Saturday April 5, 2008, 113 miles (182 km) - Total so far: 926 miles (1,491 km)
Another long and hard battle between good and evil. Evil being the wind, good being me on my bike, of course. It was a 113 mile day today, mostly flat but some gradual climbing here and there for fun. I opted to take a long-cut, that is... A short cut in terms of time but 7 miles more biking to avoid the mess known as El Paso. It was a good choice as I hardly had to stop at all to get around El Paso. I stopped for the night on the far east side of the city limits, and it would be safer to say I am closer to Socorro, TX.
Highlights:
-more pecan groves
-a few times the road turned enough to give me a brief tease of a tailwind.
-getting a new tire in Las Cruces, NM to replace my worn front tire.
-big long downhill after getting to the top of anthony gap. I passed a cop with his radar gun pointing at me and oncoming traffic going 47mph. I hope I was speeding.
-chicken alfredo dinner before arriving at the hotel.
Lowpoints:
-Getting chased by another pitbull. This one was way more determined and agressive though. It actually ran next to me at 20mph for about 10 seconds.It actually crossed the road and ran about 800ft past it's house trying to get me! I am getting pepper spray when I can; I've heard too many stories from bicyclists who were attacked and had trips ruined or expensive surgeries to repair torn this or that.. Or lots of stitches. I'm riding more and more in areas where people let there dogs run anywhere they want.
-headwinds. I wish I could take a picture of this to convey how bad they can be. I used the example before for a tailwind about being given all the answers for a test ahead of time... Well, a headwind is the suprise test worth 25% of your grade on a subject you've never even heard of. It's that bad.
-seeing a bad motorcycle accident just after it happened. Dude was pretty messed up.. Weird part was him and his boys (a bunch of young guys on crotch-rockets) passed me about 10 minutes before. I think he was showing off and lost control and ruined his bike and maybe his life.
-Even bypassing el paso, there is a ton of traffic here. Can't wait to get back out into the rural areas.
-riding into a dust-storm. They are awful.. Gets in your eyes, mouth, nose. Yuck. The map actually warned that they are common in the area and lucky me, I got to experience one. I also took some pics just before going through, I think they nicely show what it's like.
That's it for the journal for today!! Not too much excitement.
Highlights:
-more pecan groves
-a few times the road turned enough to give me a brief tease of a tailwind.
-getting a new tire in Las Cruces, NM to replace my worn front tire.
-big long downhill after getting to the top of anthony gap. I passed a cop with his radar gun pointing at me and oncoming traffic going 47mph. I hope I was speeding.
-chicken alfredo dinner before arriving at the hotel.
Lowpoints:
-Getting chased by another pitbull. This one was way more determined and agressive though. It actually ran next to me at 20mph for about 10 seconds.It actually crossed the road and ran about 800ft past it's house trying to get me! I am getting pepper spray when I can; I've heard too many stories from bicyclists who were attacked and had trips ruined or expensive surgeries to repair torn this or that.. Or lots of stitches. I'm riding more and more in areas where people let there dogs run anywhere they want.
-headwinds. I wish I could take a picture of this to convey how bad they can be. I used the example before for a tailwind about being given all the answers for a test ahead of time... Well, a headwind is the suprise test worth 25% of your grade on a subject you've never even heard of. It's that bad.
-seeing a bad motorcycle accident just after it happened. Dude was pretty messed up.. Weird part was him and his boys (a bunch of young guys on crotch-rockets) passed me about 10 minutes before. I think he was showing off and lost control and ruined his bike and maybe his life.
-Even bypassing el paso, there is a ton of traffic here. Can't wait to get back out into the rural areas.
-riding into a dust-storm. They are awful.. Gets in your eyes, mouth, nose. Yuck. The map actually warned that they are common in the area and lucky me, I got to experience one. I also took some pics just before going through, I think they nicely show what it's like.
That's it for the journal for today!! Not too much excitement.
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