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Another great day of cycling with Stacy Brogan Sanger. We left Angel Fire a little after 8 am. The first 7 miles included about 3.7 miles of fairly flat riding and then 3.3 miles of climbing. It was challenging, but we took breaks as needed and bit off chunks. We made it to Palo Flechado Pass (9101 ft elevation) and they began the wonderful downhill 20 mile ride into Taos, NM.
Stacy wasn’t excited about the sign at the top of the pass (see below in photos), but she did awesome. She carried 25-30 mph for most of the downhill section. I realized that the panniers (saddle bags for the bikes) create a lot of drag and my hopes of a 50 or even 60 mph downhill isn’t likely unless I can get Stacy to carry my bags (please give her some encouragement). We actually made it the 27 miles into Taos in under 2 hours. We spent the day riding around town and had lunch at Michael’s Kitchen (it was good). The desserts looked awesome, but I didn’t want to take on the calorie commitment they would require. Made it to our motel and got checked in. Likely a walk to dinner tonight and then some rest as tomorrow will bring more uphill than downhill. Stacy Brogan Sanger and I are off on a cycling adventure. This is our first self supported (only take what we can carry on the bikes) ride. We are riding the Enchanted Circle in New Mexico (Eagle Nest to Angel Fire to Taos, then to Questa and Red River is next before we head back to Eagle Nest). We drove to Eagle Nest and Saint Mels church agreed to let us park the Suburban in their parking lot until we return. We got to Eagle Nest around noon today and then rode the bikes to Angel Fire. We stopped on the way to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial just outside of Angel Fire. The road up to the memorial was very steep and I was only managing about 3.5 mph at the steepest section ( Steep road and 8400 ft elevation had my quads fussing). After arriving in Angel Fire we headed up toward the ski area and had lunch. This was another steep climb, but not nearly as steep as the road to the memorial. I had a green chili cheeseburger and it was very good. We went to the motel room and cooled off and cleaned up. We then went for a 4 mile walk around Angel Fire. A lot of the shops and restaurants aren’t open (not sure if that is because of Covid, summer season or because it was around 5pm). Off to Taos tomorrow. We are expecting to climb for the first 6.5 miles and then mostly downhill for the next 20 miles. We are considering an additional ride tomorrow out to the Rio Grande Gorge bridge which will add another 26 miles (we will have to see how we are handling the elevation).
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