Climbing Day

I had a problem with yesterday's post,having written it I could not get it to upload or save,so had to abandon and rewrite.In doing so I forgot to mention that we spent a little time cycling in an organised peloton with Bill and Linda,Tom and Greg-getting ready for the long straight flat roads of Kansas.Went well until we hit a hill,but that is the name of the game and practice makes perfect.Anyway there was no chance for that today as we knew from the outset that today would be a climbing day.But we set off from an altitude of 5312 ft,so thinning air as well as the climb.
 We set off from the hotel on a long climb of 1-2%,through multiple traffic lights,and at the top of the hill set off on a beautiful cycleway-no cars,very few people and just gentle undulations.This lasted for about 3 miles and was a real delight.Back onto the road and back to climbing.The scenery was very attractive with mountains all around us .

Passed a sad reminder of the possible dangers of cycling ,a ghost bike in memoriam of a rider killed on the road.

As civilisation died away the scenery became more and more like scenes from the western movies of my childhood.

And a little while after a reminder of our youngest grand daughter.

There were plenty of wildflowers along the road side to keep us distracted.

Eventually came to our refreshment break,but just before we had been flagged down by Dana( husband of Paula) to give me a bag of peanuts( we share the taste).Fresh strawberries and bananas to speed us on our way to Madrid,where we stopped for lunch after a beautiful descent(68Kph max).

Dana in the photo.More climbing after lunch and the inevitable anticlimax when we reached the outskirts of Santa Fe but still had 10 Kms to go.

One oddity as we cycled in,we passed two prisons, the various signs saying Penitentiary ,adult detention centre and adult correctional facility,but one must not stop to pick up hitchhikers

We arrived at the hotel before the rooms were ready so had an enjoyable chat with Nan's husband Dave,who is not cycling but driving along part of the route

A very welcome surprise was a wine tasting set up in the hotel foyer,accompanied by spring rolls !
So another 67.3 miles completed and a rest day tomorrow in Santa Fe.