Day 58 - El Paso to Radium Springs, NM

Thursday. May 13.

Hooray for tailwinds! Hooray for the end of Texas!
We took our time in the morning to let the rush hour traffic of El Paso die down. Once we started riding, we had a few miles of high traffic but then we reached some fantastic riding. With wide shoulders and tailwinds we covered a lot of ground quickly.

A few turns later, we saw it! The end of Texas!



While Texas was enjoyable, we were there for too long. Twenty-two nights and over 1000 miles. It had become mentally draining because the progress was not as tangible.

The switch into New Mexico recharged our spirits, and we continued to motor onwards.

Later on, we met a lady named Lori going the other way. She's riding solo and covering a lot of ground each day. We stopped to chat for a while and then wished her well.


We also rode through loads of pecan groves which was way cool.


Once we hit Las Cruces, we found a bicycle shop so I could make some much needed upgrades to my bicycle. I purchased a mountain bike derailleur and a mountain bike cassette. This improved the gear ratios on my bicycle to make it easier to climb in the mountains. My biggest cog is now 32t, an upgrade from 25t. Since we have several days of big climbing ahead of us, I determined that I needed the help. Earlier climbs in Texas (hill country and the observatory) made me work way too hard. Hopefully, it's a well spent $180.


We ate a big dinner at Cici's Pizza, then rode another 17 miles north to Radium Springs.

There is a nice campground there and we set up shop. Our campground host, "Mudhole" was super nice and then we called it a day.

This was our first long day in a while, and the first day with good winds in a while too. We were back! Times are good again, we are out of the rut.


Day 58 - 88.78 Miles
Trip to Date - 3187.83 miles
Coast to Coast - 2018.69 miles