Hard Day: Redux

Day 6 - June 12th

45.2 miles

Total 205.1 miles

Day - Moving Avg 5.8 mph

Day - Overall Avg 3.4 mph

Today was supposed to be easier. And, in truth it sort of felt easier, but seeing our avg paces, it would seem otherwise. Short post because I am exhausted, and we have to go forty miles to water in the morning.

Today we combatted three solid climbs of about 5 percent grade. Apricots was able to bike all three of them, albeit at a walking pace. I am still proud of her accomplishments today. I can't seem to motivate myself to bike up the steep grades, if I can push my bike at the same pace. It feels less fatiguing to push the bike, but I suspect that will change as we get stronger legs.

After the second big climb and drop, we stopped in at Geronimo Trail Guest Ranch to resupply on water, and have an early lunch. The property was beautiful with scattered cabins and at least 25 horses. 

One climb later we were at the Beavercreek Work Center, enjoying fresh cold water, and two sodas from a vending machine. We chatted with two other tour divide racers, before they took off to cover another sixty miles.

We only made it another twenty or so. Slowly climbing a bumpy gradual climb in a treeless landscape, the sun stated us in the eyes. The wind tried to push us downhill. And our lack of energy told us that we should not go as far as we wanted.

In the end, our mileage wasn't too bad. But everything we do takes unbelievable amounts of energy. Two sloths swimming through molasses in January move faster than us.

On the bright side, everything was beautiful today, even if New Mexico is trying to kill us.

Live life at a slower place.
Sent From:
Http:maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:33.54846+-108.30017

--

Live life at a slower place.

Sent From:

http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:45.51744+-122.32710

There are hikers that move faster.

Day 5 - June 11th

47.5 miles

159.9 total

Moving Avg. 6.0 Mph

Overall Avg. 3.8 Mph

Today was a day divided.

We were rained on in the night, but managed to pull it together and leave camp by 6am, for an early climb followed by a long steep descent. The fresh rain turned the mountain into an aromatic symphony. The smell if Pinyon Pines was so present and strong, we kept finding ourselves marveling at the sweet aroma.

After our descent, we arrived at Lake Roberts at the very early hours of Pre coffee for the small general store. They kindly brewed us some for our appreciative consumption. This powered us along through a beautiful valley where crickets sang to us in passing. The highway was so untraveled that most of the ride passed with nothing more than the company of the crickets and birds, which sang unfamiliar songs.

I told Apricots that if the ride was like this the entire time, I would never want to do anything but ride along with her for all of time. We were even gaining elevation, but the temperature was right, the views were elegant, pastoral, and calm. By 10:30am, we covered our first 25 miles.

This is when things turned around. We hit gravel road for the first time, which was exciting. But the grade which greeted us was so steep, that even in our lowest gears, we were too slow to maintain balance (and energy) on the bike. We pushed our bikes up a mile of gravel road, before remounting, and enjoying a slow steady climb along the continental divide.

The rest of the day was too exhausting to adequately capture. The sun came out and cooked us as we made climbs and drops between 5 and 10 percent grade. I was too weak to pedal some of the climbs, and Apricots was too uneasy on the roads to handle the steep downhills. We are still getting our bike legs, arms, and mindset into shape for this ride. And this trip through the Gila Wilderness is wickedly difficult. All in all, I probably pushed my bike eight to ten miles uphill today. For the most part, Apricots was able to pedal up the hills, but she did need to push some of the time.

Towards day's end, I started getting super fearful that the next water source was going to be dry. This only made me want to be more conservative with my water, which In turn made me far more fatigued and dizzy. Eventually I flagged a passing car to ask if there was water at lower black canyon campground. They said there was, then gave us a Powerade and a gallon of water. Sweet sweet glorious happiness.

As the remainder of the afternoon progressed, I could see Apricots get more comfortable with the downhills on her bike. I unfortunately never had enough energy to handle the up hills. Many grunts and panting was had by me, as I feared the long term choices I have made for this summer. I am taking comfort in the fact that a biker ahead of us has told me that first 100 miles out of Silver City were the hardest she has experienced thus far on her journey. She is about 250 miles ahead of us.

When we finally made it to camp, a fellow camper was enjoying a beer with his dog. He offered us a beer, and we introduced ourselves. Jake, and his dog Chelsea provided great conversation over dinner and a beer. And to top it off, he didn't want to see us laboring over our water pump, so he insisted we top off all our water bottles with his water supply. (Thank you very much Jake)

Also, two Northbound Tour Divide racers blazed past us today. We talked for a bit, but they had miles to make.

Live life at a slower place.
Sent From:

Http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:33.18544+-108.03078

--

Live life at a slower place.

Sent From:

http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:45.51744+-122.32710

Trees. Sweet sweet trees, and a Nero.

Day 4 - June 10

13.9 miles 

Total 105.8

Day - Moving Avg 5.7

Day - Overall Avg 2.1

Today was a near zero for us. We had several errands to run in Silver City for the next leg and decided that we should allow ourselves some acclimation time.

We slept in until 6:30, waking to clear skies. Last nights downpour passed over us, and it looked to be another warm day. Fortunately, as we ran errands for most of the morning, the temperature was a comfortable seventy five degrees. Grabbing food for the next four day leg, was enjoyable as everyone that helped was super friendly. Apricots was pleased to find a food co-op in historic downtown, a block from our breakfast, and a couple blocks from Gila Hike and Bike.

Groceries purchased, we stopped in at the bike shop and bought some chain lube for Apricots. Unfortunately, somewhere in transit, her oil opened up and spilled into her handlebar bag. 

As the day was getting hotter, we grabbed some cold beverages to fuel us with electrolytes for the impending 1000 foot climb. We sat drinking our coconut water and Gatorade, deeply questioning whether we wanted to take a full zero in the lovely Silver City. In the end, I convinced Apricots that it was going to be a short leg to lunch in Pinos Altos, so we set off.

Climbing out of the desert, we started finding more regular tree coverage, and enjoyed the climb far more than any previous mile. We even marveled at how the "harder" portion actually felt a little easier. It was a well designed road alternating climbs and level portions which helped us catch our breath. Additionally, we both feel that we are getting better Acclimated to the elevation, around 7000ft.

Arriving at Pinos Altos, we looked for a lunch place, only to find out the only place in town was an old saloon and bordello. The saloon still operates, but the ladies have taken permanent leave from the business. A local informed us that Butch Cassidy use to hang out at the bar back in the 1800s. I am not sure of the validity of this, but it was interesting, and all the paintings, photographs and artwork would seem to indicate the truth of this statement.

Unfortunately, we arrived two hours before the bar opened, and three hours before they started serving food. Fortunately, we arrived just as a afternoon thunderstorm decided to drop rain and hail on us. We took shelter on the porch until the bar opened. Once inside, we enjoyed the atmosphere while drinking water and beer. Apricots is a sucker for beer. (She insists at it is her duty to sample the local microbrews wherever we travel).

After the meals were had, we enjoyed a beautiful cool calm ride down a winding road, free of traffic, free of scorching sun. There was a seeming explosion of trees on the west side of the continental divide. When we hit the low point at Cherry Creek (not flowing), we were both blown away by the sudden aroma of greenery that is more likely to be found the northwest than in the New Mexico high desert.

A few miles later, we set up camp at McMillan Campground.

Back to early mornings and long days tomorrow.

...As an aside, the Tour Divide Northbound race started today. We anticipate seeing extreme cyclists blazing past tomorrow, as most of them probably made it to Silver City today. We may have even seen one pass us today. He was moving too fast to say anything more than hi. (Apricots even mistook him for a car at first.... Seriously, you can't make this shit up.)

Live life at a slower place.
Sent From:
Http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:32.92536+-108.21357

--

Live life at a slower place.

Sent From:

http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:45.51744+-122.32710

History Afoot

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid drank at this bar with the Wild Bunch Gang between their train/bank roberies, until they fled to Argentina and Bolivia before dying in a shootout.

We plan to raise some hell ourselves.

Live life at a slower place.

Sent From:
http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:32.87387+-108.21906

Sweet glorious cloud cover

Day 3 - June 9

40.5 miles 

Total 98.5

Day - Moving Avg 7.6

Day - Overall Avg 3.4

It is a strange feeling to look down a long long long straight highway through the desert. The distant hills seem to never get closer, and as the parallel lines of the road vanish far off in the distance, there is a subtly illusion that you are biking downhill. 

So, if the road is slightly graded downhill, how come I feel so tired?

Oh yes, I biked fifty miles yesterday. I should be. Oh, and I probably only got four hours of good sleep. But if the road is going downhill, how come I feel the need to always be pedaling?

Well, it turns we weren't going downhill. It was a long slow steady climb. So slow, that the road looked flat. But we definitely felt it. Especially when the headwinds kicked in. Then it really dawned on me. We were suddenly close to six thousand feet. We are still acclimating from the near zero elevation of Portland.

It was a perfect storm of things that beat you down. Heat, climbing, elevation acclimation, head winds, and lack of sleep. To be fair, Apricots was definitely rocking it while I was whimpering and asking for breaks. Then, finally my bike developed a squeak. I used this as a ploy to convince her that we could walk our bikes for a mile or two, so we still made progress.

Eventually we made it to Bayard, where I demanded hoards of red meat to up my iron levels and help me acclimate better. After tasty burgers, we moved another two miles down the road and took a long nap in a gazebo while thunderclouds started forming overhead. As soon as the clouds hid the sun, we put our gear back on, and pushed the final six miles to Silver City. Stopping for electrolytes, a driver warned us of heavy hail coming our way.

The rain caught up with us as we entered Silver City. We took shelter in Gila Hike and Bike and had the friendly staff help us repair our bikes. The gears were acting a little off, likely due to the disassembly and reassembly after shipping. While tweaking my gears, the mechanic found some other minor things that needed tweaking (a crooked wheel), and some unnecessary rubbing between the front derailleur and the rear fender. He fixed things up for us, as the rain poured heavily on the streets outside. Residents were claiming that the weather was super irregular lately, and this storm was on par with being completely crazy.

We are now huddled in our tent as rain pours heavily on us, and lightening crashes overhead.

We are taking a smaller day tomorrow, as we have errands to run in the morning. Then a 4.5 day leg to Pie Town. Also, we finally move off the paved surfaces and hit the real trail riding. Exciting and terrifying.

Live life at a slower place.

Sent From:

Http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:32.77852+-108.27169

--
at a slower place.

Sent From:
http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:45.51744+-122.32710

Sweet glorious cloud cover

Day 3 - June 9

40.5 miles 

Total 98.5

Day - Moving Avg 7.6

Day - Overall Avg 3.4

It is a strange feeling to look down a long long long straight highway through the desert. The distant hills seem to never get closer, and as the parallel lines of the road vanish far off in the distance, there is a subtly illusion that you are biking downhill.

So, if the road is slightly graded downhill, how come I feel so tired?

Oh yes, I biked fifty miles yesterday. I should be. Oh, and I probably only got four hours of good sleep. But if the road is going downhill, how come I feel the need to always be pedaling?

Well, it turns we weren't going downhill. It was a long slow steady climb. So slow, that the road looked flat. But we definitely felt it. Especially when the headwinds kicked in. Then it really dawned on me. We were suddenly close to six thousand feet. We are still acclimating from the near zero elevation of Portland.

It was a perfect storm of things that beat you down. Heat, climbing, elevation acclimation, head winds, and lack of sleep. To be fair, Apricots was definitely rocking it while I was whimpering and asking for breaks. Then, finally my bike developed a squeak. I used this as a ploy to convince her that we could walk our bikes for a mile or two, so we still made progress.

Eventually we made it to Bayard, where I demanded hoards of red meat to up my iron levels and help me acclimate better. After tasty burgers, we moved another two miles down the road and took a long nap in a gazebo while thunderclouds started forming overhead. As soon as the clouds hid the sun, we put our gear back on, and pushed the final six miles to Silver City. Stopping for electrolytes, a driver warned us of heavy hail coming our way.

The rain caught up with us as we entered Silver City. We took shelter in Gila Hike and Bike and had the friendly staff help us repair our bikes. The gears were acting a little off, likely due to the disassembly and reassembly after shipping. While tweaking my gears, the mechanic found some other minor things that needed tweaking (a crooked wheel), and some unnecessary rubbing between the front derailleur and the rear fender. He fixed things up for us, as the rain poured heavily on the streets outside. Residents were claiming that the weather was super irregular lately, and this storm was on par with being completely crazy.

We are now huddled in our tent as rain pours heavily on us, and lightening crashes overhead.

We are taking a smaller day tomorrow, as we have errands to run in the morning. Then a 4.5 day leg to Pie Town. Also, we finally move off the paved surfaces and hit the real trail riding. Exciting and terrifying.

Live life at a slower place.
Sent From:
Http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:32.77852+-108.27169

--

Live life at a slower place.

Sent From:

http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:45.51744+-122.32710

The heat that beat us.

Day 2 - June 8th

51.4 miles 

Total 58

Day - Moving Avg 9.3

Day - Overall Avg 4.2

Well the day was so damn hot. We fell short of our goal by about ten miles. We started very early to beat the heat, but we spent too much time in Deming after our first 32 miles.

We needed to go another 31 miles to get to City of Rocks Arch. All of this paved asphalt riding is nice but the heat sure does reflect back at you. We tried to push ourselves, but the heat finally won. We decided to rest and go eight mile chunks to our destination.

Four miles later we gave up. We took weak shelter under a small shrubbery and whined for hours at the ants, sticky thorns, very hot drinking water, and passing cars which seemed to be oblivious to the fact that I said "ice cold pop please" to every passing car. There was even a water delivery van who blasted past us, as we pleaded silently from the roadside.

On the bright side, we were able to work on our sun burns. My arms have not seen such atrocious burns since the first time I hiked the PCT. I don't think Apricots sunscreen worked too well.

After close to three hours of waiting out the heat, we finally decided that we would make our destination in six mile legs. Slowly, begrudgingly, we packed up to hit the road. Only this time, we had the heat, and a headwind to battle. Three miles later, we saw a giant dumpster in the sun. We opted to sit in its stinky shade while trying to find out if the Bar S Ranch RV park was open. There was an antique road sign directing us two miles off route to the RV park. We were afraid to sidetrack and find the RV park long closed.

As the stench of the giant baking trash receptacle started to seep into our clothing a truck drove past. I ran over and asked if the park was open. He said it probably was. I asked if it had water, and he said very likely. Then he looked at our sad pathetic state and gave us his large Gatorade and cup of ice.

OMG it was heaven drinking a strangers Gatorade in the shadow of a dumpster.

We biked the final two miles to the RV park. They have been kind and accepted us, even letting us crash in the Club house to limit our interactions with the rattlesnakes which tend to cover the entire property at night.

We used our time to give ourselves a gear shakedown. A lovely shower, and grip loads of iced beverage.

Lesson learned.... Don't bike between noon and four in this atrocious heat.

Tomorrow, on to silver city and beyond. We are a little over a day away from the Gila Cliff dwellings, if we opt for the 37 mile detour.

Live life at a slower place.

Sent From:

Http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:32.47063+-107.92397

--
at a slower place.

Sent From:
http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:45.51744+-122.32710

A trip to the border and back

Day 1

6.6 miles 

Total 6.6

Day - Moving Avg 14.9

Day - Overall Avg 7.7

We awoke early and rushed downstairs from the hotel to start assembling our bikes. We wanted to get the bikes rebuilt so that we could get a ride to the border and back before it became to warm. 

The bikes were disassembled more than we had expected, but they were extremely well packaged, so thanks for that River City Cycles. The exciting fact of this is that Apricots and I were able to learn a little bit more about our bikes as we built them. It was intuitive enough, and I only had one real problem. I did not have a torque wrench, so I guessed on when the screws were tight enough. We will likely hit up a bike shop in Silver City and have them to a quick inspection of the screws, as well as help clean up and problems which arise in our first few days.

After assembling the bikes, we took out our bikes to cycle south the 3.3 miles to the border. We snapped a couple pictures at the border. We wanted to have someone take a picture of us, as the self timer picture was mediocre at best. I tried to asking a passing pedestrian. Just my luck, he didn't speak any English, and our Spanish is sub par. I tried to gesture to him what we wanted, thinking it would be clear. Turns out the man was also blind. How hilarious is that? Time to brush up on our Spanish.

Apricots and I hopped back on our bikes and returned to the hotel. The innkeeper gave us his car keys and let us run errands with his van. Logically, we could have used our bikes, but we opted out, as it was already 100 degrees, and the day was still young.

Errands ran, food eaten. Bed time for an early rise.

Live life at a slower place.

Sent From:

http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:31.82965+-107.63916

--
at a slower place.

Sent From:
http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:45.51744+-122.32710

Getting Here In One Piece

Two mornings ago the chirping birds woke Apricots at five am. She threw a handful of profanities at the choir or bluejays and robins and slammed the window shut. She turned to me and said, "thank god I only have to deal with that for one more day." I laughed in reply, and reminded her that we were about to return to living in a tent for two months, and she grumbled about it being okay then.

I suppose it is like my reaction to spiders: in the house equals freaky bloodsucking evil satan spawn.... Outside of the house, snazzy arachnids which serve the greater good.

....... for the greater gooooooood.......

I told a coworker about my bike trip. He said that it sounded exciting, but that I shouldn't bike more than thirty miles a day. Uh oh.... We are aiming for around 60 miles. So.... Uh.... Maybe we have bitten off more than we can chew. Time will tell. One thing is for sure, I am feeling pretty anxious. I think Apricots is more relaxed than I am.

This morning my brother's wife made us breakfast (Thank you Miho) and my parents took us to SeaTac airport. A couple of bumpy flights later we arrived in the chilly city of El Paso, TX. It was only 97 degrees. Upon walking out of the plane, I received a call from Philip Skinner. He was 90 minutes ahead of schedule for picking us up. Sweet, no sitting around at the airport.

Apricots and I both jumped in excitement when we saw our luggage in tact and not lost. Then 90 minutes later, we were shuttled by Philip Skinner to his hotel Martha's Place in Columbus. We jumped again in excitement when we saw that our bikes were here, delivered on time. Thank you River City Cycles.

Amazing hospitality here from Philip and his wife. He knew that our bank cards wouldn't work in Palomas across the border, so he gave us cash and had his wife drive us into Mexico so we could have dinner at La Fiesta, an authentic restaurant just south of the border. He even gave us his cell phone to use in case our service provider wouldn't work at the border. After dinner he picked us up, and told us that we could borrow his car tomorrow if we needed to run any last minute errands before taking off.

Tomorrow we will build and outfit our bikes an do a quick run to the border. Then we will probably stay one more night before hitting the road for our crazy summer bike trip.

Live life at a slower place.

Test Post

Checking IPAD settings.

Sorry for the blank post.

--
Live life at a slower place.
Sent From:
http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:31.82965+-107.63916

Final Countdown

[Test Post]

Our bikes are shipped.

Our bags are packed.

Our anxiety is full throttle.

Tomorrow we will drive to my brothers place just south of Seattle Airport, and Monday we fly south.

We have a rough itinerary posted now for those who want to make use of the itinerary.

https://aslowerplace.blogspot.com/p/travel-itinerary.html

Additionally I tried updating the Gear and Bags page, but it is still pretty rough.

Time to sleep. The ride is upon us too soon.

Giddy Giddy!

--

Live life at a slower place.

Sent From:

http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:45.51744+-122.32710

A New Blog Name

It's been a long time coming, but here it is.

Lauren "Apricots" Wright and Roger "Psycho" Binschus are up to their no good traveling ways again. This time, we will be traveling by bike.

We have decided to rename the blog to be more fitting for future posts. For the most part, I believe all followers will still be following the new blog url, but if it doesn't automatically transfer for you (and you still want to follow us), we will be posting on:

aslowerplace.blogspot.com

Expect exciting new posts in the coming days and weeks!

Our plan is to ride Mountain Bikes up the Great Divide. We start in New Mexico and travel up through Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, and Alberta.

Exciting!!


Posted from this location:

http://maps.google.com/maps?z=12&t=k&q=loc:45.51744+-122.32710