I am going to be honest I woke up this morning and was expecting things to go bad. I mean they have been for the past couple weeks. Every mile has been a struggle, and every mile as made me more and more upset. To those people who say that they wish they were me during these couple weeks I do not think you would want to.
When I started riding I was looking for excuses to get upset, and I got them. Within seconds my rear fender starting acting up. It started with a high pitch whining noise, then that developed into a full-fledged rub. I stopped and yanked on it a few times which helped for 10 miles then the rubbing started again. Now this is all happening while im getting pumbled with hills getting out of Roswell. Thinking on my toes I pulled out the tape again and put together a sling to keep the fender ridged. I have to say it was my best jimmy job to date.
After getting my fender sort of fixed I was rolling with a little less resistance. On my map the day’s ride seemed simple. The first 47 miles was flat’ish then I got into the dotted bit of my map that was set to be 40 miles. That sounded good in theory but in practice that was not the case. The first 47 miles were hilly as heck, and the last 40 miles were rolling.
I was still a little rattled by the fender thing when I stopped for a snack. I don’t know what happened but all of a sudden a switched turned on and my misery was whipped away. I think it must have been the scenery because once you are in the mountains it is magnificent, that behind said pretty much any mountain range is beautiful.
The kilometres ticked by faster then I thought, and I watched my average speed pick up. My mood was improving. I forgot that I actually don’t mind hills. They give you short-term goals that are going to be achieved. Even better usually the winds die down when you are climbing.
I was summating a hill on this side road that had no traffic and I see this figure coming up the other side. Another cyclist. I panic and start yelling at this other guy and even drop the odd curse word just to spice things up. We both stopped in the middle of the road and have a nice short conversation. This solidified the mood change. I was at that point enjoying the day’s ride. I even had a smile for the first time in a while.
Lunch came at exactly 12 noon. I had 20 miles left in the day and was ready for a quick gas station sandwich. The fact that I managed to pace myself properly for a town that actually had something in it was amazing.
Now the last 20 miles I anticipated to take an hour and a half if I was lucky. After climbing for a little bit and getting my legs warmed up I hit an extended downhill. I watched 40km/h pass, then hit 60km/h for the first time in a long time. This downhill did not stop. For close to 30 minutes I did not drop below 40km/h. I watched the mile markers count down. I saw the town and kicked up the speed. I was crushing grasshoppers like it was my job taking no prisoners. As a side note the grasshoppers here are pretty big. One was so large that when it jumped into my leg it left a bright red mark.
When I hit the town I was elated and let out a large yell of joy. I needed this. I needed a day without a flat. Now don’t get me wrong the day had its faults but it was the first day that I can remember that I had more positives then negatives.
Tomorrow has me a little nervous though because it have a 65 mile gap, and I hit a flat section about halfway through which is going to mean I will get beat up by the wind from the mountains.
Trip Distance: 147km
Ride Time: 6:58hr
Avg. Speed: 21.12km/h
Total Distance: 14907km
Total Ride Time: 690hr
Destination: Carrizozo, New Mexico
P.S. The weather is a little messed here went from 90 degree heat to thunder showers in the space of 5 minutes. As well today is interesting because 40 miles away from here is the trinity site (the site of the first atomic bomb explosion). Today is one of only two days a year they open it to the public. Now I would not recommend going because the area has 10 times the radioactivity.
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