Biking across America

 Today we rode from Santa Fe to Las Vegas, New Mexico. I was riding well, and the weather was great. That was until about 10 miles from Las Vegas. It started to thunder and lightning and rain and hail. I do OK with the thunder lightning and rain but the hail was pretty painful. I pulled over to the side of the road Grabbed my rain jacket and put it up over my head and put my back to the hail and waited for the hail to stop. Eventually, the hail stopped but the rain continued. It continued almost all the way into town. Although I was a bit cold at times I did not have any problems with hypothermia like I did a couple of days ago.  Much of the riding today was up and down hills. This is what I really enjoy. I go as fast as I can down the hill so that I can then get up the hill without much effort. On a couple of hills I was able to get enough speed to get all the way up to the hill without paddling much. Las Vegas, New Mexico is a quaint town. We are staying in a hotel. We are b...

 On this day, we were riding from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I started out from Albuquerque. It was a 6 mile climb. During that climb, even though it wasn’t very warm outside I begin to sweat. Once I reach the top of the climb and started riding. It also started raining and becoming quite windy. Despite having my rain gear on, I eventually developed hypo thermia at mile 11. It is not something I have ever experienced before. I have been cold riding, but never to the point where I had to stop. I was not able to complete the day. As I viewed the route, it would’ve been a route I could’ve done. But these things happen when you venture on a trip like this. They were several others who also developed hyperthermia.  We did stop in a little town of Madrid. We are by the movie. Wild hogs was filmed. Additionally, there have been several other films made there. Below are a few pictures.

 Today we rode from Grants New Mexico to Albuquerque New Mexico. It was a great ride. It was actually my best ride so far. Most of it was somewhat downhill until we hit a 3 mile climb that was quite steep. I made it up it. Even though I kept threatening to stop at some point :-). After that climb, it was mostly downhill into Albuquerque. We rode along one road for approximately 15 miles that had recently been paved. It was smooth as glass. We also had to get back onto the interstate for about 10 miles. It’s funny I’ve been on that interstate multiple times during this trip. But today I was quite bothered by being on it. I think it was more. I was just done being on the interstate. It though did have some nice rolling up and down hills whereby I could get enough speed to get all the way up the other side. Today’s ride went pretty quickly until we hit Albuquerque. It was quite congested and we had to go slower and experienced multiple red lights. I am enjoying the group that I am rid...

 Today we rode from Gallup, New Mexico to Grants New Mexico. We rode for 66 miles. We crossed over the continental divide. I have some pictures below. The weather was great for riding. It was nice and cool. After we got done riding and before we got to the hotel we stopped at a local brewery and barbecue place. The sandwich was phenomenal. I did not taste any of the beer though. I still had to cycle a little bit more to the hotel. People I was with though did have a sum of the local beer and they thought it was very very good. The name of the place was the Junkyard. It had all automobile parts from many many years ago. The tables were made out of automobile parts like the fenders the tail end of a pick up truck, and the bar was fashioned out of the front end of a truck. I have pictures below.

 Today we rode from Holbrook Arizona to Gallup New Mexico. We crossed another state line. Today’s ride again was on interstate 40. The fun thing about today’s ride was that there were some up and down hills where I could go fast enough downhill to get either all the way up the hill or almost up the hills. Again the scenery wasn’t too exciting. It was again still somewhat of the desert, but when we got into New Mexico, the scenery drastically changed we buy it wasn’t totally flat anymore. They were some areas of elevation. we also were riding either through or alongside the Navajo reservation. At one of the SAG stops they were stores with souvenirs, as well as a place to get Indian bread. It’s similar to fried dough. It was delicious. I ended up riding 65 miles today and I can see how I’ve become a better writer since I first started. I did not take many pictures today. One of these pictures was trying to describe how far I had written. Not sure that the picture captures it but I’m ...

 Today we rode from Flagstaff Arizona to Holbrook Arizona. I did a total of 76 miles. It was a fun ride overall. Much of the day was spent on interstate 40 and we all had lots of flats. The debris from the trucks tires is what Causes many of the flats. These tires have steel wires in them. The scenery was pretty mundane . It was pretty flat. It was still in the desert and given the fact that they had had rain early this year there was some green areas. The group I ride with is really good. We never have to change a flat by ourselves. We rode along old historic Route 66. We also went through the town of Winslow Arizona. Which was made famous by the eagles. When we got into the center of town, eagles songs were playing. Below are a couple of pictures from the day.

 Today we rode from Cottonwood Arizona to Flagstaff Arizona. The entire ride was a climb. We did ride through Sedona and the views were awesome. We also got to ride on this pretty scary road that had no shoulder and lots of cars. Most people were pretty good, but there were a few that were upset that we were on the road. I rode pretty well for 35 miles, which again was all uphill. It was not very steep but was a continuous climb. At that point I did get into the SAG wagon for the next 10 miles. I was OK with that because I had rode well and I need to keep myself well to be able to continue riding every day. Below are some pictures from the day. but was a continuous climb. At that point I did get into the SAG wagon for the next 10 miles. I was OK with that because I had rode well and I need to keep myself well to be able to continue riding every day. Below are some pictures from the day.  I want to thank everyone for all your comments and well wishes. Also, thank you for follow...