Day 6 Friday, June 15, 2007

Be sure to also check out:
Erics blog at http://teamhallam.blogspot.com
and George's blog at http://georgemetzler.blogspot.com


Today was 172 miles from Socorro NM to Roswell NM. There was a headwind at the beginning which made everybody worried. Eric and I rode the whole day together with only monor separations when I was having a good time climbing or on the aerobars. We knew Mark was out in front and that Ed Pabst went with him. However, we say Ed leave the 107 mile lunch stop alone. After Eric and I left, Eric's tire flatted with a bang. He had sidewall damage with a 1 cm gash in it which we booted with two $1 bills. While doing so Tom passed us. We caught Tom and continued. We daw a rider in the distance which we hoped was Ed. We worked hard (three of us now) to chase him down. With a really good effort we caugt him as we enterred Roswell and the four of us finished as the second "group" in - Only Mark, the guy I finished first with the previous day, came in before us.

Today was also "laundry day". On the Elite tour they do it for us. We drop it of in the AM in mesh bags and we get it back 3/4 dry in the PM.


Here is one of the "hand wash stations" - a jug with soapy water and a roll of paper towels combined. Do not violate the gloves off and wash before touching anything rule.


Today was all New Mexico - the land of the yucca plant.

After Carrizozo we entered the lava fields. The picture does not do it justice but it is pretty neat.

Eric hasn't won his "first group in" tattoo for his left calf, so he improvised and put a chainring tattoo on his right calf.

After our finish at 4:02 PM, Tom Lawrence, Ed Pabst, Eric Hallam and Vernon Smith. That was 172 miles in 10:02 for an average speed (including stops) of 17.2 mph. Our actual riding time was 9:14 so... we spent 48 minutes off the bike. Yesterday I averaged 20.8 mph and at least a part of that was that in the 7.5 hour ride I spent only 14 minutes off the bike. Moving at zero mph during a lunch stop really hurts the average time.