Tuesday, May 24th .... Today started out cool, rainy and windy and only got worse!  It was a 94-mile ride from Tucumcari to Dalhart, Texas.  The wind was out of the north at 15 mph.  For the first hour there were a number of showers and as the showers relented the wind picked up to 20 mph.  The temperature was 45 degrees!  With a strong wind in our face, it was like going up a mountain at about a 5 - 6% grade for the entire ride.  After 72.6 miles my average speed was less than 10 mph.  At that pace I would have to ride an additional three hours to finish!  

As I pulled into the final rest stop, 22 miles from the end I had a flat tire.  I took the flat tire and being almost blown off the road three times by Semi Trucks as a sign to ride the final 22 miles in the van with 10 other thoroughly exhausted riders.  But I passed the 1000-mile mark and into another state!







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