30 April 2011 Fast America Day 7

 Gallup, NM to Albuquerque, NM

Mileage:                     138.11 miles

Riding Time:              8:09     Riding Speed 16.9 mph

Total Time:                 9:40

Climbing:                    2937 ft.

Flats:                           1

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82604325

http://app.strava.com/rides/495616

This is the second of three consecutive 130+ mile days (not counting tomorrow’s rest day) and was much harder than yesterday. It went up for the first 25 miles, and was then basically downhill the rest of the day except for a 400 ft. 6-7% bump at the end, that seemed endless at the time.

There was a huge weather change. It was 32 F when we started and I wore a vest, long fingered gloves, and arm and leg warmers most of the day. My fingers still froze. Unlike yesterday, which I rode entirely alone, I did ride a four person paceline (to which I contributed almost nothing) for about 40 miles mid day. Because it was cool, I had no problems ith my foot.

Really not much more to say about a grind-it-out day, until I got to the hotel. Gregg, who leaves us tomorrow (He thinks that attending the New Orleans Jazz Festival is more important than riding all the way) came in after me and greeted me: “Chris, did you have your flat today?”. I lamely answered “Yes, of course” and he said “But I’m sure that was a girlie flat, let me show you a real flat. (apologies to those of you who are offended, but I have to report accurately). Well, he had a flat to end all flats on the fast descent into Albuquerque (I clocked my ride high speed of 45+ mph). He had a nail; not just any nail, but a fancy cabinetry nail, run clear through the middle of his tire casing through the rim. It will definitely make replacing the tube problematic. Fortunately, he only lost the last 10-15 miles of his ride in the SAG Wagon. More on the luck of the draw in tomorrow’s day-off blog.

I’ll have more on my reflections on the week and my fear of Monday’s Queen Stage (Wikipedia: The most difficult stage of a multi-day road race, typically involving multiple low- or beyond-category climbs.) in tomorrows post. This is hard, and when this is over I definitely