DAY 59 - Bumpy day into the Black Canyon

Woke today to pea soup fog after a really good nights sleep for everyone.
We knew today was going to be a big day so we headed off as early as we could.
The elevation profile for today had alot of climbing involved so we got mentally prepared, it actually started very easily as we headed to the Beaverhead work center where we knew there should be water - water is very few & far at the moment being in the desert state.
Upon arriving at the work center not only did we find water but a coke vending machine also - cold cokes all round.
When we arrived there was somebody already there filling water container on the back of his truck - his name was Keith & he was from Texas, & is a hunting guide who lives for 3mths of the year in the area, helping people hunt.
We decided to have a an early lunch & get the tents dried as the day was now now sunny & hot - not to mention windy again!
Back on the road we headed for our nights designated campsite - Back Canyon.
The next 40km were the hilly ones & combined with the head winds we limped into camp late , tired & hungry.
One of the hardest & saddest things about today's ride was that there was potentially nice down hill sections also but the road going down was so rutted with wash boards & loose gravel - you could not just coast & enjoy the view, you actually had to concentrate while it felt like your bike was about to fall apart.
Once again during the afternoon we meet some trail angles along the way who actually passed us all going up one of the hills, they must have felt sorry for us as they stopped gave us food & even cold beer.
The campsite tonight had a lovely fresh steam running next to it so we had enough water to heat & sponge bath with tonight - 1st wash in 3 days, it was nice not to have sticky legs in the sleeping bag for a change.
Tonight we all enjoyed a early night as we were all quite tired, so we just ate dinner & went to bed!

DISTANCE: 73.02km
AVERAGE: 14.3km
RIDE TIME: 5.06hrs
ASCEND: 925mtrs

DAY 58 - The Elk Bugle's

After saying our good byes today to our new friends Travis & Ryan we headed out..
Bruce left early today as there is a call for rain & even maybe snow for the next few days so he & Sue wanted to get a big day in as Sue was worried about driving her car along the roads if they got really muddy.
The 1st 10km was a really nice downhill (such a good start to the day) then we had a really nice gravel road for the next 40km which we managed to do by 12pm.
With only 20km left in the day we had a nice leisurely lunch in the sun before heading into the 2nd half of the day.
We had 2 divide crossings after lunch but the climbs were hardly worth mentioning & then we had a lovely downhill.
When we got to our designated campsite for the night it was only 2pm so we decided we would carry on for another 10km (+ another divide crossing) as we are in National Forest & you are allowed to free camp anywhere in National forests over here, plus another 10km today means 10km less tomorrow which we all thought was a good idea since today riding was so pleasent.
Chris was having having trouble with his sore knee so we found a nice wee spot just off the road & chilled out for the rest of the afternoon.
When we arrived at camp we could hear the bugle of Elk - thinkiing it was probably just hunters up in the hill behind us - but it continued for the next few hoursgetting louder so we went investigating & found a herd of elk resting amoung some trees 200mtrs from camp - that was very cool indeed, although they ran off as soon as they got smell of us.
The burgling lasted most of the night & even the coyotes came close to camp at 1 stage.
We were camped close to a water hole so we think they were heading for a drink.
This campsite turned out to be 1 of our favouriteson the trip as we were in the middle of nowhere.
Scott is now becoming quite the campfire expert & we had a really good campfire & just sat around till very late (8:30pm) chatting about life & watching the full moon rise up into the sky.

DISTANCE: 81.39km
AVERAGE: 18.1km
RIDE TIME: 4.29hrs
ASCEND: 525mtrs

DAY 57 - Leaving the comfort of Pie Town

This morning we all decided a cooked breakfast would be just the ticket - so we all made our way down to the cafe at the bottom of the hill this time, for breakfast as it opened at 8am.
After breakkie we said good bye to Pie Town which felt sad as we all have come to love it here - the town had a incredible welcoming feeling - like you did not want to leave - just stay & eat pie all day long…
We had a short days riding today 48km so we took our time had a leisurely lunch & arrived at the campsite about 3pm.
Just chilled out & relaxed for the rest of the afternoon listening to Scott & Chris talk complete BS!
Just after dinner about 7pm we saw 2 cycle tourist with bob trailers come down the road - so we called them over - gave them a welcoming beer (Sue had carried the beers for us today in the car) & let them go set up camp.
It turns out that we had 2 ‘MTV’ X-Games superstars in our midst, Travis & Ryan from a show called ‘Nitro Circus’ which is a motorbike stunt show http://nitrocircus.com/ . Travis also races monster trucks & is currently placed 1st on the Amercian Rally circuit as he drives rally cars for Subaru.
These boys started the trip on the 1st Sept & have made it this far already! They are riding huge days (not completely following the actual GDMBR) but we were all extremely impressed. Travis even took 4 days out in Steamboat springs to drive the next stage of the rally!
To put into perspective how long there days are, they had ridden from Grants to tonight’s campsite in a day, (also stopping for pie) this has taken us ‘touring cyclist’ 3 days to complete!(194km if they followed the route as we did?)
Oh & did I mention these boys have been fully kitted out by Giant - bikes, clothing - the works
Anyway we got them to do a short video for us which we will post (C4 coffee - you will love the shout out they gave you…)


DISTANCE: 47.93km
AVERAGE: 13.7km
RIDE TIME: 3.28hrs
ASCEND: 555mtrs

DAY 56 - PIE TOWN - YUM

The wind finally subsided at 4.30am, very broken sleep last night as the wind was gusting so hard it felt like the tent was about to lift off at any minute with us inside it!
Today we have just 1 thing on our minds & that was PIE! Pie Town was at the end of today’s ride & we all could not wait!
We had 70km of riding to get there so we started out as early as we could as we did not know if the wind of yesterday would pick up again & the book & route map both stated if you wanted pie the cafes’ were only open limited hours so we knew we needed to be there by 4pm at the latest.
The 1st 20km of today’s ride was slightly downhill so we made exceptional time, then we turned off that road & headed on a 52km stretch of road to Pie Town, the wind had picked up & was quite cold today but it was on our sides the whole day so we managed to reach Pie Town by 2:30pm.
Pie Town is a very small town of only 60 residents & the only 2 shops (apart from the post office) are 2 cafes 1 at the top of the hill , the other at the bottom both selling pie.
On day 1 of our ride we meet Paul the English geezer who had ridden from South to North & he told us we must visit the cafe at the top of the hill so that is exactly what we did - The Pie-o-neer Café. http://www.pie-o-neer.com/index.html
Kathy (the owner) & Megan the waitress greeted us all with open arms making us feel so welcome.
We all has 2 slices of pie each, Jo- Apple crumble then Chocolate Cream, Scott - Pecan & Oat then Coconut Cream - totally delicious!
For those of you who watch Rove on a Friday night you will be familiar with Hamish & Andy? Well apparently Hamish & Andy had just been at the Pie-o-neer 2 weeks earlier as apparently they are doing a USA road trip TV show.
Now another strange & wonderful part to Pie Town was the Toaster House.
The Toaster house is a 4 brm log cabin that a couple who now live just out of pie town, have opened up for hikers & bikers to stay in - free of charge.
It has beds , hot showers, washing machine, wood stove & even chickens living out the back? And as you could imagine a lot of interesting ‘nick - knaks’ that people had left during there stay.
We all stayed the night here & the hot showers were a blessing after 2 days in dusty winds.
Megan (the waitress) came around after dinner with some fresh baked cookies & to see how we all were getting on & bought her guitar & sung us some song which was really cool.

DISTANCE: 73.39km
AVERAGE: 17.3kmkm
RIDE TIME: 4.13hrs
ASCEND: 475mtrs

DAY 55 - Grants to CDT Trailhead

Ok so after 2 days of head winds we were all hoping for a nice riding day heading out of town.
While having our free Continental breakfast at the campground the weather channel was on the TV & they gave us a strong wind warning for the area - SW - just the direction we were heading - perfect!
After saying our good byes to Kathy, Abie & Lincoln the dog we headed out of town & started a very nice gradual climb up Zuni Canyon, seeing lots of Tarantula spiders on the road - it is mating season for the spiders so the boys are out & about trying to find themselves a lady friend to mate with, trying not to get themselves run over by cars….
About 15mins into the ride the wind came up & boy did it blow - for the next 70km to the campground we were biking into incredibly strong gusty head winds, the roads were very sandy & dusty & the wind was kicking up dust storms right into our faces, it was not pleasant riding at all! At 1 stage during the day a tree managed to blow over onto the track right in front of Jo which gave her an incredible fright.
We were covered in dust from head to toe, every nook & cranny had dust & every time you bit your teeth together you could just feel grit grinding against your teeth!
The last 2km of the day ride to the designated campsite we turned & managed to get a tail wind & we did not need to pedal the entire 2km - that was great.
Sue & Bruce were already at the campsite & had a cold beer waiting for us on arrival which was much appreciated.
We camped at a trailhead for the night & the wind kept blowing just constantly blowing dust storms up & making it extremely hard to cook tea & not to mention eating it!
We all retired early as it had been a very long hard day,
I hope tomorrow is nicer to us… PIE TOWN HERE WE COME….

DISTANCE: km
AVERAGE: km
RIDE TIME: hrs
ASCEND: mtrs

DAY 54 - Grants Rest Day

Rest day today in Grants, the morning started with us going out for breakfast to Denny’s with Kathy & Abie & then a visit to Wal-Mart for some grocery shopping.
After arriving back at the campground we did some chores for the next few hours… laundry/ trying to fit all the food we just bought into panniers etc..
It was so incredibly hot at our campsite with no shade that we put up our tarp over out picnic table & Scott watch recorded 36’cin the shade!!
About 2pm we were finally hungry for lunch so we decided instead of visiting Mc D’s (which was closest to the campground we would try to be just a little bit healthier & headed into Grants to find the Subway - this happened to be at the complete opposite of town!
After filling up on Subway we headed over to visit Alan @ the Holiday Inn where he was staying which just happened to be opposite Subway to see how his day off was going & to make dinner plans.
We all meet at the Badlands Diner for the famous (actually just won the state award) #5 Millie Burger - Green Chilli Cheese Burger - delicious.

DAY 53 - ?? Pass to Grants

We will all hoping for a nice cruisy day into Grants today, but at 4.25am the wind arrived - bugger!
By the time we left the campsite it was a very gusty head wind that we started with & continued with for the entire day!
The riding today was very similar as yesterday riding past Indian Reservations not to mention the odd Coal & Uranium Mine thrown for good measure- scenery wise it was about a 5/10.
Have we mentioned the Res dogs?? They live in unfenced yards & LOVE to chase cyclist!!! (kind of wishing we had rabies shots now??)
Did I also mention how half of these dogs are skin & bone, completely starved & look so incredibly sad.
We had 1 incident when we stopped to meet Bruce & a small dog came over to us & just sat - she had not long had pups & was completely skin & bone - if you had a dog that looked like this in NZ you would most definitely be charged with Cruelty.
She was the sweetest wee thing - which we all gave lots of cuddles & even some food (Cheese & Tortillas)
Jo’s heart was broken having to ride off & leave her on the side of the road, if Jo could have taken her with us she would be coming home to NZ for sure.
It appears animals in New Mexico are not considered ‘pets’ & are not cared for as they should be & after talking to people in Grants this is just the way it is down here….. Heart breaking to see.
We stopped for lunch 50km into the days ride & the next 50km to Grants was long & slow - long straight roads & grueling head winds, we did however manage to find a pub on the side of the road about 25km out of Grants which we managed to get a cold drink of coke - nice.
Once we hit Grants moods were dark in the most of the group - we had all just had enough of being bullied by head winds & wanted to get to our accommodation.
However we saw a Dairy Queen on the road into town & all stopped there for ice cream sundaes & banana splits which definitely lifted the mood of the group.
Once in town we all went our separate ways to our nights accommodation as we were camping & most others were going to stay in Hotels.
We all agreed to meet in town for a much deserved beer & dinner later on.
At the campsite we meet another cyclist called Kathy & her husband Abie, Kathy is riding the Great Divide also with Abie supporting her.
They had meet Bruce & Sue earlier on the road & also joined us for dinner.
Kathy & Abie are travelling in there RV with there beautiful Golden retriever called Lincoln & not to forget there cat who is also on the family holiday..
Kathy & Abie are living Scotts dream, they take turns at support each other on extended hiking trips - 1 of them will be doing the hike while the other is driving the RV further on & waiting for them.
They have both completed the Application trail & the PCT Trail.
This year is Kath’s turn to do something so she chose to ride the Great Divide - even though she had hardly ridden a bike - amazing achievement!
Next year Abie & a friend are undertaking the contenential divide scenic trail.


DISTANCE: 96.8km
AVERAGE: 16.1km
RIDE TIME: 6hrs
ASCEND: 570mtrs