95.11 miles in 7:14:16....elevation gained....1473 ft....descent...741 ft...average speed...13.1 mph...max speed...19.7....I woke up this morning to a beautiful, cool, sunny, windless day. I knew it wasn't going to stay windless for long, and the forecast was for a tailwind today, unlike the last two days. Since I cut yesterday short, the plan was to finish yesterday's originally planned ride to Lordsburg, then get onto the 30 mph tailwinds and blow out the 60 mile trip on Interstate 10 to Deming. U.S. 70 out of Duncan is so sweet, just like riding in yesterday. The shoulder is smooth as a babies butt, no frost heaves, no chip seal, just great cruising surface. The ten mile climb out of Duncan, and into New Mexico, was very gradual, and wind aided. This was the kind of stuff I envision when I think of ideal riding conditions. The scenery was sort of boring, but beautiful in a New Mexico kind of way. I saw two big, dead snakes on the road, so I had to stop and check for a rattler, but neither were rattlesnakes, a little horny toad, and multitudes of little lizards. When I came into New Mexico, I lost an hour, moving into the mountain time zone, so it took four hours to do a three hour ride into Lordsburg.
I stopped at the McDonald's in Lordsburg and loaded up on fluid, and ate lunch. I met a guy there who was riding the southern tier into the wind. I felt his frustration as he told me he was going to sit in McDonald's for a while, after averaging about 7-8 mph all morning. He had come from Key West and was going north through California, so I gave him my blog address, and maybe he would use it to scout ahead. He also took a picture of me and my bike set up, since he had a Specialized Tricross, like mine, then I was on my way.
Interstate 10 was really a pleasure to ride with a 20-30 mph tailwind, and I blew into Deming a little after five o'clock. The shoulder was as smooth as any I've ridden, and it was very clean of retread blowouts and broken glass, like you normally see along an interstate. I think the wind has something to do with that, as I was hit with two chunks of tumbleweed as I got closer to Deming. My legs really feel pretty good after what they've been through the last four days, but I guess tomorrow will really answer that question for sure.
I ate at McDonald's again, and spent the evening on a motel wifi that actually worked, and iced the quads pretty well. Excitement for the day included a fight between two homeless people across from the hotel as I walked home from supper. Six police cars showed up and had it under control before I got too close. I also watched four police cars pull over a couple as I ate supper yesterday in Duncan. The Wild, Wild, West. Yeehaw
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| Welcome to New Mexico! |
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| Blanket flowers just like on the Outer Banks , were along the road for about a half mile. Hmmm, did someone plant them? |
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| US70, beautiful shoulder, no traffic, no scenery! |
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| Doug, smiling even though he was heading into the wind! |
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| There were some mountains in the distance at the Continental Divide. A slight uphill, turned into a slight downhill on I-10 after I crossed it. |
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| Sign in the rest area on I-10 |
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| Motel in Deming NM |
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