80ish miles today, mostly a steady incline and then a screaming steep downhill through hail and pouring rain. Definitely not the safest thing I've ever done. Tomorrow is another rest day so we had pizza and ice cream. One of the trip chaperones is leaving tomorrow so him and another guy performed some funny songs for us as a farewell gift. Lots of well-appreciated cycling humor.
Colorado is getting prettier each day.
COLORADO! We made it! Today we covered 92 miles averaging 16.5 mph. The second half was all flat/downhill which felt awesome after the recent climbing. We got to see the Gorge over the Rio Grande and took some amazing pictures. When we got to our resting place we had delicious pasta and then had some free time to walk around town. Not much to do here but it's on to a new city tomorrow!
About 70 miles again today. Lots of climbing. For a while I was really doubting why I came on this trip. I am slow but not the very slowest...it is just tough to keep up the motivation when you are holding back your group!
But now that the ride is over, it is rest day! We explored Taos a little bit tonight and visited a local bar to celebrate a well deserved break. Tomorrow the day is completely ours. :) we get to do some touristy things and go swimming and just rest our bodies.
Below are the pictures of the view today from the ride and from town.
Goodnight!!
Today was TOUGH. I am exhausted! We covered 74 miles today but only averaged 13 mph because it was almost all climbing. My muscles felt like they had nothing left to give even in the beginning of the day. Butttttttt after we got to the top of one of the huge hills/mountains we got to fly all the way down into a beautiful canyon! Santa Fe is a cool looking city too. I wish we got to explore more but there isn't much time. Tomorrow we have another 70 mile day and then the day after that is a rest day! I am very very ready to have a day off. Right now we have a little free time before bed but I think I wanna crash early!
I'll be back soon,
Jen
(Yesterday's post, copied from my journal)
81 miles, 16ish mph average.
Today was definitely one, if not the best day so far. We got to sleep in a little which helped. I felt strong all day and I rode with a good group. We split the ride into shorter segments too and that seemed to help my motivation. Albuquerque is cool, although I hate spelling it. I was so excited to get here though, because I got to visit my Field Training buddy Kyle! I haven't seen him in two years so I've been looking forward to it all week :)
We got real New Mexican food (so papilla with beef and green chili) and I got a margarita (yay!) and it was SO nice to just relax and be away from deCycles for a bit. We even went up the mountain and watched the beautiful New Mexico sunset. Now I am back with the group and ready for tomorrow. Pictures are below.
Bye for now!
Today we rode 88 miles. We started at 6 am which was earlier than yesterday but we still ended up staying out in the heat...including lunch and water breaks it took us until 2:30 to get to Socorro. I was in a slow group today but it was kind of nice since yesterday was so hard.
I got to take some good pictures today so I'll post them below. And after the ride we got to swim in a giant public pool for free which was awesome!
80 miles covered today! Mostly flat but a few hills. One really tough one. This made average speed a lot slower, probably 12-15 range. New Mexico is actually very pretty...desert but not just sand. It's nice to see something so different from Bloomington. I had a tough time at the middle and end of the ride today but it's all a mental game. We have been finishing really early in the day which is nice and gives us a lot of free time, but I feel like the next few days we might not have as much rest. Glad I got the chance to post while I had a minute though! We just got back from a gas station run so I'm gonna go down my cheezits and slushie :):)
Bye!!
(Pictures are the mountains in between Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences which I took at lunch break)
Arrived in Las Cruces today at about 1215. We traveled 57 miles, average speed about 18 mph ish. Very flat roads today. Finishing early is nice because there is extra down time...all of us 20+ kiddos walked to Baskin Robbins and now I get phone time which is extremely coveted. Because we are such a large group it is almost impossible to get away for any significant amount of time. But also since I'm meeting so many people I want to be with the group as much as I can and mesh with everyone. We are getting ready for dinner soon but hopefully I'll have some more pictures later!!
*(Later that day)*
Pictures are of 1.some of the mountain-like features near el paso 2.sunset in las cruces
This is my post from yesterday... we made it safely to El Paso but it was a lot of boring driving. Glad to finally be out of the vans!
Drove through Moore, Oklahoma and saw some of the tornado damage...pretty heavy stuff. We saw a whole hospital torn down, cars totalled. Wishing all the best to the families who are still recovering and rebuilding.
We are halfway to El Paso ! They told us to start our journals so I am starting mine...they have us all spread out across the gym floor of this Christian school and we are going to sleep soon. Today I learned that my phone does not hold a charge very well so I will be using it conservatively...even though I am tempted to tweet and chive every 5 seconds, especially while we are just sitting in the car. But Friday all of that changes!! We will have our first long ride so I won't have much free time.
I'm about to go to bed but first a shout out to my roommates Jake and Sarah for helping me get ready for the trip! Jake lent me his awesome sleeping bag and gear, and Sarah was kind enough to wake up at 5 and drive me to our starting spot.
Goodnight everyone,
Jen
(Pictures are of my sleeping space and the gym)
