Great Divide Stage 9

A dry camp to Cuba, NM

Strava: 77.4 km, 711m, 4:29, 200 shifts, 48.5 kph max

I slept really well, and certainly didn’t have to pee in the night. I did wake up at 3 to close up the fly when the wind picked up. Some dust got in. We got up around 6, packed, and ate instant oatmeal with pecans and cranberries. The second course was DKB (Dave’s Killer Bread) with lots of peanut butter and Ghirardelli Caramel and Sea Salt chocolate.

We headed off at 7, down a couple of km to the Homestake Well spring. We filtered about 8 liters for the day. At 7:30 we started for real. It was dirt without too much sand for 25 km, scenic and pretty fun. Then, inexplicably, 5 km of pavement which was nice, but then back to it. After a while we had lunch, yesterday’s extra sandwich plus our last four Walmart pies.

After that the sand came more often and it was sometimes quite difficult. I remembered a crazy day of sand in Bolivia back in 2019. The secret there was to sit back and float the front of the bike, applying power as needed. I tried it here and it was not effective. The front of these loaded bikes won’t float at all. So it went, for a long way. The sand never was able to take me down but it provided endless sideways excitement.

By the time we hit US 550, I was so hot and dry. The highway looked terrible, four lanes, lots of fast traffic, lots of giant trucks. But when we actually took off, the combination of tailwind, full bike lane and almost level grade made it pretty easy and fast. Wytze led as usual, gradually ramping to 32+ on flat. It didn’t take long for Andrew to drop himself, then me, but Daniel persevered, 17 km to the first café in Cuba. We drank so much! The fountain drinks were almost a liter, and I think we had 12, I know I had 3.

It was nearly 2pm, check in time at the motel, so we rode over. Showers!!! Laundry, and just a cool place to lie down. So civilized. I drank quite a bit more, still no pee 🤔

Some major napping occurred, then some semi-reluctant bike maintenance and route planning. If we were fresh, the idea would be to ride all the way to Abiquiu tomorrow, but we are not, so it will be another big water carry and dry camp.

Later we rode to the market, a nice one, and gave them $150 for a mountain of food. Our motel suite may only have two beds but it has a kitchen and we know how to use it. The restaurant was just a little further. Andrew and Wytze secured seats where we could see the bikes and Daniel and I headed for the liquor store. No beer with dinner but you’re welcome to BYOB. IPA in hand we sat down. Everyone ordered fajitas and it was a grand dinner, I’m pretty sure better than the best available in Grants, a much larger city.

As I write this it’s already 20:30 and I need to get to sleep NOW! Good night 💤