Day 15 distance: 0 miles (Rest day)
Total miles: 791 miles
Today, in Columbus, New Mexico, 14 days after leaving San Diego, we had our second rest day of this year's C2C. In those 14 days, we have ridden across California, Arizona, and about 2/3's of New Mexico. That totals 791 miles over 12 days of riding which averages about 66 miles each day. We have reached the highest elevation we will reach on this ride of 6000 feet near Bisbee, Arizona, as well as completing our longest distance one day ride (yesterday) of 95 miles.
The 2016 coasters are a solid group, hardened by the terrible riding conditions of day 2 and 3. Since then, we have had excellent weather and wind conditions. We all know it can't last forever, but are appreciative of every day of good weather, and in particular, no headwind days we encounter. By the end of tomorrow's ride we will reach Texas, spending the night in El Paso, Texas. Texas is a big state which will take with rest days, 19 days to ride across. Fortunately, Texas is a beautiful state with many different types of terrain to cross.
Happily, I can report that not any 2016 coaster to-date has experienced any accident or injury that has hindered their ride. Knowing personally how devastating it can be to have some misfortune end your ride before completion, I say thanks each day no one has a trip ending experience.
Since last year I joined in Bubba's planned activities for our day off in Columbus, I chose this year to go to the Columbus Public Library so I could get a WiFi connection and start catching up on my blog. For those of you that are following my blog because you have family and friends riding this year, if you click on the link at the end of this blog, you can see the type of activities this year's coasters enjoyed. (Actually, somehow at the Pink Store last year, I managed to tip my chair over backwards after one margarita and I was afraid to go back as I heard they may have barred me for life!)
Here are a few pictures I took this morning before today's activities began:
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| The Columbus school gym set up for C2C sleeping. |
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| Drinking coffee and waiting for breakfast prepared by school staff. |
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| The school staff getting ready to serve breakfast. |
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| The Columbus Public Library where I spent my morning on the internet. |
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| Maggie, the helpful librarian at the Columbus Public Library. |
As a day off blog "extra", today I would like to introduce you to Amy Russell (59) and her son J.T.Turner (23), from Indianapolis, Indiana:
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| J.T. Turner and Amy Russell |
J.T. and Amy are the first mother-son combination that Bubba has ever had on a C2C. In addition, J.T. is the youngest coaster to ride a Bubba C2C. J.T. just graduated from Purdue in Actuarial Science and has a job with an insurance company waiting for him when he completes this year's C2C. He has a hockey sports background (think strong legs!) and had done some cycling prior to the tour, but not for long distances. He completed his first century ride yesterday by riding an extra five miles before he started the day's 95 mile ride. He is a very strong rider and is getting stronger everyday.
Amy is retired from the finance group of Eli Lilly. She is keeping busy in her retirement by working half time for a non-profit organization. Amy is one of the 14 women in this year's C2C group, is a strong rider, and is a great addition to this year's group of 37 riders. She was thrilled late last year when J.T. first told her of his interest to ride C2C with her this year. And as a parent myself, I know and can see she is very proud and will cherish forever her ride from coast to coast with her son!
LINK to Day 15 of my 2015 C2C blog.
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