Day 17, Mile 1330: Raton, New Mexico

Today I biked 82 miles (of 93 mile course), 7000 feet of climbing, nature: mother deer with two babies (x2), wild turkeys, prong horn antelope herds, awesome double rainbows in the trees.

Cumulative: 15 biking days, 1105 miles, 63000 feet.

After a day of rest in Taos, we set out again. The group is down three riders, two had elected the only-to-Taos option and one had a business emergency. So now we are 14 (plus 2 guides, massage therapist, and assistant).

The day started with a gradual 17-mile climb through Taos Canyon, a lovely descent to Angel Fire ski area, then up to Eagle Nest. There we were hit by a brief windy rain squall, which I chose to ride out in the van. There were huge cross gusts of wind. I was scared and I don't like biking in the rain. I got back on the bike at the top of the Cimarron Canyon. It was the most beautiful ride with the trees at peak color, the cliffs awesome, and the descending, recently resurfaced road a delight, despite the few lingering raindrops in the sun. We lunched in Philmont, the huge Boy Scout tract.

All this land around Cimarron used to be part of the Maxwell Land Grant, supposedly the largest private land-holding in the world in the late 19th century. From Eagle Nest all the way to Raton there was a tremendous tail wind (hurrah!!)--probably around 25 mph with larger gusts coming directly from behind. What fun to zip across the high prairie at 30 and 35 mph with so little effort, looking out for pronghorn, bison, and elk. The last few miles into Raton were along Interstate 25, featuring treacherous gusts of cross wind and giant grasshoppers the size of small frogs. At the off ramp, I just jumped the fence with my bike (a bit of a feat in bike cleats) and crossed to the hotel rather than fight the whipping wind to go around the end in the usual way.

Goodbye Rocky Mountains! On to the Great Plains!

Day 15, Mile 1236: Taos, New Mexico

Today I biked: 70 miles (all the hardest parts of 140 mile course), 8000+ climbing.

Cumulative I've biked: 14 biking days, 1023 miles, 56000 feet.

This is probably the hardest day of the entire trip. Everyone was very nervous. At least the weather was good, though really cold to start. In the two previous years that the trip has run, both times the Taos day was horrible rainy weather. In 2007 there was even hail! Naturally, we left the breakfast place in Pagosa Springs at the crack of dawn around 7 (Trek Travel had arranged to get them to open up early at 6 am). The temp was below freezing and we were all under-dressed. I have plenty of warm kit, but failed to put it on. I had my regular fingerless gloves, only a single layer of shorts and jersey, with leg warmers and a windbreaker. I thought I was going to die from the cold. The route starts out winding up through a mountain valley, so we didn't really see the sun for over an hour and I wasn't warm until my trip timer read 1 hour 41 minutes (in fact, the LCD display was dead due to the cold for the first hour). There was frost in the fields. It was one of the only times I was thankful for climbing. The few downhill segments were tortuously cold! Going up is less wind and you're working hard.

At the end of the first long gentle climb of about 20 miles we crossed into New Mexico. There was no state line sprinting competition this time! Within the first few miles of New Mexico, I was in my accustomed position of dead last. Another 15 miles in I jumped in the van and shuttled up first to a lightning fast lunch and then to the bottom of the day's big climb. This is a section of Highway 64 leading up and around the Brazos Cliffs. The climb is 9 miles apparently straight up peaking at a little unnamed saddle at 10481 feet.

The climb took me over and hour and a half with lots of sections under 5 mph. Pathetic, but at least fast enough not to fall over :-). Right before the very last hairpin turn is a scenic pullout. The view was incredible. No, I mean the most incredible view I have ever seen. I took pictures but they just don't even begin to give it justice. As I pulled into the turn off, I was actually crying like a baby. I guess the beauty of the view, the music in my headphones, and the incredibly arduous journey up the wall of the mountain was just emotionally overwhelming. I sat down on the edge of the precipice in a meditative pose and gazed out over the infinite waves of multi-colored forest and distant mountains and cried and soaked it all up, embarrassed by my gushing so I didn't look as other bikers passed me on their way to the final summit (and the waiting van with lunch #2). I must of sat there for 15 minutes until I was back to something like normal.

Then I went and ate lunch #2 and continued on. It's amazing the calories you have to ingest to do all these miles day after day. We calculated that today's 140 mile, 10000 feet, 10 hour day required close to 10000 kcal of food input. Compare that to a very active man's diet of maybe 4000 kcal/day. Eating enough has become a real chore, believe it or not. We are eating constantly, constantly.

There were yet more climbs which I finished, but then I was just exhausted and caught the van into the hotel, covering on the bike just half of the total route mileage. Amazingly, there were only two dropouts for the day. Everyone else made it in before dusk (barely).

Taos is beautiful, as is the 5-star resort hotel, as is the fact that we have a whole entire rest day tomorrow!!!

Happy biking!

Day 14, Mile 1096: Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Today: 60 miles, 3146 feet climbing.

Cumulative: 13 biking days, 953 miles, 48000 feet climbing.

'Nother easy day. Woohoo! More beautiful mountains. And we stay at a hot springs resort. Nice!

The bird is the Colorado state bird, the magpie. There are a lot of them and they have a very distinct look when perched and when flying.

The cool rock formation is Chimney Rock. The namers saw it from the east where you don't see the second rock sticking up like that, but the better view is from the west as we approached it. There are Anasazi Indian ruins near the peak, though they only inhabited it for about 50 years from 1075 AD to 1125 or something like that. Weird, huh?

Day 13, Mile 1036: Durango, Colorado

Today: 43 miles, 2877 feet climbing, nature: bald eagle, beaver dams and lodges, horses, biting horse flies, beautiful mountains, streams, glens.

Cumulative: 12 biking days, 893 miles, about 45000 feet climbing

Elevation: current 6500 feet, highest today 8150

Lovely short route today, albeit with a few hefty climbs, skirting the southwestern edge of the San Juan Mountains, one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. Tonight we stay in the lovely historic Strater Hotel in Durango (1893) and tomorrow we continue through the San Juans to Pagosa Springs, another 60 miles. The original cross country trip in 2007 covered both these segments in one day.

Believe me, the current two-day version is far superior. Two of my fellow travelers, Larry and Kelli Oaks, took the 2007 trip, too (the only repeats so far on this trip...until I do it again next year with my brother Dan) and they said it was killer. Keep in mind, too, that the day after Pagosa Springs into Taos is 140 miles with 10000 feet of climbing. Larry and Kelli are in fantastic shape and completed every mile in 2007 and for sure will do so this year, too.

I did the whole route today no problem. I'm feeling fine and strong and feel like I'm even getting the hang of climbing, too. Interesting that I seem to be actually gaining weight at the same time my belly fat is disappearing. I guess that the muscle I've grown outweighs the fat I've lost. I never would have predicted that!

Day 12, Mile 993: Cortez, Colorado

Today I biked: 32 miles (of 101 mile course), about 2000 feet of climbing.

Cumulative: 11 days, 850 miles, 42000 feet

Elevation here in Cortez is 6000 feet, and we have covered 30% of our route across the continent.

Well, I rode in the van a lot today, as promised. And...I feel fantastic--ready to be back full-time.

I took the van out to mile 25, at Navajo Twins rock formation, where the San Juan River comes in from the east. I set out here and rode to the Colorado border. I rode at a high cadence and went pretty fast, which felt great. My goal was a zero-effort day, but better than spending the entire day in the van.

Turned out that one of the guides, Berkis, this young sweet and very strong rider, was mopping up the rear and caught up with me about 5 miles from the border and I went all out racing him. Now, of course, I have no illusions that I could ever beat him or even challenge him, for that matter, but I went all out for those last hilly miles and I like to think he had to work a bit to keep up with me.

Then we made a sprint for the border where I managed to psych him out, yelling out to him as he passed me, "I have nothing left!" then, in fact, had a wee bit in reserve and dashed past him to cross the cattle guard into Colorado just in front. It was all good fun and very exhilarating. I was at a heart rate of 188 (I know exactly what this feels like thanks to my trainer in London who got me there routinely) and my legs were shaking when I dismounted. But what a kick! I forgot I could go so fast and have so much fun on a bike. Then, of course, we got in the van. Just as well, the last 20 miles into Cortez were relatively ugly and, you guessed it, against a head wind.

It was great getting in early, too. I had time for a swim, did the laundry, and even got in a little upper body workout in the hotel gym. The next two days are short as we head into Durango then Pagosa Springs, but after that we have a 140 mile 10000 feet climbing day into Taos.

Grand Canyon supplement

I lived on the South Rim of the canyon back in the 70s for one summer with my family. I was 14 and my brother Dan was 16. We had bikes. I remember Dan had a really fancy one--a Peugeot if I'm not mistaken. Dan has now been an avid cyclist for many years and has been an inspiration for me. I remember him breaking his collar bone that summer on a fall from his bike in the visitor center parking lot. I made a point to visit the spot, which I still remember. I also was thinking back to when Dan was planning to ride his bike down to Flagstaff, maybe 80 miles, and remember thinking that was an incredibly and impossibly long distance for anyone to ride a bike. I was so impressed.

We had a lot of adventures together in the canyon (including the Hermit Trail trip he mentions in the comment below and his dog shitting on my head in Ten X Campground).

Dan is still an inspiration to me and one of the reasons I ended up on this epic trip. Thanks, Dan!

Day 11, Mile 892: Monument Valley, Utah

Today I biked: 65 miles (of the 117 mile route), about 4500 feet climbing, substantial headwind again!

Cumulative: 10 biking days, 818 miles, about 40000 feet of climbing, wildlife: coyote (2x), road runners, elk, raccoons, wild burros, wild horses, prairie dogs, lizards, small snake, countless other rodents and birds, desiccated bobcat in Grand Canyon Caverns (and others saw some bighorn sheep in the Black Mountains).

Today was both absolutely agonizing and absolutely thrilling. It was a long route, 117 miles with lots of climbing. First we climbed out of Tuba City, then spent the morning gradually climbing up along Black Mesa and towards Monument Valley on the Arizona/Utah border. Absolutely stunning scenery the entire day.

I was having a hard time from the start. I decided to get in the van for a few miles to give me a little boost and so I would get into lunch #1 (we had two lunch stops today) not too terribly late and having a chance at finishing the day before dusk. But even that didn't help much. I trudged against the wind all morning and got to a point that felt like bonking (bike term for running out of sugar in the muscles--a completely debilitating condition) even though I was eating regular and keeping hydrated. I just ran out of steam and the last five or ten miles into lunch #1 were just agonizing (and the climbing and headwind made it that much worse) and dead slow. So I got in the van and rode to lunch #2 stop, at the beginning of Monument Valley and 20 miles out of our destination of Mexican Hat, Utah. My body said no way, but I rode it anyway and it was really fantastic.

These decisions to hop in the van are indescribably difficult. I am already soooo disappointed that I am not biking every single mile. But at the same time, I want to maximize the total number of miles I ride on the trip without injuring myself. So you trudge on mile after mile debating and debating, trying to decide if you are just lacking willpower, in which case you should tough it out and go on, or if you are on the verge of hurting yourself and risking the rest of the trip and indeed your physical wellbeing. I hope I have chosen wisely. In the end, a 65 mile day with lots of wind and climbing is not too shabby, anyway.

The last 20 miles were fantastic, despite my physical condition. Tomorrow, I've already decided to spend a lot of van time so I can recover before the Colorado mountains coming up.

(I have lots more photos but not a good internet connection. I'll have to post them later.)

Day 10, Mile 775: Tuba City, Arizona

Today I rode: 80 miles, 4700 feet of climbing, some heavy cross and head winds in places.

Cumulative: 754 miles in 9 riding days, 35500 climbing feet.

Today's ride followed a wonderful entire day of rest at the Grand Canyon. But, I could have used a couple more... To start I had to wait over an hour to get a table in any restaurant last night and didn't get to bed until nearly 10 pm. It sounds funny that I consider that so late, but when you have to get up at 5 am, it is. Then I slept a bit fitfully, what, between my cold which is now a cough (how many more days!?), and the most dreaded sound to a cyclist--howling wind. The start was late (7:15), cold, and windy. I had on two layers of shorts, leg warmers, arm warmers, and a wind breaker, thinking back almost wistfully to a few days previous and the 100+ temp.

We made our way out along the beautiful south rim of the canyon through ponderosa pine and pinon/juniper forests, out to Desert View, about 30 miles. This is a gorgeous spot with a 1930's watchtower designed by Colter and a number of us stopped and checked it out. Then there was a long, long descent down to the Painted Desert along Route 89 and 160 and into Tuba City, the heart of the Navajo Indian nation.

There was a really fierce cross-wind down the descent which was difficult and scary, but it was nothing compared to the 16-mile long stint up Route 89 dead against a howling 20-30 mph head wind along with heavy traffic and a shoulder that was narrow and kept us hemmed in between the sand on one side and the rumple strip and the speeding semi trucks and RVs on the other.

Today my hero was Greg ("Doc") who pulled along a couple of us slower riders on his wheel for 12 miles of this pure hell until we all gave up and rode in the van for the last 4 miles of that treacherous stretch. The last 11 miles into Tuba City through the surreal Painted Desert--an alien and dead landscape that feels more like the surface of the moon or Mars--though windy and uphill, was more normal riding. We lost our first hour in time zone change and arrived around 5 pm.

Tomorrow is a long day up to Mexican Hat, Utah, through the Monument Valley--think Thelma and Louise. Oh, by the way, we are now 25% of the way across the nation!

Today's ride is dedicated to the memory of Norma Goldschlag, who loved all the scenic highways of her beautiful Arizona. She was a wonderful and loving grandmother to my kids and will be terribly missed.

Day 8, Mile 697: Grand Canyon!

Toughest day ever, mentally and physically. Huge climbs, interstate riding, flat tire, horrible head winds, horrible traffic, riding mostly alone. Eight days in and we need to rest!! I started at 6:30 am and by 4:30 pm I was only at mile 80, so I jumped in the van and shuttled in the last 25 miles. Tomorrow is a whole, entire, glorious day of rest!! We had a nice dinner at the El Tovar Lodge and after we were greeted outside along the rim walk back to cabins with a bunch of elk and a little raccoon family! I'll post the GC photos on facebook when I get a chance.

Day 7, Mile 592: Seligman, Arizona

No internet in Seligman, folks, so am posting this after the fact. Was another section of old Route 66, through Peach Springs. Pretty non-eventful day, though my extra pedals saved the day when another rider's broke. I also stopped at the Grand Canyon Caverns for the tour of that cave. I was escorted up to the site by an eager 11-year-old, Jordan "Like the shoes" who was very interested in the racing bike. He told me about all the routes he knew to get around tomorrow's 20-mile stint on the freeway. Great kid.

The caverns were interesting. They found out that the air down in that 200' deep hole comes all the way from the Grand Canyon 40 miles away and takes two and a half weeks to get there. They also still have the civil defense shelter supplies from the 60s stocked down there for 2000 people. Creepy.

The last 25 miles from the caverns to Seligman were beautiful. Gorgeous flowers, strong tailwind, slightly downhill, straight as an arrow, cool air, and good road surface--the very stuff of a perfect ride. It was very fast and very enjoyable.

Day 6, Mile 506: Kingman, Arizona

Today: 85 miles, 5299 feet climbing (12% grade in places)

Cumulative: 506 miles, 22800 feet

Today was a miserable, incredibly difficult day. We left Lake Havasu, rode up to Interstate 40, rode 9 miles away from our destination along the interstate to pick up the old Route 66 to Oatman in the Black Mountains, over the incredibly high and steep Sitgreaves Pass

then down to the Golden Valley and into Kingman.

The morning was fine and even the climb up to Oatman was fun as I was going fast and feeling good. There were wild burros in Oatman (but I didn't have my camera--shit!). I saw my second coyote and some other guys even saw some bighorn sheep. The views from the pass were awesome, as well.

Dust-bowl refugees back in the 30's often had their Model A or Model T towed over Sitgreaves Pass in the cool evening before resuming their California-bound journey through the Mojave Desert. Then in 1953 Route 66 was re-routed over flatter terrain. By 1984 it was completely supplanted in Arizona by Interstate 40. It was cool to see this historic route. We follow it again tomorrow into Seligman.

But above Oatman up to the pass the road was just way too hard and steep and the descent wasn't even fun nor fast because it was too steep and winding and in bad condition. Then there was about 20 miles of the world's bumpiest road and I was already having problems with vibration sickness in my hands. It was incredibly hot, too. Then the day ended with even more climbing up into Kingman. Too much.

Two more hard days to the Grand Canyon where we will rest a day!

By the way, if you haven't watched Mike Hobin's video blog, make sure you do.

Day 5, Mile 421: Lake Havasu, Arizona

Today: 44 miles, 1148 feet

Cumulative: 421 miles, 17460 feet

Today was a blissful little hop back across to the California side of the Colorado River, up to Parker Dam which forms Lake Havasu and on to Lake Havasu City on the Arizona side.

This is what they're calling a rolling recovery day. Just what the doctor ordered! Not a whole day off, but only a three hour ride with the rest of the day to recuperate, do laundry, have a few waking hours off the damn bicycle besides just ride, eat, sleep, ride, eat, sleep... And, it was heaven! I felt really strong, even up the few substantial hills, despite my aches and pains and exhaustion. I've already begun losing belly fat--guess my body is in a big hurry to accommodate and adapt to this crazy new lifestyle. No complaints from me on that front. I'm saddle sore (saddle weary, really--my sit bones hurt), my knees ache a little, and I have limited strength and feeling in my right hand, my lips are chapped from the desert heat and air, and oh, and my quads are sore, duh. But the masseuse helps tremendously. I still have the cold, but that's another story.

I had lots of energy left after arriving and had a recovery milkshake with one of the riders, Mike, viewed the London Bridge (which was bought and reassembled here), showered, did the laundry, and tried the hotel pool. I attempted to get a group interested in renting jet skis, but strangely, not a single person was interested in returning into the blazing sun and 100 degree heat. So I went by myself. I took the jet ski up and down the lake a fair distance, drove it under the London Bridge (one of those things it seems you just have to do), and took a dunk in the wonderfully cool water of the Colorado River.

And now I'm ready to collapse and start again at 5 am tomorrow! We're off to Kingman, Arizona, 85 miles through, you guessed it, more desert, including lots of climbing. Forecast is for sun and 103 degrees. I have to keep reminding myself that I paid good money for this.

Day 4, Mile 377: Parker, Arizona

Today: 111 miles, 2799 feet climbing, temp 104 in the non-existent shade

Cumulative: 377 miles, 16312 feet

Another absolutely fabulous day, but absolutely grueling going so far in the brutal heat with an already exhausted body. The route took us through a wilderness section of the southern Mojave Desert with stunning, stunning views. A lot of glorious descending with beautiful new roads and zero traffic in the morning. It's funny how I think the mesquite desert is so ugly until I see it without any human disruptions except the road.

A long hot afternoon with not-so-nice roads led finally to a seemingly endless descent to the Colorado River with scary truck traffic on horrible roads. I must have drunk five gallons of liquids today. It was so hot that the iphone fritzed out, including reading Les Mis at fast-forward speed (arguably not a bad idea), and I had to turn it off.

That's Dave, one of the guides, in the photo. There are two guides and they trade off days in the saddle or the van. Another van circulates with an assistant and the masseuse. Dave is a bit of a kindred spirit, being pretty much homeless. During the time he's not guiding a trip, he just holes up at a hotel until the next engagement.

I am now beyond exhaustion. I arrived at 4:00, the last one again (two dropouts). My saddle time of 7:30 hours (14.7 mph) was only about 75 minutes off the main pack. But I did explain how I was doubly virtuous, not only riding alone the whole day, but having to work so much harder than the guys in better shape :-).

Tomorrow is a "rolling recovery" day--just 45 miles up to Havasu City. By my now current standards, essentially a day off entirely.

Day 3, Mile 266: Joshua Tree National Park

Today: 92 miles, climbing elevation 4311 feet (and 6085 feet descending)

Cumulative: 266 miles, 13513 feet

Today was as good as yesterday was bad. I was the first to leave the hotel at 6:30 am and shot off like an arrow into the pre-dawn light. It was cool and windless and I just flew across the beautiful newly surfaced roads gliding across the flat desert. Euphoric! I covered 20 miles in the first hour. Nobody even caught up with me until mile 45, right before the lunch stop. Then everyone passed me as we road up the three-mile long climb to the lunch spot. Lunch was in a pretty spot with a bunch of boulders perfect for jumping and climbing if only we were wearing anything other than bike cleats and weren't so anxious to move on as the heat started coming on. It wasn't even 10 am and it was already into the 90s. I rode out with the peletón and lasted for exactly 3.5 miles until the next hill. I seem to be able to hold my own with the group on the flat, but they are much, much faster on the climbs. I blame the lack of meaningful terrain in Uruguay. Maybe running would have helped. Well, I'm sure I'll improve as the trip progresses.

Got into the funky 29 Palms Inn at 1:30, second to last. I'm pleased with myself. Although I can't feel my fingers and don't think I'll ever be not tired again.

Tomorrow--biggest ride so far, 115 miles to Parker, Arizona. Forecast: sunny, 102 degrees. I will probably die.

Day 2, Mile 174: Victorville, California

Today: 92 miles, climbing elev 5816 feet

Cumulative: 174 miles, climbing 9202 feet

Not a fun day...

The five-star hotel turns out to have really crappy service and it took over an hour for breakfast and I was, naturally, served dead last. By the time I was out the door at 7:30 am, all the slow people had long gone and so I ended up riding the entire day alone. So much for having all these folks to share the wind load. And, naturally, today there was a tremendous head wind.

The day started with a 20-mile climb through the beautiful Bouquet Canyon in Angeles National Forest. I really enjoyed the climb, even though it was really tough for me. There certainly is nothing to compare to it anywhere in Uruguay! On top we emerged on the high desert plains and...a head wind. Riding against a headwind for the remaining 70 miles in the hot desert on crappy, busy roads was, like I said, not fun. I was in the saddle nearly 8 hours, arriving at the hotel dead-last (there was one dropout) at 4:30 pm. The sun was intense and I missed a few spots with the sunscreen and have little sunburn patches on my leg, shoulder and face.

I found one pathetic little mesquite tree to stop under around mile 60, but other than that it was sun, sun, sun. Thanks to the marvelous Trek Travel folks, though, going back and forth in the vans, I never lacked for water or nourishment.

There was a point near the El Mirage dry lakebed (photo) where I was cursing my fate, kind of like a mantra, "... fucking wind, fucking bumpy fucking road, fucking traffic, fucking trucks, fucking sun, fucking heat, fucking butt-ugly desert, fucking 23 miles left, fucking wind, fucking bumpy fucking road, ..." It oddly helped somewhat.

Happy biking! 90 miles to Twenty-Nine Palms tomorrow. Woo hoo!!

Day 1, Mile 82: Valencia, California

Total elevation climb: 3386 feet.

Our group of 16 cyclists started off after a ritual wheel-dipping in the Pacific, down the coast and through historic Ventura. With all our combined nervous energy it was like a slingshot being let loose and most of us fell into a long peletón zipping along at over 25 mph. I even attacked a few times and pulled out ahead, such was my early exuberance.

Needless to say, I couldn't keep up that pace and eventually fell back. Once alone, I even took a wrong turn and added a few miles to my personal cross-country course. But I eventually found my way to the lunch wagon in Santa Paula at around the 50 mile mark. After lunch, I chose to ride alone at my more usual pace of about 15 mph winding along rolling country farming roads west of LA, then onto busier Rt 126, part of the historic Camino Real (the [Spanish] King's Road), where the farm laborers

were harvesting the vast acres of red chili peppers and finally into LA county and Valencia, home of Magic Mountain roller coaster park.

We were rewarded with rooms at the five-star Hyatt. Even though exhausted, I couldn't pass up a brief swim in the pool.

Day 0, Mile 0: Santa Barbara, California

What anticipation--a combination of nerves and excitement! If only I'd had another month to train...

Today I met my teammates, my guides, and my racehorse bici. Love the Trek Madone 6.5!

Can't believe I'm fighting off the beginnings of a cold.

Training: 10 days 'til start

Another fairly light day: 140 km (87 miles), 6:05 hrs, 23 km/h (14 mph), strong wind, occasional drizzle, temp 15 C.

Well, this was supposed to be the grand finale week of training, but has turned out to be an anti-climactic fizzle. After Monday's ride in the heavy rain and wind, I found I just couldn't bring myself to go out in the same miserable conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Did some weight-lifting and that was about it. My cleats were still not even 100% dry this morning (lesson: get a second pair to bring on the trip!) . I had taken off the little bootie covers on Monday since the zippers had eaten away the skin on the back of my calf. My solution to that today was to just not zip them all the way up--that worked fine. I managed to purchase a totally waterproof top which also, I discovered today, doubles as a great groundcloth for picnicking on the damp ground. Menu: Gatorade, Studentenfutter Klassische Mix Mit Rosinen (mmmm, 1000 quick calories in a single bag), some cereal bars, peanut M&Ms, caffeine and aspirin.

My average speed was a bit slow. I attribute this to the first hour and half where I was just trudging along. You'd think that after two rest days I'd be perfectly fresh, but that first bit was about as easy as chewing on pebbles and just as fun. I was heading into a strong headwind (15 mph), as well, which didn't help. In general, I like the strong winds since I figure it makes up for not having any real mountains to train on and also gives me some useful bike handling experience. Just imagine leaning into a strong cross wind only to have a double-trailer truck zip by momentarily blocking the cross wind and sucking you up into its trailing vortex at the same time and further throwing up a cloud of dirty mucky mist just for spite. Throw in some potholes, a horse cart and pedestrians and you get the idea...

Today my turnaround point was km 70 on Ruta 9. This coincides with the half-way point to Punta del Este (the most famous resort town in Uruguay) and the highest point along that route. I didn't leave the house until 11am and a turnaround here would bring me back to my doorstep at sunset. I hate riding in the dark, even though I always bring along my lights just in case. The last 30km is all bad neighborhoods, full of potholes, ill-lit, and full of car/bus/truck/foot traffic.

A bit of the old abandoned route is visible at this point, shown in the photo. If I had a decent camera and were a decent photographer you'd be able to pick out the old km marker and the really weird little single lane divided section towards the summit. The sign says: Prohibited: Smoking, Hunting, Fishing. They do have a big problem with forest fires in these eucalyptus tree plantations. Folks go in to plunder firewood and drop cigarette butts, etc. The trees (eucalyptus or pine) are grown exclusively for paper and constitute the most profitable use of rural lands except for the most fertile bits. As an indication, land prices have about quadrupled in real dollar terms since they started growing paper timber extensively around 20 years ago. The land is mostly owned by foreign interests, as you might expect.

Anyway, I was delighted to turn around here. From here back towards Montevideo is downhill for 20 km with only a few minor contrary hills and dips, until the Arroyo Solis Chico right before the toll-booth at km 50. That combined with the tailwind makes the experience euphoric. Those same 20 km took me better than an hour to climb, trudging against gravity and the constant headwind. Going back flies by at 40 - 50 km/h taking less than half an hour and seeming like five minutes. The pure joy is hard to describe. Note that with a tailwind there is no wind noise and the bike is absolutely silent. There isn't even much traffic on this section of road to spoil it. I'm listening to the super high fidelity music on the iphone, one minute Vivaldi's Four Seasons and the next belting out One Love at the top of my lungs along with Bob Marley. I probably make a funny sight, but with joy of the ride, the beautiful scenery zipping by, the endorphins generated by my effort, and the recent caffeine kicking in, I feel like a bird flying, soaring effortlessly, joyfully...thrilled. This is what it's all about!