Santa Fe to Las Vegas NM

Wow, it is amazing what a rest day will do for you!  I was actually awakened by my alarm this morning at 5 am.  I think that is a first on the trip.  Usually I am lying there waiting for it to go off. 

As we got ready to leave this morning, my riding partner's tube stem blew and so there was a slight delay while I changed the tube.  Fortunately it was the front wheel.  I am getting rather good at getting the tube out and the new one in.  But I would still have problems putting the back wheel on.  We were only delayed 5 minutes past our early starting time.  The riders are staged based on their proven speed performance.  This helps the staff provide support and gives those of us who are slower an opportunity to see other riders on the road and at SAG stops.  It was extremely pretty scenery today which was good.  Because we rode 72 miles and climbed around 5K feet.  We reached our highest point so far at over 7,000 feet.  Las Vegas is about the same elevation as Santa Fe so it was up and down all day.  The first 40 miles were mostly climbing then a very fun descent to the SAG.  Then the 30 miles to town were some mighty hard rollers.  Most of the grades were 6-8% on the climb.  I didn't look at the descent.  I was holding on and watching the road in front of me.  I didn't want to lose any speed because it would help with the next climb.  My computer said my max speed was 40 mph.  This was not a particularly smooth road so it was a little dicey at times.  Oh yes, I forgot to mention the wonderful tail wind.  What a help that was!  We were parallel to the interstate during the last 30 miles.  Because they smooth out the peaks and valleys when they build interstates, it was easy to see the effect.  Made me kind of want to be on the interstate when I was struggling up some of the grades.

Coming in to Las Vegas was kind of interesting.  As you will see from the pictures, they advertise the number of hotels, etc.  I had never seen that before.

Tomorrow will be a tough ride to Tucumcari.  We have 108 miles to pedal and a "wall" to climb.  The prediction is for winds out of the west so I hope that is true.  My plan is to pedal as far as I can make it and see what happens.