In Taos

Cycle Hondo-Seca loop of Taos Sunday 9/28/2015

But first -- here are my victory photos of the Big Stinking Mountain yesterday...

 

Made it to the top (the guide is behind me)

 

All the way to the top...

On Sunday we had some options. Bette-Ann and I (and a few others it turns out) did not think spending three or more hours at the Pueblo, waiting for the van to pick us up, was something we wanted to do. After breakfast we geared up for the ride outside of town, even though we were told there is a 10% grade hill involved!! Judy was happy that we were riding and joined us.

Just as we were leaving town we came upon these cycling beetles, but they didn't join us

 

And there were these red chilis -- the real thing!

A few miles out of town we turned onto a more back road and began to get a view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

 

Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ)

We passed a little church before starting up the HILL! As you might guess, there is a LOT of Catholic religious stuff around these parts.

 

 

 

 

Bette-Ann makes it up the hill

 

Judy gets up that hill also

 

At the top of the hill, more of the mountains come into view

It seemed we climbed oh so much. I think our tired legs have been catching up with us. Finally on level ground we stopped to appreciate the grave sites along the way. The photo does not truly capture the vastness of these sites. There are three or four separated grave grounds with bright colored flowers and decorations on the graves. Very impressive and moving.

 

Just a sampling

 

Judy takes a photo of the mountains, Bette-Ann snaps one of the bright graves

A stop in the village of Arroyo Seco (very loose translation -- Dry Riverbed) was a sweet end to the hills. We poked around in some of the shops and enjoyed a little relaxing time in this art colony.

 

 

Apparently the model for the truck in the mural

 

Couldn't pass this up

We doubled checked with a local guy to ensure we would be heading in the correct direction to Taos. Yes, he said that is the way and it is all downhill!!!! YES!

 

We got to our hotel just in time to see three other of our riders saddling up for the ride, so were able to tell them of a few corrections on the cue sheet. Almost immediately after explaining it all, I felt a little headache coming on and it developed from there. That ended my day as once showered, I was in bed for much of the afternoon and all evening. Just before that though we took a little stroll through town and also had a little bite to eat. There is not much to this town -- it is about a block long and is basically filled with art and pottery. Probably a good thing for me as, not being in the market for art or potter, I did not buy anything!

For a while, as I awoke briefly throughout the night, I was having doubts about whether I would be able to ride today. But so far this morning I am feeling fine. Here's hoping.

 

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A climbing day

Saturday 9/26/2015

Last evening we were told that we would take the shuttle van to the top of the 12% grade hill. Well, in honesty we were given the option to ride the full 58 miles that included the 12% grade. Needless to say, we all chose the shuttle.

 

Our guides load up all the bikes and gear for the "bump" to the top of the (one) hill

Among other choices, our delightful breakfast inccluded fresh made burritos by Chef Daniel, and they were delicious.

 

Chef Daniel

 

My breakfast -- the product of Chef Daniel

While Daniel was cooking, several of us lounged around in the adjoining lobby to chat, drink coffee and simply be unrushed.

 

Allison and Jeanie await breakfast

Allison (from B.C. Canada) and Jeanie (from Colorado) are two of the four of our "front runners". They are lean, mean fasting moving machines! Very strong cyclists and wonderful women to know. When you meet and make friends with women like this on tour (and all of them are) you wish you lived closer to each other and could visit. I may get to meet up with Jeanie when she comes for visits with her daughter who lives at Greenlake.

Time to move 'em out and get 'em going.

 

Action! Get all your gear on your bike.

 

Ina is the first rider ready to get out the gate

Ina lives in California and has done many Woman Tours trips, including several "epic" tours which means long distance riding. She thinks that epic tours are in her past but bikes many other tours on her (very nice) Seven bike.

We started out full of energy and hoopla as the road was nice and flat and passed through a sweet little community. Then, about 2 miles later, the hills began. The hills were bad enough (after all that climbing yesterday) for 3 riders by the end of the first four miles, to end up taking the shuttle van.

One of the sites we stopped for a rest and photos...

 

Adobe Church built in 1760 with some grave sites in the background

 

 

Leslie and Cynthia leaving the church site

We had our second flat (if you count Jeanie's from the first day) of the trip today. Bonnie thought her hard time riding was simply the steep climbing we had been doing. Then Denise told her she had a flat tire. Up ahead of us we learned that one of our front runner flatted also.

 

Denise assists Bonnie with tire repair

We had been climbing just about all day with but a few downhills and then got to the "Big Stinking Hill" that everyone had been warned about. We each fretted in our own time and space and finally reached the bottom of Stinking. More riders decided to take a bump to the top. It was said to be about a mile long. That was apparently to what must have been someone's arbitrary line, as we kept climbing (only ever so slightly less) for the 4 (that's four) milles to the TOP of the hill. Once there Cy took a photo of those who had ridden every mile. It was then that I found there were five (of the 11 riders) who had done all the milles.. I was proud to be one of those five. There is no shame in taking a bump, but I will try to complete every mile for as long as I can, for the day will come that I cannot. I think we started the climb at about 7000 feet and got to 8550 at the top of the hill.

Just before the apex of this long climb we came to a restroom stop and there were cowboys, horses and cows there too.

 

I did not see the bull action when I took this photo as I was looking at the "OK Corral" sign ;'-)

 

Horses were saddled up and waiting for their cowboys

Once at the top, everyone got back on their bikes and road the mostly downhill (with only a few very minor hills) to our hotel in Taos. Phew -- we were tired. Bette-Ann and I did a little laundry with our shower and are content to skip dinner tonight in lieu of a restful evening. We do not feel that we are skipping anything as we both feel over fed and had a lot of lunch and snacks again today.

 

Someone left my bike gloves on her bedpost over night! Being creative with places to dry your laundry.

Long day -- and we will be spening two nights here. We need it and welcome it.

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Santa Fe to Espanola NM

The Hills are live. 9/25/2015

Judy wants me to be sure to say a little about our elevation for the day. I think we were somewhere around 5900 feet at our hotel in Santa Fe. We started to ever so gently climb right from the door and through the old Sante Fe town to soon begin climbing in earnest. At the top of that mean first hill we were somewhere around 7300 feet which would be our highest elevation for the day. We rolled up and down some pretty tall climbs a few times and moved between 5800 and about 6400. Our lunch stop was at 6400ish or there abouts, and is now around the 5300 mark. We were delighted to have had some very nice down hill runs for many miles but and is now around the 5300 knew we would be paying for that!

Judy laughs now that those hills are done with, and Jeanie can laugh too now that she has no flat tire to contend with..

 

Judy is from Arizona and bikes several times a week though she cannot get her husband interested in doing a bike camping trip.

We had our first (and only so far) flat of the trip, and we hadn't even started riding yet. Bright and early Jeanie was carrying her bike from her room at the hotel to the van. As I was approaching behind her I thought -- wow, she is taking this goathead thorn warning seriously and not letting her bike touch the driveway. When I caught up with her I saw that she had a flat tire and was coming for help from our guides, but no one was at the van. When pumping up her tire the stem of her tube broke off and now she needed to put in a new tube. I helped! know how to change a tire, it just takes me a long time. I got her started by removing the wheel and taking out the tube. The guide showed up and began giving instructions and help, so I relinquished my duty. And we lived happily ever after.

Once on the road we made our way through the old town of Santa Fe. As I tried to take a photo I learned that I had neglected to replace my sim card after downloading photos, and could could not take any pictures. Oh no!!! I felt naked without it and dismayed that I could not capture some of the scnes in town. Fortunately, at mile 10 I was able to get into the van trailer, reach my suitcase and pull out the bag that held my camera case with the sim card. Yay.

 

A sample of a fence I had mentioned that is made from tree parts. Very ingeneous

After a great big climb we had some nice downhill riding and came across "camel rock".

 

Camel Rock

Then it was uphill again and stops to catch our heart rates!

 

Beth is from New Hampshire and has ridden extensively in the US and parts of other countries. Bonnie is in the back.

Bonnie was a huge help for our little group of riders as we made our way through town. She was the smart one to pick up a street map at the front desk of our hotel. Thanks to her we did not go TOO far out of our way before finding the correct direction.

We stopped for lunch at Santuario De Chimayo. It is a Catholic church, or sanctuary where there have been, annd continue to be pilgrimages to find healing for many maladies including losing crutches and being able to walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a chapel -- many peoples

 

Interesting to see the different cultures depicted at the Last Supper

 

 

After our lunch stop it was a mere 10 mile ride to the hotel. My group of four were within what should have been three miles from home. But we could not find the road with the name on the cue sheet. A Mexican woman saw us in our bewildered state and pulled into the dirt road we were ogling and said she was not sure she could help but knew we needed something and she would try to help. She explained that there is no road with the name La Playa, but maybe back the way we came there would be something. We rode back that way. Saw what looked like a closed gas station but pulled in anyway. Out came a big Mexican guy with a huge smile and welcoming conversation to try to help us. There is no La Playa. I had found a road near our hotel and he directed us to that. And just then our "sweep" pulled in. She was not much more clear about where we needed to be from where we were, but with another stop or two she found us our way home.

Finally relaxed and showered, it was time to eat again.

Appetizers before going to dinner.

We had our map reading meeting and talked more about tomorrow. A very huge hill of 10-12% grade at the beginning of the day, and lots of hill after that, has everyone taking a bump (a lift in the van) tomorrow to the top of the hill.

 

A little impromptu exercise before driving to dinner.

I will have to edit this tomorrow as it is late and I am very tired.

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