2,981 elevation gain

I elected for a 7 AM start this morning. Earlier because of the distance. Jacinto said by starting so early I would have to pedal more. He was going to start late and get full advantage of the tailwind. I didn't quite trust the tailwind to be as advertised. Plus, I'd rather start when the morning was a little bit cool.

My expectations were for a basically flat day. Spoon called me before I left this morning, and his memory is that the terrain was flat. I pedaled about 15 miles before I had a noticeable tailwind. I decided to stop every hour, to be conservative on this long day. The first stop, I didn't need, but I stopped. The second stop I delayed to the top of the hill. I ate a half a banana there. I was getting a lot more climbing than I expected. It was one large roller after another. Some I had to use the granny gear. This was more work than I anticipated. I wasn't happy.

I waved at all passing vehicles. Hardly anyone waved back. Perhaps they resented me being out here during COVID? I felt guilty. One man in an old white truck waved broadly. Then he turned around and came back, pulling into a road at the fence line. Hmmm. He didn't stop by the roadway. The fence line was fairly removed. I felt uncomfortable. I wanted to be seen as friendly as people went down the road, but I wasn't prepared for a one on one interaction in the middle of nowhere. This sounds prejudice, even to me. Usually, when someone pulls over to talk to me, I'm cautiously friendly. I've never had anyone pull over to say something negative - but out here in Navajo Nation, I just wasn't comfortable. That's the truth. The man got out of his truck and stood by the door. I couldn't decide what to do. He was quite a ways away. Social distancing? I elected to wave wildly and shout, "Have a great day!" He said something back, but I couldn't hear as a semi passed at the same time.

I resisted looking at the elevation profile on ridewithgps. I wasn't supposed to have much climbing today. I was just getting it done at once. Right? Finally I broke down and looked. Lots of ups and downs. None big, none steep. Just the kind of riding Jacinto loves. He says he likes to stand up on the climb and sit down on the descent. I don't like rollers. I do all of that work, just to give it away. Over and over again. Even if they aren't too hard, cumulatively, they wear on me mentally.

The first 11 miles was smooth pavement with a nice shoulder. I enjoyed every mile.

I gave myself a pep talk, saying that the climbing was almost over, going by the total elevation I had already climbed. I was wrong . . . my one hour stops became more frequent. Here I thought I would have to convince myself to stop!

Scenery was close in, with hills right up to the roadway for the first 35 miles to Granado. I did not stop at the busy gas station, but kept going. Unfortunately for me, the road took a turn here. Now my tailwind was a crosswind. The light front end of my bike wiggled around some, making handling difficult. This was taking a lot of energy to stay on the road. I stopped for some Anti Fatigue capsules. I decided to make a preemptive strike and eat a Perpetuum tablet at the same time. Traffic really picked up from Ganado. I was hoping they would continue on toward Tuba City, but it seemed to me traffic was busy all the way to Chinle. Jacinto laughed when I made that observation. He said we'd been riding on deserted roads for so long that I forgot what traffic is like. We also had zero shoulder. There were only a few times that someone had to wait to pass me. I guess there wasn't really too much traffic. But there was more than we have had for days.

There were two more occasions that I stopped and someone stopped behind me in the pullout. Perhaps they were just taking advantage of the pullout also. But both times I hurried and got back on the bike. Once I stopped because my bike was wiggling around so much that I thought I must have a flat tire. No, just the strong side wind.

I passed by houses with dogs that barked at me three times. Once a trio of dogs came out and ran along the fence to bark at me. I was happy none came out on the road. For both my sake and theirs. This country was quite unpopulated. I saw a very few tiny homes and a few newer hogan style homes. Most of the places seemed well cared for.

Mentally I was struggling all day. I didn't get my easy start and when the road turned and I hit the downhill, I didn't appreciate it. Who doesn't enjoy a 40 mile downhill, tailwind ride to town? Me. I just wanted to get there. I was averaging 20-22 mph on that last 40 miles. I liked that, for sure.

I was more than happy to pull up to our motel. I spent some time fiddling with lights and things, trying to bring my breathing back to normal. Yesterday I felt immediately suffocated when I put the mask on. Today, I had the same problem. I think my mask is just too thick. I didn't have trouble wearing it around home though. Perhaps I'm doing too much deep breathing out here riding? Marilyn says that UnderArmor has a mask that's suitable for exercise. I'm definitely checking it out. Again, I held the mask away from my chin while checking in.

I walked my bike down to the room. The cleaning lady was there. I sat outside and drank ice water from my HydroFlask. It was 88 degrees, which didn't seem too warm with the wind. I wanted to tell the cleaning lady to take her time, get EVERYTHING really well. But I thought that might sound rude. I got inside and putzed around. Then I tried to turn on the shower. I'm darned if I could get the handle to turn. I was afraid to break it. Luckily, the cleaning lady was in the neighboring room. I asked her to turn the water on. I'm sure she thought I was silly. But the handle took significant force to shut off also.

I hadn't been out of the shower long when here came Jacinto. He had a leaky flat tire that he had to pump up every ten miles. Besides that he had a good day. He was much chippier than me, even with the flat. The cause was a piece of glass that had barely poked through the tire. Jacinto reinforced it on the inside with Gorilla tape, just to be sure. He discussed taking the tire out of service. This is the Marathon Tour tire that we bought in Canada a couple of years ago. He's worn the black tread off of it and is down to the blue inside. But, the tire is still thicker than normal, I have to admit. Jacinto put it back on. We do have the spare tire we bought in Grand Junction. The original spare tire he put on after just one day riding. At least his front is new. It's one of my Marathon Racers. I wasn't really planning on sharing. I like the more lively Racer tire, while Jacinto prefers the thick, thick ones that don't typically get flats. We ended up with the Racer as a spare because it's lightweight and we didn't plan to use it.

In the meanwhile, I walked next door to the restaurant to get a menu. Forget that. Closed on Saturday and Sunday. I looked on the phone at our options. They were slim. It's Sunday. Almost everything is closed. Denny's is a mile away and open with a limited takeout menu. Jacinto ended up walking over to the grocery store to get something at the deli. I called first to make sure they had a deli and they're open. I've ordered meatloaf with squash and potatoes. Let's see if that's what I get.

We also discussed the day tomorrow. I'm bushed. I could take a rest day. But we are heading roughly west to Kayenta, which means we will have a cross wind all day. Tomorrow's wind forecast is for 16-18 mph in the afternoon while Tuesday says 25-28 mph. We should ride tomorrow. I wonder if the climbing is as advertised? Today we had significantly more climbing. I will suck it up and go. This is the last of our three big mile days in a row. Then we have an easier day into Mexican Hat where I have declared I will have a rest day for sure. Mexican Hat is in Utah and off of the reservation. We are staying at the same motel there we were at last year with Oren.

Jacinto got back from the store. They took his temperature before he went in. There was a guard making sure not too many people went in. Jacinto forgot his mask, but they gave him a fabric one. At least they didn't send him back home. I have deli meatloaf for dinner. He has chicken tenders. Let's see how yummy. It was a cheap meal, at least.

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