May 21, 2018 Lake Caballo, NM to Socorro, NM

87.33 miles..... TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES..... More about that later....I rolled out of our little $20 campground at 8 a.m. sharp, headed north towards Truth or Consequences, NM, on NM 187. It hasn't changed since last time I rolled through here, plenty of rolling hills. It took me about 16 miles to get through town, with beautiful weather, and a gentle tailwind. I grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonald's on the north end of town, and jumped on NM 181, which would take me about another eleven miles, past the airport, on a nice, traffic free road with more of the same rolling hills. Nice riding, actually.
TRUTH: I was concerned about this ride, because I rode as far as I have on any given day in two years, yesterday, and I was going to have to go farther today. The tailwind, and the 'cool' weather, in the 80"s, was really sweet, and my legs felt pretty good. I'm starting to get my confidence back, but today will tell me alot. Just north of the airport, I got on to interstate 25, because a bridge has been out on NM 181, since the last time I was here. It's never gonna be fixed, so I 25 it is. I got on at mile marker 89, where it is legal for bikes to enter . Besides the normal interstate fare, there are some major hills on this stretch, dipping down into the huge washes headed for the Rio Grande, and climbing back out the other side. Traffic is pretty sparse, compared to I 10. Constants for the trip, are the Rio Grande meandering down in the valley to my east, and huge mountains to the west, which for the second time in two trips, harbored some great thunderstorms that I could watch, way off in the distance. There is little to no civilization on this stretch, so Pam waited for me in a rest area at the 114 mile marker, 50 miles into the ride, so I could get some lunch. That rest area, and a small truck stop off the exit, are the only signs of human habitation, all the way to Socorro, which is why I knew that this was going to be a long one.
CONSEQUENCES:  Everything was going fine, up until this point, and even for another 15 miles or so. There were endless stretches of road, where I could see to the horizon, and there were long, gradual climbs and decents, and I was doing fine, with expected fatigue starting to set in. With 18 miles left to Socorro, I climbed to over 5000 ft, and suddenly the tailwind was gone. The sun, which had been peeking in and out of the cloudy skies, was gone. I had caught up to the storm which I had been watching all day. The wind switched to a headwind, the temps started to drop from 88 degrees. They would eventually reach 60.  I was in and out of rain for the last two hours of riding. It actually wasn't bad, being cool, and wet for the first time in years, it seemed. The final stretch into town was becoming drudgery, because I was over 80 miles riding, and I had climbed nearly 3000 ft. Easy back in the day, but I'm just trying to round into shape for this adventure. Pam got into town ahead of me, of course, and she got to see rivers of water running down the streets, as she just missed a deluge. I never got too wet, just wet enough to remember to pack a jacket next time rain is in the forecast. This is something I have forgotten about, practically.
To end the day, we Jeeped into town and had a couple of nice steak salads and microbrews. Two beers just about did me in after today's mileage. As we rode into town, I remembered being here before, and where I stayed, as well as other landmarks. US 60 comes out of the mountains here, which was another option (although much more mountainous), because it runs through Mesa, to this point, and Eastward.