07.19 Las Vegas, NM

So I’ve had a terrible day and I figure I would write about it now while I’m still in a bad mood…just so you all get the right effect.

Let’s start with yesterday. Dalhart, TX to Mosquero, NM. Texas apparently didn’t want us to leave because the day began with hills and really strong headwinds (which lasted all day). I left with Team Tardy and we were in great moods singing and chatting, but it distracted me and I ran over something sharp and got a flat. Right in front of this ridiculous cattle farm…I now know why people are vegetarians. The landscape just looked like varying shades of brown, but when you looked closer you realized that it was cattle, penned up in ridiculous numbers. The smell was great too. So with the difficult roads and wind, it took us about 4.5 hours to get to first lunch, which was on the New Mexico state line, as well as at the time zone change (yay Mountain Time). The ride was just so rough…it was the first time that it crossed my mind that I wanted to get injured so that I could go home. Not a very good positive attitude. We keep saying that we’re miserable on the road, but we know it isn’t really true. The rides are just getting very difficult and it’s so hot and in the moment you just lose all sense of the awesome thing you are doing. Anyway, just so you all know, there is nothing in New Mexico. The scenery is gorgeous but there are no people. And no cell phone service, unless you have Cingular. After lunch, the route got all messed up and two different things happened. One group of people (the fast bunch) went an extra 20 miles (turning it into a 120 mile day) and my group (the slower bunch) went 12 miles on a loose gravel road (a total of 102 miles). Both situations were obviously not so great, especially since at mile 89 we hit the biggest hill yet. It was basically a plateau of sorts and we climbed switchback for 2 miles and gained 1000 feet. It was ridiculous. I went an average of 5 miles per hour. That’s slow enough that if feels like you could potentially fall over sideways. But the views and the feeling at the top were worth it. I wish I could have stopped and taken more pictures but I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to get going again. Anyway, we reached Mosquero, NM (a mile high!) around 8pm (which felt like 9pm for us). We stayed at the Municipal School which was K-12 and had 48 kids (crazy!). Dinner was made by the riders who were unfortunately in the van that day, and grilled cheese and tomato soup has never tasted so good.

Today started out late because we woke up at 5:30am instead of 4:30am and didn’t get on the road until almost 8am. The ride was much easier in the morning but still took forever. We hit a gorgeous downhill around mile 12 that was terrifying to go down. Delilah got a nasty flat at the bottom and we were fixing it for about an hour and due to the heat and hilly roads, again didn’t reach lunch until very late. After lunch went really slow too because it was hot hot hot and we were just exhausted from the day and yesterday. Two centuries (100 miles) in a row is just crazy. After lots of stops (including the only houses in sight to ask for water and bathrooms because it is so desolate), we reached mile 62 and the 4 mile switchback. I literally thought that I would have to walk my bike up the hill because I was so tired. But through some miracle, I made it up the hill at my 5 mph pace and up the 3 more mini hills after that to second lunch. I was in an awesome mood after that and ready for the next 30 miles. Unfortunately it was already 5:30pm by the time we left second lunch and it was doubtful we’d make it in before dark. Around 6:00 the van came around and told us we would probably have to be shuttled farther ahead in order to make dinner at the restaurant at 7pm. I was resigned to the fact that I would have to get picked up and the hills weren’t looking too friendly. So after another huge hill at mile 79, the van came around and I got in with 2 other riders. Other people refused, but I was told that I’d probably miss dinner and laundry if I didn’t get a ride. This however turned out not to be true because everyone else made it in with enough time to eat AND get their laundry done. Needless to say, I’m pissed because I could have ridden the last 15 miles. I know that it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things (what’s 15 miles out of 3600?). But I would rather have ridden in the van if I was sick or injured. So now I officially can’t say that I pedaled every mile, which I didn’t even care about until people started making it such a big deal. But it’s hard not to get emotional when you are this exhausted and on the line. So right now everyone else is in a great mood because they just rode two centuries in a row and I feel like a baby for having taken the van. But I just have to remember that it’s not about comparison and that it was the right decision for me at the time – it was late, I was tired and we still have 70 hard miles to climb tomorrow before Santa Fe and our day off (yay!). So I’m getting over it but I don’t want to talk to anyone right now. This isn’t something I would normally write about in this blog but I figured you would want all the details, however dark and dirty. I’m gonna go to bed and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.