I joined with a group of cyclist friends to ride the Enchanted Circle 100 mile bike tour. A couple of them had been on this ride before, but it was my first time doing a big out of state ride.

It was some of the finest cycling I've ever had. These photos don't really show the beauty of the region, but I do think they show the friendship and camaraderie of this group of guys.

 
chilly start

We got off to a chilly start, with temperatures in the 40's. It didn't take long to warm up though, it was perfect weather all through the day.

 
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Looking back uphill to the east (Kevin), then downhill (Barry). We started with a 12 mile descent down a beautiful road. It was quite a site to see the ribbon of color as the cyclists wound their way down to Questa.

 
enchanted_jack

I'm grinning so big because we're almost to the top of Taos Canyon. I really was enchanted by this road up out of Taos. I felt as good as I've ever felt on a bike, as I led our group up to one of the big passes on the ride.

 

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Barry sang old John Prine songs as we cycled up to the pass. How he had enough wind to keep singing I'll never know!

 
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While the scenery was spectacular what really makes these big rides fun is the people. Here's two of Barry's friends, Patt and Rochelle, along with Ashok and Jack. They joined us for dinner the evening before the ride, we had alot of fun cooking and cleaning up for "our company".

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The top of Bobcat Pass. We'd been hearing about this climb for years, and now we've tackled it. It was about the steepest hill I've ridden, but amazingly it was one of the most fun parts of the ride for me.

 
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Barry picked great accomodations for us, within a block or two of the start of the ride. Above photo of us in the lobby. Top right our room, fun to have 5 bikes in the room. Bottom right me in the kitchen; it was nice to be able to cook and eat right in the room. The board says "Pain is weakness leaving the body" and "hills are fun", two of our "motivational" lines.

 
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Saturday we took a warm up ride to get used to the altitude and climbs. It was fun to ride with these guys. Here, of course, Kevin, then Barry took the pictures.

 
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At the finish of the ride, with lots of big smiles. Bill in the center always had a big grin and steady pedal stroke.
I hope we can go again next year, its the kind of ride that makes you want to keep going back.

 

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