Day 13: Mexican Hat to Cortez

Today's 101 mile ride was the best of the trip so far. We left Mexican Hat soon after sunrise getting a nice view of the rock formation that gives the town it's name and then rode for about 40 miles through the San Juan River valley with the rising sun lighting up the beautiful red cliffs and rock formations along the way. Winds were light, temperatures were cool, the road was good, traffic was light, and our pace was relaxed. We did have one steep, but short climb at about the 18 mile point which got our hearts jump started for the day. We also had a nice view of Shiprock which, although it is far away in New Mexico, rises out of the plains with it's very distinctive profile.

We passed out of Utah into Colorado at about the 57 mile point and we began fighting headwinds as we did yesterday. As we covered the last 40 miles into Cortez I enjoyed looking at the beautiful mesas and thinking about the Anasazi's who lived in this area 1000 years ago. If I remember right, there were probably more people living here at that time than live here now.

I felt strong today and, with the relaxed pace that we kept most of the day, I finished with "fuel in the tank". Tomorrow is a relatively short 43 mile ride as we climb our way to Durango. Hopefully, I can add a little more reserve to my fuel tank. The next 2 days are all about conserving energy for Saturday's 140 miler.

We have a Walmart right next to our hotel, so this evening after dinner I will be a Walmart shopper. There is also a Sonic on the way to Walmart so a large milkshake is definitely in my future. Based on extensive taste testing over the past 13 days I have concluded that Sonic has the #1 chocolate milk shakes.

Steve