Abiquiu to Cuba

Well, despite being well psyched up for a rough two days of riding and dry camping, the weather was not going to let that happen. Last night the sisters and I were treated to a spectacular panoramic lighting display as several storms circled around us. This also meant that is rained all night up in the hills I was supposed to ride into, which likely have turned all the trails into Murder Mud.

I didn't want to take the pavement option easily. I rode into the little shop in town and hung out there for awhile, drinking coffee and polling the opinions of locals as to wether or not they thought those roads would be passable. It was a pretty unanimous "no," and I even met a guy who routinely picks up cyclists hitch hiking their way back down after getting stuck.

So, pavement it was. A rather routine 66 miles with 4,000 feet of climb (still not an easy ride at all) into Cuba. 9am to 3:40ish, 5 hours on bike. It was still a spectatular ride with amazing views. I don't mind road touring; I've certainly done it an awful lot.

In the tiny town of Gallina, about 45 miles into my day, I stopped at a tiny shop and met a nice lady and her cat. Her cat's name was Gabriel and loved me, but I never caught her name though. She said that when it rains she routinely gets Divide riders in her shop and on this route, and even knew about the race. Such is the Divide, you can't defeat the weather.

She also mentioned the three riders I've been hearing about since Platoro, they went through there a few days ago. No mention of Steve though. With the drier day yesterday he may have gone up to the mountains yesterday and been trapped by the rain today. I hope not.  If so though, he'll be riding by this park any time if he got down. More likely he also took the pavement detour and is still well ahead of me.

As such, the next three days or so I'll likely be on pavement. From here there are official late summer detours, and the race actually has these detours be mandatory. It's been raining all day (and all day up in the hills I'd have been in) so even if I wanted to tomorrow I doubt I'd make it more than 10 miles on the regular trail. It'll be saturated with Murder Mud and flash flood risk Arroyos.

That's alright, this area is still beautiful. Tonight I got permission from the police to sleep in the park in town. Cuba is a cool town. I met someone at a welcome center and then again at a Mexican resteraunt in town who said "this isn't New England, this is New Spain."  It really is a cool mix of Spanish and Indigenous influences. I've never been to New Mexico before, and a lot of these smaller old towns are awesome. Tomorrow, or the day after, I'll ride right by the Chaco Culture National Historic Park, which is thought to be the "highest level of civilization reached by prehistoric Native Americans north of Mexico" - according to my guidebook, and occupied from 850-1200 AD. Pretty sweet.

I also just met a group of youth who hang in this park all the time and befriended them, which is good because otherwise it could be a long night! Other inhabitants of this park are red ants and beatles that eat them, prairie dogs, and regular dogs. Also, for tonight, me.