We
left the motel at 7, and bought breakfast at Subway. It was
surprisingly good -- much more wholesome then a burger. I also bought
another sandwich for lunch.
We were on the road by 7:45.
Almost immediately we had to find the right turnoff, which was tricky.
As we rode away from Del Norte, we found a sign saying Great Divide
Mountain Bike Route...pointing the wrong way!
Gay's older map showed the original road, while Pete's more recent version showed the zig-zags.
We continued on up a canyon, and the track deteriorated into a sandy mess that ascended for about two kilometers. As I was riding up, I startled two rabbits. I surprised myself by clearing the whole climb, though I probably got my heart rate too high as the sandpit/track was quite steep in places, and it was hard riding. Pete and Gay walked, and I had to wait for over ten minutes for them to catch up.
The
countryside was quite like New Mexico; there was even the occasional
cactus. The temperature was also warmer than recent days; by 8:30 it was already 24 degrees.
Pete
described the area we were riding through as "badlands" -- the land
couldn't be used for anything, and nothing really grew there.
Gay was worried that we were lost, even though there were lots of bike tyre tracks in the sand.
As we rode along, we saw a pronghorn antelope. It was quite timid, and raced off before we could get close.
We
stopped at the 16 km (10 mile) mark for a rest and some food. We saw a
strange stunted lizard, and I managed to get some (blurry) photos of it.
We also saw some bones, probably of a pronghorn.
Despite
Gay's continuing worries that we were lost, we finally reached a major
intersection at 17.5 km.
The road we turned into was still unsealed, but a lot easier riding than what we had just ridden through. Pete and Gay were cursing the course designers, as the road led straight back to Del Norte, and they could have skipped all the sandy parts just by riding along this major dirt road.
The
road had lots of washboards, but it was still quite easy riding. We
passed a turnoff to a natural stone arch, though we didn't have time to
go and visit it.
We reached a section of tar-seal, near a place called La Garita, and we followed the tar-seal for about 8 km. at the
top, some farmers on horseback were moving their cattle along the road.
We stopped and had lunch beside the road where the tar-seal finished.
This was the 32 km point; from there, the dirt road climbed constantly.
At the 55 km point, we stopped at a campground to rest, eat and filter water. At the campground, I saw a squirrel, a woodpecker, and several amazing-looking butterflies.
We stopped and had lunch beside the road where the tar-seal finished.
This was the 32 km point; from there, the dirt road climbed constantly.
At the 55 km point, we stopped at a campground to rest, eat and filter water. At the campground, I saw a squirrel, a woodpecker, and several amazing-looking butterflies.
Pete
was having trouble again, so I offered to carry enough water for dinner
and breakfast. And so when we left the campground, I was carrying
about 6.5 liters of water.
The road continued to climb, and I found it hard going. The temperature by now had reached the mid 30s.
We met two racers from New Zealand as we climbed. Rod Davidson.
As
we descended, we met another racer, who was in 8th place. He said that
he had seen no water sources at all since leaving Sargants. We
descended, and promptly found a large muddy puddle. Pete went down and
filled two water bottles with the murky water, so he could filter it
later. The edges of the puddle were so muddy that he had to lay down
stones to stand on so he could get to the actual water. The water was brown and disgusting-looking, but at least we got some.
We continued the huge descent down the other side. As usual, I was
ahead (I can descend on a mountain bike much faster than Pete and Gay
can do on their touring bikes). I startled three large deer, and it was
amazing watching them run like horses as I rode by.
A bit further on, there were a bunch of cattle in the road. I slowed down
and tried to sneak past. That worked for the first quarter of the herd,
but then they began to run, and suddenly I found myself in the running
of the bulls!
There
were probably 50 cattle, ranging from calves and cows to huge bulls,
all running down the road with me in the middle of them. It was quite
scary as I sneaked past the bulls with their big horns. I managed to
sneak towards the front, but the last few wouldn't let me past, and I
was stuck in the stampede. Finally we reached an area where there was grass on the side of the road, and the rest of the cattle turned off the road. Whew!
We finally reached a sealed highway. By this time it was about 5 PM.
We ate some food and discussed our options. Unfortunately, we had just
left the national forest, and it was all private land where we couldn't
camp, so we decided to push on to the next place where we could camp.
We
began riding along the highway. It was horrendous: no shoulder on the
road, traffic, a strong headwind, and a setting sun which would be in
the eyes of any drivers coming up behind us! We tried taking turns
drafting, which sort of worked, but it was slow and stressful going. My
legs were quite sore by this stage.
I got another bleeding nose from the dry air, the third one today, only this one was much worse. Very annoying.
We
thought it was hilarious that the racers had said there was no water --
there was a stream running beside the highway, and we crossed several
more streams. Finally, after about 10 km, we reached the side-road we were looking for and turned off the highway. What a relief!
We began the final climb of the day, into a headwind. It was 3 km
along a dirt road, all uphill, before we finally reached the national
forest where we could camp. We stopped just past the national forest
sign, and set up camp just out of sight of the road.
We
were all exhausted. We had ridden for 92 km, climbed over 4,000 feet,
including riding over a mountain pass. We had been cycling for 7.5
hours, and it was 12 hours since we had left Del Norte.
The
camp site was on pretty rough ground, though there was a nice spot
among the boulders where we could cook. We had dinner of pasta,
hardboiled egg and cold tuna. I was so thirsty that I drank the pasta
water. It wasn't too bad at all.
Normally I write up my diary entry in the evening before I fall asleep, but I was so tired I couldn't do that. I made a start, but had to finish it in the morning. I slept well despite the lumpy ground. Exhaustion will do that to you.
Jefe Branham finished the race today in Mexico. He rode from Canada to Mexico in 16 days,
Normally I write up my diary entry in the evening before I fall asleep, but I was so tired I couldn't do that. I made a start, but had to finish it in the morning. I slept well despite the lumpy ground. Exhaustion will do that to you.
Jefe Branham finished the race today in Mexico. He rode from Canada to Mexico in 16 days,
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