Jeff Bike Ride Across the U.S.: Day 13 (Tues, 26 Feb)

Today may turn out to be one of my favorite rides for the entire trip!! I rode from Alamogordo, NM to Cloudcroft, NM. It was a beautiful sunny day, with just light winds and Temps in the 30s and 40s. Cloudcroft is at 8,600 feet and is one of the highest elevation towns in the U.S. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudcroft,_NM ). The ride was just 23 miles but had a climb of over 4,400 feet. I pushed my legs a bit during the climb but not too much as: a) I had never ridden my bike at this high of an elevation before, so I wanted to evaluate how the heart/lungs/legs did without killing them (they did pretty good), and b) there were a ton of great pictures to be had along the way so I needed to do many quick stops to capture the local scenery. I rode without a coat and so I kept most of the stops to <1 min, before the windchill started to kick in on legs/body.

A couple of cool meetings along the way. Just before I started the climb in Alamogordo a local cyclist riding the highway in his pickup truck (with his dog) pulled over and we chatted for a good 20 minutes. He does a lot of riding in these mountains and I learned a lot quickly from him. There are many great mountain rides for cyclists in this area – I was happy to be able to do 1 of them, but after listening to his stories, I wished for more time to try out some of the others (maybe on another trip!). Near the top of the climb as I was reading about some of the local history on National Forest signs, I met a couple from upstate New York who are doing a cross-country trip to numerous National Parks. Sounds like a lot of fun (they made snow angels in the sand at White Sand National Monument this morning – something I missed out on given the 30+ mph winds when I visited…).

Also, for the record, I discovered this morning that I had another flat tire (#4 for the trip). This was another slow leak from a very small thorn, in my front tire (which was a Gatorskin tire that is supposed to be resistant to such punctures – it was a nasty little thorn…). At least the tire was tough enough to make it through the ride yesterday – much easier to change a flat in a hotel room, than along a Highway.

Adding to a list I started last week, here are two more categories plus an update on one other:

1. My favorite question at motels (I’ve been asked this twice now – same motel chain – seems to be standard procedure - they seem to be bothered if you don’t fill in their entire sign-in card): “Can you fill out the make/model and license plate of your car?” (As I’m standing at the front desk with my bike…)

2. Best candy bar to have on a bike ride: Snickers Almond (OBTW: my bike computer tells me that I’ve burned about 40,000 calories – that is 173.9 Snickers bars that I could have eaten!)

3. Rattlesnakes seen (dead or alive): still zero; still looking…

A couple of totals-to-date on the ride from my Garmin bike computer: a) 864 total miles to-date (about 33% of the projected total is now complete), and b) 29,319 feet of vertical elevation climbed (like going from sea level to the top of Mt Everest!).

On to the pictures below! I hope you enjoy them.

Follow the signs to Cloudcroft OR just keep going up hill - either plan will get you to the right place!

Looking back on the White Sands.

Entering Lincoln National Forest - at this point in the ride that seemed like a misnomer given that there were not (yet) any trees in sight...

I met a father and his son who were on their way from Carlsbad to Las Cruces for a Dental Appointment - long trip for them. They were nice enough to take this picture for me.

Check out this information - It explains the relationship between the rocks in the mountains (which were once all under a sea) and the White Sands 2,000 ft below. Keep in mind that this is at about 6,000 ft. Cool stuff.

Cool and/or funky panorama pictures from my iPhone.

That's a house up there - what a view back down into the valley they must have!

There are lot's of local stores along the route with wood carvings and other local products.

The route up Hwy 82 followed a small mountain river that in some places was a very small valley that the Hwy runs through and in other places had very nice fields such as this one. First real signs of snow on the ride.

Snow becoming more prevalent...

Aha, trees (National Forest...) with some logging and associated trucks (in the distance in this pict).

If you can magnify these signs hopefully you can read a bit of history on the area - Cloudcroft, the road, railroad and towns in the valley I rode up through were all developed a little over 100 yrs ago, for logs/railroad ties that were used to build the first railroads in southern New Mexico.

Old railroad bridge used for logging in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The couple from upstate NY were kind enough to snap this picture (you can still see White Sands in the distance - this is almost 4,000 ft above them and a good 25-30 miles away).