Day 10 (Wed, 26 Mar)

I rode from Springerville, AZ to Quemado, NM today – State #3!  Distinctive geography throughout the ride - high mountain plains, brown grassy fields, rolling hills and mountains in the area.  The ride was 48 miles, completely on US Hwy 60.  The ride was hilly the entire way between 6,500 and 7,500 ft in elevation – 2,015 ft of vertical climbing.   The weather was cold again in the morning starting at about 40 F, climbing into the 50s mid-day; partly cloudy throughout the day.  There was a strong 20-30 mph wind for much of the day out of the SouthWest (tail winds primarily that pushed me along quite nicely, with my riding speeds topping out at 25-30 mph on the flats!).

For cyclists: Hwy 60 on this stretch worked great for cycling, primarily due to the fast that there is almost no traffic...  The pavement up to the AZ/NM border is very smooth with a great riding lane.  Once in NM the pavement is quite rough and with no shoulder, but the lack of traffic still enabled a good ride.  I’m staying at the Largo Motel and Café tonight; great motel recently re-built with great food next door.  A gem of a stop in a part of the US with very few people.

I’m starting to get used to riding at such high altitudes; I’ve never done this type of higher altitude riding over 5-6 days and it definitely stretches your lung capacity – good deal, getting stronger every day.

On to the pictures:

Old Rusty Stuff near Springerville.  Some type of grain conveyor?

Lot's of high mountain open plains in this part of AZ and NM.

Clear blue sky and jet contrails over the plains.

Typical of every valley - a wash or small creek bed - usually dry at this time of year.

Yikes!  I did see some yesterday - luckily no snow at this elevation at this time...

Lot's of broad open plains and small pine and hardwood trees across the fields.

State #3 - New Mexico about 15 miles into the ride.  I've needed to where my heavier cycling coat the past two days along with double socks, long pants, skull cap and full cycling gloves.  Sunny but chilly right now, especially with the wind.

Snow capped mountain south of Hwy 60.

Mountains off in the distance that likely are 10k ft high or so.

Rough road and brown grass - a theme for the past few days.  There are supposedly elk and deer in the area - haven't seen any yet, but I'll keep looking the next few days.

If you zoom in on this picture you might be able to see the variations in rock colors on that plateau (which is just north of Quemado).

The Quemado story.  My guess is that there are 200 or so folks that live in this town.  Short Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quemado,_New_Mexico.

Home for the night!