Day 18: Raton, NM to Clayton, NM – October 1, 2008
Miles: 112 Miles (route was only 91 but I did some extra riding)
Ride Time: 7 hours 04 minutes
Avg. Speed: 16.5 Mph
Total Climbing: 3805 feet
Work: 3734 kJ
Raton is around 6500 feet in elevation so it was cold in the morning. But the sky was clear so the temperature warmed up fast. We had a great climb out of Raton through Sugarite Canyon State Park. We saw a bunch of dear in the canyon. The last mile of the climb was steep but I was able to race up to the top with no problems. This would be the last major climb until we get to the east coast. We reached just over 8000 feet at the top and the rest of the ride would be down hill.
We were joined today by Hollywood’s brother Jim, who had flown in from Colorado to join just for the day. He just stared riding a few months ago but he tackled the pass like a real trooper. He didn’t even stop at the top but just kept going. At the top we were on Johnson Mesa and surround by cattle pastures. Again as yesterday the cattle would always turn to look at us as we passed them.
I wanted to ride by myself today so once at the top I broke away from the rest. I wanted to see how much more energy it would take compared to riding a pace line. At the end I rode extra so it turned out hard to compare. I did notice that I’m still off my top power from my training rides so I still have room to pick up the pace.
From the mesa we started descending, first through a step decent in another beautiful canyon which opened up to pastures and prairies. I biked through some almost abandon towns, Folsom and Des Moines. At Des Moines I turned left onto Route 64 and headed for lunch.
After a quick bite I was back on my way to Clayton. It was all down hill but it always appeared like I was climbing. The decent was so gradual that you really never saw it. The decent was 1300 feet over 40 miles so it really doesn’t count. For 40 miles the landscape continued to get flatter and flatter as we entered the plains. I was still seeing antelope along the way but they were greatly out numbered by cattle.
Clayton had a huge feed lot outside of town which we rode past. So I think the town has more cows then people.
Once arriving I rode some more. I was going to ride to Texas to take a “Welcome to Texas” photo but I got tired and turned back after going a few miles. Tomorrow we will pass Texas on our way to Oklahoma so I will try to take it then.
It was a great day soaking in the western Americana since tomorrow we will be in the Great Plains.
Today’s photos at Flickr.
All Photo sets at Flickr
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