Day 54 - Section 5A - New Mexico
09/17/06
Platoro, CO 0m to Improvised Camp Site, NM 58m = 58
miles
The
Tough Grind
 This morning Chris and I hit the trail
around 8:30. It was freezing cold and the temps were in
the low teens. The puddles in the road made from last
night’s rain froze solid. The ride from Platoro to Horca
was a fantastic and easy ride. At Horca, Chris and I
split up. I continued on up to La Magna Pass Elevation
10,230 ft and Chris turned towards Chama
to go back home.
 Once I turned on to Colorado Rd117 /
New Mexico RD87 the nice trails I was accustomed to
riding became very steep, heavily eroded, and
extremely rocky.
Several sections in the Rio Grande
National Forest were very saturated and
muddy. I had to trail blaze through the forest to detour
around the marshy sections. The mud is literally shoe sucking. No way could it be traveled
over.
Soon I arrived at the base of Brazos Ridge in Carson
National Forest, a steep up
hill section that was .5 mile long and was all loose
cobblestones. The trail looked a lot like a dry river
bed. I got off and walked it without a second thought.
That was at mile 45 on the map.
Towards the end of the day the trail
conditions improved slightly. I noticed that the
designated Lugunitas campgrounds were not so great, but
two miles after them where hundreds of nice undesignated
places to stay in the Cruces Basin Wilderness. However, there was no sign of accessible
water nearby. Thank goodness  I decided to tank up with
water before I left Horca because that was the only
water source I have seen today. I picked a nice spot off
the side of the road at mile 58.
This afternoon I blew out several of the
welds on the BOB trailer that holds the basket on. The
shock is totally blown and the trailer bounces a lot.
The trailer is a nice design, but it really lacks in
component quality and workmanship.
Day 55 - Section 5A - New Mexico
09/18/06
Improvised Camp Site, NM 58m to Improvised
Camp Site in Canon Plaza, NM 109 = 51 miles
The
Tough Grind Again
Parts of the trail today were just as
rough as yesterday’s section. The ruts in the road left
by stuck trucks and ATV’s were sometime two feet deep
and there were a lot of them. Although it had not rained
today, many sections of the trail were very marshy. This
was one those places you do not want to be stuck on
during a rain storm!
The profile on the map shows the trail
to be generally downhill, but it did not seem like it.
Most of the day felt like I was riding up hill.
 I arrived in Canon Plaza and stopped at
a snack bar on the side of the road for a quick fix. The
owner allowed me to camp out at an abandoned house they
have on the edge of town.
The house was an abandoned shack and it
was a great representation of typical house that doted
the landscape. The original structure was made of mud
and
 then someone added on a stucco section, then someone
added on a wood section. The whole building was built
with scavenged building materials. It looks like
something out of rural Mexico. The heating system was a
mud fireplace. The floors were mud and wood.
The sight proved to be a nice place to
camp for the night and best of all it was free.
Day 56 - Section 5A - New Mexico
09/19/06
Improvised Camp Site in Canon Plaza, NM 109m
to Improvised Camp Site, NM 168m = 59 miles
Ghostly Towns
I got an early start and broke camp by
7am. The route switched between pavement and trail
several times. The paved sections went through some
extremely boring desert lands. The trail sections were
beautiful and tough riding.
The first little town I went through was
Vallecitos, an inhabited town that looked like a ghost
town with a post office. The town was 1890’s/1900’s
vintage and consisted of mostly boarded up buildings and
shacks. The place felt so creepy that I decided to hold
on to my mail until I found another post office. There
was a lot of graffiti on the buildings which is
something I have not seen since starting this trip.
The trail’s downhill sections were very
rough to ride and were slow going. The up hill sections
were heavily eroded and were difficult to maintain
momentum and traction. There was a section of the route
were a stream crisscrossed the trail a dozen times over
2 miles. Fortunately, the stream was dry. It could have
been a real problem crossing if the stream was running.
Sometimes the trail was so rough and
rocky that it took an enormous amount of effort to
navigate around the rocks and ruts.
 I rolled into Abiquiu by noon, had
lunch, and bought several days worth of groceries at the
Bode Store. Bode’s was an adequately supplied grocery
store and was the only decent store I have seen since
Del Norte. After lunch I started a dusty and long uphill
climb. It was very hot. Temperatures were in the high
90’s. I climbed for the rest of the day until night and
was still a long ways from getting to the top. There was
almost as much elevation gain on this section as Indiana
pass but at a lower altitude. This section was far more
difficult to climb than Indiana Pass.
Day 57 - Section 5A - New Mexico
09/20/06
Improvised Camp Site 168m to Cuba 224m = 56
miles
The Last Big Hill
 This morning started off with a tough
climb to the top of the pass. By 9am the sky’s clouded
over and by 10:30 it started to poor. According to the
map the profile looks like it would be an easy ride into
Cuba. Nope! The ride consisted of a lot of short hills
that were steep but too small to register on the
profile.
I am really amazed with what I am
seeing. I expected New Mexico to more dry, desolate, and
desert like. Instead it is almost the most beautiful
part of the GDMBR. It certainly ranks as the most
difficult section. I was told that Montana was the most
difficult. That is a myth. New Mexico is ten times
harder. That may be because this year they had record
monsoons and the rain has really eroded the roads. Some
of these roads are so bad they are dangerous and should
be closed to all but bikers and hikers. Up until last
week Northern New Mexico has had
 torrential rains almost everyday since June. This place is so green and moist it
is like a lush rain forest.
Once I hit the paved Hwy 126, it was a
fast and effortless 45mph downhill for about seven
miles into Cuba. That was a lot of fun. I arrived in
Cuba and stayed at the Del Prado Hotel which was only
$25.
Day 58 - Section 5B - New Mexico
09/21/06
Cuba 0m to Milan via Alternate Route 116m =
116 miles
Navajo Nation
This morning I looked back towards the
hills that I rode down last night and they had received
a substantial dusting of snow.
 
I decided to take the Chaco Alternate
instead of the main route because of yesterday’s heavy
rains. In this area, the soil turns into gumbo when it
gets wet. I experienced some of that gumbo mud, that is
so talked about by Adventure Cycling, when I rode on to
a dirt driveway leading to an out house at a church on
Navajo lands.
 
Most of today's ride was on Navajo
lands. All of today was on a paved highway and was my
longest mileage day, 116 miles. Twenty miles consisted
of killer rolling hills and a persistent head wind that
lasted until evening.
While in the Navajo Nation I saw so much
garbage and glass on the side of the road, I felt like I
was riding on a driveway going to the city dump. There
were decades of dumped trash in the arroyos. It was
sickening and very surprising to see.
On several occasions I was stopped by
locals who warned me not to be on the road after dark
because of all the drunk drivers. They said the drunks
get very rowdy and reckless in these parts. Considering
most of the glass on the roadside were from Bud Light
beer bottles I had already come to that conclusion.
The sun had set and I had 30 miles left
to Milan, NM. At first I was uncomfortable riding in the
dark, but I soon realized that it was not so bad. The
road was in good condition and I had a bright white line
to follow. I used both my bicycle light and my Petzel
head lamp. That made things much better. I really hate
riding on the road but traffic was very light all day.
During the next 30 miles I was passed by only 4 cars.
The night sky was beautiful. For a while
there was a slight orange glow in the western sky and I
could see the silhouette of the rock mesas. It was
postcard perfect. I have never seen so many stars
before. It was hard to ride because I would always be
looking up at the stars and trying to seeing how many
shooting stars I could see streaking across the night sky.
At 11pm I finally arrived in Milan at the Crossroads
Hotel. Surprisingly, I was not even tired. I felt like I
could ride another 20 to 30 miles.
Day 59 - Section 5B - New Mexico
09/22/06
Milan 116m to Grants 121m = 5 miles “Rest
Day”
Historic Route 66
I traveled into neighboring Grants, via.
the historic Route 66, and stayed at the Super 8. That
was a more conveniently located hotel and it was next to
Wal-Mart. I stocked up on groceries and relaxed.
Just as I was about to turn into the
parking lot of the hotel, I met Spencer who also was
another GDMBR rider with a BOB trailer. We talked for
about an hour and then he and I decided to have coffee
together and we shared stores for about another two
hours. I was surprised that he was also spooked by the
same creepy places that bothered me for the same
reasons, especially in Vallecitos.
Spencer originally took the main route
out of Cuba and had to turn back and take the Chaco
Alternate because there were too many thorns. He had
five flats within a few miles and ended up riding back
to Cuba with a shredded tire on his BOB trailer and no
more tire patches.
Just as Spencer was about to leave I met
another GDMBR rider. After 30 minutes the two of them hit
the road together. They had ridden together a couple of
times before.
After pulling off some serious mileage
yesterday I figured I would be sore, but I was ready to
go out and conquer more ground. However, I decided that
I would still take a day off and rest. The next few days
will be tough and I wanted to be fully rested before
setting out to Silver City, my final destination.
Day 60 - Section 6A - New Mexico
09/23/06
Grants 0m to EOS 71m to Improvised Camp Site
15m = 86 miles
Desert Rider
 I had nice early start this morning. I
was on the road by 7am and took the paved alternate
because it rained really hard last night the main route
was too muddy to ride on. By 10am I had traveled 38.5
miles. That is an impressive average speed of 12.3 mph
for towing a BOB trailer. I am impressed at how far I
have come in my physical condition. The paved alternate
was very beautiful had no traffic.
 I finished the alternate and turned back
onto the main route which was dirt. I stopped for a
quick break and after a few minutes Spencer and his
friend rode up, who also took the alternate. They camped
five miles back and saw me ride by as they were breaking
camp. We rode together for a short time and then they
took off while I stopped for lunch. Several hours later I passed them as they were having lunch. Then we rode
together into Pie Town.
We stopped in at Pie-O-Neer Pies in Pie
Town and had some lunch and a slice of pie.
 I was going to stay in Pie Town at the camp site but Spencer convinced me to ride with them, so
I did.
Throughout the day I saw about a dozen
small tarantulas on the trail. Small sections of the
trail were very sandy, but they were very short and were
usually at a base of a small hill. I still wish I had
fatter tires for this section.
 My 2.1 tires just sink
into the sand.
The scenery is amazingly beautiful and
consists of pinion pine and juniper.
We camped out along the road 15 miles
south of Pie Town. There is no good place to camp for
the first 25 miles after Pie Town, but we improvised and
made do.
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