Climbing to Santa Fe

 

As lousy as yesterday‘s weather was, today’s was that perfect. It was cool and sunny when we started but never got too hot. Just a spectacular mountain summer day.  Look how happy I am  

David: All smiles

Immediately upon leaving the hotel parking lot, we began climbing. And we didn’t stop climbing for 22 miles and almost 2 hours of riding.  For reference, the longest climb I can find in and around Lafayette lasts for about half a mile. So 44 times that.

 Then climbs and rollers for about 23 miles including some crazy fast descents.    We ran into a cyclist who told us that the road we were on is used for the NCAA road cycling championships. Thankfully, we skipped the heartbreak hill portion of that course which includes 18° ascents…it was steep enough as is.


L/R:  Olaf, Jim, Paula, Barb, Maggie, Olaf, ME


We paused at a tiny touristy town of Madrid. Not pronounced the way they do in Spain, but rather MADrid.   I thought it impolite to correct them.   Especially given the stupid ways people in Indiana pronounce cities named after  foreign places. Like PEE-ru.  

Java Junction: get the Border Latte

Stopped at this fantastic little coffee place and had a border latte which was basically a mocha latte with Mexican chocolate.  

In honor of my vegan son and daughter-in-law

My caffeine and sugar level spiked uncontrollably which came in handy for the subsequent climbs.

I had my head down grinding and so I missed some amazing art installations on the way into Santa Fe. Like this one.    

That’s giant origami

Tanya came to join me for the rest day and we went to the old town of Santa Fe and ate our bodyweight in Mexican food at La Plazuela, in our time-honored tradition.

Close by was this lovely church. 

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

All in all, a lovely day of riding  and I’m ready for a rest day. We are 12 riding days and about 870 miles into this journey. We’ve made a lot of progress. I can’t believe it’s going fast.



Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 29, 2024 at 7:25 AM

    Sorry I missed you as you passed through New Mexico - Looks lilke you got to see the highlights!

    ReplyDelete

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