Day 15 - Duh!

It was serendipitous to have a rest day after the awful wind that shortened rides for six of us the day before. Today, we had a choice, we could take an 18 mile shorter route or a longer, 55 mile route, climb 4088 feet and see probably the most scenic vistas of the ride. James and I chose the long route. I thought it would get us back on track after the wind-shortened day two days ago. After riding out of Silver City (NM), we headed on a road leading up to Lake Roberts and the Gila National Forest. We were only about 5 miles into our ride and the terrain was gently rolling when both of us started to slow way down, started gasping for air and could not do better than 4mph. At that rate, we’d be out until dinner time instead of early afternoon. Wind was a gentle breeze and not a factor. It took forever to go 15 miles. Then we saw the sign for the first of two climbs over the continental divide. It indicated we were at an elevation of 7,080 feet. Duh… the air was thinner at this altitude. We had camped at around 6,000 feet and had just climbed another thousand feet.

We also noticed that we had left the high desert below and were now in Gila National Forest. What a change! Traffic was very light and we basically had the road to ourselves. We knew Stephen was ahead of us and Karen and Tom were somewhere behind us, but we didn’t see any other riders all day.

Umberto Eco in his book, “The History of Beauty,” recalls the early 19th Century argument over beauty. Poets like Wordsworth saw beauty in nature (as did other Romantic era writers) and the art critic Water Pater called what was beyond beauty, sublime. The forest, the surrounding mountains and valleys, the stream running through the park, all conspired to create a sublime moment at the top of our climb. I’ve only experienced the sublime a few times in my life and those moments are burned into my head.

On other days we saw snow capped peaks surrounding us, but now we were in it. Snow and the sublime. The creek we had been following near the road also crossed the road in four places, reminding me of the creek in Dolliver Park, near Fort Dodge IA.

Down was on a serpentine road with occasional switchbacks. We crossed the Continental Divide again, but it was only at 6,200 feet and we didn’t even stop for a picture.

Tomorrow we climb even higher and it will be the highest elevation of the trip.

Here's the view from the top which does not do it justice!

Day 15 STATS

The icy creek

The well used white board

A Continental Divide sign

Today's charging option