95 miles, 6400 feet of climbing.
Today was a nice, easy day to ease us back into the daily grind after our very lazy day off in Taos. It started with our guides telling us they had changed our route to make it take an alternate road, thereby saving us 20 miles of riding and one nasty climb where the weather at the top of the pass was uncertain. Good start to the day! We rode out of Taos in about 41F temps --have we mentioned the past few days have been frigid and we've been wearing all our warm clothes almost all day long?-- and began climbing a nice road lined with trees and hills on both sides.
After lunch, we began descending-- and we descended right out of the Rockies and into the plains. (See the photo of Ed waving so long to the mountains. They won't be missed!)
The rest of the day was gradual descending, flats, and really small rollers. All very pleasant, and well earned. The temperature rose enough for us to be riding in just shorts and jerseys for the first time in about a week. We even saw buffalo on the plains! That's when I started serenading Ed with "Home on the Range," except all I knew was the part about the buffalo roaming, so the song was short.
It was one of those rare days when you get to the hotel and say "We're here already?" We might be having more of those, since the big mountains are behind us and the plains and straight roads are stretching out in front of us. Hopefully, the shorter riding days will also give the guides a chance to recupe-- I am SO glad I'm not guiding this trip, because it's hard to imagine doing twice as much work as I'm doing every day, and that's exactly what Katie, Dave, Matt, and Nate are doing. They're also getting sick just like everyone else, but they still show up smiling, with everything dialed and ready to go each morning. Give these people a raise!!!
Sadly, we haven't seen any UFOs in New Mexico yet. But we're looking...
Today was a nice, easy day to ease us back into the daily grind after our very lazy day off in Taos. It started with our guides telling us they had changed our route to make it take an alternate road, thereby saving us 20 miles of riding and one nasty climb where the weather at the top of the pass was uncertain. Good start to the day! We rode out of Taos in about 41F temps --have we mentioned the past few days have been frigid and we've been wearing all our warm clothes almost all day long?-- and began climbing a nice road lined with trees and hills on both sides.
After lunch, we began descending-- and we descended right out of the Rockies and into the plains. (See the photo of Ed waving so long to the mountains. They won't be missed!)
The rest of the day was gradual descending, flats, and really small rollers. All very pleasant, and well earned. The temperature rose enough for us to be riding in just shorts and jerseys for the first time in about a week. We even saw buffalo on the plains! That's when I started serenading Ed with "Home on the Range," except all I knew was the part about the buffalo roaming, so the song was short.
It was one of those rare days when you get to the hotel and say "We're here already?" We might be having more of those, since the big mountains are behind us and the plains and straight roads are stretching out in front of us. Hopefully, the shorter riding days will also give the guides a chance to recupe-- I am SO glad I'm not guiding this trip, because it's hard to imagine doing twice as much work as I'm doing every day, and that's exactly what Katie, Dave, Matt, and Nate are doing. They're also getting sick just like everyone else, but they still show up smiling, with everything dialed and ready to go each morning. Give these people a raise!!! 
Sadly, we haven't seen any UFOs in New Mexico yet. But we're looking...
