Day 8
Day 8 AM
Day 8 already. Time starting to fly by. One quarter of the ride is over. One more day in these mountains and they will be behind us. All of us will be glad for that.
Couple of final notes from yesterday:
Two Air Force jets flew directly over our heads yesterday. One was very low to the ground. The noise from the closest one is hard to describe. Very cool.
Silver City is a bigger metropolis than I expected. Hotel Murray in the historic district is a lovely place to stay.
Today we climb and then tomorrow we go down to El Paso. 200 miles over the two days but we had scheduled for today to be our shortest day with a make up the next. We shall see how that works out. Not sure if I have explained but each day we go until we are done and set a cone to start again from the exact spot the next morning. So if our hotel is ahead of us, behind us or next to us it doesn’t matter as we drive to the start point if we need to in the morning. So let’s see where we wind up tonight. We will be over 7000 feet above sea level so higher than yesterday.
Today I ride for one of the finest horseman ever. He was a top rider, trainer, judge and a renowned horse show manager. MS has changed his life in a huge way. He is fighting the fight from home as he no longer goes to the shows. I do believe he owes me five bucks though from last year’s Super Bowl. Or do I owe him?
Keep passing the word about our ride for MS.
PM recap
What a day! Where to begin?
We had our first brush with rain today. Had to don our jackets for the first time. Most of the nasty rain missed us so all was fine. As I had mentioned previously this day would get us through the rest of the Rocky Mountains. The cooler wet air helped make that trek less difficult. Always a warm feeling when Mike calls out that it will be a 12 mile climb. And boy was he right. Every 500 feet of new elevation elicited a call out from Mike. Eventually we topped 8000 feet and were near the top. Finally the top and it left us with the following thoughts:
1. There is no way to describe the beautiful sights in this part of New Mexico. Every turn showed a new view that is truly indescribable. Shout out to New Mexico.
2. An older man (that’s right even older than me) was also biking on the mountain. He asked if we were the two guys that he had heard about riding 100 miles a day. Shout out to him for his fitness and his friendly style.
3. I had some trepidation about today’s climb. In fact it had been on my mind for awhile. Back seat.
4. We biked past an enormous cooper mine, Santa Rita. Stopped at the tourist post and we were all amazed by the scope of the project. Started in 1803 and still going strong. Worked first by the Native Americans then the Spaniards and then the Mexicans and ultimately Americans. Extraordinary history.
With that behind us we enjoyed a nearly 20 mile downhill. Here we encountered our (my) first bit of bad planning. I had thought we had rooms reserved at the Barbershop Plaza Motel. Regrettably I was wrong as it was in the throes of a big renovation. The owner was very cordial and offered to somehow take care of our needs but we elected to go on to the town called Truth or Consequences. What’s another bike ride at the end of the day?
Tomorrow is day 9. Day 8 was a huge giving day for MS. Keep it up please.