tight.
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