April 30 – Albuquerque to No Where

Today’s ride was supposed to go from Albuquerque to Las Vegas NM, by way of NM 15 and I25. For me it ended at the start of the freeway. This day has been called the hardest on the trip. That descriptor has been used for two other days last week and just last week before yesterday’s ride two leaders told me that the only other hard climbing day would be in Missouri. Let’s be clear boys and girls here can only be one hardest day.

Let’s see what went wrong today. First at 5:30 it was relatively warm in Albuquerque, enough to make riding without arm or leg warmers or a wind vest seem very reasonable. I took warmers and a wind vest and after the first climb from 5000 to 7000 feet I would have liked to have something else to wear. NM15 is a very pretty road but has some big climbs after the climb out of Albuquerque before it ends at Santa Fe.

It would have been helpful to have had more information before today’s breakfast, but that is the way this trip works we get route sheets and information about the day’s ride at breakfast. Today breakfast was disorganized because the restaurant’s morning staff had not been told to expect 30 hungry cyclists at 5:30. In addition, the route sheets went missing and new ones had to be copied while we waited for our meals. I thought that today’s oral description of the route and weather was poor at best, but I understand why.

Yesterday I replaced the worn out cleats on my shoes with new ones. This requires some precise alignment in order not to cause injury to your knee. I am not sure if I got it right because both my right ankle and knee hurt and are being iced as I compose. I will check that tonight. The problems with my joints were the major reason why I stopped riding today, that combined with the fact that I was having trouble keeping up with even the slowest riders. I am also having some numbness in my left hand, it is not bad but I have put a kitchen sponge on my handle bars to help ease the pressure.

Today’s ride was 135 miles long. Sometimes I don’t appreciate how far we ride when I ride my bicycle. Today I rode the second half of the ride in a van, it was a surprisingly long ride. I also waited at a rest stop for riders we had passed on the road to arrive, it took a very long time. The perspective of distance for bicycle riders is different from that of people in a riding in a car, but I don’t think long distance cyclists really see how far they go each day. (We also get a different perspective of distance each night at or motel when we ask for directions to someplace to eat; some place we can walk to.)

Since I got in early with the luggage van I helped unload, got to my room, took a shower and went with the staff to Wal-Mart. I bought some tape for my ankle, which is now shaven, and an ice bag. Barbara the rest stop coordinator bought lunch and sag stop supplies for two days – two carts full. Items occasionally were purchased in 4’s, but 10’ and 15’s the norm. At check out it was nerve wracking to have a checker who ring up each item separately instead of scanning one item and multiplying by n. When she wanted to put each jar of pickles into a separate bag Barbara had a hard time controlling her frustration. But eventually we got it all into the van. It is surprising to be presented with the food that 30 cyclists will consume for lunch and snacks.

I have often ridden by a large field of, say, spinach and thought that there should be enough spinach in that field to feed everyone in the US. Or spotted a semi from Lays Potato Chips and wondered who could eat all those chips. I know I am mistaken but the scale of our consumption never ceases to amaze me. I suspect that the fields of Kansas and Missouri and Illinois and Indiana and Ohio will make me wonder once again where does all that food go?

I hope tomorrow is a better day for me and as we have two relatively easy days ahead of us I can recover.