A whole lot of pavement…

This may be the shortest blog of the entire trip! Not because today wasn’t a BIG part of the Tour Divide race, but because it wasn’t that eventful of a day! We also had an additional riding partner for our trip today, and maybe further down the GDMBR route, in Nathaniel Schiesher from Berkeley,
CA. Recall he had joined us mid ride through the rain fest from Abiquiu!!

After the ups and downs (and ups and downs) of our ride to Cuba, today was perhaps the flattest of all days we would see on the GDMBR. The total climbing from Cuba to Grants, our destination for today, was only said to be 3000’ and that was spread over 120 miles. A paltry sum of climbing by TD standards, and completely paved at that!

That’s right, today was a completely paved section of the TD.

That being said, there was another route that we were allowed to choose. That route was almost all dirt, but it was also probably a great deal of MUD! The dirt route from Cuba to Grants is almost exactly the same distance, however the route is renowned for the “peanut butter mud” that results whenever it rains. If you recall yesterday’s blog, it had rained buckets the previous evening, and that rain had swept through a large section of the dirt route. There are many stories of riders getting so stuck in the mud they have to abandon their bikes in place and wait for the mud to dry a bit. Nope!

We definitely chose discretion over valor and took the pavement.

The start out of Cuba was early and beautiful! We knew that the temperatures later in the day were going to be pretty warm, so we wanted to get as many miles as we could out of the way while it was still cool.

We departed our motel at 0600 sharp and were on our way!

The pace was pretty quick for fully loaded bikepacking rigs, most the time about 18-19 miles an hour. We kept that up for about an hour as we made our way across the Native lands of west central New Mexico. At about that hour mark, we pulled over to the side of the road and had ourselves a little snack (breakfast).

Once on our bikes, we had only gone about 3-4 miles when we saw a convenience store. As was the usual case, we had learned to NEVER pass up the opportunity to re-supply, plus, we sincerely wanted to support these businesses that help out the GDMBR racers and riders so much.

We pulled up and went into one of the absolute nicest stores we had seen on the entire route. It was jam packed with everything we could want, incredibly well organized, and stunningly clean!

One thing we noticed here, as well as on other tribal lands we had ridden through, they are incredibly strict in following COVID mask mandates. Anyone who has followed along knows how devastating the virus has been to the indigenous peoples. They take no chances and expect full compliance with the rules. All three of us were happy to oblige.

After restocking our supplies, we were again on the road, climbing out of the bluff country we had been riding in, and onto the vast plains of the area.

We road, unabated for the couple of hours, stopping quickly to check the map for resupply point along the way.

We eventually rolled up on the convenience store about 45 miles into the day. The store was actually also a laundrymat!

So there we were again, resupplying. As the laundry had tables and chairs, we decide to buy some items to make lunch (lunchmeat, bread, etc…oh, and ICE CREAM!!!) We made and ate our lunches as the locals did their laundry. Several of them came over to chat and ask about what we were doing. Very nice folks!

After refilling ALL of our water storage reservoirs, we were back on the road!

Now almost 11AM, the temperatures were starting to climb. We stopped several times, about every 45 minutes or so, to eat and make sure we were drinking. Here is NOT the place you want to get dehydrated.

We rode through the rolling hills for the next several hours as the temperatures climbed.

On this route, there is ALMOST no shade for the entire 120 miles. I say almost, because about 30 miles from Grants, there is a large mining operation. That operation has a road that goes over the highway we were riding , creating a large tunnel in which we could ride. It was a godsend to ride into the tunnel under their road! The shoulder was wide, so we decided the tunnel would be a good place for a food/drink break. Much nicer than the sun drenched side of the road!!

After a snack and some rest we “on the road again”!

The last 30 miles or so were not uphill nor particular difficult, but the riding under the relentless sun was tough!

We finally dropped into Grants.

Nathaniel suggest we stop at one of the first convenience stores to get a cold drink, and that turned out to be a VERY good idea. We rolled up and parked our bikes in the shade. We all went in to select some cold drinks and snacks. As Ray was paying, and I was waiting, I began to feel incredibly light headed. After a minute or so, I could barely stand. So much so that I almost passed out several times. I asked Ray to get my stuff and shakily made my way passed Nathaniel and outside to a bench to lie down. The guys brought me my drinks and a pickle in a bit. It took all I had to stay conscious and drink. After about 20 minutes I began to feel better. Ray and Nathaniel continually asked how I was doing, and we were on our way to a motel in Grants.

It was about 5-6 to the part of town that is now the more modern and active part of the City. We rolled into the hotel, got rooms, started laundry and went out looking for food. The ONLY thing in the area was an Chinese Buffet. So there we found ourselves, in Grants, NM eating Chinese food. Not what we expected.

A quick trip to the Walgreens across the street for snacks and we called it a night.

We’re looking forward to tomorrow, and our hopeful journey to Pie Town and beyond.

We’re South bound and down!

Shane and Ray