Day 89: August 31st 2009, Artesia to Cloudcroft (91 mi)

91 miles. 91 fucking miles. I skated 91 miles today, Holy Shit, I can't believe it. Im ecstatic, thrilled, in disbelief, souped. I want to think of more awesome adjectives but I keep zoning out on my skate. Man it was epicer than epic. What a fantastic day, one of the greatest of my life. I slept like a baby in my new sleeping bag. So comfortable and I dreamt I was in Phoenix. I was stressin about today. I knew I was going into the mountains and I was dreading the uphill. People kept psyching me out, telling me "oh wait till you get to the mountains, its gonna be hard" comments along those lines. But how awesome today was.


It started at 635, and I woke up pretty calm, no rush. I even had oats in the morning instead of my usual breakfastless days. I was on the road by 640 departing Artesia. At one of the town stoplights an old man came up to me while I was waiting at the the light and asked me where I was headed,

"San Diego"

"Ppppfffhooo, Im going to pray for you"

"Thank you, thats all I need"

And off I left Artesia. Perfect weather. Upper 60s, clear blue skies and a slight tailwind. Emptiness. The road was clear. The shoulder was little small but still rideable. I wanted to push to Hope, a town 21 miles down the road, but didn't expect to get there until noon. Through more boring flat lands I pushed, and for some reason I didn't mind. I zoned out thinking of nothing. Just the next push and the next breath through the nose. And after 1.5 L of water and two breaks I found myself in Hope at 10:22. I was so surprised I was there that early. I stopped into the Hope store for a cold drink and asked the wise man behind the counter when I was going to start going uphill.

"You've been going uphill. You've gone up more than a 1,000 feet"

I was so surprised so I checked my map which told me Artesia was 3000 some feet. The sign for this town said it was 4,000 some feet. Damn that was probably the easiest uphill Ive ever skated. And it only got easier. He told me that the greater inclines are going to be about 20 miles from Hope but its going to be more up and down than just up. The next town was Elk, 40 miles west and I didn't think I was going to make it there today but at least I was going to skate the next 13. I left hope at 1045.

10 miles out and I still hadn't faced any intense inclines. Nothing like Hill Country. I could see the mountains in the distance but still it didn't feel like it. At noon I was already past NM-13, my checkpoint for the day. That's when I decided Ill keep skating until I got tired. But I wasn't even trying hard. The wind was at my back and I was going down and up and for most uphills, I didn't even have to try that hard, just enough to maintain my momentum. I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I didn't even need my ipod. The sound of the wind was all I wanted to hear. The mountains were just what I wanted to see. This was more like the New Mexico I was awaiting.

"Im free mothafuckas!!! AAAAHH!!" as if I had just gotten out of jail. I was cruising at 15 mi/hr and I wasn't even kicking for it. My wheels where doing all the work. I was just observing around me and I didn't want to stop. No worries, no thoughts. My legs started hurting from standing still, numbing up so I pumped. It was so righteous. At 520 I was already in Cloudcroft, the highest town along this stretch of US-82 and the pine and conifer forests made me think I was back in Rhode Island, not the desert. Im so ahead of schedule again. New Mexico is going by too fast so I decided I was going to take some hiking trails and camp here for the next couple of nights. I found the perfect one.

Switchback loop is a trail that goes along and around the steep 6% grade part, west part of Cloudcroft, part of the Lincoln National Forest. I would take it to avoid the steep mountain part with a tiny shoulder. Otherwise I would require the whole road to carve as hard as I can. 84 miles to Las Cruces.

And that's the feeling of freedom I can't explain. It is an amazing natural feeling. Nothing holding you back. Just you rolling. Having the weight on the back is no doubt exhausting and makes it a little less fun but it only adds to realness of it. The feeling of repacking everything in the morning and leaving no trace behind of where you cooked or where you slept then moving and cruising onto an open road to a new unknown. A feeling of no obligation to anything, just making it to the next stop. Not having any idea of whats about to happen next, just leaving yourself to fate or the will of God or whatever you want to call it, just letting go. Those are the things that give me goosebumps and make me scream. Those are the things that put a stretching smile from ear to ear on my face. Those are the feelings that not a single soul can take away from me. No asshole boss making me do something I don't want or disrespecting me and no asshole director threatening to send me home if I don't conform to some stupid rule that makes no sense. That is being free.