Another great day!! 75 beautiful miles with some climbing as well. We are still somewhat in the high desert, so the temps have been ok, highs in the mid 80’s. The altitude has been around 7000 ft. the last several days in Sante Fe, and I think we are a little lower in Las Vegas, NM. When we come down, soon, I will be killing it, as I already feel like I am in much better shape than when I got here. We hit a high elevation of 7506 ft. today.
I had breakfast with Rick, the pharmacist from TX, who is in his 20 year of doing the tour yesterday. He is on staff as a mechanic, but rides a lot of days. He said you make it through the first week, and you are good, and you make it through the second week and you are set for the remainder of the tour. You will be able to handle everything that is thrown at you from here on out. I am feeling very good both mentally and physically. I bought some headphones for music once we hit Kansas. The funny thing is that there is so much to see that is visually stimulating, and talking with some of my fellow riders that I have yet to be bored, and want to listen to music.
As a side note, I am counting the rest days, as an actual day/stage number. So today is stage 16, 16 days on this tour, but we have had 2 rest days, so 14 total riding days. It is just easier to count everyday, and know how many rest days we have had (2) and will have (5) total.
We continued on a large amount of Route 66 today. Just great wide open roads with very little traffic. My knee got the much needed rest yesterday, and a call from an old friend, Randy Swift, threatened to do something ( not sure what, if you know Randy then you understand ) if I “wimped out”. ( Not sure “wimped out” was the exact word he used, LOL ). I am all good!
Here are some scenes from today.
Practicing taking a shadow shot in the early am with no traffic.
Wide open roads, with rolling hills.
Thought this looked like the typical old western post office in the spaghetti westerns.
Little old church
Pesos National Historical Park, see the background.
Rolling hills
Downtown Las Vegas, NM
A famous old hotel, Plaza Hotel in downtown Las Vegas.
A little data for my data geeks.
Here is the video with pictures added to it, https://www.relive.cc/view/1600463344
The next 2 days are big days, with tomorrow being around 110 miles, followed by 98 miles, so I need to rest and get hydrated.
Thank you for following along with me on this journey, and if you can please make a donation to the Children's Hospital below. 100% of your funds go to the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.
https://vanderbilt.ejoinme.org/bikeacrosstheusa
As a non-profit institution, the Children's Hospital provides care to the children who come through its' doors regardless of the family's ability to pay. Caring support from the community allows this level of service to continue.
Glad your knees were better; sounds like you have also adapted well to the high altitude. Take care.
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