One of the roller-coaster hills on the way to Las Vegas. I hit a several-year best of 40.1 mph on one of them. (Slow for many of you I know!)
Tracy asked me a week before tour began when I would be visiting the tour. That set my thoughts to driving to Las Vegas (a five hour drive from Denver) and riding with CrossRoads for a couple of days. The original plan was to ride out to the SAG from Santa Fe and meet my good friends Jim Olsson, Jim Hall, and Rick. Jim called me on Sunday morning and said that Rick spent the day in Santa Fe being treated for altitude sickness. He asked if I would drive out 50 miles and let Rick drive my car back to the hotel so Rick could get more rest and get down from altitude. I did that and then rode to Las Vegas. Averaged 18.8 miles per hour!
Jim O. and I took turns riding and driving to Tucumcari. I rode 57 miles and averaged 18.1 mph today. I remembered Charlie as I approached the 5 mile mark and thought of what a traumatic day it was for us two years ago. I had some quad cramping just before the wall and after as well. A couple of gels relieved the problem. A truck hauling cattle was stalled on the wall (max 11 percent grade) with an overheated transmission, as I found out later. I was praying before I got to it that its brakes would hold.
Jim and I return to Denver tomorrow. Rick is better now and rode the whole day today. I am pleased to say that the tour had an aiding wind on both days with some crosswinds today. Today was the hottest day of tour with 90 degrees on arrival in Tucumcari.
I saw Hank and Carol in Mexico in late March and am pleased to report that they are doing well.
It is a cohesive group and Barbie, Harry, and Darrell will be welcomed by them when they begin riding. Tracy and staff are doing well.
Thanks for the update. XC11 has had some very strange (cold) weather so far. Nice that it is warming up and the tail winds are assisting.
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