May 2 – Rain

Today’s ride went from Tucumcari NM to Dalhart TX a miniscule 96 miles with almost no hills. On a good day with prevailing winds this would be a 4 hour dash. We could leave Tucumcari at 7 and get to Dalhart by noon, even with the loss of an hour due to changing time zones. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Some of you may have heard about the severe weather in New Mexico today, fortunately that was south of us. We just got rain and when the wind blew it was in our face. It took about 6 hours to do this ride and it rained on us for most of the day. Still it was a short day, just not the easy day we had hoped for. All of us would like an easy day before to long.

The rain today was a pleasant spring rain, an April shower that came 2 days to late. It would have been a very nice day if you had no pressing commitments, a good book to read and a friend to spend the day in bed with. It was even an OK day if you had a car and needed to run a few errands. What it was not good for was cycling 96 miles. Cycling in the rain is never fun but with the proper clothing it can often be tolerable. It took me three tries and about 50 miles to get it right. First rain paints were to warm today, so I took them off and used leg warmers. My legs got wet from the rain but not drenched from sweat. I also needed to find the right shirts to wear under my rain parka. Ultimately I determined that a thin wool layer (purchased in New Zealand) under a cycling jersey would be best.

I rode with Dave Thompson, my friend from Radnor, PA today. We got a little late start and were the last to finish although we probably rode faster than a third of the riders. He could have ridden faster and left me today but he didn’t, something that I truly appreciate. Since I now live in California and Dave splits his time between Florida and Ontario Canada, no one really believes that we knew each other before the ride.

During one rainier time we were passed by a freight train with empty coal cars. As out motel is right on the tracks in Dalhart, I suggested that we might hop on the train and get to Dalhart faster. During the day we passed that train two times as it was sitting on a siding waiting for another train to pass. Eventually, we lost sight of the train but as we returned from dinner at least four hours after we arrived we saw the train pull into Dalhart. It is good that we stayed on our bikes.

Coming into to Texas there was a sign welcoming us to Texas and proclaiming that Texas is proud to be the home state of President George Bush. It was enough to may me want to return to New Mexico. However, the road surface in Texas was much better than that in New Mexico. I suspect that this was due to political pork and that I need to thank either George or Tom Delay. Oh what a terrible position to be put into. Well tomorrow we will leave Texas cross Oklahoma and spend the night in Liberal, Kansas. I will keep you posted.