43 Miles to Bracketville, TX ....

We had a short recovery ride today after yesterday's long ride. The wind wasn't much of a concern, so all I can complain about was the rough Texas chip-seal roads. I had to stop every 10 miles because my hands were numb from all the vibration.

Tonight we're staying at a closed army base, Fort Clark. The rooms are quite comfortable and clean. We went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and then were invited by Bubba's Pampered Peddlers to join them for an ice cream social at their camp grounds. We won't be running into their group anymore as our routes are a little different from here on.

I mentioned yesterday that our motel in Sanderson was somewhat of a dump, but a nice, Indian man was the manager. This morning we were surprised when he showed up in Del Rio (110 miles away) because they had noticed that some of the women had left a few things behind. I took a pic of him with his mother that was visiting from India. There are also pics of tonight's motel and the ice cream social. That's Bubba dressed in a Halloween costume, who knows why?

109 Miles to Del Rio, TX ......

Not to complain, but today's ride was a ride from hell. Once again, we fought a 25 mph headwind the whole day. Our average speed was about 10 mph, and we were on the bikes over 10 hours. We didn't pull into the hotel until 7:30. Only 5 of us completed the ride, others were pulled because it was getting dark. I was so close to quitting at about mile 85, but the women with whom I was riding talked me through that. I'm posting a picture of the 4 of us that came in together (Rona from Virginia, Ellen from Nebraska and Twila from Colorado) -- I was the weak link in that chain and could never have completed the ride without them.

I was hoping our hotel would be luxurious, but au contraire. I think they picked the closest hotel in the outskirts of Del Rio (which we've nick-named "Hell Rio") so that we wouldn't have to ride any farther than we did. I was so happy to pull into the parking lot and it was quite emotional because all the women that had given up were there to cheer for us.

55 Miles to Sanderson, TX .....

Today was the opposite of yesterday. As I was bending over to serve myself oatmeal at breakfast, I got a muscle spasm in my lower back. I took some Advil and hoped for the best. We fought a headwind starting at mile 10 for the remainder of the trip. Rona, Sunnye and I formed a pace line and just kept taking turns pulling. Every time I got off the bike it would take me awhile to stand up straight because of the back problem.

Sanderson is one of the most depressing towns I've encountered. When we arrived at our hotel, The Budget Inn, we found out that none of the rooms were ready because the maid didn't show up today. So, the manager had to call in his family to come and clean. I don't want to lay any of my stuff down on any of the surfaces because it's so gross.

On the positive side, it's not raining and the temperature is lovely and we're all trying to take things in stride. Tomorrow is another day. Unfortunately, we have a 110 mile ride and I'll have to see how my back holds up. 

I didn't take any pictures of the inside of my room because I don't want to ruin anyone's day. Another positive is that we have Internet connection so I can get this blog sent out.

60 Miles to Marathon, TX .......

We left the Lodge in Fort Davis just after 8:30 am and arrived in Marathon in time for lunch. I think everyone was able to complete the ride and I almost felt as if I was cheating -- we had a tailwind the whole time. Yay. I took a picture of the one cloud in the sky today, a pic of Rona with Liz, a woman from Ohio, my GPS at the end of the ride (aver. speed 18.5, max. speed 36 mph), and some pics of my room tonight. My roommate and I are actually 2 blocks from the main hotel (Gage Hotel) in a house. I took lots of pics of it which I will post. Unfortunately, we have no internet, so I'm sitting now in the lobby of the hotel writing this.

The road surfaces in Texas are a chip-seal and quite rough to ride on, especially in the bike lane. My hands go numb from the vibration and when traffic allows, I find myself out in the travel lane. 

90 Miles to Fort Davis ....

Yesterday's ride to Fort Davis was long and hilly. Luckily, the rain had stopped and the sky was clear. We started out just as the sun was coming up. The first 39 miles were along I-10 and we had a nice tailwind. WomanTours had a picnic lunch set up for us at mile 48 because there were absolutely no restaurants or stores along the route. By this time, we had a headwind, but as the day went on the wind shifted to the left, right, and some moments even behind us. We climbed 4500' and I was in my lowest gear and standing at times. Our major climbing ended when we reached McDonald Observatory, where a lot of research is done on the stars and sun. 

Our hotel, Indian Lodge, is lovely. Today was a rest day and I cleaned my bike, did some laundry, and relaxed. Tomorrow we're off again. Hopefully, this blog entry will post successfully. It's amazing how dependent we are to the Inernet.

Attached is a pic of a Texas-shaped waffle, the McDonald Observatory, our lodge and my room with my roommate for 2 nights, Sunnye, from Florida. I should have taken that pic before our stuff was strewn around, but you get the idea.

75 Miles to Van Horn ....

I originally wrote this entry on 3/25/14 on my iPad, but for some reason I could not get it to publish-- perhaps a weak Wifi connection? So, I'm copying it over on my cell phone and hoping for the best.

We're now in Central Standard Time, so I feel as if we're making progress.

I don't have a lot of positive things to say about today's ride. It was a matter of getting from Point A to Point B, with not a lot to look at in between, except for some beautiful horses in a field early in the ride. Except for about 2 miles of the ride, we were battling 38 mph headwinds  with gusts up to 47 mph. Our ride time was 6 hrs. 45 min. with an average speed of 10.6 mph. Much of the ride was either on I-10, or on a road parallel to it called Frontage Rd. Our ride instructions at one point said, "from I-10, walk across dirt shoulder to Frontage Rd. at mile marker 90". A lot of the women took a ride in the SAG when they had had enough and the last rider didn't arrive at the hotel until 7 pm, just as it started to rain. Of course, I struggled through the whole ride, riding with my friend, Rona, again. It didn't help that we lost an hour by crossing into CST.

Hopefully, the rain will end overnight and the wind will be at our backs tomorrow because it's a long day, 90 miles with climbing......

51 Miles to Fort Hancock, TX .....

Today was a perfect day for riding: sunny, flat, the wind was not an issue,

the road condition was good and there wasn't much traffic.

We've crossed paths with another tour group that is riding cross-country, Bubba's something or other, and talked with some of their riders. They mostly camp and I'm told that Bubba does their laundry (lots of luck with that). He doesn't actually cycle with them, but drives the support vehicle.

I rode with Rona again today (that's her with me in one of the pics). Our ride took us along the Mission Trail. In the town of Fabens, I took a pic of a Catholic church, but can't promise that was part of the Mission Trail. It's typical of the architecture of a lot of the churches we passed.

I stopped and took a pic of an alfalfa (sp?) field, which we see a lot of. Needless to say, they rely on their irrigation systems.

There is also a pic of a herd of goats that I couldn't resist getting a pic of.

We're staying tonight at the Fort Hancock Motel (see pic). I was a little leary, but the room is fine, and that's the only thing available in this town. 

59 Miles to El Paso, Texas ......

We travelled south-east today to get to El Paso and we had a headwind starting at about mile 10 and staying with us for the rest of the ride. It was exhausting. I just wanted to get to the hotel, and, therefore, didn't take any photos along the way. I rode behind my friend, Rona, the whole time. I owe her big-time for doing the lion's share of the work. She's sort of like an energizer bunny and always seems to have a positive attitude. Hopefully, some of that will rub off on me.

The way the room rotation worked out, I got my own room tonight and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I did laundry because for the next 9 nights, our hotels don't have laundry facilities. That means I'll be washing my bike shorts out by hand each night.

I'm posting a picture of the western part of Texas. El Paso is in the upper corner (the white circle) of that wing that juts out. Texas is a big state and we're crossing through at its widest part, so we'll be here for a long time. I'm just praying that the wind isn't as strong tomorrow unless it's coming from the northwest.

88 Miles to Las Cruces, NM ......

Even though the inn where we stayed last night was a little funky, they prepared the best breakfast we've had so far. We were all dressed in our winter cycling gear when we pulled out of the parking lot. Not only were we at a high altitude so that the temperature was in the low 40s, but we had an 8 mile decent, so we had to bundle up. At the 20 mile SAG stop, we were able to shed some of those clothes.

It was another beautiful day. We crossed the Rio Grande 3 times. There were lots of pecan orchards along the way and fields growing cotton. We've started to see the cattle crossing guards (I stopped to take a picture of one) and will see more of those when we get to Texas. You have to be careful to ride across them at a right angle, just like railroad tracks, and they can be quite dangerous if they're wet.

Some of us stopped at mile 50 for lunch in Hatch, the chili capital of the world.

The ride had seemed so easy up until that point and then the wind picked up, making the final 38 miles of the ride quite difficult.

I'm posting a map of New Mexico, so you can see where we have been. Tomorrow-- Texas.

48 Miles to Kingston .......

After participating in the tire workshop yesterday afternoon, I was horrified to find my rear tire flat this morning. I thought perhaps I hadn't closed the valve, so I pumped up the tire and off I went. When I arrived at the first SAG stop, that tire was pretty soft, so I changed it then and it was fine for the rest of the ride. I guess you could call that an iatrogenic flat.

Today we reached the highest elevation of our trip (8228'), so it's a good feeling to have it out of the way. It was a grueling climb, especially the last ~5 miles. At one point, I looked at my GPS and it was registering a 13% grade. For the most part, it was 5-6%. At the top, there was an Emory Pass Vista, where I took some pictures of the view.

Then there was an 8 mile decent and I probably wore out my brake pads on it. It was a little scary because of the switchbacks and there was some gravel in the road.

Tonight we're staying in the town of Kingston, population 20. Our hotel/inn is called the Black Range Lodge. It was originally built in the 1830s and then renovated in the 1930s using stone from other buildings in the area, including the dance hall. It's quaint, but not my taste. People that have an allergy to cats are staying in a separate building across the street, and those that are allergic to dust are out of luck. We were warned that we needed to think of this as an adventure because we're in the middle of nowhere and there isn't anything else available. So, I'm trying to be open minded. 

They're preparing a turkey dinner for us with all the fixings and it does smell delicious.

I took a picture of one of their roosters. They'll be sure we don't oversleep in the morning.

Rest day in Silver City ......

I thoroughly enjoyed my rest day today. I did laundry, walked to Walgreen's to pick up some needed supplies, did some yoga stretches lead by a woman in the group who is a yoga instructor, had a massage, and then participated in a flat tire hands-on workshop. I had Gator skins put on my bike before I left, and rumor had it that they are difficult to take on and off. So, I thought I should give it a try and it wasn't that hard so I'm a little more confident about getting a flat.

I'll answer some questions that I've received. There are a number of people who are blogging about their trip (I'd guess about half of us). Mine is pretty straightforward, others go all out. Sometimes it's hard to find time to fit everything in. Our routine after the ride is to stretch, shower and get ready for the next day. Everyone is rushing to get started in the morning, so you have to be really organized. I have 2 duffel bags, but within those are small bags: for socks and underware, shirts, shorts, gloves, rain gear, etc.

No, I don't listen to music or books on tape while I'm riding-- kind of dangerous. I want to hear approaching cars. Some women do listen to music, but I don't think that's recommended.

I have just one picture to post today. It was taken outside the restaurant where some of us had dinner tonight.

Tomorrow will be a tough climbing day. Until then.....

49 Miles to Silver City, NM .......

It was 36 degrees when we started our ride at 7:45 AM and around 65 when we finished. Now that we're at higher altitudes, the temps will be cooler.

I purchased a handlebar bag for this trip and I was really glad I had it today. I knew the temperature would rise once the sun rose a bit and that I would warm up climbing, so I had to carry lots of clothes options. We also have our support vehicle and can throw clothes in there that we don't need anymore.

At about mile 24, we crossed the Continental Divide (the natural boundary line separating waters that flow into the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico from those that flow into the Pacific Ocean). So, we did a lot of climbing getting to that point.

After that we had some nice downhills and more climbs. Silver City is quite hilly as well. It's a cute town with 2 bike shops and some nice restaurants and shops. I'll do some exploring tomorrow, as we have a much-needed rest day after 8 straight days of riding. We had lunch in a quaint little restaurant today and it was refreshing to have a salad that wasn't made out of iceberg lettuce.

                                   

75 Miles to Lordsburg, NM ....

I wasn't feeling too energetic on the ride today. The first 20 miles were a steady uphill, not steep (about a 1.5% grade), but tiring. The next 20 had some good downhills and on the rest of the ride we had a nice tailwind. It feels good to be at the hotel (Best Western, not 5 stars, but clean), having showered and writing my blog before it's time for dinner.

We entered into New Mexico today and the road surface and condition of the bike lane improved immediately. I don't think that will be true of all the roads we will travel on in NM, but today it was. Since we crossed another state line, we'll have a Marguarita party before dinner.

We stayed on US 70 all day. Needless to say, we have plenty of time to think. I was invisioning years ago, what it would have been like for the settlers to travel across the country without nice roads, with their small children and all their worldly possessions, wondering when the next Indian attack would occur. It's humbling.

I took a picture of a California map and an Arizona map with our overnight destinations marked with black marker (since I didn't know exactly where we would be in Phoenix, it's marked with a white circle) so you can get a sense of our route.

We're now on Mountain time and so we're just 2 hours behind EST.

78 Miles to Safford, AZ .....

Andrew finally arrived at 7:30 last night and we had a wonderful visit, although short. He and Carson left after breakfast this morning as they had a long drive back to Boulder. It was great to see him.

Today's ride took us through San Carlos Apache Reservation. I've never seen so much litter, broken bottles, etc., on the roadside. There was a lot of broken glass in the bike lane and getting in and out of the bike lane onto the road was difficult because of the serious rumble strips. It's hard to control your bike when you're going over them. Yesterday there were intermittent breaks in the rumble strips, but today they were continuous.

There was a huge, snow covered mountain off to our left all day. I got a picture, but, of course, it doesn't do it justice.

A highlight of the ride today was stopping at Taylor Freeze where some of the women got ice cream treats, but they had other things as well. They took all of our pictures and they will put them on the wall along with all the cyclists that stop in there on their way cross-country.

Even though the mileage was high today, it was relatively flat (compared to yesterday) and we had a tailwind for the last 10 miles. Yippee!

Tomorrow, we ride into New Mexico.