Holbrook, Arizona to Gallup, New Mexico

Great day today!

(Yes, I do understand that was only a sentence fragment.)

Today involved an 88 mile ride over generally the same road conditions as yesterday. Somehow however, maybe due to a more favorable wind and fewer flat tires, today went very well.

The highway was every bit as rough surfaced and littered with fine debris as it had been yesterday, but fewer flats were had for the entire group. I had no flats today, a nice and welcome change from yesterday.

Today I started out feeling very strong. I made a point of staying near the front of the group, near the stronger riders. That went well. It is extra work to push harder than you need to, but the payoff is that of more miles behind you earlier in the day. The value of that cannot be overstated. Michel and I rode together, at least for the first 30 to 40 miles, and that was fun.

What really made today's ride so successful was a wonderfully favorable headwind. (I have learned to eschew the term "t***wind", that for purely superstitious reasons, and use instead the term "favorable headwind".) For effectively the whole day, we had a favorable headwind that was pushing us very powerfully. I found that I was doing 18 mph easily, even on uphill grades, and easily 22 mph on the level terrain. This was fun.

We crossed the Arizona/New Mexico state line at 71.6 miles from our start in Holbrook. Because of our wind conditions, with the associated good speed, I was at that state line crossing before noon! That felt great.

I can now add California and Arizona to Iowa and Wisconsin, on my list of US states that I have crossed completely on a bike, west-to-east.

I made it to Gallup, our destination for the day, at 12:45 PM. With the time change however, that abruptly became 1:45 PM. Whatever. Michel and I, and three other guys, walked the half mile to a deli, where we had sandwiches. The sandwiches were good. My clothes, water bottles, and bike are all washed out and ready for tomorrow. I think that I have adequate ambition now to consider taking a nap.

God! Could I make this blog post any more boring?

I wonder how all are doing back at home, back in the real world. I hope that all is well at work. I have no doubt that all is going well there, entirely in my absence. I hope that Julie is surviving still (I think that she only has a month left to go now, if I remember correctly). Her baby will probably arrive in La Crosse before I do.

Tomorrow will be a shorter day in mileage, but more climbing again. In fact, tomorrow will see the highest elevation on the entire trip, then when we cross the Continental Divide.

Should be fun.