We left Alpine at 8:52 am after a breakfast of granola and milk in J&M's room. We climbed out of Alpine for about 4-miles and then had to do our first segment of interstate riding. After a bit we pulled off at a vista point and meet a couple of German tourists. Very friendly and on their way to the Grand Canyon. I told them that Arizona was the best state and Jerry and Michele quickly corrected me.
After exiting the freeway I made us stop in Descanso for coffee and we ate a little (biscuits an gravy, yum. No other meals worth mentioning today). Everyone in the diner wished us well as we left. This is also where we finally hit snow. Not too much, but all the locals kept telling us that it was a good thing that we didn't come through yesterday, the roads were closed, and even when they opened they were very icy. Roads clear today.
I had a series of stops for mechanical issues. I repeatedly suffered from "chain suck" where the chain is pulled up into the chain stay and locks up the pedaling action. This often leads to a fall, but today I was always able to get a foot down. One event was so bad that several of the chain links were bent necessitating the roadside removal of a couple of links. In a comment on yesterdays post Tom warned me not to get any sand in the drive train. Chain suck is often caused by a dirty chain and I fear that was the cause. At the end of the day I cleaned and lubed the chain, but as soon as we get to a town with a bike shop I'll replace it.
Lots of climbing today: 2300' out of Alpine, then down 500', up 500', down 1000', up 1000, then a couple hundred down to the Hotel. No flat at all. Topped out at 4175' where a friendly Border Patrol Agent took some pictures of us. That will be the highest point until we get to New Mexico. Tomorrow we end up 122' below sea level.
Ride stats:
Miles: 39.0
Start Elevation: 1852
End Elevation: 3542
Total Climbing: 3604
Snow and biscuits and gravy - what a day!
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