Murals of Tucumcari

"West to East is best".

"Riding a transcontinental from East to West is the wrong way. You are doing it right".

"You're riding West to East? That's the easy way."

"I'll bet you are getting a lot of tailwinds".

These are just some of the annoying comments that people make when they hear that I am riding across the country. After today, I've decided. If anyone says any of this crap to me again, I'm going to kick their ass.

Of the 131 miles to Amarillo today (I added a few by missing a turn in the morning) we only had about a half mile of tailwind. In fact, we had headwinds for most of the day -- occasionally switching to crosswinds. I think that makes 12 out of 16 days with a majority of headwinds. That's 75%. "From the West is best", my ass.

I managed to knock the first 25 miles off fairly quickly riding alone -- before the winds picked up. After that, I struggled to maintain 11 mph. And that was after joining a paceline. And before you start judging and dismissing, I should tell you something. Lon was pulling that paceline.

After lunch (at 65 miles), the wind became somewhat of a crosswind, so we could move a little faster. Lon, Jim Bradbury, and I worked a paceline to knock off about 50 more miles at a reasonable pace before hitting city traffic. All told, with a few brief snack stops and a 45 minute lunch at the Midpoint Cafe, we were out there for almost 10 1/2 hours. That was some day. Today's winds sent a lot of people looking for the SAG vehicles. I think we may be down for 6 or 7 people who have ridden every mile.

The Midpoint Cafe, by the way, is one of the many places that claim to be on the midpoint of Route 66. This one says that we are 1139 miles from both LA and Chicago. Several of the neighboring towns also claim to have midpoints. In any case, they make good cheeseburgers.

Photos? I didn't take many pictures today. I was focused on finishing the ride before the time limit. But I do have some pictures that I took in Tucumcari. A couple of artists in Tucumcari have been painting murals as part of a revitalization project. Yesterday afternoon, they took us around for an afternoon bicycle tour of the murals. The lighting was difficult (the sun overhead) but I got some reasonable pictures. I also got a picture of some roaming chickens. Why does a chicken cross the road? Because he has a tailwind.

Photo Journal

Ride Summary: 131 windy miles from Tucumcari to Amarillo. My knees hurt.

Miles this year: 3197