Day 41: San Lorenzo, NM to Oak Grove, NM

Daily Miles: 33.2 Total Miles: 2225.6

Santa Rita Copper Mine

Today was just one of those days where nothing seemed to go right. As we headed back out to San Lorenzo this morning and I mentioned the road looked flat and Mary said, "Yeah, I don't remember this at all." Well, that was because we missed a turn and had gone about 10 miles on the wrong road. We had to double back to get on the right road, so, despite leaving the hotel around 8:30, it was 9:30am before I started my ride. And once I started I immediately started climbing again. Over the first 2 miles I climbed around 800', then descended a bit before climbing 400' more by mile 6. From there the route featured more smaller climbs and descents. After about 12 miles I passed by the Santa Rita Copper Mine, a very interesting sight. The mine was huge and still operational.

Up and into the wind

After that I had a fairly tame descent into Silver City, 22 miles into the day. I met up with Mary for lunch at the Curious Kumquat, an interesting restaurant serving almost entirely locally farmed/foraged/produced foods. It was very yummy, but as we were eating I checked Weather.com and confirmed what I already knew to be true. For the rest of my ride south to Lordsburg, I would be riding head-first into a 20+ MPH wind. Maybe it won't be that bad, I thought, since I'll be climbing quite a bit and then once I get to the Continental Divide it would be mainly downhill. I was wrong.

Reunited with the Big Guy

As I left Silver City I had a little climb that was mainly shielded from the wind followed by an intensely frightening downhill into a punishing wind. I really thought I was going to get blown over. Then things went from bad to worse. I started a 4 mile, 700' climb right into the wind. I had previously mistakenly thought that I couldn't have a headwind when I was climbing because the hill in front of me would block the wind. I was very, very wrong. This was without a doubt the worst 4 miles of my trip. I was in my lowest gear and struggling for every inch. I finally made it to the top, and told Mary I was done for the day. She suggested I ride the 2-miles downhill into the next "town", which I decided to do before calling it a day. We packed up my bike, I changed out of my bike clothes, and we drove the 2.5 hours back to El Paso to meet up with Dad. It's great getting to see him! We went out to dinner again at Track One, and now we're getting ready for bed. Tomorrow I'm heading to the airport early to head to my conference in Dallas. I probably won't be updating the blog again until Saturday when we get back on the road.

Day 40: Caballo, NM to San Lorenzo, NM

Daily Miles: 51.4 Total Miles: 2192.4

Starting the day

Today was a BIG, but very good day! We woke up early, ate leftover pizza, and then drove back to Caballo to start the ride. I was on the road by 9am and immediately started up a gentle climb. In my head I divided my day into three sections. The first 17 miles from Caballo to Hillsboro was the warm-up. I climbed about 1000-1200', but the grades were fairly gentle and the scenery was beautiful. As I was slowly rolling along a German couple, also riding the Southern Tier, caught up with me and we briefly stopped and chatted. It turns out Mary had met them a few weeks ago in Texas Hill Country. I was ahead of them, but they made the executive decision to rent a U-Haul, throw their bikes and gear inside, and drive from Del Rio to El Paso. I told them that was the best decision of their lives.

Gathering of cyclists in Hillsboro

I pulled out ahead of them today and before I knew it I had reached Hillsboro. I stopped there to eat a snack and chat with Mary. While we were waiting a couple from South Carolina on a tandem bike showed up. They had met the German couple on the road and were travelling with them. We had a nice chat with the two of them and a 68-year old local cyclist who loves to compete in races. The local cyclist told us she didn't start racing until age 63. There's still hope for Mary!! After saying goodbye it was time to tackle section #2 of the day, the big boy.

The view from 8228'

I had to ride 17 miles from Hillsboro to the highest elevation of my trip, Emory Pass, climbing to 8228'. The first 9 miles were to Kingston, and although I was climbing, I was still in the foothills and only gained around 1000'. From Kingston, the real climb started. It was tough, but definitely manageable. I will say that I have never sweated so much in my life. By the time I finally struggled to the top I was completely soaked, but the feeling, like the view, was incredible. I stopped by the lookout point and ate lunch with Mary. It was a very cool accomplishment and now I can definitely say that I would rather climb a mountain than ride into a headwind.

Celebrating at the top of Emory Pass

After about an hour I headed off once again to tackled the third, and by far easiest section of the day, the descent to San Lorenzo. While the ride down was much less challenging, it was by no means easy. The road down featured very poorly paved roads and multiple hairpin turns, cautioning cars to keep their speed below 10MPH. It was also FREEZING cold. My clothes and helmet were still soaked from the ride up, so I rode down from Emory Pass with my teeth chattering. After about 6 miles of cautious descent, I once again faced a big climb. What the heck?!?!?! There were another 3.5 miles of up and down (but mainly up), before I finally hit the real descent to the Mimbres River near San Lorenzo. Once I reached the turn-off for San Lorenzo, I had another mile to climb before reaching today's stopping point.

The hair-raising descent from Emory Pass

When all was said and done I had climbed 5128' over today's 51 miles. And lived to tell about it. Tomorrow promises some more big climbs over the 24 miles to Silver City, and then rolling hills and a big descent into Lordsburg, where I hope to finish tomorrow's ride. After tomorrow's ride Mary and I are driving back to El Paso to pick up my dad, Jay, who will be joining us for the next week. I will also be flying to Dallas on Thursday for a two day conference with my old employer, so we'll be taking a 3 day break after tomorrow's ride. We are really excited for dad's visit and we look forward to continuing this great adventure with him.

Day 39: Las Cruces, NM to Caballo, NM

Daily Miles: 62.7 Total Miles 2141.0

Farms and mountains

Today was another excellent day! We once again slept in a little, I had my leftover spaghetti and meatballs for breakfast, and then around 9:40 I hit the road. I was heading pretty much due north today and was lucky to have a light side to tailwind the whole day with a very gradual 700' elevation gain. I quickly rode out of Las Cruces without having to battle any of the stressful traffic I faced yesterday in El Paso. The roads were really good and before long I found myself rolling along through beautiful farmland flanked on each side by huge mountains. For much of today's ride I was riding along side the Rio Grande and I even crossed it a few times.

The prettiest view of the Rio Grande we've seen so far

 Today's route passed through lots of small towns, so I always had something to look forward to every couple of miles. I met up with Mary 38 miles into the ride in the very interesting town of Hatch. Hatch is the heart of New Mexico chile pepper farming country and there were chiles for sale everywhere! It was pretty cool. We ate at Sparky's Restaurant, a kitschy treasure-trove, home of the world famous green chile burger. We both ordered green chile patty melts with pepper jack cheese and they were delicious and SPICY. Soooo good.

Sparky's. In all of it's glory.

I had to lie motionless in the car for a few minutes after lunch in an attempt to digest some my food before getting back on the bike. Totally worth it though. In the last 25 miles of the day I passed through 4 more small towns, and past one enormous, very malodorous dairy farm before reaching the very pretty Caballo Lake State Park. Today I stopped in Caballo at the route's intersection with State Road 152 where I will start tomorrow's eastward climb over the mountains. I am starting tomorrow's ride at 4303' and when I finish the ~50 mile ride I will have crossed the summit of Emory Pass, the highest point on my trip, standing at 8228'.

Hate to ruin the surprise but you're all getting chiles for x-mas

Needless to say, I'm more than a little nervous. Tonight, Mary and I made the excellent decision to drive another ~14 miles north to stay the night in Truth or Consequences, NM, a very interesting spa/resort town and also the future home to America's spaceport where commercial flights into space will launch. We found a steal of a deal hotel, where for $60 (including tax) we got a night's stay and an hour long mineral bath soak for each of us. We hopped in those baths as soon as we arrived and they were AMAZING. We now feel rested, rejuvenated, and much less sore. Right now we're getting ready for a pizza dinner and taking advantage of the restaurant's wi-fi. Wish us luck for tomorrow, it's going to be a big day!

Day 38: El Paso, TX to Las Cruces, NM

Daily Miles: 52.3 Total Miles: 2078.3

Easter breakfast with Jackie

Happy Easter! We made it out of Texas!!! Today Mary and I had a great, very unique day. We started it out by sleeping in a little, then picking up my Honduran friend Jackie and going out to a pretty good Mexican breakfast. It was really great getting to catch up with Jackie and hear all about her experience living and studying in the US for the past 9 months. After breakfast we dropped her back off and then returned to the hotel to pack up and check out.

Alpacas give the best hugs

I hit the road at 11:30am and for the first 5 miles enjoyed a nice, relaxing, traffic-free ride though downtown El Paso. I rode under the big bridge crossing in to Juarez, Mexico and all through the very cute downtown area. After making it through town I turned on to Mesa Street, the road heading north to New Mexico, and immediately had to get to work. I faced a 500'+ climb to get up and out of the city on a very, very busy street with no shoulder and tons of traffic lights.

Little baby alpaca... so cute!

There were a lot of up and downs while climbing and every single time I came down a hill with momentum I got stopped at a traffic light right at the bottom and then had to start the next climb from a dead stop. It was pretty stressful, but the climbing only lasted about 5 miles, however the traffic lasted a bit longer. Today was Easter Sunday and I felt very stressed out by the traffic, I can't imagine riding this route on a normal day. Once I finally made it out of the El Paso urban sprawl, I was riding smoothly on very nice roads with a little tail wind and anxiously awaiting the New Mexico state line. I rode on and on waiting for the line, and after making a turn, I had a sneaking suspicion that there was no state line sign.

Great pic of Bruce and me

22 miles into my ride, I saw a man out by the road in front of his house so I stopped to ask him if I was already in New Mexico. He told me that his property was 90% in New Mexico and 10% in Texas and that I was already in New Mexico and wouldn't be crossing back over in to Texas. So I didn't get a picture with the Welcome to New Mexico sign, but Mary and I ended up getting something far better. I continued to talk to this guy, Bruce, he got on the phone with Mary to make sure she wan't lost, and then he said, "Well, you guys are going to have to come in to see the alpacas." And like anyone in their right mind we said, "We'd love to see the alpacas." We ended up spending over an hour at Bruce's place, playing with the over 50 alpacas he has, checking out the llamas, and learning all the ins and outs of the alpaca business.

Hello there, mister

It was AWESOME. They were the cutest things I've ever seen in my life, there was a little precious baby alpaca, and Bruce was just so fun and interesting to talk to. I have decided that I am only going to wear clothing made out of alpaca fur from now on. They are so soft! It was such a nice experience. We finally had to pull ourselves away and get back on the road. The last 30 miles of the ride went very smoothly. The roads were nice and flat with a slight tailwind.

Crossing the Rio Grande

We rode by more pecan farms, including the largest pecan farm in the world, and we also crossed the Rio Grande. Before I knew it we were at the hotel and another day's ride was in the books. We went out to a nice Easter dinner at Olive Garden and we're looking forward to exploring more of New Mexico in the upcoming days!

Day 37: Sierra Blanca, TX to El Paso, TX

Daily Miles: 81.9 Total Miles: 2026

Pecans to my left. Trains to my right.

After the rough day yesterday, I'm very happy to report that today was a great one. Mary and I received a lovely 5:45am wake-up call when my friend Anita, who is getting her Masters in Italy, Skyped me. Apparently as long as I have an Internet connection, the Skype on my iPhone shows that I am online and free to chat. It was great catching up with Anita, but I'm going to have to change that setting. Mary and I both went back to sleep a bit after the call before waking up, and grabbing coffee and breakfast at Subway. I got on the road this morning before 8:45am and was immediately having a better ride. I made it the 8 miles on the Frontage Road back to Exit 99 in no time, and then I had to get back on the Interstate for about 21 miles.

In front of Street's farm. The mountains are in Mexico.

There was far less traffic today, and there was an approximately 1000' descent. I was rolling along really well at one point averaging 19.9 MPH over a 5 mile stretch. Before I knew it I had safely reached my exit, and rejoined the ACA route, riding West on State Road 20. I rode on a few more miles, to Ft. Hancock (~35 miles into the day), and ate a snack while waiting on Mary. While waiting I met a really nice man named Street. He lived across the street from the post office where I was waiting and he and his family own and operate over 30,000 acres of alfalfa and cotton farms in the area. His property goes right to the Mexican border (about .25 miles from where we were standing), and a portion of the border fence ends right behind his house. It was interesting to talk to him and get his perspective on life in a border town.

One of the train cars at Track One

Street had just started bicycling himself (he said he hadn't been on a bike in 50 years) and he had lots of questions about my bike and my trip. It was fun talking to him and soon Mary showed up and we all chatted a bit. I headed off again and within a few minutes who did I see biking up the road, but Street himself! He went home to drop off his car to ride his bike to lunch. He had a sweet 30+ year old fixed gear cruising bike, and he tried to see if he could keep up with my pace. He could not, but he put in a valiant effort. It was great meeting him and I wish him the best on his future cycling adventures! I continued on another ~24 miles to Fabens where I met up with Mary again to eat a sandwich and chips she had bought for me in Sierra Blanca. We had planned on staying in Fabens, but I still felt fine, and it was only 2pm.

Another view of the unique Track One restaurant

They say that you should make hay while the sun shines, and I now know I have to make miles while the wind is at my back (or at least not right in my face). I decided to go on another ~23 miles in to El Paso where there were far more (and nicer) hotels and food options. I was rolling along nicely, through lots of pecan farms until I reached the suburb of Socorro. This area was an awful, crowded strip mall of a town with terrible roads and minimal shoulders. I made slow progress to the El Paso county line where the road improved and traffic actually died down, but by then I was riding into a head wind. Great. It slowed down my 14+ MPH pace of the day, but it wasn't as terrible as the past few bad rides. Traffic ebbed and flowed and there were lots of stop lights, but I made it to my meet-up spot with Mary safe and sound. We found a nice hotel by the airport and had a great dinner at Track One, a really good restaurant housed inside of old train cars. We had great wings and kabobs and definitely recommend the place. Tomorrow since I have fewer miles to go we are going out to an Easter breakfast, and we've invited my Honduran friend Jackie. Jackie is from Corquin (the village I lived in in Honduras) and has been living and studying in El Paso for  the past 10 months. I'm looking forward to tomorrow: getting to see Jackie, enjoying Easter with her and mom, and FINALLY leaving Texas and crossing the New Mexico state line!

Day 36: South of Van Horn, TX to Sierra Blanca, TX

Daily Miles: 53.2 Total Miles: 1944.1

Huge pecan farm on the way to Van Horn

What do you get when you combine a flat tire, punishing head winds, steady climbing, a near death experience while riding a bicycle down the Interstate, and the resurgence of a previously-dormant, stabbing-stomach-pain inducing, banana allergy? You get a bad day. A very bad day. I almost don't even want to go into the details, but here it goes. As I was pumping up my back tire this morning at around 8:15am, I got another flat, exactly like the one in Kountze. I now think that my floor pump is causing these strange flats.

Almost at the top of the Van Horn mountains

It grips on to the valve very tightly and I have to exert a ton of force to detatch the pump from the valve, and I think the force I have to use slowly rips a hole in the tube. Just like the last flat there was a small hole right where the valve attaches to the tube. The only good news is that I'm getting faster at changing flats. Once all of that was said and done and we drove back out to yesterday's stopping point it was 9:40am before I hit the road. I enjoyed 2 miles of no wind before it mightily kicked up. Even though I had eaten breakfast at the 7.5 mile mark I was absolutely starving and pulled over to eat an apple, banana, and a Clif bar.

Finally in Mountain Time. Now when will Texas end?

Mary headed back to the hotel and I told her I would eventually meet her back in Van Horn (~20 miles in to the day). About 30 minutes later I was hit with a stabbing stomach pain. This happened one day last week, and it wasn't until today that I tied it to the banana. I had this same issue years ago, and just stopped eating bananas and never had the pain again. While living in Honduras I started eating tons of bananas again (since there were only like 10 foods available where I lived), I had no issues and assumed I had gotten over the allergy. Not the case. I'm thinking they put something on bananas here in the States to keep them fresh or something and that's what I'm actually reacting to. Who knows. I do know that the extreme pain lasted like 2 hours before finally going away.

Cool picture of a train parked by the mountains

I finally got back to Van Horn and forced myself to eat something with Mary at Wendy's before tackling the last, services-free 40 miles of the day. Once I ate and rested, I headed out again, this time westbound on I-10, because there are exactly 0 other east-west roads in this part of the country. I immediately started climbing the Van Horn mountains, into the wind, and was scooting along at a blazing 8 MPH as hundreds of cars and 18-wheelers blew by me at 80-90 MPH. It wasn't long before I crossed into the Mountain Time Zone, extending this terrible day an extra hour.

Finally safe and sound on the empty frontage road

Once I got over the mountains, I had a little descent, and while I was going downhill into the strong wind, I got blasted by a stiff sidewind from a huge passing RV. The two winds pushed me in opposite directions and I briefly lost control of my steering and almost went careening onto road. That was the final straw. I was scared to death, and immediately exited off of the Interstate and on to a barely paved frontage road that I took on to Sierra Blanca. Originally, I was going to go 8 miles further to Exit 99, but once I battled the headwinds and rough roads to Sierra Blanca, I was done for the day. I checked the weather when I got in and I had been riding into a 22 MPH wind. The winds tomorrow look to be just as strong, but there is a brief window when they should be blowing from the east, and otherwise from the southwest. I will be heading mainly northwest, so I should be able to avoid headwinds for most of the day. I hope. One redeeming part of this day was the very nice dinner we had at the Diamondback Cafe, the only bright spot in the sadly deteriorated town of Sierra Blanca. Now we're finally enjoying our extra hour back in the room and looking forward to a good night's rest.

Day 35: Alpine, TX to south of Van Horn, TX

Daily Miles: 80.6 Total Miles: 1890.9

Mountains riding out of Alpine

Today was a great day of big miles! We are finally back on track! Today I was determined to wake up and hit the road early to get ahead of the winds. The winds were forecasted to be starting from the due west and then moving southwesternly and, as always, they would get stronger as the day continued on. I was heading 25 miles west to Marfa before turning to the north, and knew that I needed to get to Marfa before the wind really kicked up. I was on the road by 8:15am and despite the initial climb out of Alpine I was making good time. There was some interesting scenery between Alpine and Marfa, big rocky mountains that seemed to come out of nowhere and just as quickly disappear into the desolate desert that I rode through for most of the day.

The scenery for the rest of the day

Apparently Marfa was a nearly-dead cow town several years ago when a Southwestern artist moved to town, bought up a bunch of land, and transformed it into an artistic mecca of sorts. I wasn't in town long enough to confirm or deny it's artistic charm, but I did note that, like many other small Texas towns I've ridden through, it had not one, but two Dairy Queens. On the same street. Marfa is also turning in to a big movie location, they recently shot No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood near Marfa. The scenery definitely looks exactly like every Western movie you've ever seen. Pretty cool.

Prada Marfa

By the time I met up with Mary for the first rest stop around 11:45am, I had already knocked out 40 miles. I ate, rested up, and chatted with her for about an hour before heading out again. We were going to meet up in 20 miles, but I was going at a great pace and had already made it the 23 miles to Valentine before Mary caught up with me. Mary had bought me a sandwich in Marfa, so I quickly ate that and decided to press on to the 80-mile mark, my all-time longest ride. As I rode out of Valentine, I noticed a few cars parked outside of a building, and I thought this was weird because as I left Marfa there was a sign warning me that there were no services for 74 miles.

The only signs of life in the desert

As I got closer I realized the popular building was a Prada store. All by itself. In the middle of nowhere, 40 miles from Marfa, full of shoes and purses. The banners said Prada Marfa. Hmmm. I rode on, and once I got to the hotel decided to research it. It turns out that it is an art installation. I didn't get a picture, so I'm posting one I found on Wikipedia, and it's description perfectly sums it up: "It's not really a Prada store, and it's not quite in Marfa, so it must be art." So strange. The wind really picked up at about mile 72 and I had an 18 MPH 75% headwind for the last 8 miles, although it wasn't too terrible because I was going downhill. I finished my ride right after 4pm and my legs felt good, but my lungs and throat were burning from all of the dust I've inhaled over the last three rides through the desert. I told mom today that I now understand why you always see cowboys smoking cigarettes. I really think that inhaling burning tobacco smoke would be a refreshing alternative to breathing hot, dry, desert air 24 hours a day. We had to drive ~20 miles into Van Horn to find a hotel, then we just grabbed a quick dinner at Wendy's and now we're relaxing in the hotel and trying to catch up on e-mails.