Felix Wong Has a 170 mile day

Submitted by sherry on July 7, 2008 - 7:55am

Racer update about:

Felix Wong

Hi this Felix Wong calling at 10:40 from Grants, NM. Before I talk about today I wanted to add something to my last message that I forgot to mention. Another problem I have had mechanically. One of the eyelets holding my bike rack separated from the frame. There are two screws attaching the rear rack to the seat stay. One worked its way loose so I’m using a zip tie on one side. The rack was attached with one screw on the other side. Apparently all of the jarring from the really rough trail on the really long climb yesterday was too much stress for the one eyelets. Now the rear rack is attached to the seat stay with two zip ties and zero screws. Another interesting thing that happened yesterday when I was going up that really long climb was a guy a pickup truck stopped me and warned me about cougars that he claimed were mauling people in the day. That just motivated me to not stop and is why I did so well on the climb. Today was a big day for me. I managed to ride 170 miles today. I had a puncture on the rear tire. Other than that everything has been going well. Pavement really has helped me put on the miles today. I also saw Simon from the GDR again. I saw him maybe about 3-4 times today. I managed to just barely keep ahead of him for the 2nd day in the row. We’ll see how long I can keep that up. He is clearly a stronger rider than I am. It is great to see him out there and know that I’m not completely alone. Right now I am staying in a motel off Route 66. It is great. It was really cheep. Only $30. I’ve always wanted to ride on Route 66. Originally I was …. (recorder time: 2008-07-06 23:49:43 EST)

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Comments

Man-eating cougars?

Submitted by Bounce on July 7, 2008 - 8:02am.

Actually Felix, it's the "cougars" in the bars out there that you REALLY have to be wary of.

They don't scare off very easily.

LOL

Bounce

Cougars?

Submitted by Bob Morgan aka BikerBob on July 7, 2008 - 8:57am.

Felix,
Bounce is right. The cougars in the bars are far more dangerous than the real cats. People like to tell you stuff like that to see what your reaction will be. When we were passing through the Gila NF earlier this summer some young adults told us that they had seen a big bear about a mile from our camp site at Rocky Canyon. We did not believe it, and we hung our food and smelly stuff normally anyway.

The fellow that got killed by the cougar last week lived alone in the woods and made a habit of bathing and shaving outside his trailer in the same location. It happened down by Silver City in Pino Altos. Now everyone is getting hysterical and seeing cougars everywhere. Far more people die of domestic dog attacks and bee stings each year than of cougar attacks. There are an estimated 2000-3000 cougars in New Mexico. The bad thing is that they will stalk you and hit you from behind, but it is extremely rare. Throw rocks, holler, and use your bike as a shield if you need to. Protect your neck because that is where they like to bite first. However, you aren't very likely to see one.