Cycling Ellen

77 miles
659 total

Before I forget, the internet connections in the last couple of places have been slow at best.  Today, I can’t even read my e mail, it’s so slow.  I’ll be very lucky if this gets posted overnight so don’t worry if you don’t see anything current.  Be patient, and I’ll hope that the next connection is better than these have been!

Today started out slowly as it was quite cold (enough to see your breath) and what looked like a flat road was actually climbing along the way.  The scenery was gorgeous with snowy mountains off to our right and rows and rows of fields ready to plant.  Eventually, the fields slipped away and we were out on the flat desert but without the saguaros.  At the 20 mile sag stop, the terrain got more ups and downs including a wonderful downhill on new pavement where we were coasting over 30 mph.  There were more hills, buttes and mesas off to the side.  Carol and I rode together and as we descended into town she stuck her leg out to the side.  That was a cyclist signal I’d never seen before but I slowed down to give her room.  Good thing.  When a gust of wind hit her on the side, she rolled onto her rim and got a flat.  Since we were on a fast decent and it was her front wheel she had to hang on just to stay in control.  We stopped, got her flat fixed and headed into Duncan.

By the high school, the whole student body, just over 100 kids, were out by the road cheering us on.  Apparently, one of our group knows a teacher there and she had arranged for our welcome. The students were happy to get out of class for awhile and we were happy to hear their cheers.  Just beyond, at mile 40, we all stopped at Old Joe’s Café for a lunch stop.  The service was really slow and I killed some time visiting with a local family and their children, one of whom was 5 years old.  They were telling me that the town almost went under from a flood back in 1983. Now that copper prices are picking up they are recruiting miners and the town is growing again.

After lunch, Carol and I stopped again to help another rider with her 3rd flat of the day.   There was a big hunk of glass in her tire.  From the long lunch, and two flats, it took awhile to get back into the rhythm of the ride.  We perked up at mile 47 for our state line crossing into New Mexico, gaining the hour we didn’t get in Arizona.  The terrain flattened out and the road turned into chip seal, a challenging rough surface for cyclists.  We bumped along without a turn into we got into Lordsburg, feeling a bit shaken from the rough road.  It’s funny how the same mileage can feel so different from day to day.  Tomorrow is a shorter day but we’ll be climbing up into Silver City.  I think we’ll all be ready for the rest day after these 8 days in a row of cycling.  Off to the margarita party – 2 states down, 6 to go!