Yet More Wind
Here's my first post about why I'm riding, and here's where you donate to Water Life Hope. It'll make your day and ours.
The wind was fun until it wasn't. We left Santa Rosa on a deserted stretch of road with a cross wind a good bit of the way. It was manageable, but the wind made the landscape itself moan. Steve met us at a former town called Cuervo, and things were starting to get out of hand. Carol rode around what was left of the town, and had difficulty riding the half-mile back to the bus. The route turned and the wind was solidly behind us.
Steve passed us quickly in the bus after we all left Cuervo. Carol and I were barely pedalling and still kept up with the bus pretty well. At one point I was coasting over fairly level ground at roughly 38 MPH. That was the fun part. We all pulled into a sort-of-town called Montoya and the wind rocked the bus while we had lunch. A bit unnerving but we were still up for it. So we headed out to complete the last 20 miles.
The route didn't turn but the wind did. I was gripping my brake lever hoods and screaming when sudden gusts pushed me to the far side of the road. Then the wind pushed Carol off her bike. Completely. And Bicycle Route 66 was taking us onto I-40 in less than a mile. The probability of staying safely out of the lanes of travel on the freeway was frighteningly low.
Once again Steve and Ed the bus came to the rescue. By the time we were trying to load the bikes gusts were running up to 75 MPH. It was dicey.
Then an unexpected treat. We stumbled out of the bus at the only grocery store in town and picked up a few things. Earl, an on-line pal of Carol's, was in the parking lot. He came to the campground with us and visited awhile. Earl is retired Air Force, a genial fellow, and was a real highlight to the day.
Tomorrow we go to Adrian, Tx. It's the end of another Adventure Cycling Association map, the beginning of a new time zone. And we'll be about halfway along the length of Route 66.
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| This is what's in Montoya. |
April 10: Santa Rosa to Tumcumcari, 50 miles by bike and 14 by bus.
The wind was fun until it wasn't. We left Santa Rosa on a deserted stretch of road with a cross wind a good bit of the way. It was manageable, but the wind made the landscape itself moan. Steve met us at a former town called Cuervo, and things were starting to get out of hand. Carol rode around what was left of the town, and had difficulty riding the half-mile back to the bus. The route turned and the wind was solidly behind us.
Steve passed us quickly in the bus after we all left Cuervo. Carol and I were barely pedalling and still kept up with the bus pretty well. At one point I was coasting over fairly level ground at roughly 38 MPH. That was the fun part. We all pulled into a sort-of-town called Montoya and the wind rocked the bus while we had lunch. A bit unnerving but we were still up for it. So we headed out to complete the last 20 miles.
 |
| This is what it looks like. No, a bigger lens wouldn't help. Nothing there. |
Once again Steve and Ed the bus came to the rescue. By the time we were trying to load the bikes gusts were running up to 75 MPH. It was dicey.
Then an unexpected treat. We stumbled out of the bus at the only grocery store in town and picked up a few things. Earl, an on-line pal of Carol's, was in the parking lot. He came to the campground with us and visited awhile. Earl is retired Air Force, a genial fellow, and was a real highlight to the day.
Tomorrow we go to Adrian, Tx. It's the end of another Adventure Cycling Association map, the beginning of a new time zone. And we'll be about halfway along the length of Route 66.
 |
| Carol and Earl in the bus. |
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