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Las Vegas NM to Tucumcari NM – 112.81 miles – 5020?? ft climbing

With the expressways and their debris behind me, I pulled the Scattante bicycle back into service. I probably would have done it yesterday except I prefer the wider tires on wet pavement. With more rolling hills ahead of me – there were an even dozen rated climbs – I am able to attack the hills a bit more efficiently on the lighter bicycle. The tradeoff is a rougher ride. With uncertain road surfaces, it was a bit of a gamble. However, the saddle sores have started to accumulate from using the Co-Motion bicycle for the last ten rides. The change in geometry should help ease the soreness.

The weather was even warmer than expected when loading up the car and preparing for a pre-dawn departure. I donned by arm warmers and knee warmers for the start of the ride, but kept the windbreaker in the backpack. In retrospect, I probably would have worn it as well since the cold air inversion once again was at play. The cold biting air came rushing down the slopes and put a chill in me. Since I was ascending the 380 foot slope that was pushing the air towards me, I didn’t get relief from the cold until the summit.

The glove liners and knee warmers came off around the 36 mile mark when I pulled off the road to take some pictures while traversing the pass. This was a 9% grade downward and I gripped the brakes the entire 3 miles to keep a constant 12 mph to avoid losing control and going over the precipice.

About half of the route ended up being on nice pavement. The other half was on macadamized road that was rideable, but the vibrations were severe at times. I ended up having two flats, both rear wheel, on this surface. These occurred at mile 40 and mile 102.

With the transition from mountains to mesas, the scenery at times was non-descript. There were several segments where the surroundings were once again awesome.

Around the midway point, I hit a stretch where I was headed due south and fighting a 40+ mph crosswind. This was reminiscent of the battle I fought with the wind on the Kingman to Seligman stage. However, this time I had the Scattante which has a quicker response, so I felt more in control.

Karen caught up with me around the 62 mile mark, shortly after being beaten up by that crosswind and a mini-dust storm caused by a bridge construction site. I replenished the tube and CO2 cartridge and was back on my way.

Except for the second flat, the wind was giving me a beneficial push and I averaged close to 20 mph the rest of the way. I was still fighting for control many times, but nothing like earlier.

Karen picked up Chinese food and we ate in, saving me some time to finish my post. Over the next several days, with so many centuries, time will be at a premium.