So we're on our 9th week of the tour soon, with only two weeks or so left until we're in San Diego, and we're just beginning to see other cyclists on the roads. I guess the very first groups we ran into were just east of El Paso, and we barely had time to wave really, but now that it's getting more into the proper season for riding the southern tier (Ie. the season that neither heat nor monsoons will try to kill you) we're seeing people out nearly every day. We had our first decent pow-wow with another couple of cyclists last night. They are both great people and I hope to keep in touch with them, even if it's just reading their blogs. One of them is a woman named Dorit, who I really only got to kind of brush past in conversation, s she really took to Julia. The coolest thing about Dorit, besides the German accent and that unabashed willingness to share one's opinion that many of the Europeans I've met travelling have exhibited, was that she has this way of completely contradicting something that you say or criticizing something that you do, without being, in even the slightest sense of the word, offensive. I'm not sure if it's a function of her demeanor or tone of voice, or if it's that she has generally great intentions behind whatever she says, but I feel like she could tell that my entire life is a mistake in a way that still left me feeling pretty good about our encounter as a whole. Which isn't to say that she's an overly, or even overtly, critical person. It's more to say that she's a wonderful conversationalist. Anyways, she befriended a bicycle messenger named Justin from San Francisco at a BMA fundraiser and convinced him to be her support driver on tour. I'm not sure how much convincing, if any, was actually needed. Those are the kind of details that escape in brief encounters I guess. He was cool too, which is probably cliche to say about bicycle messengers, as nobody really expects them to be anything else. But I guess if you have to be seen as a stereotype, the fit hip bike messenger is not a bad one to be stuck with. Anyway, we had dinner and drank beers and geeked out on politics, future plans, and odd gearing designs for a few hours. Also, Dorit, if you're reading the post, thanks so much for the hospitality. We definitely owe you a dinner next time around. Maybe home-cooked gumbo someplace on the west-coast?
By the way, this has all been happening in Silver City, the night following the last of our climbs out of the Gila Forest. The mountains here are amazing, and nearly unforgiving, not so much in the steepness of the grade, but the duration of the climb and the thinness/coldness of the air at the top. We're acclimated now, and at lower elevation, but the first day in this area, which I count as the day we climbed to Emory pass, there were definitely times when I felt like I couldn't breathe enough, and that the road would never stop going up, that around every corner, there would be another gradual .2 mile long climb. Coming down the mountain was pretty sweet though. the eastern side had very few sharp turns, so I was able to make them with slowing to very much below 20mph, and all this time we were surrounded by canyons and gorges the monkey in us all can't help but want to tumble into and live in, eating prickly pears, grubs, and stream water.
Here's a picture of Julia topping a hill on the way to the Gila Hot Springs.
Ha Ha, tricked you. It's a picture of our birthday cake in Las Cruces. It's amazing that it's in one piece (the cake, I mean, not the picture) because we had to ride with it bungee corded to my rear rack for about three miles over potholes that night. We made ourselves so sick. Happy birthdays to us.
Here's the real picture of Julia topping the hill.
Pretty incredible, huh?
Anyways, tying up loose ends, Mom, Erika and Nate, if you do manage to come out west and meet up with us on tour, that'd be killer! Maybe LA? Wine country? Who knows if the wineries are still doing their thing for tourists in winter?
If not, then maybe Portland, or wherever we settle. I'm hoping to be able to save up for a plane ticket back to Rochester for a weekend at some point. Maybe we could all come west on the same flight?
Also, Ally and Everett (sorry if I misspelled) We have a bunch of pictures from the cliff dwellings for you, but we don't have an email address. if you want, you can call us and leave it as a message.
okaybyefornow,
david
p.s. Gale, thanks for hosting us in Silver City, and for the cork ribbon, and for the chocolate bar you just opened. yum.
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