Hi All
Day 7 is complete and we had a good ride from Gallup to Albuquerque. It was long (136 miles), but favorable conditions, sunny with wind speeds less that 10mph. It was cold at the start, below 30, but it warmed up quickly. There was a decent climb up to the Continental Divide to 7300 ft where we had our first SAG stop. Then the ride went along the old Rte 66 for about 50 miles. The scenery was great and traffic was light. We then hopped on to I-40 for 35 miles. It is a gradual downhill and we had light winds. It is tough riding a pace line on the interstate due to all the debris on shoulder. The biggest hazard are the shredded pieces of truck tire. the wires from the radial work their way into our tires and caused multiple flats. I think this is the last of the interstates.
I've been riding with 3 other guys that have a similar pace. One is Dave Pramann from Minnesota. When he heard I was from SLO he pullled up a picture on his phone of him beating Chris Black in a photo finish. He has completed several IditaBike races, (350 miles in Alaska mid winter). Another is Floris van Overveld, a club rider from Amsterdam. And finally Roger Egli, a Swiss who now lives in Vail.
Floris is becoming initiated to American lingo. During one ride Big Tom ( as opposed to me, Little Tom) had this exchange with Floris:
Big Tom: I've got a real growler going on
Floris: What? ( looking puzzled)
Big Tom: You know, I need to drop the kids at the pool
Floris: Huh?
Big Tom: I'm prairie doggin'
Floris: ( in perfect english) are you referring to deefaction? (with particular emphasis on the long e)
If you don't think that's funny, I guess you had to be there.
After a week I have picked up valuable, but very random knowledge:
-efferdent tablets keep mold from growing in water bottles
-if you use too much chamois ceam you shorts foam when you sweat
-fig newtons are te easiest thing to eat in a 22mph pace line
-if you eat a whole sleeve of fig newtons, see above exchange with Floris
Off to LasVegas NM tomorrow.
Thanks for reading.
Tom
No comments:
Post a Comment