Epic Bike Ride Day 10 June 5

Thoughts from Kelly: Happy Birthday Harold! (Marks dad) We stayed in another random parking lot in White Horse NM. Since it was a business, we needed to be out before they opened at 9am. Yes, I know what you are thinking, no way! But we did it, we were on the road by 8:30 and at our first break stop by 9:30. Now we just need to keep up this early-ish morning routine. While at our first break stop in Pueblo Pintado, we enjoyed a newly opened convenience store with ‘really good coffee’, in Marks words. There was little shade so I snapped this cute photo of Mark trying to hide in the trucks shade, he’s so cute! Mark was feeling strong today so he did a 20 mile stretch without stopping! Then the heat of the day started to wear on him and he rode shorter stretches the rest of the day. Since we started the day so early, he got 67 miles in by 4pm!! We had a nice meal in Cuba NM and tried to decide if Mark should ride the 2,000 feet in 11 miles to get to the campground, find somewhere else in town to stay, or load the bike on the truck and drive to the campground. We ended up driving 11 miles to some BLM land and found an amazingly beautiful spot to camp for the night. There were wild irises all over, a sprawling meadow with tall pines and birch (or aspen- not sure which) surrounding it. It was breathtaking! We truly enjoyed our evening in this mountain paradise!

Thoughts from Mark: Today was a much better day on the bike. I felt pretty strong for the majority of the day, even though there were some rolling hills throughout the day with a few decent climbs. The lack of wind was refreshing although it felt much hotter, it got into the low 90’s. I rode through some beautiful rocky cliffs and canyons, and I almost ran over a small lizard. Luckily, he was able to scamper off, and I probably saw 10 of his siblings along the ride today. It was tough to wake up so early, but I was glad to get some miles in before the real heat started.

Miles for the day: 66.31 Feet climbed today: 2,792

Total miles ridden: 484.69 Total feet climbed: 26,098