Day 19: Clayton, NM to Guymon, OK – October 2, 2008

Welcome to New Mexico 2008 10 02_1860, originally uploaded by rhanke.

Miles: 109 Miles
Ride Time: 6 hours 01 minutes
Avg. Speed: 18.25 Mph
Total Climbing: 899 feet
Work: 3127 kJ

Today we entered Oklahoma and now are in the Great Plains. The total climbing was only 899 feet for over 100 miles. That is pretty flat. In addition, we lost almost 3000 feet in elevation from Clayton to Guymon.

We will be crossing Oklahoma for 5 days since we entered via the panhandle. Our biggest obstacle now will be the wind. And today we saw the three sides of it; tailwind, side wind and headwind. We left Clayton with almost no wind but within an hour it had become a nice tailwind. We made good time to lunch as we had an 8 person pace line going.

After lunch I did not join the pace line since I’m not totally confident in a pace line since you have to spend so much time watching the wheel in front of you. So I was on my own after lunch with a side wind that got stronger and stronger as the day went. I was also battling the road for the first 40 miles after lunch. Every ten yard the road would have an one inch gap that would just make the bike shake and kill your wrists and butt. I could not get into a rhythm of riding since every 8 seconds you had to deal with the bumps. I was constantly trying to change my position to ease the pounding my behind and arms were taking.

Finally at mile 90 the road became a joy to ride since it had been recently repaved. I could find a comfortable position in get into the Zen of cycling. Unfortunately at mile 100 the road turned into the wind and I came face to face with a head wind. Progress almost came to a stop as I worked hard to do the last few miles. But by then I had found my Zen and I was not going to let any wind stop me.

Today also had the fewest number of photos taken, eleven. Besides the “Welcome to Oklahoma and New Mexico” ones there were very few other photos to take. We took the “Welcome to New Mexico” photo on the way out since we did not get a group photo when we entered. But in a way the vast flat landscape of the plains were peaceful.

Today’s photos at Flickr.
All Photo sets at Flickr