Day 17 Abiquiu to Santa Fe. The Final Day.

This was the final leg of the trip and should have been a fairly routine 50 miles.

The route continued on Highway 84 and after about 15 miles I got my first puncture of the day. The culprit was a piece of wire from debris picked up from the shoulder. This a problem when riding on major highways. I didn’t mention but I also had a puncture the night before at the campground, same thing.

About 5 miles later, puncture No. 2. This time a thorn and we patched the tube. Thanks to Brent for having a patch kit as I only carry tubes.

Now it was Brent’s turn. He had 6 punctures on the day, 4 in the last 6 miles. A record for him.

It was a very hot day. My Garmin showed an average of 91f, 33c and a max of 109f, 43c but I don’t think it was that hot. It was hot though.

I didn’t take many photos today as the route was very busy and ran alongside commercial businesses.

We stopped at a small place, Tesuque Village, just outside Santa Fe for a drink. It was a market / bar and had some creepy doll parts as decor.

We finally made it to Santa Fe and the El Sendero Inn, our hotel for 2 nights.

The first item on the agenda was a shower followed by a couple of cold beers. Next up, dinner time. We found Joe’s Tequila Bar and decided on that.

Joe’s had a great patio and I had Enchiladas, smothered of course. I’m not a tequila fan but I tried one that came with cinnamon and an orange slice. Dip your finger in cinnamon, add to tongue, sip the tequila, bite the orange. Not too bad until you run out of orange. That was enough for me, I’ll stick with beer!

New Mexico is the chilli capital of the world. In Santa Fe there are chilli’s hanging from buildings, I guess to dry out. Even at our hotel.

Since it was the 4th July there were plenty of fireworks. We walked to the Cross of the Martyrs to get a good view of the city and the fireworks that were being let off all over town.

What an adventure this has been. Tough in places but thoroughly enjoyable and memorable. I’m glad I did it.

Today we rode 51 Miles and climbed 2303ft.

In total we rode 609 miles and climbed 34,186ft or 10,420 meters.