Socorro, NM to Ruidoso, NM

Today’s 105 mile route from Socorro to Ruidoso, NM (Sunday, 17 Sep) was absolutely beautiful! The weather was perfect with blue, sunny skies and temps around 80 degrees. Our terrain changed from desert to pine forest to lava fields back to Pine Forest, all in one day. The route was very hilly with 6,700 feet of climbing over the day. Along the way we saw the pictured snake above; not sure yet if it was a rattlesnake so if anyone knows for sure, let me know. We also saw the valley of lava rocks pictured above. I realized that this trip is no foolin’ around as 5 people have had difficulty with severe edema- supposedly related to exercise at altitude- something about the hypoxia-renin-angiotensin pathway; anyway, one rider had to make a visit to the emergency room last night for a diuretic injection. Also, 2 riders have abandoned the trip to head home. This is not a trip for the casual tourist, but I strongly believe in my cause for the American Breast Cancer Foundation, and will continue onward to Roswell, NM (maybe we will see a couple of space aliens)!