tour de acoma

It's not often that we (1) skip church on a Sunday, (2) do an official, organized ride, or (3) drive to the start of a ride. We did all 3 on Sunday by riding the 50 mile route of the tour de acoma with a couple buddies from Abq and an out-of-town visitor new friend. The ride is special because it's the only time of the year that the roads through the Pueblo areas are open for bike riding Americanos.

We really liked how the ride was organized. There were lots of rest stop locations with water, bananas, oranges, and granola bars. At the end of the ride, a lovely lunch of bbq sandwiches (or a mystery wrap), baked beans, and potato salad was waiting for us. The food options are a great idea -- while riding, pretty much anything tastes good, so nothing special is needed. Then, why not celebrate the end with much yumminess.

There's one fairly steep 1/2 mile climb near the middle of the ride. At the top, some of the locals cheered everyone as they struggled up to the top. Classy!

Elton the Bostonian enjoying the mild, wild southwest.

Greg's loving the cushy ride of 650b tires.

Ryan don't need no lycra!

Jill likes the rock formations on the other side of the road more than these.

Your narrator's unintentional self-portrait that manages to also capture Elton on a borrowed, classy French bike.