Albuquerque to Moriarty, NM 04-25-2026 Day 15

Today was going to be short in distance and long on wind and climbing. While the climb was going to be over 2200 feet in the 40 miles, at least the wind would be mostly at our backs. Once the wind gets over 10 mph in your face, wind is worse than hills or mountains because you never get relief. We were up and out the door relatively early because our hotel offered no breakfast. We had made a run to a small market and got breakfast sandwiches, bananas and milk the night before. The room did have a coffee maker and enough for a small pot. We heated our sandwiches in the microwave after storing them in our room fridge.

It was sunny and cool, barely above 50 F. Our early start on a Saturday morning allowed us to take Central Avenue through town all the way out to the official Historic Route 66 that paralleled I-40. This saved us a few miles from our original plan that had us switching north and south across central Avenue to take advantage of bike lanes. Instead, with very little traffic, we were able to use a dedicated bus lane most of the way. Since we had a good breakfast, we didn’t need to stop. Not even for a place like this.

By the time we had made it out of town 10 miles later, We had climbed 680 feet. It never felt like we were really going uphill, but we did notice that we had to pedal harder and were going slower than the landscape suggested. As we climbed up a bridge over I-40, a “peloton” of cyclists came zooming up behind us and made us look like we were practically walking up the slope.

Along the way we saw two different groups of 4-8 Porsches heading down the highway. Made me think there might be some kind of club in the area. Also, for the second time, we saw motorcyclists act like they were “pedaling” when they saw us to bring a smile to our faces. About 9 miles down the road, going uphill for most of it, we took a rest at a picnic table outside a Subway in Tijeras. A couple of cyclists had just came out and asked us about our ride. Mark Aamundstad was a local advocate for better road conditions for the cycling community. We commiserated about the tiny pin like shards of metal that punctured so many of our tires. They were so difficult to detect once embedded in the tire. We told him about our confusion about the legality of riding on I-40 yesterday. He commented that most of the interstates west of the Mississippi allow cyclists in the rural areas on the shoulder. We sent him some pictures of the contradictory signage we saw yesterday and he said his organization would bring it to the attention of the proper authorities. He was a wealth of information about cycling in the area. A good guy and a good organization.

We were still climbing for another 14 miles when we took a break identical to yesterday at a Dairy Queen in Edgewood. Shrimp basket and drink for Ron, $5 combo of cheeseburger and sundae for me.

We jumped back on to Historic Route 66 with even stronger tailwinds. We now also had some very nice downhill runs into Moriarty. It got a little dicey when there was traffic in both directions and if the shoulder got a little narrow and the wind shifted to a cross wind. The combination kept our senses keen and alert. We have both been having some shifting problems with gear shifts jumping without our shifting. Or sometimes we have to shift 2 gears then back down one to get where we want to be. Bottom line we were looking for a way to clean up the rear gear cassette. Ron found a nice rag on the side of the road. Once in town we stopped at a hardware store to find the smallest can of WD-40 to help dissolve and clear the gunk on the gear cluster. They were all out, so we got something bigger than we wanted.

We are pleased with the Quality Inn we are staying at tonight. We have access to a modern set of laundry machines and a dryer. We passed on the dryer since the spin cycle on the washer is very good for starters. We both have some form of detergent, but we used Ron’s. In trade, I paid for the washer. We put in everything we weren’t wearing into a single load and then took turns hitting it all with the hair dryer. There were clothes hanging everywhere when we left for dinner with a walk down the highway.

While walking back from dinner, we saw some long trucks parked on the side of the road. They were hauling the propellers for windmills. They were enormous and I’d never seen one this close before. I walked off 85 paces of one – end to end. I can shoot an arrow that far, but I’m not sure I could hit what I was aiming at!

In both time and distance, this was our shortest day. It gave us a chance to do real laundry, clean up the bikes, have a relaxing dinner and for me to finish the blog before 10 PM!

Ride Stats are here. 3D video is here.

The Not So Lone Rider