Albuquerque to Silver City, NM via twisty 152

I woke up with a slight headache and realized that what I was feeling yesterday was possibly one of my wisdom teeth coming in. My jaw started hurting yesterday, I thought maybe I had something stuck in my tooth but I found nothing and it continued for hours so with dinner I took one ibuprofen.

This morning my jaw and whole upper right side of my back teeth was hurting even more, so I look another ibuprofen. I have only taken ibuprofen once before. Dean's wife made an amazing breakfast for all of us, home made waffles and bacon. At around 9:30AM we got geared up and ready to take off for Silver City, NM. It was going to be an easy day of about 250 miles.

We jumped on I-25 and headed south so we could ride the super twisty 152. The wind was picking up and it was getting a bit gusty. I lost my platypus (water bladder) somewhere on I-25, which I tour with on top of my tail bag and secured under the bungee net. Not sure how it slipped out but it did, the only thing that was left attached to my bike was the hose. The one end of the hose was stuck to the bungee net the other was tangled around the rear wheel - yikes! When I didn't see the Platypus in my mirrors I pulled over, glad I did. Too bad I lost the Platypus and so early in the trip, it's a lot more convenient for water storage than water bottles. I did have two small water bottles also but the only place the bottles would fit was in the side cases and to have to open those and dig the bottles out every time I wanted a drink, that was going to be a pain. After about an hour and a half, we stopped to take a break, I was feeling even worst now.

By the time we pulled in to Truth and Consequences, NM for gas I was feeling really ill. My head was killing me as was my stomach. While pumping gas the smell of gasoline was making me gag.



Heading south on I-25



Taking a break off I-25 with the group


The guys wanted lunch so we went across the street to Denny’s. I had no apatite but ordered a side salad, I only managed to eat about 5-6 bites. The whole time I waited for the food to arrive and after I was done eating, I was laying down in the booth, continuing to feel sick.

After lunch I told the guys to continue on without me. I needed to lie down for a while and couldn’t ride until I felt better. They went ahead to Silver City and l went to find an out of the way place to lie down, which was underneath a tree behind Denny’s. I'm sure I could have found a more secluded place but there was no way I was going to get on the bike and ride to look for it. A few minutes later I puked up the salad.

I was starting to get worried if I could make it to Silver City tonight. I didn’t want to ride feeling like crap. I took a small nap, later some Denny’s employee woke me up and told me to leave, said I couldn’t sleep behind the restaurant. I was feeling a bit better now and went to my bike to find out it was 4PM already. I had to get going if I was going to make Silver City before dark.

I headed further south along I-25, the wind was really blasting now. I was feeling better and better and by the time I got to the super twisty 152, I was feeling a bit weak from not eating much today but the headache and stomach ache was almost gone.



The start of 152 at I-25



The curves start out with sweepers



Then the tight stuff starts




























Highway 152 goes over Emory Pass 8228' in elevation, from Hillsboro to Silver City it's 54 miles and 5,500 ft. gain.

I was so glad that I was feeling better by the time I got to 152. This is a very twisty road, but not too technical with nice pavement and scenery, hardly any traffic. Many 10-15MPH curves require concentration on this road. I especially liked the west end of it, where the curves weren’t as twisty and I could ride a bit faster.

Highway 152 runs through the Chihuahuan Desert, the Mimbres Mountains, the Mimbres River Valley and the Piños Altos Mountains southern foothills. The highest part of this road is through Emory Pass at 8,228 feet in elevation.



Bikes in Silver City at the Super 8

I arrived in Silver City at 7PM, after unpacking the bike and putting all my stuff in Becca's room, the group that had been hanging out in the parking lot decided it was dinner time. We all walked over to the Red Barn Restaurant just a block away from the Super 8. I was so starved, I totally forgot that I usually take pictures of my food on bike trips. So there is no pictures of my chicken fajita. But I can tell you it was a lot of food, the chicken was so-so, the guacamole was especially good. After dinner there was more handing out in the parking lot, kicking tires and telling stories.



The route was about 250 miles today, I-25 to 152 to 180