The Brothers’ Bike Ride

We left our nice hotel in Lordsburg, NM just after 7 a.m. in the morning, and made our way back the way we had come the previous afternoon, using U.S. 70 West until it hit N.M. 90.  Along the way, we passed our first Border Patrol Station, which I had not noticed yesterday.  Once on N.M. 90, it was a long, long climb with no help at all from the wind.  And after having ridden for 4 straight days, I was not a happy camper to have to immediately start climbing.  But after our second rest stop, Mark cheered me up.  Check out this video to find out why! 🙂

A little later, we came upon a historical marker, which seem to just suck Tim in so that he can read them.  So here is a clip of Tim reading to his apparently illiterate brothers! 🙂

Our next major event was when we reached the Continental Divide, at an elevation of 6,335 feet, meaning we had climbed almost 2,500 feet.  Here is a short video I took when I made it to the Continental Divide.

By the time of our next stop, the vegetation along NM 90 was way different from what it was at the junction of NM 90 with U.S. 70, all the way back in Lordsburg.  The terrain is again “Kansas grassy” with some evergreen trees popping out of the ground, and lots of cactus plants mingled in also.  Here is a picture of the fields along NM 90 about 20 miles west of Silver City.

Tim, trees and cacti along NM 90, 20 miles outside of Silver City, NM.

We made it to Silver City and our hotel shortly after 1 p.m. for our earliest arrival time yet.  Still, it took us 6 hours to ride all of about 49 miles and climb 2,500 feet.  Silver City is at an elevation of 5,938 feet, so we ended up about 400 feet lower than our highest point at the Continental Divide.  But for me, this was the hardest day so far on L2.

After showering and changing, Beth drove us into the downtown area of Silver City.  We visited Twin Sister bike store, where I purchased a better rear view mirror for my helmet, a better pair of sunglasses, and a new seat for my bike (at the insistence of Tim, Mark and Beth).  Tim and Mark both feel I expend too much energy standing and pedaling to help save my sore butt.  Hope it’s not too difficult to install on my bike – Tim promised he would do that, so we’ll see.

After our visit to the bike store, we walked across the street to Tre Rosat Cafe for a real nice lunch.  Here is a picture of the inside of this Cafe.

Deocr in Tre Rosat Cafe in downtown Silver City, NM.

We had salads and pizza for lunch, with some good brews also, of course!  Our servers were the husband and wife owners of the Cafe, who were both incredibly nice.  But see for yourself!

Husband and wife owners of Tre Rosat Cafe, Silver City, NM.

She is a native of British Columbia and he was born in Oregon and they met in Southern California.  They’ve been together for six years and married for the last year and a half.  The atmosphere was cozy, the beers were great, and the food was delicious.  So if you’re ever in Silver City, I recommend you stop in for a bite!

After leaving downtown, we took a driving tour of Western New Mexico University, which is just a few blocks from downtown Silver City.  Then it was back to our hotel, which has a cactus garden right out front, which was too nice for me to pass up! 🙂

Cactus garden outside hotel in Silver City, NM.

Beth, bless her heart,  is in the process of washing our dirty bike clothes, while Tim, Mark and I take naps and/or work on our homework, I mean blogs.  Yesterday I mentioned how sunburn Tim’s legs were getting, but it’s happening to all of us, even though we continue to slab on the sunscreen religiously each morning.

I think this is what they mean by biker’s tan.

We’re meeting at her room for our nightly ritual of Tim reading about the next day’s ride while we continue re-hydrating ourselves with some good ales!