Back On Track, Almost

A couple of days ago I did a 45 min timetrial to confirm there's still some speed in my legs. That was onthe road and a 30 kph average was just fine. The bike was loaded with camping gear and a clothes bag.

Yesterday was a much longer Dale Ball singletrack ride with Sarah during which we both actually enjoyed ourselves. The afternoon was filled with much more gear tinkering and a trip to the post office to send out some Red Cross parcels to tiny towns without shops along the route.

Today I drove out to Abiquiu, a wee oasis at 6,400 feet altitude, on one of the most brutal parts of the course. Two Great Divide racers ended up in hospital here with dehydration last year. I wanted to test my gear, trial my navigation skills with cue cards, and gain a little confidence.

At 10:30 am it was off uphill, through the dry scrub-land of an Indian Reservation andeventually into some rather pretty National Forest (see pic). After a couple of thousand feet of climbing it was a pleasant 20 degrees C. The climb was broken by a 400 foot descent to a small cattle ranch, but when it resumed the track deteriorated fast. I only did 20 miles - the last few were allon sand and bedrock - and then ran out of time to reach the 10,300 foot hilltop. About face; downhill and with a reasonable tailwind - I was feeling pretty damn slick : )

Then my bivvy bag jumped ship during a rough stretch. Lesson learnt. Better now than mid-Montana. The ride was 3:4o all up, and the general store in Abiquiu came up trumps with a tasty turkey and swiss cheese sandwich.

Turns out the higher passes in Montana and Colorado are still under a fair bit of snow. Apparently, we can expect many stretches of a few miles of hike-a-bike. Making the first cut-off at 6 days is going to be very interesting.