Day 6

                                                                                   Day 6
                                                                     Winslow AZ to Gallup, NM
                                                                                  133 miles

     It was a memorable day, that's for sure.  It took me awhile to fall asleep last night.  It was either that someone had surreptitiously added caffeine to my evening snack, Apple Crisp ala mode, or the new discovery right before bed that my rear tire was squishy and had to have a leak.  These are referred to as "Motel Flats", the flat that is discovered at the motel.   I knew the morning routine was going to be tight, as we were to eat breakfast at 6 and load the van and get going by 6:45.  Somewhere between breakfast and the van I was going to have to deal with this tire.  I set the alarm for 5:20 and the back up wake up call for 5:30.  Neither materialized.  Miraculously I woke at 5:33 on my own and quickly got myself sorted out and down to breakfast. I was the first to finish and leave.   At this point it was looking promising that I'd be able to end up getting the tire fixed and be on time to leave with the group.  In changing the tube I found the likely culprit...a small shard of steel sticking through the tire.  With a tweezers I pulled it through, and soon I was pumping up the new tube.  Then...Kaboom!  The tube blew.  At this point Mike, the ride leader saw the struggle I was having and took charge of the tire changing.  He fixed it with a new tube in short order and reported that there were two additional pieces of metal that he discovered and took care of.  I was really happy at that point and I was able to leave about 5 minutes after the main group.  Up until this point I had been flat-free.  I was tempted to ask Mike if there had ever been anyone that had gone the entire distance without a flat but thought better of it. I'm not superstitious, but I figured that asking such a question would likely result in bad tire Karma.   There was no point in angering the inner tube gods. 
     There was going to be a very gradual 1600 foot climb over the 133 miles for the day.  Fortunately we were blessed with strong winds to our backs.  When I say strong, they could have been 20-25 MPH.  We were on I-40 for the first 106 miles.  About 15 miles before the first SAG stop, I felt that something was just not right with my front tire.  I stopped and sure enough, the tire had also become squishy.  It had to be changed.  Counting the two tires at the start of the ride, this was my third flat of the day.  Simon, one of the riders from England helped me change it after again removing a piece of truck tire shrapnel with a tweezers. 
     By the second SAG stop we were all pretty amazed at just how fast we were going.  Once leaving that SAG, I decided to do my own personal time trial.  I clocked myself for an hour to see what my average speed was.  I did 29.7 miles in exactly one hour.  That is the power of 25 MPH tailwinds.  I doubt if I'll ever go faster for that length of time. 
     After the third SAG stop we stopped for pictures at the New Mexico border and shortly thereafter, flat number 4 occurred.  I was with two other guys who were kind enough to stay and assist and it was there that I made the shocking discovery that the valve that I use to inflate the tire with C02 was nowhere to be found. It had fallen out of my saddlebag at some point prior and I couldn't magically make it reappear.  Fortunately, one of the guys had a pump and that was a lifesaver.  It couldn't get it completely inflated, but was good enough to ride on.  We just had 20 miles to go.  What could go wrong.  The three of us rode on.
     I took it a bit slow as we got into Gallup. The two others that I had been with were now well out ahead.  I was looking at the stores to see if one of them might be a bike shop when all of a sudden I hit a pothole.  Immediately I heard that dreadful hissing sound and there I was with flat number 5 , a pinch flat, and no means to inflate a new tire.  I was about three miles from the hotel and for want of anything better to do, I started to walk my bike in.   I knew sooner of later someone in the group would come by and offer a hand.  I stopped at a store and just at the moment I came out, I saw "The Kiwis" pass by.  Figuring that I had just gotten some something to drink, they smiled and waved as they passed by.  This was fitting justice.  They were out of earshot before I could muster a response.  Shortly thereafter, another rider did stop, and in reasonable short order, flat number 5 was fixed and I was soon at the hotel. I arrived by 4PM, MDT, 8 hours after I started with an average speed of 22 MPH, some of it walking with my bike. 
     All told there were 35 flats in our group of 25 today, with one other person getting 5.  The record apparently was a few years back going into Grand Junction when they had 142 flats as a group in a day.  Tomorrow we are off to Albuquerque and then a day off.  Top of my list of things to do is to get both a new C02 valve and a small bike pump just to be safe.

 -Grinner

Being Blown by wind by the Graffiti Laden New Mexico sign

Scenery in New Mexico