Day 17: Las Vegas, NM to Tucumcari, NM

Distance: 109.79 miles

Elevation gain: 3,792 feet

Avg speed: 15.9 mph

Max speed: 44.2 mph

Moving time: 6:53:22

Just like last night, I find the hour growing late as I write this, so I will try to keep it brief tonight (without making it just a photo dump like I did a few times in the first week).

I did not go into this ride this morning expecting it to be as much work as it was, but today ended up being a tough one for me. I’m not entirely sure why, as my legs felt great in the morning. Perhaps I pushed myself a little too hard in the early miles, underestimating the impact of the length of the ride, or perhaps it is just the cumulative stress on my body of riding more miles day after day than I’ve ever done before. In any event, although I found the last 25 to 30 miles to be quite a slog, I was determined to complete this ride. After dinner though, I was feeling tired and decided to lay down for a half hour or so just as I have done for several nights already. When I went to get into bed though, my right hamstring cramped up quite painfully! I managed to walk it off, and took extra electrolytes and drank plenty of fluids in the event that either of those was the cause of the cramp, but a nap tonight just wasn’t in the cards for me. 

I took several great pictures today (and stole many more from our photo-sharing group), but the one I’d like to lead off with was a picture I took at the first SAG stop. It was at an old abandoned gas station which had been used in the filming of the movie, “No Country for Old Men.” (I’ve never seen it, but now I have reason to watch it)

Shortly after that SAG stop, we encountered an absolutely SCREAMING descent down a mountain road which was an absolute blast!

(For those of you who have never seen one of these contraptions before, such as myself, this is a cattle guard. Cows are unable to walk over them due to the wide gaps between the slats that run perpendicular to the road. They CAN be a hazard for bicycles, but only if you don’t cross them perpendicular to the gaps.)

The second SAG (or maybe it was the third, I can’t remember now) was at a beautiful area along the Canadian Escarpment. 

We also came upon a couple of challenging climbs, including this one at around the 65 to 70 mile mark:

And, of course, there were various other sights today as well:

An action shot from today’s ride

And, of course, as usual I made a video of today’s ride:

Anyway, that’s all for tonight. Time to pack for tomorrow and hit the sack. Tomorrow is our third state line crossing - we head into Texas!