Silver City to Hachita

Well here it is, my second to last day on the Divide. Tomorrow I ride 48 paved and flat (and HOT unless I leave buttcrack early) easy miles to Antelope Wells and then I've finished the US section of the Divide!  18 days and 1,088 miles for this "half", or if you count RAGBRAI this year that's 25 days and 1,563 miles this summer.  Last summer was about 1,500 miles on the divide over I think 25 or 26 days, and maybe 1,975 miles with 33ish days counting RAGBRAI.

Together it'll be 2,088 miles of Divide over about 44 days.  A slow pace, really, but how I like to do things. I like exploring and meeting people and contemplating life. I really need to do the Canada section now too! I think that's another 500-700 miles, a shorter section by comparison.

Today's ride continued this section of New Mexico's tradition of fun riding. The ride out of Silver City was paved and had some easy long hills, and then at 15 miles I had a nice 35 mile long section of fun gravel through Yucca Desert. It was a bit roller-coaster like, and I had a sweet tailwind for the first 35 miles or so of the day.

The rest of the day, and some of the gravel, was a sidewind, but that helped it stay cool as it got very hot.  With the tailwind I pushed the first 50 miles to Separ without a break, but with only 3:23 on bike. I finished in Hachita at 78 miles with only 5:14 on bike (flat pavement helped), and rode from 8:30 to 3:45.  A long, but comparativly easy day.

It's always bittersweet to end a bike tour feeling really good, since that means you are in peak shape. I've had several hard weeks of mountain training at high elevation, and this lower elevation flat shit is practically like have motors in my legs. Two months from now, after going back to normal life, I'll be half the rider I am right now.  But, that's the cycle. I hope to run my first marathon this spring, so that'll help me stay in shape.

Even though the riding was easy, I didn't actually feel good all day. I picked up a stomache upset in Silver City, I think mainly due to food I ate and a weird Cider/Tequilla drink at a bar that now regret the night before, so I was queasy for the first 50 miles. Pepto-Bismo fixed it up, but my rest day certainly wasn't the most restful.  Fun, but not very restful.

Now I'm at the Bike Ranch in Hachita, where I had a chill evening of being treated well by Jeffrey and eating food. Tomorrow I leave early and likely will be done during morning times, then I chill at the ranch for the afternoon and head to Tuscon tomorrow to meet up with Andrea! Yay!

 

Black Rock Campground to Silver City Photos

The muddy morning climb. I had a lot of pushing to do, the Kiwis had to carry their bikes!

A great variety of morning terrain. Very hilly!

Several climbs in, a look into the valley that I eventually crossed off into the distance.

Yet another continental divide crossing!

40 miles or so of the day were paved, but that didn't make the riding much easier. Less muddy though.

Lake Roberts.

The very steep climb out of that valley offered amazing views.

Many miles and hours later, the Town of Pinos Altos. Perhaps most famous for the repeated raids against it by Geronimo.

The descent into Silver City

Silver City!

Since it was a rest day, I was able to stay up late and go to Karaoke with my host. It was a good time - although most of the songs I thought to sing they didn't have. Picking Karaoke songs is a talent I have not developed yet.

And first photo last as usual, this was taken on my climb out of Black Rock Canyon.  You can see the road I descended the day before (in the rain) snaking up the other side.

Black Rock Canyon to Silver City

I'm writing this sitting in a nice plaza in Silver City on a rest day, as I'm two (now one, I suppose) days ahead of schedule and had some time to kill.  I've had quite a fun last 36 hours or so, a good example of why being on the road is so much fun and travel is so rewarding.

The ride yesterday was great. I woke up early with the Kiwis, and as usual they got a out a little bit before I did.  We had a big climb to start the day and all three of us got mired in mud trying to get out of the canyon due to yesterday's rains. I had a bit of a better time of it then they did  and only had to push for awhile, but they have less clearance on their tires and actually had to carry their bikes for a bit when the wheels refused to turn. That's a rough go when it was practically straight up hill.

Eventually the mud dried as it got hotter and I gained elevation, and the rest of the ride continued the day before's survey of all that the Divide can offer. At times it felt like riding in Montana or the Wyoming mountains again. Roller coaster terrain, at times rough roads, and amazing views.

 A bit into the ride I had one of the most fun downhills of my entire riding career, flying down banked rough gravel turns into a canyon, and repeatedly crossing streams that were flowing over the road. It was divide downhill at it's finest.

Of the 60 miles the last 40 were paved, and about mile 30 I met up with the Kiwis at Lake Arnold where there was a small store for lunch. Three miles later we parted ways as they headed for a side trip up to the Gila Hotsprings and I continued 27ish more miles to Silver City over a very big 10-15 mile climb.

This climb and the interspersed and subsequent curvy downhills also turned out to be some of the best road riding I've ever done.  The downhills were well banked and I could take them at near full speed, and the incredibly steep climbs were - incredibly steep and hot - but beautiful.

People were also very nice. Two cars slowed to offer me water (I had way more than I needed already) and another was someone who'd see me at a brewery in Salida a few weeks ago, and gave me a lead on a place to stay in Silver City!  People are very nice around here! It gave me hope since a town of 10,000 could be hard to find a place to stay.

I rolled into Silver City around 4pm after exploring an old ghost town up on a hill called Pinos Alto a few miles earlier. A storm chased me downhill into town so I forgot to write down my exact stats, but it was something like 8-4pm pm riding, 6 hours on bike (it was hard riding), and 60 miles. After arriving I waited out a monster storm at a restertaunt, perfect timing!

Now the story gets even more interesting. Just before the storm hit I went to the bike shop to follow up on the lead for a place to stay, and met Alyssa outside, a local musician, artist, printmaker, and EMT. She offered to let me stay at her place a few blocks away and even take rest day there!

We ended up making friends pretty easily, and I met a bunch of her other friends at karaoke last night and then we played music into the early morning. I've really missed playing music, one of the many sacrifices that bike touring usually requires (although it pales in comparison to seperation from Andrea). After a good sleep in I'm now exploring this super cool town and having a very relaxing rest day. 

This place has a lot going on for a town of only 10k. It has a vibrant southwestern style downtown with art galleries everywhere, but it doesn't have the feel of a touristy Colorado-style town. It's very much like a little Eugene.

I leave bright and early tomorrow to beat the heat on a hopefully relatively flat 78 mile ride to Hachita, then only 48 miles to Antelope Wells the following day and I've completed the US section of the Divide. Very soon I'll see Andrea in Tuscon and we'll start a roadtrip back home. A week from today I'll be waking up in my own bed. A pretty great thing to look forward to, but for now I've got some town exploring too do. 

Also, unsurprisingly, I already miss biking and my thoughts often return to the downhills of yesterday. Yeesh.

Collins Park to Black Cayon Campground Photos!

Sunset shots from the night before

At the morning ride. Where that rainbow was rained for a pretty long time last night. The result was mud in the morning under where it was.

For much of the morning the road was lined with poppies! (I think they were poppies)

This morning was many different terrains, biomes, and road types.

Yea... no shit.

At Beaverhead Work Center, this Mule tried to Help Andrew get a soda. It didn't work.

Beaverhead work Center

Diana the Kiwi!

Andrew the Kiwi!

Climbing a nice little hill, the two fine folks who I often refer to as... The Kiwis!  I'm sure there are more creative nicknames, but this seemed to work.

The later half of the day got pretty hilly.

This storm kept growing and eventually soaked me for hours.

Wall Lake

I wish this photo hadn't washed out, because this area had some nice red colors to it.

At the top of one of the first climbs, That storm is much bigger.  It hit me on this following downhill and then stuck around for another long climb, downhill, and camp.

This terrain was very Appalachian. I know, because I've bike across West Virginia. It really felt a lot like that. Also, raining.

Access to the main campground was washed out.

Camp with the Kiwis! They are route planning here.

Sunset tonight

And one final Collin's Park photo - because first is always last!