As many of you are aware, Athalonz Founder and CEO Tim Markison is riding his bicycle across the United Sates, from San Diego, CA to Jacksonville, FL, to raise funds and awareness to combat child abuse. Learn more about his >3,000 mike ride here.
Day 10: October 8, 2021 (Safford AZ to Lordsburg NM)
Today was a good bit of climbing. A little over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Not as much as day 1 or day 2, but not trivial. I am really enjoying traveling through the small towns. The people have been friendly, the service has been good, and the food has been excellent.
I didn’t do a good job of staying hydrated today; nor did I do a good job of eating. It made the ride harder. I didn’t drink enough water and I drank too much electrolyte drink. It upset my stomach, which caused me to not want to eat. I think the cause was cheesecake. The night before, I really wanted a piece of cheesecake. I ate two and then went to bed. It laid in my stomach overnight. Live and learn.
The writing of my story is going well. A lot of time to think about it on the bike. I’m remembering things that I didn’t know I remembered. From that standpoint it’s been pretty cool. Not so cool from the perspective of what I’m remembering. I know I did not have a good childhood but writing down the details of it has been emotionally hard and yet therapeutic.
Not much else to say for today. Although it is nice to be in state number three of this journey.
Day 11: October 9, 2021 (Lordsburg NM to Silver City NM)
This was a short distance day; only 45 miles. It was, however, a climbing day of almost 3,900 feet. We had a beautiful day; sunny high of about 75, and 60 degrees when we started at 7 AM. Not only was weather nice, the shoulder was in good condition for about 90 % of the ride. That really helped with the climbing.
I stayed at a hotel last night while Miah and Tim stayed in the RV at an RV park. This working out well. I go to be at 7:30 PM and I get up at 3 AM. They are not on the same sleep cycle. This gives me a good bit of time to write. We are doing the same thing tonight.
We started today by fixing two flat tires. One on the recumbent and the other a road bike. I’m not too happy with my bike shop in Mesa. They replaced the tire that was flat just before I left. When I took the tire off to replace the inner tube, the Kevlar liner was folded over itself a few times and only covered about a ¼ of the tire. It supposed to cover the entire inner circumference of the tire. They also used the wrong tube. They used on that was too big and had it folded over on itself.
It’s fixed now and I had some fun on the recumbent. The last 10 miles or so into Silver City was downhill with a nice smooth shoulder. I was able to let the recumbent bike go, reaching speeds of about 40 MPH. It was good fun.
Along the way, Miah had a flat tire on the Trek road bike. A thorn. We pulled the thorn and filled the tire with air. The puncture sealant worked for about 10 miles until we hit some rough road. So, we’ll be fixing another tire in the morning before we head out. Not that I’m counting, but that’s flat tire number 5.
Also, my clip on my left shoe broke. So, I have to fix that in the morning too.
Day 12: October 10, 2021 (Silver City NM to Hillsboro NM)
This day peaked at about 8,400 feet at Emery pass. Very high winds, which made riding tough. When the road got narrow with no shoulder and a few hundred foot drop off, we racked the bikes and drove.
This was my 14th day since I left home to start this journey and it was the 1st night I spent in the RV; I’ve had hotel or motel rooms. I enjoyed it. We got to Hillsboro around 2. Set up at the RV park and went for lunch. Again, good food and inexpensive.
We set up chairs under the awning of the RV and just hung out for hours. It was very nice. Sergio stopped by for a few of those hours. Went to bed at about 8.
Tim and Miah said they like it cold overnight so I had several blankets. It was cold. The windows where Tim was sleeping were left open. Turned the heat on at about 1:30 am.
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