Norte a sur

I guess that should actually be Del Norte a sur! We we’re headed from North to South today, and to the river crossing that is Platoro, Colorado.

We got up and got going early in Del Norte, though you might not tell it from our tracking dot. Our tents were soaked, and was our way, so we draped them on some nearby trees in the bright morning sun, hoping for a quick dry.

As we looked at our mud encrusted bikes and packs, we decided to take advantage of the RV Park water (after all, we had paid $20 to put our tents on some grass, so we felt we deserved it) to wash our bikes off. We watched as the other riders packed and got on the road. We were never quite that quick.

Soon enough though, we were packed and headed back to the convenience store from the night before. However, there was one “glaring” problem, my sungalsses were gone. Somewhere in last nights follies, whether by accident or theft at the convenience store (our bikes were outside when the throng of firework watchers showed up), by glasses had done missing.

As we arrived at the store, the same guy from the night before was working again. We struck up a conversation and found out he was from Cuba, NM and that his aunt managed the convenience store at the gas station/McDonald’s there. As we talked about our journey, he asked Ray to tell her hi from him when we went through.

After ordering two Subway sandwiches, one for breakfast, and another for later in the day for lunch, we went in search of sunglasses. After checking a grocery store, we were directed to a Dollar General on the way out of town. A two minute stop and I was stylishly fitted to start the ride.

Now, today’s ride was special in may ways. Today would be tough in that it took us over the highest point of the TD, Indiana Pass at an elevation of 11,910’.!! The climb started immediatly across from the Dollar Store, so that was good…no searching! We were starting from a little less than 8000’, so it would be at least a 4000’ climb, depending on the ups and downs.

The first 5-10 miles were paved and went along pretty quickly, then the road went to dirt. The other thing the road did was go seemingly straight up!! Probably a gradient of between 15-20%, but starting immediately it was a shock to the legs, despite having had ample time to warm up. The morning was hot and sunny, leading to lots of discomfort on the climb and plenty of sweat!

For the next 20 miles or so, the rise never relented, nor did the heat. We would ride at our own pace for about an hour, then regroup, rest, and ride another hour, and so on. The total ride up the 25 or so miles to the top of the pass took almost 5 hours!!!

We were shocked at the effort, but more-so at the snow which still appeared next to the road at the top. The 4th of July and there was still snow on the ground.

Just at the summit as we were starting the downhill, we heard shouts of encouragement coming from our right. There were two couples there screaming for us to “Go!!”. Needing a bit of a respite any way, we turned around to go say Hi and thank them. We rolled up and spoke for about 30 minutes. The were from Del Norte and were just out for a drive and a picnic. They offered food and beverages, and we finally agreed that we could finish off their watermelon if we HAD to! After giving them a New Mexico Zia sticker (I carried about 100 of them on the trip and would give one to folks we stopped to speak with as well as to other riders we met) we were on our way “down” the other side. As usual, the sescent was much rougher than the climb and took away a lot of the anticipated fun of riding downhill. The other thing that ws usual is that it didn’t seem to go down as far as it had gone up!! It actually didn’t. It flattened a bit for the ride across Schinzel Flats, and finally went down hill a bit. The issue with this part of twisty road in Colorado, is that it is shared with HUNDREDS of UTVs. Each UTV seemed to think it was a race course and would cut every corner tight and then swing out to the other side. Several near misses were had, and perhaps some words shouted from us!

Soon we were going up again! This time to the 10,541’ Stunner Pass. As you can see, we really didn’t get a lot of downhill. Though the climb was only a couple of miles long, it seemed further at the end of a long day. We finally topped out and started our drop to Platoro, CO

Now, earlier in the morning while we were scouring Del Norte for the elusive sunglasses, I took the opportuity to call a lodge in Platoro to ask about a room. They had a two room cabin available for $188. Nope, we’ll just camp at an RV site thank you!

Finally, we rolled into Platoro, CO, we saw the lodge we had called, full of partying 4th of July revelers! A ton of them!! Glad we didn’t have to stay there!!

So we rolled into Platoro and across the Conejos River. In about a minute we were at the RV park. We rolled around the packed RV park, looking for a tenting spot..nope, nothing! As we passed a small house on the property, a gentleman on the back porch asked if we were looking for a cabin. We said yes, if they had one. He notified us that all cabins were taken. He graciously offered a piece of his side yard grass, if we wanted to set our tents up there. We old him we really needed a room . After a bit he suggested we go back up the road to the Lodge we had called. He assured us they would have a vacancy. He also told us he would be happy to serve us a brisket dinner (he had three plates left from a 4th celebration meal from just earlier) if we wanted though. Absolutely!!

Back up the road we went to the lodge we had called earlier. Super nice folks met us at the door, as the lobby was just closing. They told us they did indeed have a cabin they could rent us. After a brief discussion among themselves, they decided that for “Cyclists” they would make us a deal and gave us a “two room cabin” for $100. Yep, by waiting we had inadvertently saved ourselves $88 from the price in the morning! A bit of luck!! They also said the restaurant was closed but that the store would open at 0800 if we wanted anything in the morning. They also said they could fix us breakfast burritos to go in the AM if we wanted! Nice folks!!

Additionally, as they knew we needed sound sleep, the cabin was about 1/4 mile away, and far from the 4th of July partiers at the lodge! Perfect!!

So, back up the road we went to our cabin. It was actually more of a small house, with two rooms, a complete kitchen and living room, and two large bedrooms. It was also situated right on the Conejos River. Beautiful.

We quickly went in and turned around to go back to our awaiting dinner at the RV Park.

We arrived to a splendid meal of Brisket, Bar-B-Que Chicken, Potato Salad, Iced tea and watermelon. The owner was on his way to another place and just told us to pay his worker $15 and away he went. He also said the convenience store he ran opened at 8 AM if we needed anything in the AM. So we sat on his back porch and enjoyed a great meal in privacy, and when done, talked to his worker. It was a VERY relaxing end to the day we did not anticipate.

After a satisfying dinner, we road back to our cabin up the road, washed some clothes in the shower and hung them on the back porch to dry. While we were outside, a neighbor from the cabin to our west came over. He was carrying tubes and CO2 cartridges. He asked if we could use them, having seen our bikes as we rolled up. He figured we were Tour racers and wanted to help if he could (Trail angel!!). We thanked him and assured him we had plenty of spares, but appreciated the offer. We spoke for about 30 minutes about bikes. Soon we discovered that we had a mutual acquaintance, Mr. James Peel from TX. James is a racer that lived in Las Cruces for a couple of years and rode with ZiaVelo Cycling while there. He was familiar with James from the Texas masters racing scene. Small world!! After a bit more conversation, we finished and went back inside.

It was time to crash and prepare to FINALLY ride “Sur a Nuevo Mexico, manana!!”. (pardon my Spanish!)

We’re South bound and down!

Shane and Ray