Bike Ride to Las Vegas (New Mexico)

This morning we started out on our almost century ride with the promise of some great views and a canyons which we would bike into and then back out of.

For the second morning in a row, and after a long hot day of riding, everyone was on the struggle bus to get out the door. Holly, Alex and I rode out together and for the first time on the trip I, like many other people, felt like I was going to fall asleep on the ride.

The first portion was not too bad with rolling hills the entire way to the town of Roy. As we approached the town we saw signs for Mills Canyon and started our descent. The hill down was nothing special, but we were pleased enough that we did not have to peddle too much and could just coast. Little did we know at the time that this was not the descent we were told about. A few miles down the road we saw a sign warning us of an 8% grade down into the Canyon. One by one we handed off. At first the rate was not too bad, but once we got going we were going. I hit a max speed of 43mph which is the fastest I have ever done on a bike before. The view down was great and had I not been traveling down so quickly I would have tried to take some video.

 

Now the one thing we have learned on this bike trip of ours is that what goes down, must come back up. The view up and out of the Canyon was no as bad as the hill from yesterday. It is funny how easy biking out of a canyon can be when you have not done 70 miles in 110* weather. The view from the top was equally as amazing.

From there it was all aboard the struggles bus and twenty miles down the road we came across the first gas station we have seen in miles. Holly and I decided a nap was a much needed order of business so we headed to the islands between the pumps and passed out for a solid nap. Feeling slightly energized post nap we were able to get some good miles under our belt before the rain hit and the wind picked up. There were some serious rolling hills we had to conquer before second lunch.

 

After second lunch it was a whole different story. The winds had picked up tremendously and we were biking up hill into a headwind and a crosswind. Alex very kindly volunteered to pull us through the wind. We might have been going a max of 7 mph which goes to show you how windy it actually was out there. The one good thing about this was that we had tons of time look around. The mountains were all these ray shapes of blue and no joke there were amber waves of grain underneath them - so Americana.

 

Unfortunately after our super long ride we were all looking forward to getting to the host and eating dinner. Once we arrived we learned that dinner was not provided by the host and we only had five pizzas and a tray of Mexican lasagna i.e. not enough food for super hungry bikers. There was a bit of a mutiny, we all ate one slice of pizza and then and then headed off to Sonic to grab some much needed dinner. The people there were great and offered us the service discount, something they usually give to police, firefighters, etc. The walk back seemed wicked long, even though it was just down the road. When we arrived we were happy to see the final few riders had arrived - it was every person for themselves.

During the day I came to realize that my tire was in bad, bad shape. After 2800 miles the rubber had worn down pretty badly and in some sections all that was left was the hard case. As a result Holly and I decided to duct tape the inside of our tires with the hopes that we would be able to arrive to Santa Fe without too m any flats.

A lot of us were pretty done after our ride and turned in early. With the 6 am wake up call a lot of us would be able to get in a solid eight hours which would be a game changer and help get up to our next host.

 

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Towns Out West

Back when we were in Memphus a group of us were able to talk to some locals about the layout of towns across Texas. Most towns are about thirty miles apart becaus that was the distance that a coach could travel back in theday's before trains. As train transportation became more popular for moving freight across the southwest stations like this one would be built in towns. Smaller towns, most which have been deserted now, popped up to serve as short rest stops for travelers.

Over the next few weeks we will becoming into some pretty desolate territory with towns as much as 80 miles apart from each other; that also means no gas stations to fill up water bottles or DQ to grab a milkshake. During the first few days, 40 miles seemed pretty distant, but as the days go on I am becoming more accustomed to the vast space that surrounds us and the only car we see for miles is our van.

Bike Ride to Mosquero

Clayton to Mosquero: 91.3 miles

Total mileage: 2181.1

As we start to head into the heat we will be getting up earlier to try and get into the host sooner. This morning we had a 4am wake up call, 4:30 bins out and a 5:45 departure time from our host. Now 4 am seems a bit early, bu thankfully we were just coming off Central time so it was really like getting up at 5. Sadly none of these pictures do the vista any justice.

The morning air was, dare I say it, a bit chilly and the perfect tempature to get things going. Nate and I were riding as a duo and pretty much flew through the first 28 miles of our ride. The scenery was wonderful, the sun was coming up over the planes, good conversation, pretty good roads, some wildlife ... Pretty much everything you could hope for and more in a morning ride.

One of the nice things about being out so far is that there is little to no cell phone/3G service which means no distractions.

One of the reasons we were crushing it was because today we hit the official 2000 mile mark. Now you may be asking yourself, Emily didn't you do that a couple days ago? While my personal milege hit 2000 today the group hit the 2000 mile mark as per our Bike and Build website. Marcus and Ben hit the road early with the hopes of reaching the marker and leaving some awsome chalk. It was EPIC.

The ride to first and second lunch was pretty chill; a bit of wind, but nothing awful. We did have a coasting contest to see who could coast down the furthers without peddling down the hills - it is the little things to pass the time.

All day we had been building up to a big hill climb. The plateau we had climbed up all day would drop into a valley and then we would have to climbs up to the same elevation. I had prepared for the worst thinking that the 700 foot climb would be 6-7 percent over 7 miles, but it turned out only to be over 2.5 which was nice. I did stop a couple of times to get some pictures and rest my legs a bit. The best was that before the last quarter of a mile a couple of people had chalked and were changing a flat and cheering as we slowly made our way up the final part of the hill.

From the top of the hill we had about eight miles to go, but we were all super pumped and ready to get into the host. What was getting us there was the hopes of a shower, snack and a nap. As we rolled into town we saw a coffee shop and decided to abandoned all plans and get coffee. Sadly it was not open, but I did get to see some great murals and we all know how much I love a good mural.

After dinner a bunch of us headed up to the roof to watch the sunset. One of the best ways to wrap up the day is to hang out with some people on the roof of your host, chat about the day, how surreal life is and how you wish you could just do this forever.

 

Bike Ride to Clayton, NEW MEXICO

Dalhart to Clayton: 48.6 miles

Total mileage: 2089.8

 

This morning we were woken up at 5am sharp, unfortunately, due to some loud music from the other group. Thankfully Maggie dragged herself out of bed to ask them to turn it off and we were able to doze for another hour - the joy of a short day.

 

Before the SC2SC crew headed off we were able to get them to join in a dance video. As our group started to head out on the road, Marcus' pretty much exploded so we waited for him to change it end just as we were saddling up to leave the front one went. We (Jay, Nate and myself) were not too concerned because we had a short riding and tons of time to kill.

 

The ride out of town was flat and with not too much wind which made it easy to enjoy the scenery and chat. Lunch was at mile 30 and I had a bomb bagel sandwich (there is nothing better in life than a bagel sandwich). The rest of the afternoon was set up really well because we would have eight miles to the state line and then another eight into town. Unfortunately I had a flat about agile out of lunch, but that definitely did not slow down the group. When we hit The he major city I will be investing in some new tires because after all the training and riding mine are pretty bald.

 

First picture opportunity was in front of the tome one change line. We were all determined to find this one because we missed the one into Central time which was DEVASTATING.

We then biked about 100 feet and then stopped for the New Mexico sign.

Once we hit the host we waited around until three so we could van down the National Guard. All I will say about that is cold group showers. We did, however, stop by a local 100+ year saloon for a beer complete with swinging doors. I got a local wheat beer which was the perfect way to wrap up an awesome ride into New Mexico.

 

We had a lot of time to kill before dinner so I headed "downtown" to checkout some of the local shops. Not touch going on on a Thursday afternoon and it made me appreciate how many things my small town has.

Bike Ride to Dalhart

Amarillo to Dalhart: 81.3 miles

Total mileage: 2041.2 miles

We were off to slow start this morning, weighed down by some Texas sized pancakes. Nate, Marcus and I headed off into the cool morning and quickly got lost. One of our turns was poorly marked and we ended up missing it, as did most of the group. We plotted a new route to get back on track and sadly we were treated by a mamajama hill. From there we were hit with headwinds, hills and a temperature which was steadily increasing. I will not lie, at mile ten I was starting to get nervous that we would be facing all these things as the day wore on.

Thankfully as we got a little higher in elevation and turned around a bend (after stopping to fix my flat) the conditions got much better and the bike ride became a lot of fun. The ride into Amarillo was extremely hilly and throughout the course of the day we gained something like 1700 feet. As we were riding out we did encounter some hills, but there were definitely a couple of ones which were more downhill than up. As we cruised down at 39 mph we had a great view for miles.

 

Flat number two went to Marcus who was able to power up a hill and get us to a plateau before it burst.

A couple of miles out from first lunch we came across this very random metal dinosaur.

 

While the road throughout the day had some hairy moments, after lunch we had a super close call with a vey large RV going about 70 down the highway. HereI should mention that we take a lot of two lane highways, but usually the speed limit is much lower. Had one of us stuck out our elbow it would have probably been taken off by the RV; it was definitely the closest call I have had on the trip thus far.

After lunch the temperature defeats over 100 easily and there were a couple of hills. As we climbed who only knows what number hill, Nate called out that we had reached our crusing altitude for a while because he could see a consistant string of powers lines. Once we got to the top we saw a town in the distance, what we named the promised land, and headed straight for it because surely we would be able to find ice cream and/or some air conditioning ... Two very important finds on a day like today.

As we arrived in the outskirts of town we saw a small restaurant and two bikers heading out who told us we could find ice and some great postcards. No more needed to be said, we were sold. We ended up hanging for an hour and a half. I just had some Gatorade and the boys split a Pint of red velvet ice cream which was pretty amazing (I was granted a bite).

 

As we were leaving there was a TERRIFIC tailwind and the in pain train was cruising. For the first time all three of us remembered what it was like to ride a bike. Before we knew it we were at second lunch where we stopped for refills a couple of snacks and then hit the road to soak up as much of the tailwind as we possibly could.

 

If you remember back to the first posting about the pain train, Marcus gets things started slowly around 13-14 mph and then slowly cranks you up to anywhere between 23 and 25 mph; it really is amazing because you don't even notice the change in speed. Well we decided to see what we could make of our final twenty miles and thanks to a tricky drafting move called an estulan we were able to move. Sadly a few miles out of town Marcus' tire blew but did so conveniently in front of a cattle farm. A couple of kids ran out, followed by their parents, to make sure we were okay and offer us some waters. Turns out that some of their friends had just left for our host because they were going to help cook dinner.

 

After we were patched and ready to go, this time with sweep because they had caught up, we only lasted a few minutes because to our right was the largest set of stacked hay we had ever seen. The were four rows of hay and the end was in a perfect stair formation which allowed us to get a sick picture and dance video thanks to Marcus' tripod. while this picture does not do it justice, this is thier from the very top row of hay.

 

We were very delayed in getting to dinner because Nate went through several tubes and then Marcus lost another one as well. A good time as had on the side of the road singing, taking pictures and pretty much just being delirious because of the heat and lack of shade.

 

The awesome part about our host tonight is the fact that we would be meeting up with another Bike and Build group, the South Carolina to Santa Cruz route. Sadly they had had a hard ride, the tailwind we had we their headwind, so everyone was pretty tired by the time we all arrived and sat down to dinner, but we did get to swap some stories before we all turned in for the night.

 

Day Off in Amarillo

Days off are a glorious treat in the Bike and Build world where there is no inking and no building involved. After hearing from several people about the canyon in Canyon, TX a group of us decided that we couldn't turn up the opportunity to visit the Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the United States. Several people suggested that we get there early because the temperature quickly soars above 110* easily.

 

After weeks of waking up before the crack of dawn I sadly was not able to sleep in and after laying on my Thermarest made the jump to get out of bed and go out for some coffee. By 6:30 we are usually on the road with breakfast in our stomachs so I woke up starving. Two hours later fifteen of us were crammed into the van and heading down the road to Palo Duro. We were able to DM a reduced park entrance fee and I definitely felt like I got my $3 worth.

After surveying the map we headed to the visitors center to snag some postcards, something which is pretty hard considering the majority of our riding is through small towns. From there it was off to do some hiking. We decided to pick a fairly easy trail because of the warm temperatures and the fact that this was supposed to be our day off from nothing too strenuous.

 

The drive to our trail head was beautiful and we were all super impressed with the expansive vistas. It is strange that for miles and miles around all they have are flat prairie lands and then out of no where comes the canyon.

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent writing postcards, patching tubes and basically vegging out which was super nice. A lot of people got caught up with blogs and posting pictures - I am sure that some of you may have noticed my mug was tagged several times.

 

For dinner tonight we were hosted by the parents of a SUS rider from last year. After we had wrapped up, we headed over to Cadillac Ranch which is made up of several cars planted into the ground in the middle of a large field. The cool thing is that everyone is encouraged to bring spray paint and they can tag anything they want on the cars. Our route had a lot of fun and got some great pictures as the sun was setting over the field - very Bike and Build.

 

Tagging my enitials on a car ... Rebel rebel

Me, Alex and Holly - 3/4 of the Half and Half chore group

Group shot