DAY 15: 10/4 Recovery day in Las Cruces, NM + DAY 16: 10/5 Las Cruces, NM to El Paso, TX

 Day 15: 10/4 Recovery day in Las Cruces, NM + Day 16: 10/5 Las Cruces, NM to El Paso, TX –

Yesterday evening we met Dan, who was so very kind to host us two nights. His understanding of our needs extended beyond catering to knowing how much space to give us. I chilled most of the morning by the koi pond in his backyard, catching up on reading news and emails, and doing some writing - of course with either Fred or Ethel nearby. 

Chilling by koi pond

Mark's new best friend

Heather’s idea of relaxing downtime is to walk 2 to 4 miles while on the phone, aka the walk and talk. She caught up with some family and friends while walking through the desert on paths just a few blocks from Dan’s home. 

Desert wanderer

After lunch together, we walked in the desert and then the big reveal….

Two of our very dear friends from home had flown in to ride with us the next day!

Stu (mentioned in the back story blog) had said for a few months that he’d love to join us if possible for a day. I had told him that would be really cool, but knowing the crazy logistics understood it was a remote possibility. A few days earlier, Stu and I were on the phone and he said hold a moment. He then came back on with another voice saying we just confirmed I’m 100% and we have a second rider.  After a few seconds I realized it was our friend Jacques also joining. Jacques and I had spoken about this bike adventure over many kayaking and Carvel ice cream excursions this past spring and summer. This was beyond special and truly moving that they’d go through so many hurdles never mind the expense. It was hard to believe. 

(By the way, Stu and Jacques were part of the group Heather rode with many weekend mornings for some years before I bought a bike.)

It was no easy task to arrange this and such a convoluted plan that it needs to be spelled out to properly acknowledge and appreciate their Herculean effort. 

• Both were on separate business and personal trips to the Pacific Coast, and both flew out with their helmets, pedals and shoes;
• They caught separate flights to El Paso the night prior and stayed in an airport hotel; (El Paso with about 600k population has the airport with all commercial flights to the area; Las Cruces with 100k population has a private airport.)
• They rented a car today to drive the 50 minutes to Las Cruces, rent their bikes, and stay in a hotel today;
• They would ride with us tomorrow to El Paso;
• They’d then Uber with their rental bikes back to the shop in Las Cruces to return them;
• They’d pick up their rental car in Las Cruces, drive back right away to El Paso, stay in a hotel and catch an early flight back to NY the following morning.

Bet you had trouble following all that. I did. Did you count that they went across the NM/TX state line 4 times? 

Even before seeing them, my thoughts were that I have 3 sisters and no brothers, but wow, this must be what a brother would do! Brother Stu and Frere Jacques, the latter coincidentally the name of a French nursery rhyme I learned growing up in Montreal. 

We caught up and hung out at their hotel pool.

Heather and brothers Stu and Jacques 

The four of us met up with our host Dan and enjoyed tasty and suitably spicy Mexican food at the highly recommended Si Señor. 

Si Señor

But just before we left to go eat, Stu pulled out another surprise and handed us sealed envelopes. It took a moment to realize these were from our kids to his home address. We opened them and read these impactful and emotional letters to us from our kids of what our adventure meant to them, and their words of love and encouragement. We were touched  and I was moved to a few tears. It was a moment I’ll always cherish. 

It was only afterwards we appreciated this was a page right out of the reality TV show Survivor; Stu was playing host Jeff Probst handing us letters from loved ones to help sustain us through the challenges ahead. It’s important to know Survivor is huge in our family. Heather and our kids have been in a betting pool with other family members for years, and Sydney has run Survivor games for friends in college and in Nashville. (She may be hire-able for private gigs. 😉) I’m the latecomer, binging on 20 seasons. There is more to the family infatuation, but will leave it at that. 

I went to bed super amped up by the letters and the presence of our friends. 

The next morning we bid farewell and thanks to our host Dan.

Farewell Dan, Fred and Ethel 

We then met our friends for the ride. The bike shirts they wore added to the emotionality. Stu wore his shirt from the ALYN Hospital week long ride he and I did together in Israel back in the fall of 2019. Jacques wore his jersey from Team Will, a group for which he and Heather have championed and raised money several times for Barth Syndrome research. The team was named in honor of Larchmont resident Will McCurdy who had Barth Syndrome, and the team continues in his memory. 

Love their superhero outfits

Jacques and I thought it would be fun for him to guest blog. For those unaware, Jacques was a NY Times journalist for 25 years and is the author of three books including “You are an IRONMAN” in which he refers to me as an Iron Spouse. 

Here’s his guest blog:

Imagine what it would feel like to parachute for a day into Heather and Mark’s cross-country odyssey, and to cycle alongside them?

I suspect I’m not the only loyal follower of “Shifting Gears” to allow that thought to percolate, however briefly, while washing dishes or tackling a work assignment.

But on Oct. 5, our friend Stu Seltzer and I had the privilege of making that little daydream a reality – as we rented bikes, met up with Mark and Heather in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and pedaled with them along the 45 miles to El Paso, Texas.

As we cycled under refreshingly cool canopies of long strands of pecan trees, followed by open stretches of direct, baking sun, my overriding observation was this: Heather and Mark are so obviously relishing the experience of the trip of a lifetime. They look tan, fit, and terrifically happy. Or, as Stu put it to me over a celebratory beer that night: “They are having fun. They are in good shape. They seem relaxed and comfortable where they are.”

Most of our day was spent on Route 28, a two-lane road divided by a well-worn double yellow line. Among the highlights was the old town square of La Mesilla, once a holding of Mexico. There, we learned from a historic marker, “the last major territorial acquisition within the contiguous United States” was signed in 1854. Later, riders on horseback traversing the Butterfield Overland Trail, “the forerunner to the pony express,” would cross the same spot, en route from St. Louis to San Francisco between 1858 and 1861.

As we pedaled, one of my favorite parts was watching as Mark quite literally took in the scenery. He did so through “mental snapshots” he would frame with his gloved left hand, as if he were the movie director John Ford setting up a scene in the Old West using the space between his index finger and thumb. Panning 270 degrees from left to right, he would raise his hand briefly off his handlebars to take in the panorama of an alfalfa hay field set against the backdrop of the jagged Organ Mountains to the East.

“Look at that!” he marveled, more than once, including as we noted several sand-dusted rural post offices that appeared no bigger than a postage stamp.

Twenty months into a global pandemic, Mark and Heather are providing us all a vivid, inspiring example of what it can mean to actually act on some of those bumper sticker slogans we have found ourselves increasingly saying to ourselves and each other – including, of course, that “You Only Live Once.”

Stu and I only made a cameo in their extended narrative, and we didn’t have to climb back on the bike the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. But I suspect neither of us will ever forget the experience of shifting our own gears that day.

 – Jacques Steinberg

Thanks to Jacques for those kind words. Thanks to Jacques and Stu for being like brothers. 

In order to really initiate them into my world, the end of day celebratory toast and recovery drink had to be milkshakes. 

Three guys at Five Guys

We bid them farewell, and Heather and I pedaled about 5 miles to our Warm Showers hosts for the evening. It had been an uplifting day of our bike-packing world and our home world coming together. 

Farewell

© Copyright Mark Segal 2021