June 23, 2023
Day 40 - ending at Fort Sumner, NM
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With getting to bed so late last night, I didn't set the alarm. Woke up at 4:45am and worked on the report until 6:55am. At 7:05am I walked over to Denny's for breakfast. At least I'm well fueled for today's record setting (for me) mileage. The weather prediction was northeast winds 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. With me going north and northeast to get to Fort Sumner, the afternoon winds would be more helpful.
I got started riding at 8:35am. The section of Main Street (US-285) in front of the motel and on north has a shoulder, so it was no hassle getting out of Roswell. Stopped by Allsup's for Gatorade and a chocolate milk to drink there. OK, I'm on my way.
At 9:12am I passed underneath I-70, and at 10:40am crossed over the Arroyo del Macho River. I like to listen to local radio stations as I ride. This morning I listened to KZDB (100.5 MHz) transmitting from Roswell. They play classics from the '70s '80s and '90s. Their signal came and went as I went up and down hills. Finally lost them for good at noon.
It was getting somewhat cloudy to the west when I did stop at noon to record the mileage: 23.9 miles. I was a little disappointed it wasn't more, but what did I expect with such a late start?
The cloudiness to the west became a rain event to the west a little later. At 12:45pm I was hearing thunder, and at 1:00pm I was getting sprinkled on. Checking the weather radar indicated that if I stopped and waited, I might stay dry. While waiting I went ahead and covered the cargo with plastic. I proceeded on north some. I was nearing my turn onto NM-20, when the weather radar indicated I needed to stop again. This time I kept myself occupied by phoning my wife. Our new roof is getting installed today. That will be a surprise for me to see when I get home.
At 2:05pm I was back riding and made it to highway NM-20 at 2:10pm. A fun thing about this road is they've got mileage posts along the way, and I was starting at mileage post 0. This will make it easy to keep track of my progress - there'll be 45 posts I can keep a lookout for.
I soon found out that vehicle usage of this road is minimal, so I basically had the road to myself. The predicted southwest tailwind kicked in and was incredibly strong - really pushing me along. Also there were downhill sections on this highway that just kept going and going. I can't recall when I ever coasted so long without pedaling. At one point I just about fell asleep because I wasn't doing anything but sitting there rolling along.
At every 10 mile post I would stop, take a break, and record the time. Here's my log: 10 - 3:32pm, 20 - 4:33pm, 30 - 5:35pm, 40 - 6:47pm, and 45 - 7:23pm. I really enjoyed riding this road, though realize that if this tailwind had been a headwind, I probably would have not made it to Fort Sumner before midnight.
I connected up with highway US-60 at 7:38pm, and stopped at Esther's Family Diner at 7:50pm. I had two cans of Coke, then a glass of ice water along with their country fried steak dinner.
At 8:36pm I proceeded southeast into town on US-60. It was a very pleasant evening outside. Today's temperature only got to 99F, I think due to the cloud cover, or the fact I'm just more north.
My at-home selection for motel had no vacancy, so I ended up across the street at Super 8. They were able to accommodate my request for a ground floor room, so that made things easy. I bought a dollar orange soda from the motel manager and enjoyed that and water with ice from the motel.
I plugged in stuff that needed charging, worked on picture selection for a while, then went to bed at 11:22pm, happy with the day, and thankful for the tailwind that got me here.
Jeff
Spent: $24.31 plus $5 (breakfast) + $6.39 (Gatorade, chocolate milk) + $1 (Texas Strong donation) + $18.92 plus $4 (supper) + $100.57 plus $5 (motel room) = $165.19
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https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/122262-Brachystola-magna/browse_photos
1 year ago
Thanks. There were lots of them at one spot along the highway, munching on their unfortunate relatives who had been smashed by tires.
Jeff
1 year ago
Today's ride: 83 miles (134 km)
Total: 1,712 miles (2,755 km)
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1 year ago
The tailwind made all the difference, that's for sure.
Jeff
1 year ago