The joys of riding unexplored territory. None of us knew how difficult the ride would be today. We were all sassy and happy from the easy cruise yesterday over the Continental Divide. It's very interesting that some of the toughest climbs do not have names. Other than the not very polite names that touring cyclists give them. Today's big climb was benignly named Brazos Overlook. Instead Genny renamed the pass "Biting Black Fly Pass".
Further research on Highway 64 divulged that this is the highest continuous road in New Mexico - the summit is 10,500 feet. This section of Hwy 64 is routinely closed in the winter.
An Easter Egg tree in the middle of nowhere on Highway 64.
John was not chased by the blue and red heeler dogs at the ranch near where this photo was taken. The ranch was flying an Israeli flag. John said perhaps the dogs were trained to chase only Gentile cyclists . . . . the heelers gave me the worst scare I've had in some time by chasing dogs. They were just the first of many dogs to come after me in New Mexico.
My bike is a RANS Stratus XP in Titanium - the K frame. I was carrying my clothing, toiletries, some tools, a couple of tubes, and a spare tire. In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I carried only food and water for the day and that Jacinto had the extra food in the BOB trailer. A last minute surprise was that he brought my 'good' Keen sandals rather than the 99 cent flip flops (light weight) that I usually bring on tour. Jacinto said he brought the good sandals in case we needed to walk to the next town for dinner as we did during our Wyoming tour I still whine occasionally about that trek in flip flops.
Skunk cabbage and aspen trees are two signs that the altitude is increasing. These aspen all had web worms and did not look healthy at all. Miles and miles of sick aspen trees.
The view from the Brazo's Overlook at 10,518 feet. It was a long climb, with occasional steep pitches. Just a reminder to us that all days on this tour wouldn't be as easy as yesterday.
The long uphill had an equally long downhill. Very nice, gradual descent. Just made for touring cyclists. Highway 64 is an excellent cycling road - very little traffic and eye popping scenery. But you had better like to climb!
We saw many old cabins that were falling down on this trip. The clouds were building. Would the afternoon monsoons catch me before I reached our cabin for the night?
We had about 5 minutes of hard rain at the cabin. I got caught as I passed the entrance. Had I turned at the right spot, I would have been dry. It appeared there was more rain in the distance. This was the view off of the back deck of our cabin.
