PaCTour Day 14/19 - The Land of Enchantment

At night the bikes snuggle and get their rest for the next day.

This may look like a mess.  But, it isn't.  In the foreground is the nighttime charging center.  Traveling you need a squid power outlet.   5 outlets without any constraints of charging adaptor sizes.  For laptop chargers, camera batteries.  You also need the Chargepod. This little gem charges up to 6 different devices simultaneously.  For us it charges the Treo, iPhone, iPod and 2 Garmins each night.

Just past the charging center is Jim's pile of shoes, clothing and pocket paraphenalia for the next day.  Past that is todays pile of dirty clothes, airing and drying out overnight to be put in the laundry bag (Turks laundry bag from college by the way!!)

Long, shallow, beautiful descent today.  Reminded us all why New Mexico is the land of enchantment.

Echo cave, a neat place with remarkable acoustical echoing characteristics.

We rode quite a bit today with Jon Jahant, crew member and masseus for PAC Tour.  Jon favors the helmet Jim wears (detailed below) made by LAS.

The gradual descent into Espanol was spectacular.

Just before we reached our hotel in Espanola we crossed the muddy Rio Grande.

The liquor store just before our nights motel.  Our little friend Adrianne, will particularly appreciate this.

Ascent view of today's ride.  Only 2600' climbing and 2500' net altitude loss made today's ride a breeze (despite the expected head wind heading south...)

Garmin view of the ride.  The few little climbs we did were nice ones, the descents were gradual and pleasurable.

Garmin view of our 20 minute run.  We walked 3 blocks to the Laundry, threw the load in, then ran 20 minutes and returned to throw the laundry in the dryer!!

Jim wears the LAS Haxial as he feels this is the premier helmet for the bald man.

The Haxial is the top of the line helmet.  Most riders who don't worry about sunburn on the head wear the next in line, the Squalo, which is quite a bit sexier.  Currently Rick, Terri and Foxy are wearing a Squalo.

The bug catcher lining the inside of the Haxial completes the full pate coverage Jim desires.

Great day.  Again we were treated to ever more increasingly spectacular scenery which makes the rides simply fly by.  Jim made the mistake of deciding that Will's rear tire needed changing after the ride today, so of course that tire flatted about 4 miles out of town.  No biggie, quick tube insertion and back on the road.  With a little practice changing a flat in tubeless tires takes little less time than with standard tires!!

There were lots of flats today, and will be in the coming days.  Although New Mexico is the land of Enchantment from an aesthetic viewpoint, the breakdown lane that we ride in has lots of little rocks and "Arizona Gemstones" (aka broken glass.)  We have found from many years of riding in NM and AZ that the state sport is throwing beer bottles and other glass onto the sides of the roads.  Hey, what's a few chewed up tires and flats?  Just gives you more time to enjoy the scenery as you change a tube!!

Quick catchup of mentions from the past few days.  First, the boys bikes work flawlessly, thanx to Rick Avalos at B-H.  Rick is the top mechanic in SA and probably anywhere, our bikes work without problem, period, because of Rick's skills.  

Jim is back to listening to a few downloaded medical lectures on the road, but yesterday he listened to 3 discs that Foxy burned for him a few years back, first is called "Cable Guy" second "Hot Rod Shit" and third "Mellow Mix."  Great, great mix of surf, cowboy rock, 80's alternative and some country.  Jim doesn't know half the groups but, some of his favorites are included such as the Breeders, Clash, and of course Foxy's favorites the Ramones.  Hence one of his many nickname "Dougie Ramone."

When we rolled into Durango, 2 days ago, Jim thought what a perfect town that would be for Lutz.  This thought was cemented when the first business we rolled past was a colon cleansing outfit.

We lost the Hook today - back to Vail and work for him.  He's seriously interested in a Cervelo, hopefully B-H can help him with that.  Really great guy, a younger version of Papa Free.  Not a negative bone in his body.

New Mexico will be our home for the rest of the tour, until we cross the border of TX to El Paso.  Fine with Jim and Will, we like the dry heat and rugged desert beauty.  It is going to try the patience of alot of our riders, however as we anticipate 2-3 flats per rider over the next 4 days due to the Arizona Gemstones and rocky breakdown lanes.  Unfortunately this is encouraging alot of our riders to ride in the road, which is hazardous.

Until tomorrow, thanx for reading.  We will ride 90+ miles with a bit more climbing from Espanol, NM to Moriarty, NM.   There is a 15% climb (that's 1/7.5 in old money) thrown in for good measure.  Today's lunch was our favorite - Bratwursts, hopefully tomorrow's lunch will be equally palatable as we may need the energy for the climb!!!!