June 7, 2023
riding a river bed
Santa Fe national forest to Abiquiu
It rained for at least 6 hours last night and luckily we stayed dry. Shortly after the rain stopped, a prop plane flew low overhead. We later learned that another cyclist on the mountain called it in because of a suspected fire. We expected an easy day of mostly downhill into the town of Abiquiu, so we took our time pushing our sopping tent into its bag. The forest was extra green this morning and we were greeted with surprisingly dry roads despite the rain. The map indicated we had four smallish climbs before the big descent happened. We pedalled up the road and met a couple travelling by jeep. The road had just started to become rockier. We chatted with them for a while before watching their jeep tackle large boulders and deep puddles ahead of us.
Eventually, the road became so rocky that we were moving faster than the jeep.
He let us pass and after another mile of this, we reached a steep section with lots of loose rocks about the size of basket balls. We walked up, and I wanted to wait for the jeep to see if he could make it, but he was too far behind. The road stayed rough until the top, but it was fun to pick a line and climb through. It didnt even feel like climbing since we were so focused on dodging big rocks. We reached the final peak around 1 pm and ate the last of our food. It was over 10,000' now and I could feel it in my legs. I think sleeping at 9500 was enough to slow my overnight recovery as well. It was definitely chillier, so we put our rain coats on for the descent.
The road down was similar to the road up. We dodged rocks and washout sections. We saw lightning ahead, but the storm was moving the same direction as us. Soon we started passing piles of hale and recent rain areas.
I hoped we wouldnt catch it, but before we could, the road became something more akin to a dry river bed. The rocks were so big it was hard to miss them. At one point I went right over a 1 foot drop and bottomed out my front tire. We had gone down about 2000' so far and the loss of elevation had made my tires soft. I added some pressure and carried on. The rocky washed out road was half river now and we were getting covered in mud, but other than the bike bags flinging around, it was pretty fun. The road opened up to a meadow of sorts and we had to pass through some of the dreaded red mud. Pretty quickly, our bikes were making all kinds of noises. the mud covered our chainrings, jockey wheels, and chain. I heard the mud can rip your deraileur right off, so we walked for a while.
The mud stuck to our shoes and tires and we grew taller with each step. We sprayed the cassette off with some water, but it didnt help much, and seeing as we still had 15 miles to go, we had to ride. The road got a bit better as we passed down into another flat area. The mud would fling off violently when we reached appreciable speed. We exited the forest and started the descent into the valley where the town was. The road was less muddy, but deeply washboarded. It seems the steeper the road, the deeper the wash.
I craned my neck to see the nice sights, but would had sudden whiplash at a new sction of washboard. Eventually, I found a system to ride washboard where you almost let go of the handlebars and hold the seat with your thighs. Finally after losing over 4000' we reached the town. We stopped first at the general store and met another cyclist who was going to the same place as us: te riverside retreat. He said there were other cyclists there already, so mary did some food shopping and I left to go try and get one of the cabins. It was only 1/2 mile from town and I arrived to find 5 other cyclists already there: Line (who we lost yesterday), and 4 new ones. I learned that there were no cabins available, so we pitched our tent anyway. The retreat is just some ladys house (goldie) who rents small cabins and lets cyclists stay. Its right on the big river and quite nice. There is an outdoor shower, toilet and a small kitchen area for just $10 per person. It turns out that the cabins were a little grungy, so the tent was a good thing and I needed to set it up to dry anyway. Mary arrived later and we cooked, showered and caught up with Line. It turns out that she went up to the high peak at 10000' and camped yesterday and arrived in town at 11 am avoiding all that mud.
Before arriving, Mary and I had resolved to take a rest day here, so tomorrow will be an off day. The general store had a good selection, but it was massively overpriced, like $4 an avocado, $7 for a small can of oatmeal. At least the beer was normal priced!
Mileage:48
Up:3274
Down:6201
Time:8
Today's ride: 48 miles (77 km)
Total: 427 miles (687 km)
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