The Ride Part III

The Ride Part III

For me the ride is always the most interesting and most fun. We started from the paved road just below the cabin and headed down for a nice brisk 6 mile decent, the same one that I ran down the previous day. Its funny how altitude plays tricks on you, my legs and lungs were both hurting by the time we got to the bottom. What’s up with that? It’s supposed to be a decent! Hope this isn’t an omen for the rest of the ride!

We made our way into Chama proper to meet Steve and the kiddos. The kids were having a great time eating pancakes and Steve had this wonderful looking breakfast burrito with bacon and green chile hanging out the sides. I decided right then and there we were stopping for one of those on our way back through town.

The ascent to the top of the pass and the continental divide is an 8 mile, 2000(ish) foot climb. The scenery is spectacular! The road sports a smooth wide shoulder with plenty of room to weave side to side when the oxygen deprivation starts hitting. We left just a few minutes before the train started its trek up the pass and our loose goal was to beat it to the top. Right out of town the hills start but they are small and we stayed together as a group. When the hills started getting steep our nice little group fell apart as we started climbing at our pace. The “Leaving New Mexico” sign came up much faster that it did last year so maybe that’s a sign that I’m in better shape, or maybe it’s just the thin air playing tricks on me. Either way, it’s a great regroup point and we took full advantage of the rest stop. We had fun taking pictures of the train as it passed us and then it was time for the final assault on the summit. The train passes under the main road and I was determined to beat it to that passing, not really that hard but it’s a fine line between blowing up and making it to the pass gracefully. I could see the train on my left as it picked up speed, and luckily I had a nice downhill section where I could also pick up some speed. I pushed hard, determined to beat the train and felt like I was a cowboy trying to ride my horse ahead of the train to the safety of the other side. Yeah I was getting a little hypoxic. I beat the train to the pass and now I needed to beat it to the top! The final hill looks daunting, I saw it and wondered if I would even make it to the top much less beat the train. As it turns out its an optical illusion, while the it’s most certainty a good hill it’s nothing compared to what it looks like. Even after climbing the hill last year I was still fooled into thinking about how difficult the final ascent was. Having cleared the final big hill it was an easy ride into the train station. I handily beat the train, Nothing like racing 100+ year old equipment up a hill.

Next in was Jane and she also beat the train, Orlando, Hartley and Debi all made it to the top and we got to take a great picture.

The ride back to Chama was fantastic! Not TDF fast but it sure made up for the ascent. Back in Chama, Jane and I ordered our burrito (with double meat), it came just in time as I was starting to fade and seriously doubted I would make it back to the cabin. Orlando ordered a breakfast plate and Debi and Hartley rode back to the cabin.

Back on the road it was an easy ride to the cabin road but now we had that 6 mile hill up to the cabin plus an extra 2 miles to Corkins lodge to make an even 60 miles. Riding the hill wasn’t as bad as I feared and we made it without any problems. What a great ride with great friends.