DAILY DOINGS: 

Today is our signature day...or one of them.  As I prepared to give route rap after breakfast, the mood was good, but apprehensive...over half the riders had never ridden this distance before.  I assured them that if they paced themselves and kept moving today they would do fine.  We are blessed with perfect weather as it's not hot at all...actually, most of the riders wore arm warmers until about noon and was comfortable all day.  The big news was the winds were helpful almost all day until late when they shifted to cross winds that made the big hill descents a bit sporty.  All in all, it was a great day and a much needed "easy" day on what could have been a killer.

We still had a couple riders with gastro problems and they decided to take the day off...it's a long ride and no sense risking the rest of the trip by riding when one has no power to finish.  The riders that were under the weather yesterday were on the bike today and although it was a long tough day, they finished the day.  With the rest day tomorrow they should again be ready to handle the stresses of the ride. 

Gallup is over 6000 feet elevation and we ride over the Continental Divide which is 7275 feet at about 32 miles.  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. 

Needless to say, it was really cold this morning when we started...mid 30s, brrrrr. There's something about Gallup; it was the same temperature in Winslow when we left, but it seemed much colder this morning.  When we loaded the truck I noticed right away that the bags were much lighter than yesterday.  I think everyone was wearing about everything they had, but most everyone had shed the heavy stuff by the time they got to the divide.

Even though it was a tough day, we rode through some interesting, beautiful, and desolate areas.  As we departed town, the shadows on the hills to our north outlined the weathered rock faces that served as a backdrop to the long freight trains that roared by every 5 minutes or so.  The mesas were beautiful and I imagine they looked the same a thousand years ago and barring something catastrophic, they will remain the same for thousands more.  Legendary heroes were also in this area years ago as we rode by Fort Wengert where Kit Carson led campaigns against the Navajo Indians.  And finally, we rode through the largest lava flow in the continental US.  Here Don (right) takes time to admire the landscape as he rode by.  I wanted to find out more about this area...things like when did it develop and is it still active but I didn't have time to do the research...there's only so much I can do out here.  From what I understand, the entire area around Grants NM is volcanic...no thank you.  I'll just ride through it and look in amazement. 

After Grants, we venture out into the New Mexico back country and an Indian reservation around Laguna.  From there we pick up I-40 all the way to Albuquerque.  At the last SAG, we take a frontage road up 10 mile hill to Central Avenue for the screaming downhill into town.  At left, Sue spins atop 10 mile hill approaching Albuquerque.  The final hill into town is a doozy.  You seem to just keep going down forever and it's speedy too as I've reached double nickel a couple times when the wind was right.  It's about an 8 mile descent to the Rio Grande River and as you are descending you can see forever...what a view.

The final riders didn't get in until about 6:30 but all's well that gets in safely.  Thank you for your prayers for our safety...they've been answered so far.  Tomorrow we have a much needed rest day and we take on our challenge again on Tuesday.  Tune in and catch up on the gang.  Thanks for following our progress.

PS:  Note to the Emerald Mt Christian School students...We all hope you all are doing well and want to thank you for your letters.  We've enjoyed reading about what you like to do and are looking forward to seeing you in a couple weeks.  Keep us in your thoughts as we trek across the country...you should be getting post cards from us on the road any time now.  See you soon.

PPS:  To all...I've been having intermittent trouble with my software so I may not be able to upload everyday.  Keep watching and I'll do all I can to keep the postings regular.  Sorry for the delays so far.

PPPS:  Good to see Andy Moss again.  He's been dubbed the official Albuquerque welcoming committee...thanks for shuttling us all around.

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