May 16, 2024 to Albuquerque

 Sorry folks, no pictures today.   We knew when we headed out that we were going to get wet.   I had my phone buttoned up inside a sealed baggie.   Would have been too much messing about to take in and out.

That said, we had a light mist the first 10 -12 miles, which then stopped.    Cloudy all day .   Yeah our little group of 5 junior varsity riders leave 1/2 hour before the varsity.   Still, first time ever I was first one in to sag 1 at mile 31.   With shorts, and a light jacket, it was chilly 😷.  So ... I bought a 3 dollar pair of gloves at the c-store.  This helped my hands alot.   Then I put the shower cap from a previous hotel 🏨 over top of my the helmet which also helped a lot w warmth.

Off to mile 58, sag 2.   Even though I flatted a mile from sag 2, I was still the first one in!   Very proud of myself, rightly or wrongly.   Bottom line, I was feeling pretty good.   Surely better than last week's misery of illness and heat.   We had a super looong, (3.5 mile) straight grinding climb leaving sag 2.  The sky was threatening and forecast called for thunderstorms.   We never got hit!!   We ended up w 80 miles today.

The last 10 was actually in the city 🏙️ I was fortunate to catch on with the boys from Georgia and stuck w them to the hotel 🏨.   Could see the mountain outside of town, but top was buried in rain clouds.

Below is pic from hotel room as leaving this morning.

Doesn't look very nice does it?

Distant shot of the mountain Jill and I went up three years ago, and Jill almost froze to death waiting for the tram to bring us down.   Might have been the coldest I've ever seen Jill.

Looks like elevation gain today was 2000 feet and descended 2500.

I believe tomorrow is 5000 up...... Nighty night 🌃!

Note.  Today was day 11 of riding, of the 44.   Wow.