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
10 months 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
10 months ago
Today's ride: 83 miles (134 km)
Total: 1,712 miles (2,755 km)
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10 months ago
The tailwind made all the difference, that's for sure.
Jeff
10 months ago