New Mexico: The Land of Enchantment

That is what the welcome sign said when I first entered the state.

New Mexico is certainly the strangest state I have visited. In one day I had 40+ dry heat, followed by rain, followed by snow. I've was warned that New Mexico would be much hotter than I'm used to, which is true, when it's not raining. It has rained every day since I've been here, which can be scary when there are no trees in sight. I'm not quite sure if my tires protect me against lightning; I was discussing that with a kind stranger who waved me into his warehouse when the lightning got close.

I've met some other interesting people over the past few days. On Thursday I took a side trip to the Christ in the Desert Monastery. They are located at the end of a 13 mile gravel road through a stunning canyon. When I got there one of the brothers invited me for lunch. He was a benedictine monk, an extremely disciplined calling. Most of their day is spent in silence and solitude, so he had ALOT to say over lunch. I hadn't talked to anyone in a while, neither had he, so it was quite a long lunch. After the visit he gave me a benedictine cross and a St. Benedict's rules for monasteries. (73 reasons not to become a monk). But if anyone has some prayer requests that are too heavy to be handled by the average christian, I have his email. First prayers start at 04:00 every morning so you know he's dedicated.

While biking through the forest between Abiquiu and Cuba (a town of ~1500) a ran across a hippie party. Real authentic new mexican hippies with buses and volkswagon vans and barefoot hippie kids all camped in the forest. From what I could gather they had been cleaning up the forest for the past couple weeks and someone had a birthday so they were camping and celebrating. I tried to figure out more but a rainbow appeared and they all got distracted. I camped around the corner from them knowing I would not have to worry about bears that night.

And here I am now, in Grants, right beside the legendary route 66. All the campgrounds in town were flooded and could not accomodate tents so I am in a motel. I haven't slept in a bed since Dillon, MT, almost a month ago.

Road Impassable when Wet

Hello from New Mexico! I first attempted to ride into New Mexico yesterday afternoon. As soon as I hit the border it started raining. Just a light rain, nothing too threatening. But as I approached the summit of this pass it started pouring. The high subalpine country gave me great views of the surrounding area so I was able to see lightning from all four directions. I found a nice patch of trees and took shelter in there. When I could see it was only raining harder I pitched my tent and hid inside.
As the storm progressed streams started to develop through my area of "shelter". There must have been some water under me because puddles were forming all night. I discovered, however, that biking shorts make great sponges, and was able to keep the puddles to a manageable size.

By this morning it had stopped raining and there were few clouds remaining. The dirt roads were absolute muck though. The clay in the soil formed a very thick mud that stuck to my tires until they could no longer turn, even when I tried pushing my bike on the grass. I removed my rear fender on the trailer and found a good stick for routine mud removal, and eventually made it to rideable gravel.
So I decided to turn back and walk to the highway; I returned to Colorado and rode in New Mexico a second time. I can ride the highway to Abiquiu tomorrow and be right on schedule. I am a little disapointed that I'll miss part of the route, as the map mentioned many "stunning views" and "awesome descents" in between notes of "road impassable when wet".

Since last posting from Salida I have climbed the highest pass on the route, Indiana Pass (11 900 feet), rode some sweet singletrack into Del Norte, and not showered. But I will tonite.

End date determined

So I booked a flight this afternoon. I'll be leaving El Paso August 5th. I spent a while with the maps and book last night trying to anticipate when I'll reach the border. I added a couple days to back-track and bike over to El Paso.
I now have 2 defined goals for this trip:
1. Get to El Paso before August 5
2. Eat an entire pie in Pie Town

The last few days of riding have been awesome. Yesterday I biked out of Summit County up Boreas Pass, the highest continental divide crossing on the route (11 400 feet). Then it was down into Hartsel, South Park, which is the complete opposite of the previous town. Only 3 stores, no ski hill, no campground. Their idea of landscaping was scattering old trucks on the lawn. Still, it was a very cool town. I camped behind the church for the night.

Today I had a long descent in Salida. Possibly one of the best descents on the route. I started with a wild view of some of the 14000+ foot peaks and within 10 miles was in a dry valley, full of these funky conifers. All on nice, hard gravel.

urban rural

This part of the tour is very technology dense it seems, as I am finding a computer every day. I am now in Silverthorne, a town built for tourists, so it is full of cookie-cutter vacation homes and outlet malls.
This morning I stayed in Kremmling for breakfast; they had a place that opened at 6. I ate with a couple of guys doing the transamerica route on road bikes. They were nice guys, just finished their engineering degrees and doing one big trip before starting real jobs. It was nice to have a real breakfast (I haven't stopped for breakfast since mcdonalds in Butte) with real conversation with real people. I can only sing to myself so long.
The ride into town started with a long climb and then a descent on highway 9, possibly the busiest highway on the route. I'm relieved to finally be off it, as I can take a dedicated bike path now to my campsite tonite.

A long day

I've been biking since 6:45 this morning. I got lost trying to navigate the bike paths in steamboat springs but eventually made it out. The weather has been amazing though; just as I was beginning the 8 mile climb to the top of Lynx Pass it started raining. Not too much, just enough to cool me off. And it stopped as I reached the top so I could enjoy lunch without a coat. The descent afterwards was unbelievable. After I forded a stream I hit the highway and coasted almost all the way to Kremmling, where I am writing from now. I hit 49 mph, a new record for my bike.
Colorado is a beautiful place. Full of great landscape and great people. Everyone still waves to me on the gravel roads and some campers last night even had me over for a beer. I ran across alot of mountain bikers today, many just going out for a ride before work. This may just be the state for me.

Hello Colorado!

Well I'm done Wyoming already. I crossed into Colorado yesterday afternoon. All of a sudden there were trees again, the wind was gone, and the hills were back. I've been told that in Wyoming you watch the mountains while in Colorado you ride them.
So I picked up a new tire and a new rear skewer (I bent my other one with the trailer) so I can ride these mountains.
I'm in Steamboat Springs right now. It's a very active town with tons of bikes (3 bike shops for a town of <10000) Every second car is a subaru hatchback with a bike rack, no joke. The riding for the next few days should be quite enjoyable as it is along bike paths and hard-pack gravel. I have acquired an appreciation for good gravel, as not all gravel roads are equal. The best is the hard-pack, dry enough that it's hard but moist enough that it's not dusty. The worst are the loose, big pieces of gravel, really dry, and with lots of traffic.
Well my time is up on this computer and I am very hungry

Back to civilization

I just rode in to Rawlins, after 3 days in the middle of nowhere. It was glorious, I would just ride toward the horizon, occasionally getting passed by pronghorn antelope and wild horses. Because there was only water every 50-60 miles there is not alot of human life around. And the water that was available was mostly standing and cloudy, but it still tastes amazing when you are thirsty enough.

I was thinking about how much simpler my challenges are out here. But as simple as they are, they are very real. I was thinking back to my days of undergrad where we were never sure what to study, how well we had to do on a test, and if it would even matter in the end. We would be anxious over tests, knowing that if we failed every single one we would still have food, water, shelter, and our mothers would still love us. How trivial these problems were.

If I don't drink I will die. But I found water. Problem solved

Hello from Pinedale

Since the last post I've crossed the red rock pass into Idaho, then road to Wyoming through Grand Teton National park, just south of Yellowstone. I am now out of the mountains and in the cowboy town of Pinedale. For a town of 1500 they have a really nice library and a 13 million dollar aquatic centre which I experienced this morning.

Things are different with Jason having gone home. I stop less, eat more (I don't think I'm buying less groceries than before), and ride further. As there is no longer any entertainment from Jason during breaks and camp I prefer to stay on my bike as much I can. For that reason, many days I have completed two suggested riding days in one. Today was my rest day. I got up early before the mosquitoes were warm enough to move and rode the highway to this town. I've been hanging out since 10, trying to pound the calories the way only fast food can deliver and drink my 2 litres of orange juice. I discovered today at the pool that, as much as I've been eating, I've still lost 10 lbs. This needs to stop or I will be but a shadow when I reach Mexico. Any suggestions of low volume, calorie-dense foods I can add to my snacks of bagels, licorice, cookies, pop tarts, cheese strings, nutella, and peanut butter?

Tomorrow I head off towards the Great Divide Basin, the area where most settlers, mountain men, and indians crossed the continental divide. I no longer have to worry about bears and motorhomes. I need to instead watch my water sources as it is very dry and unserviced; I packed enough food for 3-4 days. That should last me the 220 miles to Rawlins

Legs have been holding up well and my bike is doing great (I really do baby my chain). I'm starting to run into other divide riders (most coming from the south) and am starting to hear stories about what's stunning, where the water is, and which campsites to avoid. Motorcyclists have also been very supportive, often stopping to see if I have enough supplies. The waves and thumbs up I receive from other riders have gone a long way to push me up some tough hills.

I shall return to my orange juice and ride up the road to find camping.

Bye for now,

Aaron

The last few days

We've been out of touch for a while, here are some highlights since Helena.

-Riding into Butte, 2 days after Helena, to see the Berkley pit, a giant acid pool left from years of mining. They actually charged admission to see it, haha. Mentioned in the press recently for killing a bunch of migrating birds

-Stopping at a ghosttown "Bannack" to learn the ways of mining towns 100 years ago

-a 30 mile gradual downhill down the canyon to Lima, spectacular scenery

-experiencing the american health care system as they tended to Jason's crash. Wait time: 0 minutes! (it was rural though) The nurse even drove us to our motel after

Jason's parents come today to take him home. He will be walking comfortably in a week, but biking will take longer. I will ride today to Lima, where we rode to yesterday, and continue the trip solo. It will be a different experience

See you in Wyoming!