Things I Bike About

Week Eight

February 28th, 2021
Denver, Colorado

This week started off from El Paso. The ride into New Mexico was great. The only thing I really knew about this state came from watching Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, so ya know, nothing. Needless to say, I was impressed the whole time I was riding. I'm starting to get the love of the west that some have.

The first stop was Las Cruces, the second largest city in New Mexico. I stayed with Chris, who is a lawyer working for the city of Las Cruces. We talked about one of my favorite shows, The Wire, as well as some of the cases he was working on. A real interesting guy. He also let me use his garage to mend my bike and install some tire liners. Once again, my bad habit of not getting pictures with hosts comes out. Thanks Chris!

Another shout out to Triple Crossed BMX, which is a local rag-tag bike shop in Las Cruces who helped me bore out a stripped bolt from my brake rotor. Without which, I wouldn't be able to repair a broken spoke. Not to mention, let me cannibalize an old wheel for some extra spokes, all without charging anything. Thank you!

Next up was Truth of Consequences. Funny name, neat little town. I stayed with Dane, who had a very unique set up. We spent the day hanging out, grabbing a beer, a burger and a jam session with his friends downtown. I can't say how much I miss jamming with a whole band, it's been so long. It was bitter sweet as I rolled out the next day to Socorro. The lack of pictures I get is disturbing. Thanks Dane for a great night!

The ride to Socorro was also my first foray into riding the interstate for a good amount of time. No complaints here. I did try to ride the adjacent roads, but I-25 provided for smoother riding and the sights were just as nice. Traffic was pretty sparse as well, for the most part. I also got to meet Kenny. He works for the county and travels a couple times a week down I-25 picking up large debris. We had a nice little cat and mouse going, as he'd stop every so often to pick stuff up and I'd pass him, and then he'd pass me. It went on like that for at least a couple hours. Eventually, we both stopped and had a chat. Really great guy. He gave me his number in case I needed help and offered me a ride. Luckily, by the time his shift was over, I was only 8 miles away from Socorro. He was my riding partner that day.

Next up was Albuquerque, where I stayed with Trey, who I actually met in New Orleans. He gave me his number and said to stop by if I made it up that way. Well, here I am! We spent the first day checking out some of the sights and eating some wonderful Hispanic and New Mexican food. I actually took some pictures this time!

Ever since El Paso, I've wrestled with the idea of either ending the tour or pausing it to regroup and assess how I'd like to continue. I've literally spent hours on the saddle, going back and forth, weighing out pros and cons. Let me try to lay them out here.

Pros for the tour:

• Getting to see nice scenery

• Getting to meet new people and have experiences with them

• Legs are getting jacked

• Getting a confidence boost from people who are impressed at what you're doing

Cons for the tour:

• Long hours on the saddle

• Exhaustion (which mostly sucks when meeting new people)

• The monotonous nature of pedaling and the mental nothingness therein (sometimes even with music and podcasts, those can fatigue as well. Listen, I'm great being alone with my own thoughts but so many times the thought is just 'how many miles until I'm done today?')

• The constant back and forth between getting miles and lingering to stay with hosts, or a cool place

• Having no purpose other than "just because" (this is more in-between a pro and a con and maybe deserves its own explanation. Doing things just because I think can be a great reason to do things)

Not a very exhaustive list but it gets at the core of what I've been trying to work through mentally. As I've mentioned in prior posts, I always cycle through (pun intended) thoughts of quitting. They are typically preempted by moments of biking bliss or a mood swing. This has been the nature for me on tour. Some of that is growing pains as biking for hours on end becomes normalized but this feels different from that. It's hard to say what it is exactly, maybe the time with Sara and collective time with hosts pushes that constant back and forth. But these thoughts and feelings also came while camping and having solo days. But they kept coming and coming and no matter how beautiful things were, I wasn't able to shake them.

At any rate, it's time to mosey on back to Denver and see how, or if, this tour progresses. I always joked (but not really) that I would switch the bike for a motorcycle if this tour took a turn, and I will be looking into that. Since this is Things I Bike About, I don't see why it can't have a dual meaning. So I'll be spending some time looking into motorcycles and e-bikes to further my way across the country.

In the meantime, thank you to everyone who has been supportive throughout this two months. It's been a heck of a ride. I learned about myself, touring and about a lot of interesting people along the way.

Bike Trip Expenses for the month of February

Food: $482.92

Gear: $138.04

Phone: $16.60

State/National Park Camping or Entrance Fees: $7.00

Hotel/Motel: $253.94

Total: $898.50

Total Miles:

2,100 Approximately

As you can see, better than last month. Thanks to having a lot of hosts, I was able to save a lot on hotels/motels as well as some stealth camping but much less than last month. I'm just glad that it's overall closer to my budget than last month.

As far as miles, I'm not counting any miles where I got a ride. If so, it would be more like 3k plus. It would also mean I'm still in Texas, which I am grateful I'm not. At any rate, it was a good month any way you slice it.

In this section, I talk about things that have really helped me and things that have frustrated me, both surprising and expected. Here are some from this week:

Headwinds:

• Doggone it! - Luckily, no more dog bites, but I've had to out pace a few. Sometimes, I'm just impressed at how fast they can go and for how long. But constantly being on the look out kind of sucks.

• Wind - It's back with a vengeance! This is the first time I experienced it trying to knock me off my bike. Crosswind and head wind city. I guess this is the windy season...just can't catch a break with weather!

Tailwinds:

• Interstate - It was nice to have such a clean, relatively smooth road to bike so many miles on. In the days I rode it, I felt like more of a car than ever.

• Cows - Passed a few cow farms and the cows ran to see me, that was pretty neat.