June 7th Update: Glorious desert dirt

My alarm went off at 3:30 in Grants this morning. Aside from the fact that I could’ve used about 6 more hours of it, I slept wonderfully and was rolling out of town by 4:30 after coffee and oatmeal.

Grants leaves a bit to be desired from a town stop perspective. My ride out in the dark this morning was peppered with lovely things like a homeless woman yelling at me, some guy smoking something outside a gas station, and a scenic cruise past the state prison at 5am (those “don’t pick up hitchhikers” signs hit harder when you’re on a bike in the dark.

Once I got out of town, though, things changed for the better. The ride started with a big but gradual climb on pavement, from which I got to watch the sunrise. It switched to dirt and I climbed up and over Mt Taylor, and then had an amazing descent off the backside.

The alpine environment of Mt Taylor gave way to incredible rimrock desert country. There were desert spires in the distance, and views straight out of a western movie.

There wasn’t a ton of elevation gain after that, so the riding was pretty quick. And, all of the water tanks and springs marked on the map were actually full!!! That’s the first time that’s happened yet this trip, which makes for a much less stressful day.

I had a visitor around lunch time—a guy named Alex, who I once sold a pair of skis to in Santa Fe and have since stayed in touch with on Instagram (he’s also a bike guy and raises goats)—rode by me on his new dual sport motorcycle. Turns out he’d taken the train to grants, where he bought the bike earlier today, and then knew I was out here so took the scenic route home. Always nice to see a familiar face! And man, was I jealous of the 700cc’s and 320 miles of range his bike had… mine doesn’t have that many CCs.

After that, I passed another group of NOBO riders, two Kiwis and a guy named Larry from Butte. They’d all flown into Tucson and ridden over to the start of the divide via the connector. It sounded like they were headed to the same campsite as me, but I rolled in around 3:30 and never saw them. I got my tent set up just in time for a little rain, and took a nice siesta after second lunch. Hopefully Larry and the Kiwis didn’t get stuck in the mud—these roads were riding become completely impassible when they’re wet.

Thats all for now—on to Cuba and into the Jemez Mountains to meet Sarah and Eric tomorrow!