June 16th Update
Well howdy! It’s been a minute since my last post, let me catch you up on the last week.
The last time I checked in Eric had just joined me and we raced a storm into Abiquiu where we rode it out over Green Chile Cheeseburgers at Bode’s. I believe I mentioned we took some cheeseburgers to go to eat the next day…
Well, that may have been a mistake, because ever since eating that I’ve been battling some stomach issues. Nothing terrible, but it hasn’t been easy. Likely a combination of exertion and a weird diet for a couple of weeks.
Unfortunately for Eric, and fortunately for me, the stretch of days he picked to ride with me proved to be the toughest miles so far. It rained on us from Abiquiu through Cumbres Pass (essentially the rest of New Mexico), and started calling ourselves “the Soggy Bottom Boys” while singing “man of constant sorrow” (O Brother Where Art Thou fans will get it).
We also got to experience the joy of NM’s infamous peanut butter mud. While it may sound delicious, it’s anything but. You don’t know you’re in it until it’s too late, your tires are caked with 3 inches of the stuff, and your entire drivetrain is about to explode. You then have to spend the next 30 minutes cleaning enough of the stuff off just to be able to turn the pedals, and then you’ve got to ride with an extra 10 pounds of mud caked to everything until it eventually falls off. Fun.
Thankfully, all of this transpired in my absolute favorite part of New Mex with my best biking buddy, so we persevered. It’s a gorgeous area and couldn’t feel further from the desert landscapes of the southern part of the state. We saw tons of antelope and elk, and even woke up to a herd of elk feeding in a field about 100 yards from our tents one morning.
We crossed into Colorado the morning of the 12th, and made it to Horca for breakfast, where we finally met the elusive Montana Mitch. He was still struggling with his seatpost, unfortunately, and Eric and I rode on ahead hoping he’d catch us later in the day.
We rode along the beautiful Conejos River all day, climbing our way up to 11,900 foot Indiana Pass, which is my route’s high point. It was a long day of slowly spinning along and battling bubbly guts, but Eric’s boundless energy drug me through. We made it past the EPA Superfund site of the Summitville Mine (cheap property near there, if anyone’s looking), over Indiana Pass at Sunset, and halfway down the other side.
On the 13th we rode into Del Norte, CO, for breakfast, and made it about 70 miles before finally meeting up with Sarah again. We’d intended to make it to Salida on the 13th, but the rain and mud just slowed us down too much. I was pretty wiped out by the time we made it to Sarah, so it was actually good timing—my wonderful trail angel had booked us an Airbnb in Salida for my first “zero day” (trail speak for a rest day).
I took the 14th totally off, which was much needed. We hung out in Salida, and I basically moved as little as possible and tried to eat as much real, non-biker food, as possible. Our good friend Madeline Kelty drove up the night of the 14th so that Eric could take her car back to Santa Fe and give me another day with Sarah. We all stayed another ngiht at the Airbnb (2 nights in a real bed!!!), and met up with our friends Aaron Gulley and Jen Judge as well.
Aaron and Jen just so happened to be in Salida this weekend, and Aaron was keen to ride a day with me. I left my bikepacking bags and most of the heavy stuff with Sarah, and Kelty gave Aaron and I a ride to where I’d left off on the trail. He and I then had a great ride over Marshall Pass and into Salida last night—without the weight of the bags, with good weather, and the absolute force of a cyclist Aaron is, we managed 105 miles yesterday—my longest ride of the trip, and my longest ride ever, it turns out.
Unfortunately, I broke a spoke during the ride, which meant I needed to spend the morning in Salida waiting for the bike shop to open today (the 16th). In all honesty, I wasn’t too sad about this because it meant I was able to sleep in and spend more time with Sarah (I’ll take all I can get).
I’m writing this from a little bridge over a creek in Salida, waiting for the bike shop to call and then I’ll be on my way to Hartstell, CO and Sarah will head home to Santa Fe. The riding should get a bit easier now in terms of town stops, etc., and I’ll hit Hartstell, Como, Breckenridge, and Silverthorne over the next few days, then Steamboat before heading into Wyoming.
Sarah will re-join me later this month in Montana, where she’ll be driving a camper van and acting as my sag wagon for the remainder of the ride through Montana into Canada. Cannot wait for that!!
If I had to sum up the last week of riding, it’d be with this: it was the toughest stretch of miles I’ve had so far, both physically and in terms of how I’ve felt, but I am so, so incredibly lucky to have such amazing friends and family. The support they’ve given me throughout this trip, and especially in the last week, has been absolutely amazing, and I couldn’t have done it without them.
Onward!
