emory's pass turned out to be not so bad and i hauled myself up the mountain without too much problem until i got over the other side where i was hoping for downhill bliss but instead was faced with a few more climbs and a fierce wind forcing me to peddle. it felt great to get that beast over with and i luckily managed to find a brilliant place to stay. i got in touch with pat at very late notice but she incedibly let me stay in her spare trailor and cooked me some delicious soup.
pat packed me up with choc chip cookies the next and they were devoured pretty quickly! passed through silver city and some nice mountains with juniper trees. then as i was sweating profusely up a gritty hill i bumped into janet who said "Wait, are you a brit?" having seen my flag. she was very sweet and invited me for a second breakfast! love it! met her husband larry and had a great chat as we were on a similar level about politics etc. ate some really good rosti which i havent had for ages and that gave me just the boost i needed. from silver city it was a nice downhill stretch and i made it to buckhorn at about 2:30pm where i decided to take the afternoon off as i was about to turn west into a powerful wind. finished reading a capote book and ate some pizza and.....slept in the laundry room. thankfully i am getting used to hard surfaces and slept like a baby (tranquilized by fatigue!).
today i have been over 2 passes but have made it to stafford where i got my tyres pumped up. got my second flat earlier in the morning but managed to fix it pretty quickly to my delight. actually quite enjoyed fixing it this time and manged to keep my trousers fairly clean. keep on meeting loads of retired cyclists coming the other way which is awesome. hope my limbs will still be able to carry me over mountains in 40 years time! well i guess now i have my second challange of the day: to find a roof over my head. love the unpredictability of not knowing where i will end up sleeping!
pat packed me up with choc chip cookies the next and they were devoured pretty quickly! passed through silver city and some nice mountains with juniper trees. then as i was sweating profusely up a gritty hill i bumped into janet who said "Wait, are you a brit?" having seen my flag. she was very sweet and invited me for a second breakfast! love it! met her husband larry and had a great chat as we were on a similar level about politics etc. ate some really good rosti which i havent had for ages and that gave me just the boost i needed. from silver city it was a nice downhill stretch and i made it to buckhorn at about 2:30pm where i decided to take the afternoon off as i was about to turn west into a powerful wind. finished reading a capote book and ate some pizza and.....slept in the laundry room. thankfully i am getting used to hard surfaces and slept like a baby (tranquilized by fatigue!).
today i have been over 2 passes but have made it to stafford where i got my tyres pumped up. got my second flat earlier in the morning but managed to fix it pretty quickly to my delight. actually quite enjoyed fixing it this time and manged to keep my trousers fairly clean. keep on meeting loads of retired cyclists coming the other way which is awesome. hope my limbs will still be able to carry me over mountains in 40 years time! well i guess now i have my second challange of the day: to find a roof over my head. love the unpredictability of not knowing where i will end up sleeping!
