Parts run to Santa Fe?  Best bike shop is Santa Fe Bike and Sport located in a strip mall on the left side of St Francis.  There is also a Trader Joe's, Santa Fe Baking Co (one of the best breakfast burritos in town), Pharmacia (source for natural pain cremes, etc, and across the street is the best running store in town if you can't find gels and gus at the bike store.  All of the above are right next to each other.  There is also an REI in town by the train station that carries bike stuff.  If you go by a Blakes have a breakfast burrito or green chili cheese burger for me.  Bumble Bee is excellent for fast food.

Those leaving Cuba will get their first taste of above 10K elevation today.  It is all up hill until you see the park like areas to the right of the trail.  The trail is FS road and the treed area between the road and park like area is the ridge.  It is a great grouse hunting area.  We used to go up there from Los Alamos when we couldn't get high enough in the Los Alamos area.  I saw a Mt Lion up there once.  It was a typical sighting, crossing the road at dusk.  Following these guys through NM makes me very homesick.

Here is the smoke warning for the area the North bound group are in:

The following message is transmitted at the request of the New
Mexico department of health and the environmental department.

The air quality for northern... central and southwest New Mexico
and in eastern Arizona is expected to worsen today... especially this
afternoon and evening.

Winds from the southwest will bring more smoke into areas that
experienced impacts yesterday and earlier last week. This could lead
to air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups... including
those with asthma... lung or heart disease... children and pregnant
women... across much of northern... central and western New Mexico
including Albuquerque and Santa Fe. These impacts would also create
conditions that will decrease visibility to the range of three to
five miles. Some of these same areas may also experience periods with
visibility of one and a half to two and a half miles... which is
indicative of air that is unhealthy for all groups. Take this into
consideration when deciding whether or not to participate in outdoor
activities this weekend. However... conditions can change quickly and
these projections are based on anticipated weather conditions and
fire activity which may change through the weekend. Near the wallow
fire in both Arizona and New Mexico... areas can anticipate periods of
potentially hazardous levels of air quality. In these areas... which
can expect heaviest impacts in the evening and early morning hours...
outside activities should be minimized where possible and caution
observed when driving in the anticipated low visibility of less than
three quarters of a mile.

Your eyes are your best tools to determine if it is safe to be
outside. Remember... if visibility is ten miles and up... the air
quality is good... six to nine miles... air quality is moderate...
three to five miles... air quality is unhealthy for sensitive
people... one and a half to two and a half miles... air quality is
unhealthy... one to one and a quarter miles... air quality is very
unhealthy... and three quarters of a mile or less... air quality is
hazardous.

For updated smoke plume and concentration information... please go
to www.Srh.NOAA.Gov/graphicast.Php?Site=abq&gc=1 all in lower case.

Pie Town weather:

Sunny...windy. Areas of dense smoke. Highs in the 70s to upper 80s. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph increasing to 20 to 30 mph in the afternoon. Gusts up to 40 mph.

Right now it is 63 f and a couple of big pieces of pie would taste really good.  The cafe also has an oil drum wood stove in the middle of the dinning area which would probably be very welcome.  

The forecast wind direction SW will put the riders right in the path of the smoke.  I believe this will be particularly true near Grants.  The good news is the tail wind is sure to be welcome.

Here is a report from friends by Alamo which is between Magdalena and Grants:

60 is open, not bad here. in the evening it gets hazy.  winds from the southwest. so Luna and Reserve glenwood not so good.  yesterday winds were from the east.  Helped a bit, winds tomorrow are predicted to be south east .

Tonight's weather for the NB group in the Plains of St Augustine:

Clear...breezy. Areas of smoke. Lows in the lower 40s to mid 50s. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph after midnight. Gusts up to 35 mph.

That is east of Pie Town

I'll try to answer some of the fire issues.  I have a place north of Magdalena and west of Pie Town.  I have spent a lot of time elk, deer and quail hunting all over the Gila, as far south as Hatcheta and the Sky Mtns and up along the AZ line to Reserve and then up to Gallup and Grants.  I used to live in Los Alamos.  As of a couple of days ago the smoke was heading north east toward Abq and SF.  Someone here posted that the winds had shifted and the smoke was moving in a more easterly direction.  I spoke to some friends near my place a couple of days ago and at that time they were not getting smoke.  Yesterday they closed hwy 60 west bound because of smoke.  

It looks like the North bound group is just coming down to the plains of San Augustine so they will have a long flat ride ahead of them to Horse Springs.  For a chunk of that they will be in the lee of the mountains and then exposed to the full wind up past hwy 60.  At my place the prevailing winds are west to south west so they are probably in for some smoke.

There was another fire in the Jemez Mtns a day or two ago and I don't know the current status of that one.  It looked like it was west of Valles Caldera.

The south bound group may be the ones who have the hardest time with this if the fire isn't controlled soon as reports are that it is crossing into NM and the smoke could be much worse.

I will add the manual is about as useful as tits on a bull.   

And then there is no tech support number, only e-mail.      I wonder why.   

WTF... How do I get the odometer to display?    

Best wishes to all for a safe fun trip.  Thanks to all who work so hard to make this race and this site happen.

Dave

Congrats on the new bike.  I picked up a Fargo a couple of weeks ago and I am happy with it too.  Your riding in a nice area.  I used to live in Alexandria and I would ride to Mt Vernon and back every afternoon to de-stress.  Every now and then I would ride into the District of Criminals and ride around the Capital and shake my head in disgust.

Paxton, nice blog and pictures.  I have a Brittany too.  I just got back from 4 days up in Burney California.  Between rain showers I rode logging roads and some pavement.  A nice week end.

I have been riding it everyday and I am slowly getting used to it's little quirks.  I went on a 30 miler yesterday with lots of climbing and she performed much better than anticipated.  I think the wheels need some attention as I am hearing what appears to be a couple of loose spokes.  I think I have the seat dialed in as good as it is going to get.  I see a Brooks i the future.  Some times downshifting I skip a gear so there is some adjusting needed there.  The bike is definitely growing on me.

I had a devil of a time getting my Crank Bros Candy 3 pedals to work.  I was using shoes with cleats for the Time pedals on my Litespeed.  I had just assumed they would work but they won't stay clipped.  I changed over to Crank cleats and shimmed them, that worked on the Candies but won't work for the Time.  By the way, I felt like I was riding a little BMX bike when I went from the Fargo to the Litespeed.

If someone can point me to the picture posting instructions I will post some.

One More thing, is there a cheap source for Surly racks?

I will take some pics today and try to figure out how to post them. 

I am going to go riding for a few hours this morning and try to get the fit dialed in closer.  All of my MTBs have been XT so getting used to the Sram components may take a while.  I had some issues with the front derailler last night and down shifting with the Apex shifters is a bit awkward.  Maybe there is some cable stretch already.  Maybe I am just not used to them yet.

A new Fargo followed me home from the bike shop.  Honest, I just went to test ride one.    I have been fascinated by them for quite some time.  I love my 26" Litespeed but thoughts of a 29 have been on my mind for a few years.  I really wanted to play around with a drop bar off road bike.  The test ride convinced me.  Now the hard part, convincing the wife.  The call went like this, "Honey would you mind if I splurged a little?"  She has seen me looking at bikes on line lately so she was prepared for such a request, without a pause "How much?"  I think she was expecting another Ti bike so I could tell she was relieved.  I am a lucky guy to have such an understanding wife.    Time for a quick ride before I pick the kids up from school. 

I have been wearing my Keen commuter sandals more and more.  They are great for river crossings.  I haven't walked any great distance in them but I am sure they would be more comfortable than any of my cycling shoes.

It always happens this way, as soon as I shoot off my mouth about something I find the answer:  http://www.biketiresdirect.com/product/biketiresdirect-pump-strap

Back in the 80s I used to use two Velcro straps designed to hold a tire pump to the frame.  The ones I liked had a thin closed cell foam pad to cushion the pump against the frame and stopping it from shaking loose.  They were great, no do-dads attached to the bike, movable from bike to bike, simple, light, and cheap.  For years I haven't been able to find them anywhere.  All I can find are ones with no pad or ones with a chunky rubber block.  Does anyone know who still carries them?  Does anyone know what I am talking about?

Thanks

I use a Pataguchi No H2O jacket.  I have never felt comfortable riding and wearing rain pants.  I just got back from an overnighter and it rained most of the time.  The jacket did great.  I also wore commuter sandals as they are more comfortable than wet shoes.