Las Vegas, New Mexico

Noooo, not THE Las Vegas but it sure was a cool one! The ride there was determined the hardest ride of our route so far. We started the day off with a ton of headwinds and uphills...there was clearly going to be some serious triple H in effect today (head winds, heat and hills). After getting to turn off that first road after about 20 miles, we were with the wind for a while and this was the best part of the whole ride. We were told that today's ride was going to be insanely beautiful and amazing so we knew that there was something big in store down the road. I was able to tell that something awesome was about to happen because there were a lot of signs for "hill" up ahead. Then, the grade notification signs started picking up and soon, we noticed that we had a massive downhill stretch in front of us. So much that the cars needed to be warned about it and make sure they went down slowly enough to be in control. We were on a two lane windy back road that was descending into a valley and it was really cool until all of a sudden, everything in front of us, blocking our view, opened up and the valley was in front of us! I can't explain how awesome it was and I hope I can find some good pictures that other people took of it but I was too nervous to take my hands off my bike and take a picture. Unfortunately, what goes up must come down and vice versa...so all the distance we got to go downhill, we also had to go uphill.. luckily, the top of the hill was the first lunch stop, so we were able to take some time and celebrate the huge valley we conquered. After first lunch, I rode with Molly B and Josiah. The uphills never seemed to end...and they didn't. After first lunch, everything about the ride became extremely difficult and the entire team struggled to make it to the second lunch. The only reason that my group was able to make it was because we didn't take any breaks, we just biked very very slowly. Second lunch was more like a very long feast for most people. Everyone was dreading getting back on the road and back in the heat with all the winds and hills. Josiah was feeling pretty good so he took off but Molly and I were struggling a lot and ended up vanning ourselves. We were both very very out of it and kind of dozing off while biking. It was definitely the best decision to make, though it was a very hard one. The host we stayed at was extremely "hands off", meaning that we didn't see or interact with them and were able to have the entire place to ourselves. The only downfall to that was that they turned off the gas and the water to the hoses so we had to resort to sink showers and cooking our dinner in the microwave. It worked out pretty well though! That night was also a very early one and I ended up falling asleep around 9:00 (my new normal bed time). After two very extremely difficult climbs, I have a feeling the Rockies are going to rock me.