Seeing Double in Tucumcari

The first running (or is it riding?) of our Two-4-Tucumcari 2X200K brevets was held on the weekend of 8th-9th September. Eight riders started, and rode every inch of the route (with one rider scoring 16km bonus). Daily mileage was 128.6 miles, for a total of a little over 257 miles (406km).

The weather could not have been more varied for a weekend. As we left Canyon TX on Saturday at daybreak, mist filled the air, a remnant of the flooding rains that had falled the day before. But the mist quickly abated, leaving us with cool cloudiness as we headed west toward Hereford on Hwy 60. 

Somewhere along the line we lost Todd, who had flatted near Dawn. We waitied at a truckstop near Hereford for him…and waited…and waited, until a motorist stopped to tell us she had seen him working with a wheel some 13 miles back. As a courtesy we wanted to regroup, but as minutes ticked away, we realized that if we didn’t get moving soon, we might all miss the first control in Westway. Not wanting to have a 100% DNF in the first stage, we clicked in and headed off, hoping that Todd could catch up in time.

Fortunately, Todd did make that first Control in Westway, albeit after the 7 of us had already departed. We enjoyed light SE breezes during the morning, and kept a nice pace. Clouds eventually became blue sky as we headed west through the Bootleg community, past the feedyard, and on toward New Mexico. In fact, when we crossed the state line at 62 miles, it was beginning to feel like a typical hot summer day.

The second Control and lunch were in Bellview, the next closest thing to a ghost town. Even the US Post Office is abandoned, so Becky and Julie set up shop there and awaited our arrival. Grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches were on tap for lunch, and then more seemingly endless miles into the western horizon.

By this time the wind had started to kick around more to the south-southwest, slowing our progress from the morning’s pace. The elevation continued to slowly climb, having started at 3630′ back at our house, and headed to 4900′ at Ragland where both the next Control was located, and the road curved north toward Tucumcari.

The stretch between Bellview and Ragland is a mixed bag, with a couple of very small settlements (Broadview and Grady) in the middle. It was even laughable that Grady had been hyped on mileage marker signs ever since Hereford, yet the only thing in town is one of those “ghost stations” where you can buy gas with a credit card only, because no one actually works there.

The five miles between Broadview and Grady were the most difficult of the entire route, with horrible road surface conditions. It was impossible to find a decent line to ride, so we all had to resign ourselves to jostling as best we could. Much better conditions awaited after Grady.

The last Control in Ragland sits where the road curves, and the view spreads out in 3D. Gone was the flat expanse known as The Caprock, for suddenly we fell off it into mesa land. Bright reds and oranges colored the landscape, arroyos crisscrossed the highway, and orphaned mesas on each side of the road bore testimony to how random erosion can be.

The 26 miles into Tucumcari were a snap with a tailwind and 800′ of descending. In no time we were at our destination, the Tucumcari Inn, a vintage Route 66 motel on Tucumcari Boulevard (the last-used section of Route 66 before I-40 replaced it). After a quick clean-up, we replenished our energy stores at Del’s Diner, and then Ken’s Ice Cream shop.

We awoke Sunday to thick clouds and the threat of rain. The Weather Channel radar even showed showers off to the south of town, right on our route. We ate breakfast outside in the pre-dawn darkness, and as soon as there was enough daylight, we headed out to retrace the route we had followed the day before. With a north wind, we wasted no time climbing back to Ragland. In fact, it all seemed too easy.

Which is a bad omen when you know your route changes direction shortly.

It was quite chilly in Ragland, considerably more so than in Tucumcari. As we turned east for our 102-mile ride to the finish, it quickly became apparent that the wind was in fact from the NE.

And that the roads were wet because it was indeed raining lightly.

The winds held steady, probably at about 15mph, enough to slow us down and keep us on the verge of chill. It took a long time to actually get wet in the light rain, but by the time we finally reached Bellview for lunch, we were all pretty damp and in need of extra clothing to ward off the chill that quickly sets in when you click out. Most of us were shivering, so we wisely didn’t linger too long, although the pasta lunch beckoned us to sit back and enjoy.

It’s a long and lonely stretch between Ragland and Hereford, and about the only things there are to do are watch the miles click away slowly, think positive things as the elevation slowly drops, or count cattle. Somewhere around Bootleg, we noticed the drizzle had stopped, and the sun was in fact trying to poke through the clouds, which it did for a few minutes. Our souls and bodies warmed, it made the final two legs of the trip easier, even though dark skies loomed in the east.

A quick stop at the Control in Westway was followed by a longer more relaxed stop at the truckstop near Hereford, where we waited for Bill to rejoin us. It was in Broadview that Bill had missed the turn and was accidentally headed toward Clovis. Bill had to do double-time to catch back on, but he managed to do so as we waited at the truckstop.

The rest was rather anticlimactic as we plowed northeast along Hwy 60 to our house for the finish and a post-ride cookout. It never did rain again, although it was chilly and certainly felt like it could cut loose again.

All told, these back-to-back 200Ks were challenging in that the weather was not perfect, and with relatively flat land, there is scant time to never be pedaling. Hills would have been welcomed occasionally just to break things up. As I have learned in 18 years out here, the mental aspect of cycling on the prairies can be even more demanding than the physical aspect, though. The sameness of the terrain can multiply the tedium of a long ride.

But with good company along, the miles do indeed roll by a little bit faster. Which makes me look forward to 2008’s edition of T4T, which will be on 6th-7th September. We’ll just put in an order for tailwinds both days.

Click the widget below to view a slideshow of the weekend.