The story today was all about the wind. After the first few miles we had a tailwind that literally pushed us along the road. We could go for miles without pedaling. But, then as we entered into New Mexico and turned slightly, the wind became a cross wind and almost blew us off of our bikes. And it wasn’t just me, it was all of us. I was pretty scared. We stopped in a Desert Museum and as we were ready to leave, I discovered I had flat #2 for my trip. Once again, Semone came to the rescue and changed my tire. I’m thinking as the tumbleweeds were blowing into my bike and getting caught, I must have had a bush with thorns blow into my tires as well, because I have been very careful staying out of the brush. Or maybe I wasn’t as careful as I thought.
Beautiful rolling hills as we came into New Mexico. Also, some mini sand storms. The person at the museum said there were wind advisories, and part of the interstate was closed down due to poor visibility. I’ve experienced that with snow, and now I have with sand. I feel very lucky to keep experiencing our beautiful country by bike.
Start city: Douglas, AZ
End city: Rodeo, NM
Miles: 54.9
Total miles to date: 685.1
Pedaling time: 3 hours, 5 minutes
Avg. speed: 17.8
Feet climbed: 1,355
Fatigue factor: 2 out of 10 first 49 miles; 10 out of 10 last 5 miles (10 is the worst); It was more fear than fatigue. The wind was gusting to 40 mph as a crosswind.
Wind: start: SSW 11 mph; end WSW 24 mph
Road condition: 4 out of 5 (1 is the worst)
Temperature extremes: 61 at ride start, 72 at ride finish
This was at the first SAG stop of the day.
At the second SAG stop, there was a monument commemorating Geronimo's surrender. It always makes me sad to think of how poorly we treated the NAtive American people.
You can see the wind blowing in the flags and it was hard to hold my bike. It was upon leaving here that I discovered my second flat. And notice I did keep my bike out of the weeds.
This is where five of us stayed the night (Rose, Sue, Linda, Jant and I). It was the guest house at the Painted Pony Lodge (rented as an air B&B). The group was spilt among several building last night.
The view from our room.
We had a guest speaker after dinner - he brought snakes for "show and tell."
