60.13 miles in 4:34....347.18 total for the trip...(69.436 miles per day)....ascent....545 ft (7012 total for trip)
The day started out with 9 am mass, listening to a Nigerian priest say mass in Spanish.... Good experience. So, I got out of town at about 10:30 for a five hour ride, that only took 4 and a half hours because of a pretty hefty tailwind. I've ridden through here twice before, and it was been the same story. Wicked wind15-25 out of the West. First time in 2013 I was pedaling into it, on the way home last year, I documented the same 'assistance' as I rode to Pittsburgh. It was just as boring as it has always been, so I broke out the iPod and had musical accompaniment instead of the sound of wind and Interstate 10 traffic.
Yesterday I mentioned another biker named Jeff that I passed. Well, today I passed him again, doing his same 6-7 Mike's per hour. This time I rode with him for almost an hour. ( or I might have averaged 15&16 mph for the trip). We talked and I learned that he has taken bike trips to the middle East, China, and Taiwan in the past. This trip actually originated in northern California, before he took a break in Quartzite, ( which is in western Az, not Eastern Az like I stated yesterday). He embarked on this trip because his wife died at some point, he had no commitments, and is on a mission to lose 50 lbs. But for now, he's just cruising along. He had a much nicer touring bike than I noticed before. I left him after a while because rain was in the forecast for later in the afternoon, and I wanted to get to Deming, which I did. I offered to split a room with Jeff, but he said he preferred tenting in the cold and rain, because he didn't know if he would make town. We traded phone numbers in case he changed his mind, but I never heard from him.
I 10's shoulder was really crappy for the first ten miles out of Lordsburg, but then it improved greatly, which made for really nice high speed travel, as I was hitting 20 mph for the last 30 miles, after passing the continental divide. Got a nice old room in downtown Deming for $29.99, right next to a subway sandwich shop. I looked at the maps and decided to take a shortcut tomorrow, and miss las Cruces, and head right into el Paso. We'll see how that goes tomorrow.
The day started out with 9 am mass, listening to a Nigerian priest say mass in Spanish.... Good experience. So, I got out of town at about 10:30 for a five hour ride, that only took 4 and a half hours because of a pretty hefty tailwind. I've ridden through here twice before, and it was been the same story. Wicked wind15-25 out of the West. First time in 2013 I was pedaling into it, on the way home last year, I documented the same 'assistance' as I rode to Pittsburgh. It was just as boring as it has always been, so I broke out the iPod and had musical accompaniment instead of the sound of wind and Interstate 10 traffic.
Yesterday I mentioned another biker named Jeff that I passed. Well, today I passed him again, doing his same 6-7 Mike's per hour. This time I rode with him for almost an hour. ( or I might have averaged 15&16 mph for the trip). We talked and I learned that he has taken bike trips to the middle East, China, and Taiwan in the past. This trip actually originated in northern California, before he took a break in Quartzite, ( which is in western Az, not Eastern Az like I stated yesterday). He embarked on this trip because his wife died at some point, he had no commitments, and is on a mission to lose 50 lbs. But for now, he's just cruising along. He had a much nicer touring bike than I noticed before. I left him after a while because rain was in the forecast for later in the afternoon, and I wanted to get to Deming, which I did. I offered to split a room with Jeff, but he said he preferred tenting in the cold and rain, because he didn't know if he would make town. We traded phone numbers in case he changed his mind, but I never heard from him.
I 10's shoulder was really crappy for the first ten miles out of Lordsburg, but then it improved greatly, which made for really nice high speed travel, as I was hitting 20 mph for the last 30 miles, after passing the continental divide. Got a nice old room in downtown Deming for $29.99, right next to a subway sandwich shop. I looked at the maps and decided to take a shortcut tomorrow, and miss las Cruces, and head right into el Paso. We'll see how that goes tomorrow.
No dust storms today, just a few dirt devils in the distance.
Headed for the Mississippi just like all the water from here east
This is what you get for $29.99 in Deming, New Mexico
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