Day 8 - Rest Day Albuquerque, NM

What a beautiful day to have off, I know I needed it. It was a fast and furious first week and it seems like a blur right now.  A ride like this is no walk in the park and I know we all at some point are asking ourselves what we got into.  As the ride leader, Mike Munk told us, if you make it throught the first week you know you can do this physically and now it is all mental.  You may wonder what a typical day of riding 7-9 hours feels like, well it is a roller coaster of emotions, you can be feeling good to feeling bad in matter of minutes and some times just changing position on the bike or just getting off the bike changes everything.  We have a great group of guys doing this ride and having a good group dynamic is important in this type of endeavour.  Whatever sport you do there is something special about being with a group that has one common goal and with this group it is riding across America safely.

Today started a little later as we all slept in and had a great breakfast at the hotel.  I then went back to my room and reorganized my bag for the next leg of our trip.  Our next and last rest stop is twelve days from now in Springfield, IL.  The ride leader recommended that we ride a little bit today to keep the legs active so I rode my bike about 3 miles to get my massage that was much needed.  From there I rode another 2 miles to the bike shop to get my bike a little TLC as well.  I spent the next couple of hours just laying pool side reading a magazine and listening to iHeart Radio and relaxing.

A group of us went to this nice restaurant called the Range Cafe for dinner and the day is now over.  We are all packed and ready to get on the road about 7:00 am.

Trip Summary:

• 7 Days
• 842 Miles
• 52 Hours and 29 Minutes of Riding
• ~16 MPH Ave Speed

Photos of the Day:

My Bike needed some TLC as it need to carry me more miles

So I brought it to the TREK Superstore for a chain cleaning and lube

Random Photo outside our hotel

Some of my new riding buddies having dinner at the Range Cafe in Albuquerque, NM

A nice Fat Tire Ale to end the day

Day 7 - 136 Mi to Albuquerque, NM

This morning was really tough to get up and get going after 6 days of hard riding. A ride like this can kick your ass and your head has got to be in it.   This morning was pretty brisk when we loaded...26 degrees!  Fortunatley it did not last long but it did take me an hour to get warmed up. 
  

We left from the town of Gallup which is over 6000 feet elevation and we ride about 23 miles over the Continental Divide which is 7275 feet.   A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea. We had our first SAG there and everyone took the obligatory pictures to record the event. Supposedly, it's all downhill from here...at least if you are water.  

Most of the riders were out of there early morning gear as the tmperature went from 26 degrees to 68 degrees in the 23 miles to the continetal divide.   It turned out to be a beautiful and sunny and the wind was friendly the whole day. 

Our ride took us out into the New Mexico back country along old Route 66  through many Indian reservation.  From there we were back on  I-40 again all the way to Albuquerque. At the last SAG, we took a frontage road up 10 mile hill to Central Avenue for the screaming downhill into town.  That final downhill into town is a doozy. You seem to just keep going down forever and it's speedy too I reached a top speed of 51.7 MPH today.  The fastest I have ever been on a bike.   Overall, today was a great ride and we did not have to work to hard as we had relative easy tetrain and wind condition.

Right behind me is Albuquerque and the wicked fast down hill

Tomorrow we have a well deserved day off. The wind the last couple of days has made the rides much easier than average, but even with the great conditions, we still rode almost 270 miles in the last two days...I am smoked. 

Pictures below:

(Most Photos taken by Mike Munk- Bamacyclist.com)

Had dinner at this "New Mexican Foods"  Restaurant.  Did not seem new to me.  Good though!

I rode into a wedding when I entered Albuquerque

Old Rio Puerrco Bridge on Old Route 66

one of many snakes on the roads out west.  

Last SAG before 10 Mile hill.  The hill was tough. 

Day 6 - 134 Mi to Gallup, NM

Todays ride was not a day of contrasts it was plain and simple and was really tame compared to the last couple of days. (if riding 130 miles is tame) We rode over 100 miles on Interstate 40. Gone are the trees that surrounded us as we climbed up the mountains approaching Flagstaff. You could see hundreds of miles in all directions in most places. The only problem with riding this section of I-40 is flat tires. I had three of them today, two in the first 30 miles. I think the total number of flats for the group was over 30.

The morning started with "standing on the Corner in Winslow, AZ" The lyrics from the song “Take It Easy”, written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey, were made famous by “The Eagles”. It’s a song almost everyone knows, hums and sings. It has put Winslow on the map. All of us took photos and I even put a t-shirt of my friends Sully's 50th Birthday celebration, We also took a group photo "on the Corner" 

The wind today was our friend it was out of the west on our back for most of the day. The mild temperature were also enjoyable. a little chilly as we left Winslow, as it was 49 degrees. For most of the day it was in the mid 70's. The favorable wind today was enjoyed by all and allowed me to avaerage 18.3 MPH for the entire day. We also entered our third state, New Mexico and a new time zone today

Tomorrow we head to Albuquerque and hopefully, we’ll get another good wind day...we could use it. I am ready for a rest day so I can rest my quads...and butt.

Pictures of today below:

(Most Photos taken by Mike Munk- Bamacyclist.com)

Day 5 - 107 Mi to Winslow, AZ

Today's ride was a day of contrasts. The first part of the ride was is in the desert out of Cottonwood then one of the most beautiful areas anywhere...the narrow Oak Creek Canyon and the red rocks of Sedona.  In the middle, we closed in on the beautiful mountain that frames Flagstaff.  From there, we started down interstate 40 and the scenery became vast open spaces of desert.

The route started out similar to yesterday...a gentle climb for about 18 miles after leaving the motel on Highway 89A.  The ground just rises and as you are nearing the mountains, it appears to be very gentle and spmewhat flat and you can't believe how much your legs are objecting to the pedaling motion especially after the climbing we did yesterday.  Then you look back and you see why. 

Sedona is a gorgeous area with lots of beautiful red rock formations and is a possible winter retirement home away from Massachusetts.   The scenery is beautiful, It's hard to ride through there and not be amazed at the beauty.   Our first Support and Gear (SAG) stop was at an Episcopal church,  the priest for that congregation is the ride leaders son-in-law's mother and her congregation supplied brownies and coffee.  It was a nice stop after the initial climb 18 mile climb out of Cottonwood.  

We didn't spend much time in Sedona, AZ because the climb out of town was pretty big...and then some more climbing to Flagstaff, AZ which is around 7000 feet.  It starts out rather unassuming as the terrain rises gradually but later the switchbacks start...then you go up pretty fast. Oak Creek Canyon  is an interesting climb as you cross the same face of the mountain 4 times.   It takes about 3 miles of climbing to go straight up about 200 yards. 

We had lunch in Flagstaff and favorabe winds were starting to pick up for our last 50 miles into Winslow, AZ.  It was hard to believe we were in the same state after leaving Flagstaff.  We entered Interstate 40 and the terrain heading into Winslow consisted of large, gentle rolling hill and was some of the most wide open, desolate terrain you could imagine. The wind was at our backs and easy pedaling allowed us to cruise at 30 MPH.  Things were looking good for an easy ride in then our luck changed as a storm up ahead changed the wind direction into a head wind.  30 MPH turned in an agonizing 13 MPH.  It was a tough 15 miles into the next SAG stop.  As we left the SAG stop the storm ahead had passed and the last 20 miles were again an easy cruise to the hotel.  

I am having having the usual aches and pains associated with a ride of this magnitude but with each day I am getting stronger and so are my fellow riders.  We have fallen into the daily routine and you can feel the difference.  Tomorrow we head into a new time zone and our third state with a 134 mile ride into Gallup, NM.

Here are some photos of today:

(Most Photos taken by Mike Munk- Bamacyclist.com)