Friday, May 21, 2010

Climbing, climbing and more climbing

Today was a day for climbing and climbing we did the minute we pulled out of the hotel and headed out of Albuquerque. First it was ever so slight of an incline and then wham, the first of many long hills as we rode our way to Santa Fe.

The other thing I noticed was the change in the landscape. Gone were the red rock formations and now we see rolling hills and mountains with lots of greenery and did I mention rolling hills!!!!

After our sag stop we began what seemed to be the longest climb ever, even though it was only 11.4 miles long. My "controlled descent" took me into Madrid where I stopped at the Mine Shaft Tavern for a refreshing diet coke with Craig and Doug. Madrid is the town where the movie Wild Hogs was filmed. The picture you see is me with my new ride (ha, ha) in front of the Maggie's Diner which was used in the film.

From Madrid we had another 18 miles to Sante Fe. Those were some pretty long miles, as the sun was hot and we continued to climb into Sante Fe. I finally made it, after 5 long hours and 66 miles at an average speed of 13.1. Like I said we climbed all day long.

Bob I only saw one rather large smooched snake today just as we were heading into the foothills east of Albuquerque. I was going slow enough to notice that it was for sure a diamond back rattlesnake. I was extremely glad that it was smooched. Later in the day I thought I saw a streamer on the road, no I wasn't hallucinating because as I got closer I realized it was a small snake making its way across the road. I immediately took evasive action and pulled my feet from my clips as I rode by screaming "Snake". The funny thing was that I was the only one around to hear the warning, oh well it made me feel better!!!

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