PaCTour Day 13/19 - Rolling into NM

Will looking confident and fit.  He has ridden amazingly.  A few ups and downs, but never any doubt in his riding.  He rides safely, and does more and more work for Jim and the groups as the tour progresses.  Can you imagine how proud his mom and dad are of this 16 year old high school junior??

Riding from Durango, CO to Pagosa Springs, CO the monument is the Chimney Rock.

View of Chimney Rock from the first rest stop, at mile 36 this am.  1/2 way to lunch in Pagosa Springs!!  Will took the Pagosa Springs sprint, assigned double points in honor of our friend, pro MTB woman Shonny Vanlandingham who lives there part time.

Lots of sunflowers on the side of the road today as we descended towards the NM state line.  Unfortunately there was no actual State Line sign, as Jim needed a sneak attack to catch up to Will today.  Will took the lions share of the sprints, but they were very competitive.

The scenery today was over the top, arguably the best of the tour so far.

Ascent view of the rugged, rolling terrain.  No real sustained climbs today, just lots of rollers.  4000' climbing before lunch at mile 75.  7000' total on the day.  Last "hard" day of the tour.

Garmin view of the final Colorado stage, from Durango, CO to Chama, NM.

Will's bike - Cervelo R3.  He rode this from Washington state to Virginia last summer, this summer from Canada to Mexico.  Shimano Dura Ace components, compact gearing.  Shimano Dura Ace Wheels with tubless Hutchinson tires.  White Carbon Arundel bottle cages.  Fizik Aliante Saddle with braided carbon rails (much more comfortable than the standard Aliante that will rode last summer, in his opinion.)

Another view of Will's bike.  Cervelo defendably makes the best road bike you can get.  The P3 TT bike has always been the best (P2 Carbon is the best TT bike for the money.)  Cervelo design and engineering makes their road bikes second to none also.  Certainly race proven by the CSC road team.  And teenage boy proven by JW and Will riding their R3's across the U.S. last summer.

Will's Cockpit.  Garmin 305 GPS computer.  FSA "chez whitey" stem for fashion.  FSA carbon bars with Fizik tape and Fizik Bar Gel padding.

Today Jim and Will rode very steady and with seeming purpose.  They were about last to leave the parking lot this am (Will tried to leave another pair of gloves in the hotel room.)  They rode easy and smoothly and passed most of the riders during the day, being amongst the first to arrive at the motel in Chama, NM.  They didn't talk alot today, it seemed as though there was a silent agreement to get the job done today, finish the last "hard" day.

This brings up an observation.  Will and Jim are certainly fit, but they are really midpack in terms of riding ability on this tour!!  Marc is the strongest, followed by Cat, followed by Ray (18 year old) then Chip.  There is another handful of strong riders before Jim and Will might even be considered to enter the scene!!  Amazing, huh?  Also needing mention are crewmembers John Lake and Carl, super strong riders.  Ray's mom Lil really moves down the road quickly.  Don from Canada is amazing, particularly when he and his crewmember wife Carol ride the tandem up and down these climbs every other day.  Hate to leave anyone out but everyone else is strong and amazing riders as well.  Gotta of course mention Lon, Will did leave him on the descent into Pagosa Springs scoring some points in the secret Lon competition.

Today was again arguably the most beautiful day so far.  Now we understand why so many professional MTB racers live in Durango (like our friend Jason Sager did a few years back) and why Shonny lived in Pagosa Springs.  The terrain is great for training, and the scenery is stunning.  There was little traffic on our long section of alternative road, the state highways were a bit heavy trafficked, but hey, it's Sunday in the summer, so that's expected.

Tomorrow we ride from Chama, NM, to Espanola, NM.  82 miles, 3000' climbing.  What are we going to do ourselves??   We do get an extra hour of sleep in the am (hooray) waking at 7am for 7:30 breakfast and 8am departure.  We'll probably do a little run in Espanola.

Ok, don't read this next part if you don't care for a soap box.  Time for the daily rant.  The last 15 miles into Chama were on a NM state highway, fairly heavy traffic, lots of trucks pulling campers and boats.  6 foot wide shoulder which was a little rough, but not bad.  Jim and Will were passed by 3 riders who insisted on riding in the road causing traffic to nearly stop when there was opposing traffic.  Not only was this dangerous for those riders, but pisses off the drivers and sets up other cyclists for their wrath at another juncture.  Please, please don't ride in the road when there is a generous shoulder and quite a bit of traffic.  For yourself, for the cars who want to drive safely, and for all cyclists in general.  Remember rule No. 1 - Be Safety!!! Thank you.