Where is Lance?

Follow Al on his cross country bike tour!

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Day 14--Rain, cold, wind, altitude, wild dogs

2009-05-22

Scores from the: I don't want to say I'm tired, but it just took me three tries to get my underwear on correctly and I've been putting on my own underwear for a long time, bike tour.
66 Miles, uphill, into the wind, in a cold rain from Albuquerque to Santa Fe.

Strong head winds for 52 miles: Forget waterboarding and have the terrorists do this for a day and they will talk!
Cold rain when your appropriate clothing is in the truck: Stupid
Doing the "Tour de France" trick of stuffing newspaper under your jersey: It really does work.
20-25 mile head winds: Painful
Going downhill into the wind and being in my lowest gear and still struggling: Just shoot me.
Lunch at the "Feed Lot Cafe" 12 miles out of Santa Fe: The best lunch of the tour, what a surprise.
The restroom at the "Feed Lot Cafe" Voted best of tour.
Harry being attacked by a mad dog: That boy can put on quite a burst of speed.

I left Albuquerque with Peter, a top rider, and we headed into the wind. We started climbing up a canyon and Peter estimated the headwind at 20-25 mph. At a stoplight I'm with Jim and Peter, Peter looks down and says it took 1.5 hours to do 15 miles. Then it started to rain as we hit 7000 ft. elevation. I let them go and hooked up with Harry, Ira, Karen and Alec, a group of sane riders. But there were no sane riders today. Stopping in this weather didn't make sense. As we pounded down the road we saw a mad dog charging down a hill. No problem, the dog was on the other side of a fence. Wrong. The dog didn't slow and Harry blasted away. The dog shortly gave up. A better strategy for the dog would have been to go after me because I had nothing left.
We were in the Rockies, cold, rain, altitude, wind. Tough.
Finally the rain stopped and this group stops for lunch. The Feed Lot Cafe looked scary, but it was great. Harry fell asleep at lunch. I only wish I had that ability.
After a long day we ended up being the second group into the hotel.
Rest day tomorrow. Much needed.







Uphill, in the cold, in the rain. Roddy took this picture from a nice, warm car.


Tired riders, after the rain. Left to Right:
Alec, Ira, Karen, Lance, Harry



Harry at lunch. We woke him up to eat.

Messages

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Have a nice day off in fine old Santa Fe. Just think you can have ANYTHING you want to eat. There's some thought that around the Y that there is starting to be a TOS problem. But the stories from yesterday suggest that perhaps you are earning your place in history. Sent 2009-05-23 from jd

So what is worse, the cold pounding rain or hot desert heat or are they both a -5?? I am enjoying the blog. I Sent 2009-05-23 from Mary in AZ

But Al, you've been running with the big dogs in the tall grass for two weeks! Sent 2009-05-23 from Jim

75 in Pinehurst today, blue skies, light breeze from the south. Only three-putted once. maid score - 0 Sent 2009-05-23 from bill&sally

Wow! Al I'm so impressed!! Walt was just telling Sam about the awesome Bike Tour! I heard laughing, don't know what that was about, but I'm impressed! Love the pictures. but you must be too tired to smile huh? Keep up the great job-from Grand Rapids MI. Can I have your autograph? Sent 2009-05-23 from Mary Curry (Walt's sister)

'mad dogs and bikers' enjoy the rest!!!! Sent 2009-05-23 from peter brown

i assume you reviewed the front page AA news article by Larcom. Eddie seemed toung tied for a meaningful quote> oh well he must have consulted Kurt. your bike must be holding up so thats good stay strong the flatlands are coming>>>> Sent 2009-05-23 from ron olson

i assume you reviewed the front page AA news article by Larcom. Eddie seemed toung tied for a meaningful quote> oh well he must have consulted Kurt. your bike must be holding up so thats good stay strong the flatlands are coming>>>> Sent 2009-05-23 from ron olson

Al, was the newspaper you stuffed into your jersey one that is going out of business, because, if so, it could have been too thin. Next time, make sure it is full width. It covers better. Sent 2009-05-23 from Larry

Sounds rough! Think how much stronger you'll be when your body finally does recover (soon)! Enjoy the rest day and we played 18 last night. Delightful! Sent 2009-05-22 from Rob

Bark. I would totally like to run with you and tame the wild dogs. woof. Sent 2009-05-22 from Rufus

Wow Al this is quite a journey you are on. We are following along and enjoying hearing about your journey. Quite a mixture of experiences!! Sounds like today was a tough one! Enjoy your day of rest. Hugs to Roddy. Sent 2009-05-22 from Joanne and Bob

So, what secrets did you divulge in the driving wind and cold rain? I have to say, it sounds miserable. But you like that kind of thing, don't you? Sent 2009-05-22 from Phillis

We all have our challenges. I didn't get upgraded to first class today. Rough, really rough. Sent 2009-05-22 from chuck