Happy Thanksgiving!

This morning was another one of those early mornings. Actually, this morning was one of those REALLY early mornings. I was awake before 5:00 and was actually on the road before 6:00. If this keeps up I’m going to turn into a morning person. Then again, maybe not.

Despite being in Arizona and desert country, I have to say it was a bit chilly this morning. Dare I say it was genuinely chilly. A check of the temperature revealed it to be 11 degrees celsius which definitely falls into the chilly category. As such, I felt no shame when I opted to put on my long sleeve sweater to start the ride. Sure, I knew it was going to warm up but I wasn’t about to wait.

The biggest downside to leaving so early this morning was that I didn’t get to say goodbye to or thank my hosts for last night’s stay. Nor was there a chance to get a photo. I hate when that happens. That said, thanks to Clayton and Deborah for hosting. I really enjoyed the trailer!

I was on the road for about 45 minutes when I approached the New Mexico border. In actual fact I approached the back of the “Welcome to Arizona” sign – the actual “Welcome to New Mexico” sign was further up the road. Perhaps the border runs right along the middle of the road. Anyway, the only reason I even noticed the sign was that there were two people taking their picture in front of it.

The sun was still very low and I was pretty much riding into it at the time so I could barely even see the people until I was passing them. As I passed they called out and asked where I was headed. I called out, “Florida!”. After which I crossed the road to have a chat with my fellow early risers.

It turns out they weren’t so much early risers as they were all night drivers. They had left Houston about 13 hours earlier and were now crossing their second State Line of the day. And that’s how I met Star and Richard.

We talked a bit about my trip, where I started, and where I was going. They seemed both surprised and impressed by the whole thing. From there I asked what their story was. It turns out they’re circus performers. Actual circus performers. Star’s company, Stilt Circus, is a stilt performing troupe based in Los Angeles, but they’ve spent the past 3.5 months on the road performing all over the U.S.

Having never met circus performers before I was rather amazed by their story. On the flip side, they were rather amazed by my journey. As a result we ended up talking for quite a while. We exchanged cards and took a few photos before it was time to returned to the road. But before I left they were kind enough to offer me a couple of bananas and some cornbread to fuel my ride. They also took a few photos of me as I was riding past which I’m hoping they’ll send to me when they have a chance. I can honestly say I didn’t expect an encounter like that but I’m so glad I did. It was great to meet them. Circus performers. How cool.

As would be expected, not long after leaving Arizona I was greeted by the “Welcome to New Mexico” sign. I was officially in my fifth state. And not long after passing said sign I was passed by Star and Richard who were doing a drive by to get a few more photos of me on the road. They did a U-turn ahead of me which allowed me to give them a final farewell wave as I passed them again.

Today’s destination was Deming, NM. Not only is it about 160 km from Duncan but it is also a complete diversion from the official Adventure Cycling route. As such I was somewhat on my own from a navigation standpoint. That was amplified a bit when I opted not to follow Google’s directions either.

I wasn’t entire convinced Google’s route was a legitimate road or just a trail. It made reference to the “Continental Divide Trail” but there were also portions of the directions which simply read, “Turn left” or “Turn right”. Having had bad experiences with that kind of Google instruction in the past I figured I’d go my own way.

My own way was to get on Interstate 10. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure if bicycles were allowed on Interstate 10 but I thought it was worth investigating – even if it meant it would take an extra 5 km to find out.

As I crossed over the Interstate I wasn’t overly confident that I could legally use the road. As I got closer to the on ramp I was greeted with a sign that read, “Pedestrians and Motor-Driven Cyclists Prohibited”. I won’t lie, that made me pretty happy.

Many cyclists don’t like riding on the interstate highways because of the traffic. I don’t share that feeling. The shoulders are generally wide, in good condition, and more often than not there are rumble strips between the shoulder and the highway. I’m not a fan of rumble strips on a narrow shoulder but on the wide shoulders of the Interstates, I’m fine with them.

I’m also fine with a tailwind. And I’m REALLY fine with a really strong tailwind. Much to my surprise, that’s exactly what I had today. Since my journey east began I’ve had a couple of good tailwind days but nothing like this. Today’s tailwind combined with a generally flat ride meant I would be setting personal bests by the end of the day.

The first 60 km of my ride along Highway 70 was good and I was able to maintain speeds in the low 20s (km/h). But once I got onto Interstate 10 my speed jumped up to the low (and sometimes mid) 30s. It was fantastic. If all went well I figured I could arrive in Deming, NM as early as 2:00 PM (and that was factoring in the time change).

There were multiple reasons for my early departure (and hopefully early arrival) today. I needed access to a somewhat high speed internet connection so that I could upload a few somewhat large files for a client. The files were needed for tomorrow but the client is in Germany which is about eight hours ahead of me. Time was of the essence. On top of that, today is Canada’s Thanksgiving. If I were back in Canada I would be having a fantastic turkey dinner with family tonight. But I’m not. However, if I arrived in Deming at a reasonable hour I could at least make like E.T. and phone home. Yes, it’s safe to say that today I was on a bit of a mission.

With my mission on my mind, I couldn’t help but be thankful for the tailwind and flat terrain of the day. It made the day much less frantic. Actually, it made it a lot of fun.

The downside to taking interstate highways is they tend not to be as scenic as the more remote routes. That was somewhat the case today. That said, the first 60 km of today’s ride was pretty scenic so I felt there was a good balance today. And, as I said before, I’m not entirely confident the Continental Divide Trail would’ve been entirely friendly to a fully loaded road bike.

The closer I got to my destination and the longer I cruised along at high speeds, it became harder and harder for me to stop for things like food and water breaks. As such, I found myself riding for essentially three hours without stopping for anything more than a quick drink of water and a CLIF Bar. Not necessarily the smartest course of action but I made sure to pay close attention to how I was feeling. I still haven’t forgotten that tough ride into Halifax. There would be no severe dehydration today.

When I finally decided to stop I was less than 25 km from my destination. At my current speeds I estimated I could get there in under an hour. As such, the temptation to keep going was high. But I resisted. I was ahead schedule even compared to what I thought was my “best case scenario” so stopping at the next service station for 20 minutes wouldn’t be an issue. In hindsight, maybe I should’ve kept going.

What started as a brief pitstop turned into a somewhat less brief pitstop. After enjoying a frozen drink and resting inside for a bit, I returned to my bike only to notice that something was amiss. After 10,004.50 km, I was staring at a flat tire. I can’t say that I was entirely surprised. I mean, it had to happen eventually.

Now, you may be thinking, “But didn’t you just get a new tire? A tire that took UPS forever to deliver?” Yes. Yes, I did. But as yet I hadn’t actually replaced the tire which is why I wasn’t entirely surprised to be staring at a flat tire. Cue the explanation.

Here’s a bit of backstory about my bike. Compared to a lot of touring cyclists, my bike is pretty old. It’s a 1977 Nishiki International which, I may have mentioned this before, I truly love. However, there are some challenges to riding an older bike. Namely, the newer components don’t always fit properly and that’s the case with my rear wheel. Just to be clear, it fits and is perfectly safe. But the wheel is a few millimetres wider than the design of the frame which means it’s a VERY tight fit. As such, I try to avoid removing the wheel any more than necessary. It was now necessary.

I wasn’t looking forward to this moment and my fears were generally justified. There would be three distinct challenges with this repair. The first, removing the wheel. This ended up being the easiest task but it still took the might of the brute squad. Where’s Fezzik when you need him? (Name that movie!)

Removing the tire from the rim was actually the easiest task but I really didn’t anticipate that to be a challenge. That said, before completing that task I did a quick inspection of the tire which revealed a tiny staple which had punctured my previously puncture-proof tire. If only I hadn’t stopped – then I wouldn’t have run over that staple. I don’t really mean that because as I said, it was only a matter of time before this happened and changing a flat in the shade at a service station is significantly more appealing than doing so on along the Interstate somewhere. Yes, I’m speaking from experience.

With the tube successfully replaced, it was time for challenge number two. Putting the tire back on the rim. If you’ve never had to do this consider yourself lucky. The difficulty level of this task varies from tire to tire but my experience with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires is that this would be no easy task – at least, not for an amateur bike mechanic such as myself. Again, my concerns were warranted. That said, I managed to avoid invoking any rage-like antics and, after more time than I care to admit, managed to get the tire to pop onto the rim.

The third and final task was to get the wheel back on the bike. I suspected this would be about as pleasant as the last challenge. It was. But once again I was (surprisingly) able to complete the task without any Bruce Banner inspired rage.

With the unexpected delay I was now feeling a bit more rushed to get to the motel. Not so much for the uploading, as I figured I had time for that, but I was still hoping to make it in time to call home. Spoiler Alert: I did.

The last 25 kilometres went smoothly. As did finding the motel and checking in. From there it was only a matter of minutes between getting into my room, starting up my computer, and phoning home (via Skype). Obviously I didn’t get to enjoy the dinner (or the shortbread) that goes with Thanksgiving at Aunt Susan’s, but it was great to somewhat see everyone – the resolution was pretty low. And while I didn’t get to have any of my aunt’s fresh shortbread (which I believe to be the best shortbread ever), I had the next best thing.

Before leaving on June 1st, my aunt made a batch of shortbread cookies for me to take on the road. Needless to say, they didn’t last long. Except for one. Knowing I would be on the road at Thanksgiving, I decided to save one. I won’t lie, a 4.5 month old shortbread doesn’t hold its shape very well (or at all) but thanks to the wonders of Ziploc I enjoyed the best crumbs ever!

Today’s long ride has turned into a seemingly longer update – no wonder I keep falling behind. As such, I’ll wrap things up. While I didn’t have an official Thanksgiving dinner, the restaurant at the motel offered a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes, veggies, and some sort of cranberry-like dish. And there was even ice cream for dessert. All things considered, not a bad way to end the day. It was a Happy Thanksgiving indeed.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 159.54 km
Ride time: 5:54:16
Average speed: 27.02 km/h (PERSONAL BEST!!)
Maximum speed: 40.05 km/h