Data: 132 miles Riding time 7:41 (17.1 mph avg)
This was a trying day on the highway. Much of it was on Interstate 40, and there were side winds and head winds for much of it, although there were tailwinds in the morning. Here is one more photo of me facing "the road ahead" along Hwy 40.
I was in a drafting group for the first 40 miles, as our frontage road went through past little touristy areas with Trading Posts...and dinosaurs.
Halfway to Gallup, I decided to do another "detour" to visit the Painted Desert National Monument. The colors, from old mineral-laden seas, were quite stunningly pretty. The remaining 70 miles I was alone to face the winds.
Hey, take a look at how strict Barbara Munk can be about her rules when we eat lunch or have our snacks from the van. hahaha In this case, the offender is Bill Phillppi.
We rode a little on old Route 66, which is now Arizona Hwy 118. I laughed that it was Hwy 118, since that's the number of the California hwy that goes right through Simi Valley and out many miles west, where I did so much of my training. When this bike tour was finally here, I thought I was through, finally, with riding Hwy 118 every day, but at least today's was a different one. Here is some of the scenery along Route 66.
Tonight's dinner was kinda funny in that the entire group plopped into the all-you-can-eat buffet across the street from the motel, in a lonely stretch of "motel row". The proprietors probably thought they had it made with all us skinny guys, but then they couldn't believe how much they lost on us with all our trips back for more platefuls. We ate them empty, it seemed. Here we are replacing some of those 10,000 calories we burned today.
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