New Mexico Diary:
May 15 2006 Air Canada to Denver, then United to Albuquerque, everything on time. Cloudy day, kind of depressing. Recognized three people from previous trips
May 16 2006, first day was great, full sun 22C+, a 60km tour around Albuquerque with 2 locals who are members, mostly on bike paths, and often bordering water diversion canals. 'Old Town' is the only interesting part of the city. Cycled to REI, to look into a better sleeping bag
May 17 2006 Cycled 75 Km to real small town Madrid, there's 18 of us and we had 15 flats, all due to thorns (so-called goat's-head). After the nice facilities at the Plaza Inn in Albuquerque it was a rustic camping night in a small town ball park, no water, no elec,.....pretty primitive. At least when you wake up at 5:30, the sun is beginning to add warmth.
May 18 2006 Today was my turn to drive the van (brand new Chevy Express) with all the luggage. ... found the TravelLodge in Santa Fe without trouble. Bought a pair of 'MR TUFFYs', a liner for each tire, to reduce flats from thorns. Weather is sunny and maybe 80F, others call it hot, but I think it's grrreat. Had a more expensive meal, coquilles St Jacques, steakfrites, .... ....how French.
May 19 2006 Day-off in Santa Fe, got a free breakfast (2 burritos) in town square, because it was ride-to-work week, bike-toured around town with 5 others, had seafood salad at Cafe Paris (2nd time because it was so good), cycled out to Hyde State Park, 25km, alone, 8300 ft elevation.... pretty nice, nobody around, non-commercial.
May 20 2006 Ride to Chimayo, but stayed in the Santa Cruz Lake campground, ...lots of uphill, fairly long ride with a side trip to the Nambe falls, took extra 2hours 15 min, 83 Km in total. Santa Cruz was hard to find, and all the tent sites were sloping and spent the night fighting sliding down the slope.
May 21 2006 Ride to Taos, steep climb out of campsite, 44 miles, fairly grueling day, many people got a lift. Once in Taos, I tried to find Internet cafe, ... no luck. Staying in RV park, .. not bad ... the showers were good. Dinner at a "ribs" place.
May 22 2006 Taos to Cimarron, St James hotel(old fashioned hotel fro Jesse James day with bullet holes in the wall), dinner included, 55Mi (88 Km)m. Climbed to 9100 feet, first day of lots of cloud cover, windy, hailed in the evening for hour or so, .... Diana gave me a hail-snowball collected from the driveway.
May 23 2006 day off in Cimmaron, paid my Visa bill on internet at public library , got 300USD from ATM. Visted the Philmont Boy Scout center (127,000 acres!!) and the Phillps mansion (hour tour), very interesting. The Phillips (Phillips Petroleum, Phillips 66) made their money in the '20s from Oil Exploration and gave the site to the Boy Scouts.
May24 2006 Rode to Red River, over the BobCat Pass at 9820 ft (~3000 m), highest paved pass in New Mexico, and the highest I've ever cycled. Red River is a ski town of course. Excellent self-catered BBQ, (NY Strip from grocery)
May 25 2006 Returned from Red River to Taos, mainly downhill. Supposed to hit 90's today,.... certainly is sunny.
May 26 2006 Day Off and the BEST day so far,.... did 16 mile rafting through the 'BOX' ( a segment of the Rio Grande), rather exciting, although the water was a bit low. 6 from CCCTS tried it (3 cyclists did the 'Box', 3 on a more liesurely route). Lunch provided. Excellent overall. Although I tipped the guide $20, I considered even doubling the tip (... not something I would do lightly)
May 27 2006 a 66 mile trip to Lake Abigui, rather long and tedious towards the end. The campsite seemed populated by dubious bunch of people, probably out on parole.... not impressed.
May 28 2006, no cycling due to 45mile/hour winds. Went to the Ghost Ranch in the van, saw the natural amphitheatre. Not bad, but not great either. The 45M/hr winds were a real pain.
May 29 2006 47.6 mile cycle (mostly downhill) to Los Alamos, biggish town, at Best Western which is really nice after 4 nights camping,.... visited the Atomic Bomb museum, since this was the home of the Manhattan project.
May 30 2006 Cycled to last campsite, ....now this is more like it,... isolated, quiet, a trek around pueblo ruins, had an excellent camp dinner (BBQ chicken and potato salad)
May 31 2006 Cycled to Zen Centre in Jemez (an hour session with the chief person explaining the Zen idea), went to "Bath House" had a massage $37 for 45 min, was best massage Ive ever had.
June 1 2006 Cycled to Bernadillo, Days Inn, really a suburb of Albuquerque. Was the first to come across Cynthia prostrate on the highway having run into steel fence due to wind. she had minor nose injury and took emergency trip to hospital. Roger estimated the emergency would cost $1500. Most went to Range Cafe and had a superb NY Strip, clsoe to perfection.
June 2 2006 Cycled to Albuquerque (quite a nice ride, for being so close to a big city) stopped at REI, Costco,
June 3 2006 flight home, all went well, got bumped into first class out of Albuquerque (dont know why), ..what luck, arrived home on time everything in tact.
A "Yahoo Group" to share Photos....
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CCCTS_Albuquerque_2006
The whole trip was great!!! .... and an amazing bargain....
..................................... Base+Extras =$Total/ Days... $/Day
CCCTS New Mexico...... 850+500 = $1350 /19....or $71 /d
Other trips, typical ..... 3200+500 = $3700/ 17 ....or $218/d
(Extras: Meals, Drinks etc)
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