Day 11 was a day of transitions. The ride started with a short climb (less than a mile) out of Eagle Nest up to 8,300 feet and it was mostly downhill from there down to about 5,500 feet in Clayton. The mountains around Eagle Nest were great. I saw a ton of deer out there and took my time to enjoy the scenery on the descent.
I crossed Interstate 25 about 40 miles into the ride and by then everything had changed. Goodbye mountains, hello plains. All of the sudden the mountains were gone and I was immediately greeted by my new best friend: the wind.
Headwinds, to be exact. I didn't know it at the time, but I had quite a few days of headwinds in my future. The wind was particularly strong on Day 11, but since it was only the first day of headwinds and I was preoccupied with the new scenery, I wasn't bothered too much. I figured that this is what you do- you make it to the plains and fight the wind.
Towards the end of the ride I started seeing more and more storm clouds in the distance. I had dodged many of them throughout the day, but less than 5 miles from the finish my luck ran out and it started pouring down rain. I was riding right through the middle of Clayton and the streets were flooding. My hotel was on the other side of Clayton, and by the time I made it there everything was completely dry. What a difference a few miles can make.
It ended up raining hard most of the night. My hotel was right across the street from a Subway and I waited a while for the rain to stop or even let up a little bit, but it just wasn't happening. I finally decided just to suck it up and go, and after just a few minutes of walking I was soaked all the way down to my shoes and socks. At that moment I considered myself lucky that I was able to dodge the rain during my ride as much as I did.
