I managed to get up fairly early, have a quick breakfast, pack up and get on the road by 7:30 to try to beat the winds.  It was another cold one in the 30's.

It was JC and me until we caught Bill.  Bennie showed up in Hillsboro just as we got there and we were able to get water and leave clothing.  Then the big climb up to Emory Pass Started.  Strava has that as my biggest climb; a new record.  I ended up riding alone as it is hard to match someone's pace for such a long way.  It was a beautiful area, a little greener than West Texas, much like what we have seen in New Mexico.

This was pretty hard, but memorable.  The wind was from the west going down into a headwind, so speeds were not as high as might have been.  There were three more fairly difficult rises on the way down, or so it seemed with tired legs.

One of the riders pulled his phone out of his bag at the top and it fell out because he didn't zip it up.  His brother lives in NM and came to meet him and stopped at the top, saw a phone, picked it up and hoped to find its owner. He looked at the screen and saw a message from a mutual friend come in and realized it was his brother's! Wow!

  To celebrate the climb and spare the cooks today, we had dinner at the LOg Cabin Restaurant which had excellent food and large portions.