April 29 – Continental Divide

Today’s ride was from Gallop NM to Albuquerque NM. (With words like Albuquerque spell checkers are great!) We started out early today because breakfast at Denny’s was 8 miles up a cold road, temperature at sunrise was 42. This was better than the lack of a breakfast we had yesterday because cook staff at the motel’s restraint failed to report to work. Do I believe that, no, but that was there story and they were sticking to it.

After filling up on pancakes and eggs I headed toward the Continental Divide. It was a very easy climb up I40. If there hadn’t been an overpass when we got off of I40 at the divide there would have been no significant climbing. However as this is the route taken by the Santa-Fe railroad, I40, and route 66 you might think that the civil engineers would have looked for an easy way to cross the divide. While the signs talk about water flowing to either the Pacific or Atlantic from this point, that is not quite true. Water on the western side will ultimately flow to the Colorado River which never makes it to Mexico, much less the Sea of Cortez. Water on the Eastern side flows into the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico. It is a small point, but it will not be until we get to New York State that we will have rivers that flow to the Atlantic Ocean. Not withstanding these small problems I had a friend take a picture of me in my GPC jersey standing at the Continental Divide.

While we joked that the ride would be all downhill from the Divide to Boston, it sure started out that way, 90 miles of a gradual decline toward Albuquerque. There was only one problem, headwinds! If you could get behind another rider and out of the wind it was not too bad, but if you were by yourself it was nasty. About half of those miles I was alone and hurting. The last 15 miles into Albuquerque involved a climb of 4 miles on route 66 and then 10 miles of downhill on Central Street into town. While our leader claims to have gone 50 mph down the hill, I didn’t get over 35. But it was fun just the same and I am here to tell you about it which I might not be if I had pushed the speed in today’s cross winds.

I have been asked for more pictures by some readers so here are a few of what northwestern New Mexico along route 66 looks like.

I hope that the saga of my wheel is over! There was a wheel for me when I arrived in Albuquerque and the mechanic was able to put my old free wheel onto the new wheel and install it on the bike. I will see what happens tomorrow as we head to Las Vegas, New Mexico. I suspect that Las Vegas New Mexico is not as exciting a place to visit as its name sake in Nevada. However with the abundance of Indian land there is no shortage of casinos in New Mexico.