Today was a hard day - 109 miles with 4200 feet of climbing and gusty head & cross winds most of the day. The first 30 were pretty nice with a tailwind but the conditions changed for the rest of the day.
The above photo shows Las Vegas, NM, as we are climbing away from it.
We rode along what I would call short-grass prairie for the first 30 miles but then the scenery changed to canyons and switchbacks. From left to right are myself, Scott from Virginia, Noreen from Canada, and Randy from CA. George from England is kneeling.
Paula from CA starting up the "wall" . The climb is very steep 0.7 mile at around 11% grade. It looks much steeper in real life than the photo shows.
Tucumcari at last. Riders were beat by this point. Tracy, our tour leader, said that she had never experienced such gusty cross/head winds for this day of the tour in the 12 years that she had been running the tour.
This cyclist rode into town just as I did. He didn't want his picture taken with the bike. I can't imagine how he managed the bike in winds - especially cross winds. He was not one of our groupTomorrow is another long day 98 miles to Dalhart, TX.
Thanks for the comments. Bob
