This is the toughest day of the tour. It was 42F when we left at 6:35 this morning as it was going to be a really long day and we were trying to beat the heat - believe it or not. Once again the riders had an assortment of winter clothing on including full finger gloves. I had a vest and arm warmers while Barry just had a light vest on which the
people from Florida thought was crazy.
Other than the first 1.2 miles we spent all the time on State Road 104 which meant that there was very little traffic but there were also NO services for 76 miles.
The first SAG was at mile 27 and just as we were looking for it his tire went soft. He managed to make it in and the staff volunteered to change it while he gots drinks etc. they found that he had cut the sidewall of the tire which means it has to be replaced. Luckily he kept my old tire when I had to replace my rear wheel yesterday. At the first SAG they also had a sign up that we had covered 1,000 miles!
Leaving the SAG there is a great 3 mile descent (picture) with unbelievable panoramic views. At the second SAG they remind you to have an energy gel at mile 57 so you can be ready to climb the "WALL". This is a piece of road that is .7 miles long and has an 11 per cent grade. You can see it from quite a ways off which makes it intimidating.
At mile 76 there is the third SAG of the day and because there are no services the staff supplies peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The warned us about the "wall" but at mile 90 there is another climb that closely rivals it and everyone is even more tired. About 4 miles from Tucumcari there is the final
Climb of the day and now everyone is really tired. Just before we get to the climb we are chased by a couple of dogs - anything else can go wrong today? Finally in to the hotel 9 hours 50 minutes - start to finish!
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