Monday and Tuesday, September 20th -21st -- Final Entry
The last 125 miles of the trip from Silver City to Antelope Wells started with good friends showing up the day before, Mark Truscott and Tom Lafleur arrived Sunday after driving from San Diego. Tom dropped us off in Canada and surprised us by showing up to get the round trip. We all went to downtown Silver City for beers. Ok ok ok, I did it, I violated the rule, I rode in a car which I had been avoiding for over 7 weeks. John and I decided that if that if these guys were going to take several days out and see us to the finish, the whole "no vehicle thing" was a goner. We also decided to ride the last 125 miles without our trailers, what a release of energy that brought on.
The ride out of Silver City Monday morning was great, blue sky and no dogs! After leaving town we hit some vertical climbing but given there were no trailers we blew through it. In the pictures you will see a driveway entrance lined with toilet bowls, not sure the message they are trying to send or the architectural theme but struck me as well . . . out of the norm. There must have been 30 toilet bowls of all colors. This underscores the trip, you just get to see more of America when you ride a bike versus drive in a car.
By noon we had covered over 40 miles and that included stopping to fix a flat, I guess I didn't do a very good job of getting one last spur out of my front tire. We had a supported lunch, Tom and Mark showed up with sandwiches, would have gained weight on this trip if they had been with us all along. For the next 40 miles we had either Mark or Tom joining us, a nice addition for the final miles. There was a lot of concern by a lot of people that the final 100 miles would be the riskiest, with illegals coming across the border and the drug cartels killing each other. Have to say the ride from Interstate 10 to Hachita was wonderful, very light traffic, on a paved road and lots and lots of Border Patrol vehicles. In fact, of the 12 vehicles that passed us on the 20 miles to Hachita 8 of them were brand new Border Patrol cars. Have to say they made us feel very comfortable and secure. We made Hachita by 3pm, about 80 miles from Silver City, not having those trailers really helped speed up the trip. Several days earlier we decided not to spend the night in Hachita, with no motels, no restaurants, and only a yard to sleep in and given our security concerns early on, we nixed it. We marked our spot to return tomorrow for the final 25 miles to the border.
Colleen and my sister Laura Myers flew into Tuscon and met us just as we were getting on I-10. Boy was it great to see my wife, hadn't seen her since Lima, MT five weeks ago. My sister came in from Houston to join in the finish, great having her along too! As I said there was a lot of concern about safety in the final miles of the trip. When we pulled into our new hotel in Lordsburg we found it was right next to the brand new police station. Also there was a humvee sitting at the entrance to the hotel. Two Air Force privates were walking out carrying weapons! The entire third floor of the hotel was full of military personnel helping to patrol the border, all of them packing heat. No need to worry about our safety, anyone that would threaten somebody in this hotel would be asking for it big time! Please see the most recent pictures to get the idea. God clearly had a strong answer to our prayers on the safety issue.
On Tuesday after breakfast we returned to our stopping point in Hachita for the final 45 miles to Antelope Wells. This road is also called the Lonely Road and for good reason, no one goes down it and it is patrolled constantly. Again Mark and Tom joined us on bike for segments of the final miles. Laura and Colleen walked some of it. They even had a Border Patrol helicopter get on the loudspeaker and whistle at them. A nice touch and helps the female ego too. We finally made the border by 1:30pm, 53 days after we started, 2,493 trail miles (probably closer to 2,600 actual miles) from Roosville, MT. We did it, we actually rode our bikes from Canada to Mexico!
As a final note I have a few comments and insights. First the strain a trip like this puts on your family is substantial. This trip is only a small taste of what our military families go through while their loved ones are deployed. Second the only way a trip like this works is through the grace of God, so many things can happen along the way to cause it to derail. Third the American people are really wonderful to experience, all you have to do is get on a bike, pull a trailer, and wear strange looking clothes to strike up interesting conversations everywhere. Fourth and finally, the generosity of so many people have made it worth every mile. So many folks gave that we hit our revised goal of raising over $40,000 for the wounded. A heartfelt thanks to all of you and all of it goes to supporting them that have served us so heroically.
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Sunday, September 19, 2010
Thursday - Saturday, September 16th - 18th
It was hard to leave Pie Town and the nice accommodations we had right on the route but didn't leave town until we had breakfast at the Daily Pie Cafe and of course one last slice of pie a la mode. With the new map John did his usual daily objective planning and filled us in on what the terrain was going to be like. We wanted to get a start on the 180 miles to Silver City which we planned on enough food for four days, three overnights. We also loaded up on water knowing that the first 2 days would not offer ready water sources. Mike filled his 5 gallon container with about 2-3 gallons adding a lot of weight to his trailer, I didn't realize how much he had brought until much later in the day. About 6 miles outside of Pie Town we ran across a guy walking on the road in full camo. Turns out he was a guide walking back to his truck with blood all over his arms, well above his elbows. Guess the bow hunters really are getting their elk, have run across so many in the last 3 weeks with many indicating they have been successful. The three of us kept plugging away and finally hit the 30 mile mark by lunch time and Continental Divide crossing #23 at about 8,100 feet. Heading off that summit we had a bumpy and rocky ride down, Mike especially was adjusting to these runs, John and I thought it was all in a normal day riding. At the bottom of this run we had about another 20 miles of rolling dirt roads through a basin.
After a refueling stop to get us the final 10 miles with about 5 miles of climbing John and I kept pedaling ahead, getting slightly in front of Mike. We stopped at an intersection of roads and waited for Mike, after about 10 minutes of waiting I was about to unhitch my trailer and go back to look for him when we saw him pedaling up. Seems Mike's back wheel came off on a small down hill run and the axel was bent where the tailed attaches. Couldn't really understand how that happened unless during one of the many flat tire changes 2 days ago the wheel was not tight enough on the back. Either way Mike took a nasty fall while going down hill when the wheel came off. He ended up wrenching his back further (already having hurt it several weeks prior to the trip lifting cement bags). Mike was in a lot of pain, but we could not camp where we were so I took his heavy water bag on my trailer, which helped but still there was a lot of pain. About 5 miles later we got to our campsite for the night. Mike took a pain killer from John and then later before bed a muscle relaxer. We all hit the sack by 9 pm.
Friday morning we checked on Mike's progress, which really hadn't changed much. We wet a target to get Mike out with the only likely place 40 miles down the road with several climbs and a lot of bumpy riding. Immediately upon setting out Mike was looking to get off the bike and get the pain minimized. After 5 miles he was busted and couldn't go any further. At that point a truck was coming up the hill and we waived him down. He was heading home early from bow hunting as his 4 year old son was sick and had chronic kidney problems. It was clear that Alan was a blessing for Mike as we loaded up his bike and trailer into the back of Alan's truck. Also amazing are the shirts that Rosie left with John and I with "Alan's Angels" on it. God sure does work in interesting and unexpected ways. Alan took care of Mike and helped get him on his way back to Albuquerque and then to Austin. We were sorry to see Mike go but with the climbing we still had to do to get to Silver City it was a blessing that he was able to get a ride from the middle of Gila National Forest out so readily. John and I put another 60 miles on before calling it quits. A lot of climbing and a lot rocky descents, both of which would have taken Mike to the brink.
Saturday started with a steep rocky climb that reminded us the days in Montana. After getting to the top we made a Continental Divide crossing, now up #27. By noon we had put around 30 miles behind us and stopped for bar-be-que a couple of miles outside of Mimbres. It was great all home cooked, very filling and with desert would fuel us to Silver City. Also got to have more conversations with ranchers eating next to us. Always asking questions, got the answer of his biggest problem, people that use the roads that go over his ranch causing issues from shooting cattle to just tearing up the landscape. We got back on our bikes to find my trailer tire flat again. Tried pumping it up but only lasted a mile so put a patch on top of a patch which worked for several miles. Ends up I was constantly stopping every 2 miles to pump up the trailer tire. Tried a third patch and that didn't work either so just stopped to pump it up every 2 miles. Finally got to Silver City and immediately went to the first store we saw, Ace Hardware and bought all the small tubes they had, which was three. Given we reached Silver City a day earlier than planned and everyone is flying or driving in on Monday to greet us at the border of Mexico we took a rest day.
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It was hard to leave Pie Town and the nice accommodations we had right on the route but didn't leave town until we had breakfast at the Daily Pie Cafe and of course one last slice of pie a la mode. With the new map John did his usual daily objective planning and filled us in on what the terrain was going to be like. We wanted to get a start on the 180 miles to Silver City which we planned on enough food for four days, three overnights. We also loaded up on water knowing that the first 2 days would not offer ready water sources. Mike filled his 5 gallon container with about 2-3 gallons adding a lot of weight to his trailer, I didn't realize how much he had brought until much later in the day. About 6 miles outside of Pie Town we ran across a guy walking on the road in full camo. Turns out he was a guide walking back to his truck with blood all over his arms, well above his elbows. Guess the bow hunters really are getting their elk, have run across so many in the last 3 weeks with many indicating they have been successful. The three of us kept plugging away and finally hit the 30 mile mark by lunch time and Continental Divide crossing #23 at about 8,100 feet. Heading off that summit we had a bumpy and rocky ride down, Mike especially was adjusting to these runs, John and I thought it was all in a normal day riding. At the bottom of this run we had about another 20 miles of rolling dirt roads through a basin.
After a refueling stop to get us the final 10 miles with about 5 miles of climbing John and I kept pedaling ahead, getting slightly in front of Mike. We stopped at an intersection of roads and waited for Mike, after about 10 minutes of waiting I was about to unhitch my trailer and go back to look for him when we saw him pedaling up. Seems Mike's back wheel came off on a small down hill run and the axel was bent where the tailed attaches. Couldn't really understand how that happened unless during one of the many flat tire changes 2 days ago the wheel was not tight enough on the back. Either way Mike took a nasty fall while going down hill when the wheel came off. He ended up wrenching his back further (already having hurt it several weeks prior to the trip lifting cement bags). Mike was in a lot of pain, but we could not camp where we were so I took his heavy water bag on my trailer, which helped but still there was a lot of pain. About 5 miles later we got to our campsite for the night. Mike took a pain killer from John and then later before bed a muscle relaxer. We all hit the sack by 9 pm.
Friday morning we checked on Mike's progress, which really hadn't changed much. We wet a target to get Mike out with the only likely place 40 miles down the road with several climbs and a lot of bumpy riding. Immediately upon setting out Mike was looking to get off the bike and get the pain minimized. After 5 miles he was busted and couldn't go any further. At that point a truck was coming up the hill and we waived him down. He was heading home early from bow hunting as his 4 year old son was sick and had chronic kidney problems. It was clear that Alan was a blessing for Mike as we loaded up his bike and trailer into the back of Alan's truck. Also amazing are the shirts that Rosie left with John and I with "Alan's Angels" on it. God sure does work in interesting and unexpected ways. Alan took care of Mike and helped get him on his way back to Albuquerque and then to Austin. We were sorry to see Mike go but with the climbing we still had to do to get to Silver City it was a blessing that he was able to get a ride from the middle of Gila National Forest out so readily. John and I put another 60 miles on before calling it quits. A lot of climbing and a lot rocky descents, both of which would have taken Mike to the brink.
Saturday started with a steep rocky climb that reminded us the days in Montana. After getting to the top we made a Continental Divide crossing, now up #27. By noon we had put around 30 miles behind us and stopped for bar-be-que a couple of miles outside of Mimbres. It was great all home cooked, very filling and with desert would fuel us to Silver City. Also got to have more conversations with ranchers eating next to us. Always asking questions, got the answer of his biggest problem, people that use the roads that go over his ranch causing issues from shooting cattle to just tearing up the landscape. We got back on our bikes to find my trailer tire flat again. Tried pumping it up but only lasted a mile so put a patch on top of a patch which worked for several miles. Ends up I was constantly stopping every 2 miles to pump up the trailer tire. Tried a third patch and that didn't work either so just stopped to pump it up every 2 miles. Finally got to Silver City and immediately went to the first store we saw, Ace Hardware and bought all the small tubes they had, which was three. Given we reached Silver City a day earlier than planned and everyone is flying or driving in on Monday to greet us at the border of Mexico we took a rest day.
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Thursday, September 16, 2010
Monday - Wednesday, September 13th-15th
John and I needed a rest day in Grants and the new Holiday Inn Express was just the place. It also worked great for Mike Jackson to meet us there instead of somewhere on the route and then camp out. I got all my catch up things done in the morning and waited for Mike and his wounded warrior in the lobby. They walked in about 1:30pm, but it wasn't any veteran with him, Rosie Babin, the founder of Healing Americas Heroes and mom to Alan Babin a purple heart, severely wounded veteran of the Iraq War was with Mike. I could not have been more surprised, for Rosie to get take time off from her incredibly busy schedule to come out to Grants, New Mexico was a treat and an honor. Thanks Rosie, both John and I were really touched as we have been praying and talking to others about HAH for the last 6 weeks and to have you come out to see us was tremendous.
Tuesday the three of us got a late start from the hotel but not too late as to still do 60 miles or so for the day. Clearing town without any dog attacks or chasings, we headed through Zuni Canyon on an old railroad track converted many years ago to a road. We like those type of roads because they have a very slight grade uphill and are easy to climb. Not too far into the ride I got my first flat of the trip, 2100 miles and no flat tires. Had to eventually use a tube on it as my goo was not sufficient to plug it. After lunch the three of us headed on, the road was relatively flat but rocky with volcanic rocks and some sand. We had to go off road to get around a small lake that formed over the road. That is where our trouble began, within minutes Mike had a flat back tire. Fixed that one then his front tire went flat, fixed that one twice as the tube was defective. Got back on the bikes and in about 20 minutes Mike had another flat tire! There were goat heads (spurs) everywhere on the road. Using the pliers the I just bought the day before and just happened to keep with me, we were pulling them out of the tires left and right. Mike had a total of 4 flat tires, I had another flat front tire and the my trailer tire went. John's trailer tire went flat a little later, all told for the day we had 8 flat tires! We still managed to put in 60 miles but at dusk it forced us to camp in a briar-filled (and the usual cow manure) field next to the road. Of course John and I blamed all the bad luck on Mike joining us, as they say in Vegas he was the "cooler". Oh yea, almost forgot, Mike crashed twice towards the end of the day, soft sand in the road took him down as if an NFL lineman clotheslined him trying to run up the middle.
Wednesday we had to fix the flats that were still with us, thankfully the road we were on with all the spurs was only another half mile. To reach our target for the day, Pie Town, was only 35 miles of rolling hills, good terrain for the rookie to get accustom to pulling a trailer and negotiating the varying road surfaces. We made it to Pie Town in time to get lunch at the Daily Pie Cafe and have several servings of different pies, there really is a lot of pie eaten in Pie Town and they take their pie making seriously. John had three pieces, Mike one and I had two. An another amazing thing about Pie Town for those hiking, biking, or motorcycling the Great Divide Trail is the generosity of Nita Toaster who leaves her house completely open for those on that route, just leave a donation and the house is yours for the evening! The three of us were joined by three Canadians from Calgary doing the same route we are but on motorcycles. Great guys to meet up with, we slept inside on the beds and they slept on the porch. We keep saying it but you really do experience the nicest people on a trip like this. Pie Town also is the point on the route where we open our last map, Section 6, for the final 303 miles to Antelope Wells an the Mexico border. Hard to believe we have done 2200 miles of the route!
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John and I needed a rest day in Grants and the new Holiday Inn Express was just the place. It also worked great for Mike Jackson to meet us there instead of somewhere on the route and then camp out. I got all my catch up things done in the morning and waited for Mike and his wounded warrior in the lobby. They walked in about 1:30pm, but it wasn't any veteran with him, Rosie Babin, the founder of Healing Americas Heroes and mom to Alan Babin a purple heart, severely wounded veteran of the Iraq War was with Mike. I could not have been more surprised, for Rosie to get take time off from her incredibly busy schedule to come out to Grants, New Mexico was a treat and an honor. Thanks Rosie, both John and I were really touched as we have been praying and talking to others about HAH for the last 6 weeks and to have you come out to see us was tremendous.
Tuesday the three of us got a late start from the hotel but not too late as to still do 60 miles or so for the day. Clearing town without any dog attacks or chasings, we headed through Zuni Canyon on an old railroad track converted many years ago to a road. We like those type of roads because they have a very slight grade uphill and are easy to climb. Not too far into the ride I got my first flat of the trip, 2100 miles and no flat tires. Had to eventually use a tube on it as my goo was not sufficient to plug it. After lunch the three of us headed on, the road was relatively flat but rocky with volcanic rocks and some sand. We had to go off road to get around a small lake that formed over the road. That is where our trouble began, within minutes Mike had a flat back tire. Fixed that one then his front tire went flat, fixed that one twice as the tube was defective. Got back on the bikes and in about 20 minutes Mike had another flat tire! There were goat heads (spurs) everywhere on the road. Using the pliers the I just bought the day before and just happened to keep with me, we were pulling them out of the tires left and right. Mike had a total of 4 flat tires, I had another flat front tire and the my trailer tire went. John's trailer tire went flat a little later, all told for the day we had 8 flat tires! We still managed to put in 60 miles but at dusk it forced us to camp in a briar-filled (and the usual cow manure) field next to the road. Of course John and I blamed all the bad luck on Mike joining us, as they say in Vegas he was the "cooler". Oh yea, almost forgot, Mike crashed twice towards the end of the day, soft sand in the road took him down as if an NFL lineman clotheslined him trying to run up the middle.
Wednesday we had to fix the flats that were still with us, thankfully the road we were on with all the spurs was only another half mile. To reach our target for the day, Pie Town, was only 35 miles of rolling hills, good terrain for the rookie to get accustom to pulling a trailer and negotiating the varying road surfaces. We made it to Pie Town in time to get lunch at the Daily Pie Cafe and have several servings of different pies, there really is a lot of pie eaten in Pie Town and they take their pie making seriously. John had three pieces, Mike one and I had two. An another amazing thing about Pie Town for those hiking, biking, or motorcycling the Great Divide Trail is the generosity of Nita Toaster who leaves her house completely open for those on that route, just leave a donation and the house is yours for the evening! The three of us were joined by three Canadians from Calgary doing the same route we are but on motorcycles. Great guys to meet up with, we slept inside on the beds and they slept on the porch. We keep saying it but you really do experience the nicest people on a trip like this. Pie Town also is the point on the route where we open our last map, Section 6, for the final 303 miles to Antelope Wells an the Mexico border. Hard to believe we have done 2200 miles of the route!
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Monday, September 13, 2010
Saturday and Sunday, September 11th and 12th
Cuba, NM is another one-road town in a fairly arid section of northern New Mexico about 50 miles from Santa Fe as a crow flies. We had our pancake breakfast for long lasting energy and got off around 9am, after it had warmed up some. The first 15 miles went fast with a downhill bent and a good gravel road later on. Things got a little more challenging when we turned further south and started to encounter the dreaded soft sand. This stuff requires a lot of balance and focus to get through without crashing. Seems I had that for the first part of the day, but not for the second part. After lunch towards the end of our ride hit the soft sand again but this time couldn't control the front wheel and crashed on my side. No real damage done just my confidence singed a little. All long the route we had immense vistas of the high desert - mesas, volcanic plugs, arroyos, cactus - a coalescency of what makes a desert. After 72 miles of riding we stopped above a washed out creek by the side of the dirt road. Camping in the desert is a unique experience, pitching a tent happens quickly and the heat turns to cool right when the sun starts down and the moisture that usual requires drying out is not there in the morning. The extra water I had packed for the trip leaked all through my bag getting my sleeping bag, mat, and towel wet. All but the towel dried before bedtime. The issue then became that we didn't have enough of a cushion on water to reach Grants, NM the next day.
Sunday woke to a beautiful sunrise and a dry tent and a worry of water. Didn't have the usual oatmeal breakfast but had bars instead to conserve water. Hit the road around 8 am with ups and downs through arroyos. Our target for lunch was the San Mateo spring, a good climb from the desert. Along the way checked out some cattle troughs to see if we should pump some water, all of them were so incredibly filthy that decided to wait. Came across some cattle by the road, they were eating grass and then saw us and started stampeding (still don't get what we do or look like that makes them spook out by bicycle riders). They ran along side of us for a while then started crossing the road just ahead of us, jumping the guard rail, getting caught on it, falling in the road. I was scared one of them would bust a leg, but all got over and ran off.
John and I were starting our climb to the springs when we stopped a pick-up asking for water, they gave us what they had, one full bottle, and then showed us the spike elk they killed with a bow a couple of hours earlier, it was as big as a horse. Initially it wasn't apparent where to find water at San Mateo Springs. John walked up the hill about a quarter of a mile and found some cool, clean water that easily got us to Grants. Given the long day before in the sand John and I were whipped going up the mountain. I think we needed a rest day for the last eight days or so of riding until the end. Our bodies were telling us no more for now. Less than 400 miles to go and Mike Jackson from Austin, TX will be joining us for the last leg to the Mexico border.
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Cuba, NM is another one-road town in a fairly arid section of northern New Mexico about 50 miles from Santa Fe as a crow flies. We had our pancake breakfast for long lasting energy and got off around 9am, after it had warmed up some. The first 15 miles went fast with a downhill bent and a good gravel road later on. Things got a little more challenging when we turned further south and started to encounter the dreaded soft sand. This stuff requires a lot of balance and focus to get through without crashing. Seems I had that for the first part of the day, but not for the second part. After lunch towards the end of our ride hit the soft sand again but this time couldn't control the front wheel and crashed on my side. No real damage done just my confidence singed a little. All long the route we had immense vistas of the high desert - mesas, volcanic plugs, arroyos, cactus - a coalescency of what makes a desert. After 72 miles of riding we stopped above a washed out creek by the side of the dirt road. Camping in the desert is a unique experience, pitching a tent happens quickly and the heat turns to cool right when the sun starts down and the moisture that usual requires drying out is not there in the morning. The extra water I had packed for the trip leaked all through my bag getting my sleeping bag, mat, and towel wet. All but the towel dried before bedtime. The issue then became that we didn't have enough of a cushion on water to reach Grants, NM the next day.
Sunday woke to a beautiful sunrise and a dry tent and a worry of water. Didn't have the usual oatmeal breakfast but had bars instead to conserve water. Hit the road around 8 am with ups and downs through arroyos. Our target for lunch was the San Mateo spring, a good climb from the desert. Along the way checked out some cattle troughs to see if we should pump some water, all of them were so incredibly filthy that decided to wait. Came across some cattle by the road, they were eating grass and then saw us and started stampeding (still don't get what we do or look like that makes them spook out by bicycle riders). They ran along side of us for a while then started crossing the road just ahead of us, jumping the guard rail, getting caught on it, falling in the road. I was scared one of them would bust a leg, but all got over and ran off.
John and I were starting our climb to the springs when we stopped a pick-up asking for water, they gave us what they had, one full bottle, and then showed us the spike elk they killed with a bow a couple of hours earlier, it was as big as a horse. Initially it wasn't apparent where to find water at San Mateo Springs. John walked up the hill about a quarter of a mile and found some cool, clean water that easily got us to Grants. Given the long day before in the sand John and I were whipped going up the mountain. I think we needed a rest day for the last eight days or so of riding until the end. Our bodies were telling us no more for now. Less than 400 miles to go and Mike Jackson from Austin, TX will be joining us for the last leg to the Mexico border.
Paste the following link into your browser to see photos:
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Saturday, September 11, 2010
Thursday and Friday, September 9th and 10th
Had a great breakfast of 3 big pancakes, this is tremendous stick-with-you fuel for a long ascending mountain bike ride. Got a little late start as we mailed back the excess stuff John and I had been carrying for 2,000 miles, guess it takes a while for us to catch on to what you absolutely need. John had a huge amount of water he was carrying because we knew we couldn't make Cuba in one day, particularly given the tough climb. The countryside is short shrubby trees, rocks and sparse grass, a fairly arid typical New Mexico looking scene. We made our first mesa in good order, but after that it turned steep and rocky for a short segment, a prelude to our climb later in the day. As we turned up a long sand and limestone climb had a B1 Bomber jet fly 1,000 feet right over us. Just came out of the blue, in fact we were so startled by it, couldn't figure out what the noise was until it was right over us. Strange to be struggling up a hill and have a huge jet just buzz above you out of nowhere.
John reads a lot about other riders and especially about the Great Divide Racers that go from Banff to Antelope Wells every year starting around June 10th. There is a segment of the route that is called the "GDMBR (Great Divide Mountain Bike Route) Rights of Passage", the reason being is it is fairly steep, ridable, but technically challenging with loose baseball-sized rocks, loose gravel, etc. You get the GDMBR Rights of Passage seal of approval if you can make it up this climb riding. Well of course I wouldn't have written all this description if we didn't make it, so we got it! We have achieved the exclusive list. John did it pulling an extra 10 pounds of water up the mountain too.
Riding this segment I had several observations. One the market share winner in New Mexico is clearly Bud Light, saw so many of those cans by the side of the road it was hard not to notice. Another once we left Abiquiu we did not get passed either way by a vehicle of any type for 8 hours, not one. Finally I am still trying to figure out why a road would be rough at the top and graded and improved in the middle and then completely washed out and never improved at the bottom. On this road we were coming down towards twilight hitting huge ruts, big rocks and more baseball-sized loose rocks when it happened . . . another crash. This time John hit a big rut he couldn't see well and went right over the top of his handlebars. I was further down the road and missed it but was waiting for him to catch up and knew something was up, it was taking too long. He finally came down and explained what happened, fell right on his helmet, got a small bloody knee but everything else was ok. Shortly after that segment we found a place to camp, for an entire day of a riding with no goofing off we still only rode 42 miles, which underscores how rough the terrain was and how much climbing we had to do.
Friday we hoped would be an easier day, which turned out to be the case but it is never as easy as we envision. There was still the up and down areas, but the roads were better. We polished off the final 38 miles into Cuba without incident, checked into the motel and started the routine of bath, food, catching up and laundry. A cold front had moved in the night before and it was unseasonably cold for this time of year. When camping in the mountains we woke up to a lot of frost on our tents and needed to put them in the sun to dry them out. At this point it looks like we only have about 10 days left to get this journey complete. We had expected New Mexico to be a breeze but as with segment of this trek they all have their unique challenges. Oh yea, bought some wasp spray, going to be prepared for the dogs in the future that come charging after us!
Paste the following link into your browser to see photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/113862939710452121802/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXlxP_J1Ib2Dw#
http://americasheroes.wufoo.com/forms/ride-the-divide-for-wounded-warriors/
http://trackleaders.com/divide
Had a great breakfast of 3 big pancakes, this is tremendous stick-with-you fuel for a long ascending mountain bike ride. Got a little late start as we mailed back the excess stuff John and I had been carrying for 2,000 miles, guess it takes a while for us to catch on to what you absolutely need. John had a huge amount of water he was carrying because we knew we couldn't make Cuba in one day, particularly given the tough climb. The countryside is short shrubby trees, rocks and sparse grass, a fairly arid typical New Mexico looking scene. We made our first mesa in good order, but after that it turned steep and rocky for a short segment, a prelude to our climb later in the day. As we turned up a long sand and limestone climb had a B1 Bomber jet fly 1,000 feet right over us. Just came out of the blue, in fact we were so startled by it, couldn't figure out what the noise was until it was right over us. Strange to be struggling up a hill and have a huge jet just buzz above you out of nowhere.
John reads a lot about other riders and especially about the Great Divide Racers that go from Banff to Antelope Wells every year starting around June 10th. There is a segment of the route that is called the "GDMBR (Great Divide Mountain Bike Route) Rights of Passage", the reason being is it is fairly steep, ridable, but technically challenging with loose baseball-sized rocks, loose gravel, etc. You get the GDMBR Rights of Passage seal of approval if you can make it up this climb riding. Well of course I wouldn't have written all this description if we didn't make it, so we got it! We have achieved the exclusive list. John did it pulling an extra 10 pounds of water up the mountain too.
Riding this segment I had several observations. One the market share winner in New Mexico is clearly Bud Light, saw so many of those cans by the side of the road it was hard not to notice. Another once we left Abiquiu we did not get passed either way by a vehicle of any type for 8 hours, not one. Finally I am still trying to figure out why a road would be rough at the top and graded and improved in the middle and then completely washed out and never improved at the bottom. On this road we were coming down towards twilight hitting huge ruts, big rocks and more baseball-sized loose rocks when it happened . . . another crash. This time John hit a big rut he couldn't see well and went right over the top of his handlebars. I was further down the road and missed it but was waiting for him to catch up and knew something was up, it was taking too long. He finally came down and explained what happened, fell right on his helmet, got a small bloody knee but everything else was ok. Shortly after that segment we found a place to camp, for an entire day of a riding with no goofing off we still only rode 42 miles, which underscores how rough the terrain was and how much climbing we had to do.
Friday we hoped would be an easier day, which turned out to be the case but it is never as easy as we envision. There was still the up and down areas, but the roads were better. We polished off the final 38 miles into Cuba without incident, checked into the motel and started the routine of bath, food, catching up and laundry. A cold front had moved in the night before and it was unseasonably cold for this time of year. When camping in the mountains we woke up to a lot of frost on our tents and needed to put them in the sun to dry them out. At this point it looks like we only have about 10 days left to get this journey complete. We had expected New Mexico to be a breeze but as with segment of this trek they all have their unique challenges. Oh yea, bought some wasp spray, going to be prepared for the dogs in the future that come charging after us!
Paste the following link into your browser to see photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/113862939710452121802/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXlxP_J1Ib2Dw#
http://americasheroes.wufoo.com/forms/ride-the-divide-for-wounded-warriors/
http://trackleaders.com/divide
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Monday - Wednesday, September 6-8
THe half of a Platoro trailer home we slept in Sunday night was comfortable, a lot more so than braving the wind and cold in the high San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. Started a little late at 9am but got to enjoy the conversation of a local old timer at breakfast. He fixes flats for those coming off Stunner Pass and has as much business as he can handle. Also guides for fishing and when the town shuts down for the winter drives a truck further down the valley. Sure do meet all kinds of people on a trip like this. He did warn us about the cattle in the road, which on our long pleasant descent down to Horca we ran into a calf nursing from it's momma in the middle of the road, oblivious to the traffic having to maneuver around them. Cattle do not know what to make of bicycle riders, they are very accustom to motorized vehicles, but us bikers just scare the hell out of them. We made Horca in record time, about 2 hours for 23 miles to find the one store/restaurant still closed, we were 15 minutes early, so utilized their WiFi to get some business done, still no cell coverage. Our target for the day was to enter New Mexico and get to the Lagunitas campground, about 55 miles from Platoro. John and I did that but it was a bigger effort than expected as the roads turn much rougher in New Mexico than Colorado, seems they just don't have the money or desire to keep their dirt roads in good shape. We made our target by dusk and ran into the guy from San Diego, Alex we had last seen in Del Norte. Pitching our tents quickly, we re able to get some water from bow hunters next to us who had a 50 gallon container of water, never seen anyone bring that much to go camping but sure did come in handy. Again we see the hand of God helping us through our day, really is amazing when you look for it.
Tuesday the three of us left camp for a long ride to El Rito excited about a hotel and shower and a few beers. Forty-five minutes into the ride we hit some very gravely road, Alex being male and 23 years was descending these inclines rapidly, he hit some loose gravel at the bottom of a run, lost control and went careening off the road barely missing a deep ditch. He also didn't have his helmet on, good thing he was in on the morning prayer, only came out with a nice strawberry scrap on his arm. The accident bent the plate that holds his back derailleur, luckily he had another plate having done it before and replaced the bent one, seems these crashes are not unusual for him. John administered to his wound while I got him another part for his trailer so it could attach to the bike. All fixed up we were off with more climbing and descending until lunch. Alex stuck with us until about 2pm then took off to make El Rito earlier, we were holding him back.
Ok a mea culpa, the El Rito day, 75 miles a lot of up and down, was my "wall day" just couldn't put it together, John was kicking my butt on climbs and having to wait up for me. I didn't have the juice, the vigor, the verve, the zip. We made it to El Rito but it was a lot of effort. Of course on the last summit we got rained on, a little cold but fortunately there was not enough precipitation to get the road really muddy. New Mexico is notorious for mud among the Great Divide Riders.
We entered a small community called Vallecitos, more like a third world country (as John put it), just before our last climb to get to El Rito. Heading into a close set of houses I noticed a lot of "beware of dog signs" as if there was something to protect, but have never seen so many in such a small area, everyone had one. Well the inevitable happened, two of them lit out of a driveway after John who was ahead of me. The muscular small brown one bit John on the leg, scraping the skin and drawing a little blood. The owner was already out of his house trying to get the dogs back in, luckily John didn't go down this time. His strategy of not making eye contact with the dog and riding at a moderate speed didn't work this time. It also is apparent we have more to worry about in neighborhoods than in the wild, at least wild animals don't chase after you. Also New Mexico for some reason is the dog chasing capital of the country, we have been harassed more by dogs in this state than anywhere else and we aren't even a quarter through it yet! At least the owner was nice enough to track John down with some hydrogen peroxide and indicated the dog was up to date on his shots. I suspect this is not the first time this dog has bitten someone. Too bad for John on this trip all of his blood drawing accidents have come from dog encounters.
We made our El Rito objective by 7:30pm, only to find it is a mostly abandon town with a forest ranger office and one open restaurant. Alex's bike was in front so we stopped in to see what was going on. Where were the bar and the hotel? Turns out there isn't any of that in El Rito. So we ate our Mexican food with no beer and started looking for a place to camp. The closest campsite was 4 miles back up the road, which both John and I nixed instantly. Our waiter took pity on us and let us camp in his backyard next to the restaurant, which also doubled as an aluminum can repository. John and I took him up on the offer, although I could tell that I was going to get minimal sleep time. Ends up that was the case with a lot of shouting going on until 1am and the the dogs would start barking and the howling. Finally got to sleep after 3am, John slept fine.
Wednesday was a very short ride day, only 16 miles down to Abiquiu and to the only inn in the town, the Abiquiu Inn which is the launching place for all of the studio tours and especially Georgia O'Keeffe, which as it turns out Tom Lafleur our friend from San Diego met many years ago. We took a mostly rest day which I needed and John went to have his dog bite checked. The inn is nice with a veranda that had WiFi, so I spent most of my time out there. We are resting up for the big, rocky climb tomorrow and the last steep one of the trip (at least I am hoping so).
THe half of a Platoro trailer home we slept in Sunday night was comfortable, a lot more so than braving the wind and cold in the high San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. Started a little late at 9am but got to enjoy the conversation of a local old timer at breakfast. He fixes flats for those coming off Stunner Pass and has as much business as he can handle. Also guides for fishing and when the town shuts down for the winter drives a truck further down the valley. Sure do meet all kinds of people on a trip like this. He did warn us about the cattle in the road, which on our long pleasant descent down to Horca we ran into a calf nursing from it's momma in the middle of the road, oblivious to the traffic having to maneuver around them. Cattle do not know what to make of bicycle riders, they are very accustom to motorized vehicles, but us bikers just scare the hell out of them. We made Horca in record time, about 2 hours for 23 miles to find the one store/restaurant still closed, we were 15 minutes early, so utilized their WiFi to get some business done, still no cell coverage. Our target for the day was to enter New Mexico and get to the Lagunitas campground, about 55 miles from Platoro. John and I did that but it was a bigger effort than expected as the roads turn much rougher in New Mexico than Colorado, seems they just don't have the money or desire to keep their dirt roads in good shape. We made our target by dusk and ran into the guy from San Diego, Alex we had last seen in Del Norte. Pitching our tents quickly, we re able to get some water from bow hunters next to us who had a 50 gallon container of water, never seen anyone bring that much to go camping but sure did come in handy. Again we see the hand of God helping us through our day, really is amazing when you look for it.
Tuesday the three of us left camp for a long ride to El Rito excited about a hotel and shower and a few beers. Forty-five minutes into the ride we hit some very gravely road, Alex being male and 23 years was descending these inclines rapidly, he hit some loose gravel at the bottom of a run, lost control and went careening off the road barely missing a deep ditch. He also didn't have his helmet on, good thing he was in on the morning prayer, only came out with a nice strawberry scrap on his arm. The accident bent the plate that holds his back derailleur, luckily he had another plate having done it before and replaced the bent one, seems these crashes are not unusual for him. John administered to his wound while I got him another part for his trailer so it could attach to the bike. All fixed up we were off with more climbing and descending until lunch. Alex stuck with us until about 2pm then took off to make El Rito earlier, we were holding him back.
Ok a mea culpa, the El Rito day, 75 miles a lot of up and down, was my "wall day" just couldn't put it together, John was kicking my butt on climbs and having to wait up for me. I didn't have the juice, the vigor, the verve, the zip. We made it to El Rito but it was a lot of effort. Of course on the last summit we got rained on, a little cold but fortunately there was not enough precipitation to get the road really muddy. New Mexico is notorious for mud among the Great Divide Riders.
We entered a small community called Vallecitos, more like a third world country (as John put it), just before our last climb to get to El Rito. Heading into a close set of houses I noticed a lot of "beware of dog signs" as if there was something to protect, but have never seen so many in such a small area, everyone had one. Well the inevitable happened, two of them lit out of a driveway after John who was ahead of me. The muscular small brown one bit John on the leg, scraping the skin and drawing a little blood. The owner was already out of his house trying to get the dogs back in, luckily John didn't go down this time. His strategy of not making eye contact with the dog and riding at a moderate speed didn't work this time. It also is apparent we have more to worry about in neighborhoods than in the wild, at least wild animals don't chase after you. Also New Mexico for some reason is the dog chasing capital of the country, we have been harassed more by dogs in this state than anywhere else and we aren't even a quarter through it yet! At least the owner was nice enough to track John down with some hydrogen peroxide and indicated the dog was up to date on his shots. I suspect this is not the first time this dog has bitten someone. Too bad for John on this trip all of his blood drawing accidents have come from dog encounters.
We made our El Rito objective by 7:30pm, only to find it is a mostly abandon town with a forest ranger office and one open restaurant. Alex's bike was in front so we stopped in to see what was going on. Where were the bar and the hotel? Turns out there isn't any of that in El Rito. So we ate our Mexican food with no beer and started looking for a place to camp. The closest campsite was 4 miles back up the road, which both John and I nixed instantly. Our waiter took pity on us and let us camp in his backyard next to the restaurant, which also doubled as an aluminum can repository. John and I took him up on the offer, although I could tell that I was going to get minimal sleep time. Ends up that was the case with a lot of shouting going on until 1am and the the dogs would start barking and the howling. Finally got to sleep after 3am, John slept fine.
Wednesday was a very short ride day, only 16 miles down to Abiquiu and to the only inn in the town, the Abiquiu Inn which is the launching place for all of the studio tours and especially Georgia O'Keeffe, which as it turns out Tom Lafleur our friend from San Diego met many years ago. We took a mostly rest day which I needed and John went to have his dog bite checked. The inn is nice with a veranda that had WiFi, so I spent most of my time out there. We are resting up for the big, rocky climb tomorrow and the last steep one of the trip (at least I am hoping so).
Monday, September 6, 2010
Sunday, September 5th
Del Norte is a small one road town in a valley with a few banks, gas stations, sundry shops, one liquor store and a couple of cafes - the typical farm town of Colorado. It is also the start of a very long climb for the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, about 24 miles of straight climbing to the the top of Indiana Pass (11,984 feet) and a total of almost 4,000 vertical feet of climbing. There is a picture via the link below that shows a house in the country flying the American flag high. I took this picture because we have passed hundreds of homes just like this out in the country flying flags high and proud. Sure wish other less devout Americans could see the love the people have for this country.
Starting at 8:30am it took us until 2pm to reach the pass, it was slow going with a lot of dust, wind and sweat. Right before reaching the top we saw the largest flock of sheep (and a few goats) that I have ever seen, must have been 400 or 500 of them on a steep slope over 12,000 feet in elevation. Heading down the other side of Indiana Pass did not give us the rewards for our long climb up, a short ride then climbing again but by now the wind was really whipping around us. Made it to Summitville a mostly ghost town of old mining buildings but with a huge stripping mining operation in full swing. The water was polluted from the mining and we didn't spend much time looking at the massive gouge taken from the mountain top.
The traffic the entire day was easily five times what we experienced the last several weeks, guess the Labor Day weekend had everyone out. Sure wish they would slow down when passing, I must have eaten a pound of dust yesterday. While I am complaining might as well through in the ATVs, they were everywhere and some must have thought there was a Indy 500 style race going on! The ATVs have an advantage of being able to zoom across rough terrain better than the bigger trucks or Jeeps and the drivers usually make use of it.
The objective was to stay in Platoro out of the wind and cold. Getting there took all day even though we only did 47 miles of the route, we climbed right at 6,000 feet of vertical. On the last climb coming into town we ran across a guy changing a flat, it was his second one on that road that day and told us of another driver that had three on the same road earlier in the day. The closest place to get a tire is about 30 miles away at a Walmart. Luckily we made it up and then down without any flats. Platoro is a unconnected community (no cell service or Internet) of almost all log cabins wedged into a very narrow valley. We checked into our half-of-a trailer cabin, showered, walked to dinner, and then hit the sack. Oh yea, tried to get a beer with dinner, closest place is 23 miles away. Finally this is the conclusion of the 4th map section, we are starting the 5th map tomorrow and will be leaving Colorado tomorrow and entering our 5th and final state, New Mexico. There is only 734 miles of the 2,493 mile trip left (71% of the trip is behind us).
Del Norte is a small one road town in a valley with a few banks, gas stations, sundry shops, one liquor store and a couple of cafes - the typical farm town of Colorado. It is also the start of a very long climb for the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, about 24 miles of straight climbing to the the top of Indiana Pass (11,984 feet) and a total of almost 4,000 vertical feet of climbing. There is a picture via the link below that shows a house in the country flying the American flag high. I took this picture because we have passed hundreds of homes just like this out in the country flying flags high and proud. Sure wish other less devout Americans could see the love the people have for this country.
Starting at 8:30am it took us until 2pm to reach the pass, it was slow going with a lot of dust, wind and sweat. Right before reaching the top we saw the largest flock of sheep (and a few goats) that I have ever seen, must have been 400 or 500 of them on a steep slope over 12,000 feet in elevation. Heading down the other side of Indiana Pass did not give us the rewards for our long climb up, a short ride then climbing again but by now the wind was really whipping around us. Made it to Summitville a mostly ghost town of old mining buildings but with a huge stripping mining operation in full swing. The water was polluted from the mining and we didn't spend much time looking at the massive gouge taken from the mountain top.
The traffic the entire day was easily five times what we experienced the last several weeks, guess the Labor Day weekend had everyone out. Sure wish they would slow down when passing, I must have eaten a pound of dust yesterday. While I am complaining might as well through in the ATVs, they were everywhere and some must have thought there was a Indy 500 style race going on! The ATVs have an advantage of being able to zoom across rough terrain better than the bigger trucks or Jeeps and the drivers usually make use of it.
The objective was to stay in Platoro out of the wind and cold. Getting there took all day even though we only did 47 miles of the route, we climbed right at 6,000 feet of vertical. On the last climb coming into town we ran across a guy changing a flat, it was his second one on that road that day and told us of another driver that had three on the same road earlier in the day. The closest place to get a tire is about 30 miles away at a Walmart. Luckily we made it up and then down without any flats. Platoro is a unconnected community (no cell service or Internet) of almost all log cabins wedged into a very narrow valley. We checked into our half-of-a trailer cabin, showered, walked to dinner, and then hit the sack. Oh yea, tried to get a beer with dinner, closest place is 23 miles away. Finally this is the conclusion of the 4th map section, we are starting the 5th map tomorrow and will be leaving Colorado tomorrow and entering our 5th and final state, New Mexico. There is only 734 miles of the 2,493 mile trip left (71% of the trip is behind us).
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