In the morning, amongst the hostel guests, was my Portuguese friend, Joao. Another great surprise & a such a coming together in this isolated place.
The morning was spent finishing drying out my kit, removing clay from the bike & chatting with other lodgers. To ride on or stay was the hot topic & would depend whether we believed it would stay dry – but there was no way of knowing. Some riders decided to stay over, Joao, Dusty, Miles & me did not.
Around noon, we set off for Silver City, 4 day’s/180miles ride south through wilderness & the last section of real climbs of the GDMBR route.
We achieved 29 miles before setting up camp. The ride had again been tough – cold, headwinds, hail, rain. Lucky for us, the clay roads gave no problems.
Miles – on the move.
Today’s ranch sign – in wild NM, that are becoming rarer by the day
Church that once served community that has long since left
Lunch – taken huddled again the canyon rocks away from the cold wind & snow.
Hunting for water – near dried up pond of mucky water to filter – only water source of the day
Out of nowhere, an old gent trundled by on his ATV, with dog happily chilling on the back
Miles, wanted his story – He had purchased land and moved here around 2006. With the land being too poor to farm, we struggled how he survive financially in such isolation. We concluded he didn’t need to. When the roads are passible he will travel to Silver City. When they are bad, he stays home & reads. Shops, doctors & other normal support services don’t exist here. He said – if there’s a problem you have to sort it / there generally no one around to help here – nearest true town (with real people) is 60+ miles away
End of day ride descent to camp
It’s great for me to ride with these guys again. Today was tough & the support provided to each other definitely lifted the spirits following the previous weeks challenges.
John's Epic Cycle Adventures 