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| Rollers outside of Ruidoso |
Today we have 105 miles on tap to Ruidoso with 7,200 feet of climbing, mostly back loaded. Let’s get going!
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| Tim leading out at dawn |
Now in daylight time, we rolled out at 7am. Tim, Jeff, and I settled into a steady recovery pace as we headed out of town.
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Farmland outside Socorro
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After a few rollers we enter lush farmland as we roll through the town of Luis Lopez. The first 50 miles is generally a long shallow climb that takes us back to the mountains.
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Before the crosswinds hit!
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Back into rolling grasslands
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We need to go about 20 miles across a grassy valley. We have a cross wind, but with a wide smooth shoulder, we organized ourselves into a echelon and continue working together. Using the mile markers, we share the work, and before you know it, we are at the next SAG.
Its another 25 miles of uphill rollers to the next SAG past Bingham NM. The cross wind lessened and we fell back into a single pace line. We take a quick SAG break and head out. Tim decided to take a longer break and Jeff and I headed out and enjoy a rolling descent to the Valley of Fires lava flows
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Cool lava flows along the road
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From the scenic view
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We took a few roadside photos, then took a short detour to the BLM recreation area with a scenic overlook. The overlook was in the shade, the view was great, and it was getting hot, so it was well worth the detour.
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Another great lunch in the park
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Its lunchtime and the Carrizozo city park is about five miles away. Tim flashed by as we headed back to the highway and our group of three rode into the lunch stop together. We enjoyed a great meal featuring a bacon/avocado burger with potato salad in the shade. Soon it was time to head back out into the building heat, now over 90!
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Steep railroad overpass in Carrizozo
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Gaining altitude, but still not 'on the climb'
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Its another long uphill grade to a series of steep rollers in the last 30 miles of the ride.
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On the 3rd 'climb' of the day
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The Garmin computer has a climbing application that charts the climbs on the route. Even though there was 7000 feet of climbing, there were only 4 climbs that made the days list.
We cleared the third climb and rolled into the last SAG of the day at 93 miles. Another nice shady spot at a roadside table. We top off the bottles and enjoy some cold watermelon slices with salt. Yummy!
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Our home for the night in Ruidoso
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The last 'climb' was a series of 3 steep rollers. They were 3,2, and 1 mile long. A very tough way to end the day. We actually stopped at a convenience store to grab some chocolate milk at the base of the last roller (the hotel is several miles from town) for recovery tonight, and breakfast tomorrow.
With the milks in the saddle bag we chug up the last hill and very short descent to the hotel. We rolled in at 4:30 and quickly cleaned the bike and checked in. Since we are isolated from town, dinner is pizza in the parking lot at 5:30. So I quickly showered and did the laundry and went back to the trailers in the parking lot.
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Our blessing sticker!
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Getting to the parking lot, Susan introduced a couple from a Christian motorcycling ministry that is in town for a motorcycling event here in Ruidoso. They knew our group would be passing through and they have been praying for us too. They said grace over the meal and a made special blessing over us and our bikes! After the prayer they gave us stickers to commemorate the blessing! What a way to end a fantastic day on the bike!
Today was day 9 of 27, so we are a third of the way into our tour. With the heat and elevation over the last week and half, hopefully more than 1/3 of the suffering is in the rear-view!
Tomorrow is billed as a recovery day, only 98 miles and 3000 feet of climbing! We'll see.
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