On the night before I set off on my bicycle for the last 22mi to the State Capitol,
I’m reminiscing on the last six days.
And the morning I left friends and family in Las Cruces.
I was scrolling through my camera roll just now, and found this picture taken by a friend just as I had finished climbing San Agustin Pass.
Unbeknownst to me that it was being taken.
I can only imagine now, on the eve of my final ride of this journey,
What the heck I must have been thinking at this very moment?
I had to have felt scared.
I had to have known it was going to be hard.
I had to have known that not only would I learn a lot about my beloved home state of New Mexico,
But I would also learn a lot about myself.
Truthfully,
I was scared.
It was frekkin hard.
And I did learn A LOT about New Mexico, and so very much about myself.
In the moments that I didn’t think I could finish a distance, out of nowhere I’d get these bursts of motivation and energy.
Maybe it was the Pharcyde rhymes echoing from my phone inside my handlebars pocket.
Or the many amazing descents with views of New Mexico that made me fall in love all over again.
Or maybe the moments of thinking about what’s at stake for New Mexicans.
That my bike ride and the exhaust couldn’t possibly be as painful as some of the stories that lie in these small towns I was traveling along.
Or that the hopes and dreams that I have for all of us, are the same keeping everyone in these communities moving forward and surviving.
I look back at this picture,
Taken over six days ago,
And it feels like a lifetime ago.
But it’s been through this journey—
Despite all the obstacles of terrain, challenging weather, and risk…
It’s just 22mi more miles to the State Capitol…
And then there are the next 30 days, determined to collectively work towards the New Mexico I know we can become…
Because I saw it in the faces I left behind…
In Alamogordo,
Tularosa,
Mescalero,
Ruidoso,
Roswell,
Vaughn,
And tonight, here in Galisteo.
I am once again recommitting to being the bold and unapologetic public servant my community needs me to be.
That New Mexico needs me to be.
That New Mexico needs from all of us.
What a ride