Month: August 2018

Left nathrop and made for Alma on mainly sealed Rd. This was a bit of my route but I wanted to have a go at getting up mnt bross said to be the highest drivable peak in Colorado

I have done 4300km todate and averaging almost 400km a day and now I’m going to cook my can of beef stew and boil a cup of coffee

Camped in Rio grande national Forest last night ,I was the only one there and the sign on the board didn’t inspire confidence so I took the precaution of locking my small food supply in the toilet well away from me and I slept well

.I headed for Sargent’s in the morning and had a great ride through Rio grande and Gunnison forests Had a big breakfast at Sargent’s and off to tomichi pass only to find out that it was closed so back to Sargent’s to work out a plan b. There. Was a couple there on KTM s (350 and500) and heading for a small village called pitcin via a great dirt Rd and pass. I left them and headed over Hancock’s pass to st Elmo this turned out to be a major challenge and of all the riding I have done in Colorado this is the closest to the awakino saddle I have come to

Stayed in a nice camp ground in Chama and headed for del Norte Into a state park where my attempt to get up Bennett peak started Going up a very steep single track which zig zagged what felt like the side of a cliff and required absolute attention it occurred to me that 1 small error would be the end of my ride and when the zigging and zagging finished it got worse , the track turned into extremely Rocky narrow steep climb after dropping the bike twice and not making much progress I decided to retreat which in itself was more terrifieng than going up and having to walk it down in a lot of places

 

Finally put on the tire I’ve been carrying around ,the d606 had done a Sterling job having done half the TAT and my 3600 km Rode through a lot of forestry trails to abiquiu including 1 challenge section but because of a large fallen tree and a gully with no way round I had to back track back to the normal route

I survived the coyotes and rode t Datil to pick up the GDR route. the neat sealed Rd turned into a great dirt Rd which was washed out in lot of sections and the roads turn very slippery because of a lack of gravel which made for a great mornings ride .A great blue berry and ice cream Pie at Datil and into some great forestry roads to. Grants and a Mac Donald’s for lunch then on to Cuba The sign at the start wasn’t kidding but turned out to be a great ride and a constant slalom It passed a huge lava flow the likes I have never seen before It looked like it only happened yesterday

Took the challenge option through the San Luis mountains for 56 km it was a bit of a challenge but emerged through a stunning gorge to some amazing views of massive cliff faces and valleys as far as I could see

Mixed day today left Silver city and had a great ride in Toya national park for a couple of hours then when I got back on the seal disaster! The chain snaps.

I carry chain breaker and some chain so in about an hour I back on the road and heading back to silver City and would you know it ,no bloody bike shop and the nearest place I can get one is Las Cruces NM 160km away in the wrong way and no other option so 2 hrs on a interstate I get a new chain (rk of course)and then told I have to go back up that interstate to get back on course so I ask the GPS for shortest way to to Tatil and so far it has taken me on this fantastic route

Because of extreme heat (118f briefly) I motelled it Started early today to miss the expected heat and at last got off the freeways and headed for the chiricahua mountains and a great ride over pinery canyon Rd to a small settlement of portal then a planned route across a large plain to hook up with the GDR at separ but a locked gate changed that so I took the long way round and headed for Silver city from separ Had to get into my wet weather gear and witnessed a great lightning show

Left panamint spring and straight onto nadea trail onto a long sand track (photo)then turned into the mountains which turned into a narly rocky climb so taking the advice of my daughter and not to go into isolated places alone and having another 70km I worked with the help of the GPS back to the sealed Rd

Ok first one  , all day on seal   tried to get through  Yosemite but was turned back  because of fires so  was diverted through  sanora pass  spent most of day in smoke Climbed to Almost 3000m from about sea level and even in the haze it was fantastic  Set up my first camp  and looking forward to a much more challenging ride  in death valley national park   and  crossing Lippincott pass to look at the  mysterious moving  rocks on racetrack playa.

To those who get this I’m still struggling with closed rds took saline valley rd next to death valley to panamint spring very hard day, the road s had been closed due to flooding 2days previous it was dry but lots of damage, wash outs and rocks I tried to cross Lippincott pass but washouts near top made it impossible, all that struggling for nothing .I saw no one fo about 5hrs in one of the most isolated places I have been but the scenery I think is the most stunning I have ever seen which went a long way to make up for the 46c temp

Stopped riding about 2pm because of heat