Day 7, Saturday, September 14

Despite the welcoming sign, I didn't feel very enchanted on our first day in New Mexico.

Our first encounter with New Mexico today was very unfriendly. Today was almost as hard as September 11. We rode 160 mi, most of it into a head wind. We crossed the Continental Divide -- at about 7,800' -- so that most of our climbing for the day was done at the highest altitude of the trip. I rode really slowly today. Even the people who got in much faster than me said they had hard days, though, so that made me feel a little better, that it wasn't just me. The only thing that saved me from having to take the van in was that the last thirty miles at least were down hill.

I was very relieved to pass the highest point of the trip, in Pie Town, New Mexico. The climbing in the morning was difficult for me because of the altitude, but at least after this day we remained well below 4,000' altitude for the remainder of the trip.

Today we did pass by the field of radar dishes that were filmed in the movie "Contact" with Jodie Foster. That was pretty cool. The dishes looked like giant Morning Glories, all reaching toward the sky in different directions. We passed them in a wide open plateau, where the road was so long, flat, and straight that I could see in the distance where the road narrowed to a fine point. It must have taken me twenty or thirty miles and several hours to pass those dishes. Larry from Davis, California, let me draft off of him for a while during that stretch and that helped my speed a lot even though it was a little hard to find the energy to keep up with him.

Earlier in the day I missed my own birthday cake. Lon and Susan bought it for me and brought it to breakfast. I skipped breakfast, though, since I've been feeling kind of sick in the mornings and evenings and instead drank some soy milk in my room that I had bought at Safeway the night before. So they brought the cake to the first rest stop, but I passed by the first stop because I knew it was going to be a long day and I thought skipping rest stops was the only way I could buy myself some time. When they saw me go by they decided to go ahead and eat the cake. Charles from Minnesota said he got the first piece. I felt really badly when Lon told me that I had missed my own cake. It was very thoughtful of them to get it for me and I appreciate the acknowledgement a lot. On my actual birthday, September 11, Tom from Minnesota, Daniel from Long Island, and Randy from Oklahoma all took me out to dinner, so with that and the dinner I had with my family before I left, I've gotten a lot of milage out of my birthday this year.

I'm ready for an easy day on the bike. Tomorrow should be moderately hard, with about 135 miles and 3,700' of climbing at a top altitude of 6,700 feet, although if we have a headwind again it could be another hard day. Two days from now, though, should be easy, with 100 miles and 1,500' of climbing, so I'm hoping at least then to get a break. With these hard days I feel like I have to rush all day just to struggle to get in and it's more stressful than fun.