Reserve, NM - Alpine, AZ - The cat named Chevy won't stop this tour, and neither can COVID

June 9, 2020

Reserve, NM - Alpine, AZ

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3,669 Elevation gain

The cold front that brought significant snow to Colorado, made it down to us also. It's ironic that we are at 6,000 feet, so the temperature is already cool. I debated getting out the winter gloves. Although we had an extended climb, I decided to leave later than usual to allow the temperature to warm up. I was outside at a leisurely 7 AM. I compared rides with the motorcycle guys. I learned that soft bags are better if you are in a crash because if you get your leg caught under a hard pannier, it will almost always break. They were doing a dirt ride. It sounded like there was lots of crashing. They had one guy crash yesterday that they were waiting to see if he would ride today. They must have a vehicle with them to haul motorcycles?

I wasn't so excited about the start of this day. I estimated it would take me an hour and a half to get back to the intersection. I kept telling myself to compare it to the Clifton day. That day we had to backtrack ten miles, but it wasn't near as much climbing. I ended up doing better than expected. I arrived at the intersection in exactly one hour. I felt strong at that point. The 750 foot climb had been steady and gradual. I was riding through an attractive little valley with grass and trees. This looked perfect to graze cows. I've seen very few cows the entire trip, with the exception of the dairy near Elfrida. I saw a lot of cows there!

At the turn I stopped for a little break. I started pedaling optimistically. I planned to ride another hour and then take a break. I was at 6,500 feet elevation at the intersection, with 1,500 to go for the first climb. This was hard, really hard. Why was it so hard? My Garmin said 3-4% consistently. Yet, I was in the bottom of my granny gear. Yesterday I was riding 5% grades in the middle chainring, admittedly with a tailwind. It wasn't THAT strong of a tailwind. What the heck. Today would be a very long day at this rate. I stopped and assessed the situation. There wasn't much wind yet. The air was brisk, which was to my advantage. I had eaten breakfast. I took a few swigs of Spiz and considered what I could do differently. I took a couple of Anti Fatigue pills and started again. I felt much better! I don't think the capsules could have acted that quickly. Was it in my mind? Was giving my legs another rest that helpful? Whatever the answer, I employed the stop every mile option all the way to the lookout. The man at the restaurant had clearly said that we were at the top at the lookout. That is not correct. Bicycle riders using their granny gear do not appreciate incorrect info. It was another 200 feet of climbing to the actual top. That took me about 10 minutes of panting effort.

Hurray! I made it. I sure had a rough start to the morning. I consulted the elevation profile. I had five miles of downhill before the next up starts. That would be 1,000 feet of climbing. At the moment, it felt completely doable. I ate part of a bar and sipped a variety of beverages.

The day had once again been delightfully free of traffic. The downhill was gentle, I used the brakes lightly to slow down. For almost all of this trip there has been a paved shoulder that's unusable because of plants growing, dirt, rumble strips, repavement, etc. Today was no different. The shoulder was ~3 feet, but covered in dirt. I kept just to the left of the white line. A car passed me every 5-7 minutes.

I continued my habit of waving at oncoming vehicles. I had one Cargill semi driver wave back vigorously with a huge smile. My responding smile lasted a significant distance. Most people waved back today. Yesterday, they didn't. I don't know what changed. You know the best wave I received? Max (remember Max who gave me water at Mule Creek?) and I waved at each other like a couple of three year olds as he passed by. I looked to see if he turned around again, but he kept going. Seeing him was the highlight of the day. That and the scenery. I rode through a ponderosa alley almost all day. Trees, trees, and more trees. Since this is the first day this trip that has happened, it was a novelty and fun.

It didn't take long until I got to the base of the second climb. Ugh. I was not in the mood for this. It was a short mile day, but very long on effort. Here we go. I would do the stop every mile thing. Which worked. It was only memorable for being miserable. I was happy to reach 8,111 feet at the top. You, dear reader, might get tired of all of these numbers, but they are important. Each foot of elevation was earned with sweat!

The top of the climb was exactly at the state line. That couldn't have been planned in advance, could it? An entire, straight state line just happened to be right at the top?

It was seven miles from there to town, mostly level. Unfortunately, the valley opened up and a headwind appeared. I was lucky the wind swirled around most of the day, but that strong wind we were afraid of didn't appear until now. Right at the town limit, just to add to my misery, there was a little granny gear climb. Hell.

Jacinto had mentioned last night that it's ok if I stop at the store and buy apples and drinks. Look - there's a store. Sure, I can stop. Anything to get off the bike. I don't think I looked too good. Standing up took effort. There were two men outside eating lunch at a table. They must have a deli inside? The men asked the usual questions about our trip. I finally made it inside. I bought chips and salsa as an afternoon treat. There was a trio of emergency responders inside with a man sitting on a chair. They were asking if he were diabetic or had had problems being dizzy before. I tried not to stare and go about my business.

The motel was just 3-4 blocks away, around the corner. Thank goodness. Frank, the owner, looks like a proper old time cowboy. Frank is very slim and easily in his 70's. His snap down shirt is so starched it could stand by itself. The shirt is tidily tucked into Wrangler jeans, and has a huge buckle on the belt. The typical white cowboy hat finished his ensemble. Later I saw him cleaning rooms, complete with cowboy hat. He kept an old fashioned booking book - the pages looked very blank. I hope he can hold onto the business through COVID.

I had hardly gotten into the room when Jacinto called. He was at the grocery. No, we don't need anything there. He came on to the motel. We demolished our appetizer in no time. I told Jacinto I thought we should have an afternoon snack every day. He laughed at me.

OK - here's the big news. I've mentioned a couple of times that we changed our schedule to hit Navajo Nation during the week. This gave us four days off to work in our schedule somewhere. I've found it nice to rest before/after big climbs. Jacinto has been bored. I have tried explaining to him that it takes me far more physical effort than it does him. On our big climbing day, I left three hours earlier, but got to town only 15 minutes before Jacinto. He's an excellent climber and all muscle.

So. Jacinto doesn't seem to need these recovery days. He was bemoaning the upcoming rest days. Then he had a great idea. We had originally planned to travel through Hannagan Meadow. The lodge there did not refund our money, but gave us a credit. From Alpine, HM is 22 miles/2,700 feet of climbing. A nice day's ride. Truthfully, it would take me about four hours to get there. It's not totally undoable. If we did that, we give up our day off and have to ride 50 miles to Springerville to get on schedule.

Short version is that we have rented their cheapest room. They will allow us to use the balance of the deposit at the restaurant. That was appreciated. Most likely Jacinto will go alone. I've wanted to go to HM all winter. Probably it's nice, but not as much as I'm making it into. I'd like to stay rested for what I need to do. This is an extra. A 10, 080 foot extra. Jacinto has looked at the temperature - he won't be hot there!

A side note - it's been days since I've seen anyone wearing a mask. Even the First Responders in the grocery didn't have masks on . . . . the motorcycle guy said he was pretty sure his daughter came home with COVID from New Zealand. She was slightly sick, his wife was slightly sick, he got it terrible, plus all of the odd side effects like not being able to taste. He asked his doctor for an antibodies test, but the doctor said they would have to do the test six times to get a compiled result, because the test results are so inaccurate.

Two of the dirt motorcycle riders who were at the restaurant last night. They are doing a six day ride through the Gila Wilderness. It sounds tough and lots dirtier than our ride. They had red dust all over everything, and red dust raccoon eyes.

The town of Reserve has 400some residents and rodeo grounds!

This is the view from the overlook at the top of the first climb.

The wire mesh on the rock wall keeps rocks from falling in the roadway. It has been in place so long that fairly large trees were growing through.

These hardy blanket flowers found a place to grow.

Luna Lake is not near the town of Luna, it is near the town of Alpine.

We are back in Arizona until after Kayenta.

All Alpine restaurants are closed on Tuesday evenings. Luckily the little grocery was open. Frozen meals were limited to 6-8 choices. Here's what I picked. It was quite a comedown from last night's ribeye!

Dessert - it rode around one day in Jacinto's pannier and another day in mine. Considering, it doesn't look bad. I ate it.

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 476 miles (766 km)

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