Cycling down the San Louis Valley heading south is often a tremendous challenge because the prevailing wind is usually from south to north. The wind blew all day relentlessly so that the best I could do was approx. a speed of about 6 miles an hour. At times windgusts were so strong it was all I could do was to keep the bike from being blown off the shoulder of the road. An 80 mile ride without panniers would have been doable. With paniers a challenge, and with a huge head wind plus panniers nearly impossible. I rode my heart out but by the time I got to Sagaushe which is 45 miles it had taken me 7 hours. It was now 3pm. There was still 35 miles to go. At 6 miles an hour it would have taken me 6 hours to reach Monte Vista i.e. arriving at about 9pm not only would I have been riding in the dark but am not sure I would have had the strength to get there. If I could I would have slept at Sagaushe but because my schedule is tight & I have bookings everynight along the route I had to get to Monte Vista tonight. I managed to hitch a ride on a pick-up truck, we put my bike on the back & I climbed in with it. My thanks to the Cox family for their kind help. They took me 23 miles before they needed to turn off Highway 285 to their farm. The whole area between Sagauch & Monte Vista is full of farms which stretch as far as the eye can see on both sides of the road. I had little energy to admire the view, I still had 14 miles to ride to my destination. Approximately 2 hours later I reached my hotel completely exhausted. This is one of the toughest days I have ever had on a bicycle.