Week 43

Date
October 28, 2017

Distance
106 miles

Strava Link
Week 43

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Video

Ride Report
From now on you can call me Adamogordo. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Anyway, this is my first weekly ride from Alamogordo. One of the nice things about Alamogordo is that I can ride in all 4 directions. I can head south towards El Paso, north towards Carrizozo, east towards Cloudcroft (climbing), or west (ok, really southwest) towards Las Cruces. That's going to be nice because I will always have the option to plan my ride around the wind if I want.

I rode the north/south options earlier this year when I rode from El Paso to Canada and I've been to Cloudcroft via automobile, so it made sense to head out towards Las Cruces and see what that was like. It turned out a lot better than I thought. There is a very wide shoulder the whole way, which I love. Early on the route passes by White Sands National Monument. You can't see a whole lot from the highway, but a few sand dunes are visible. I don't know why, but it seems to add a little excitement to the ride.

The route is super flat, but there are mountains off in the distance and the views are nice. Then, about 44 miles into the ride, there's a little climb up to San Augustin Pass. It's 5.5 miles at 5%, which is nothing to write home about but is a welcome change from how flat the rest of the ride is. The views are pretty nice in that area, too. The road doesn't twist and turn very much, so I'm sure this is a tough climb when there's a headwind.

This is sure to become one of my regular routes, especially when the winds are W or SW.