DISTANCE TRAVELED: 31.61 Miles
AVERAGE SPEED: 6.20 MPH

          At 7:15, I woke up, climbed out of bed, and ate the very unusual cold cereal with milk. I packed as quickly as possible and left around 8:30. I rode by myself for five miles to a café along a highway that we would soon be on. The skies had a few clouds but it was overall, a great day. The café fed me well for a second breakfast and we were soon on our way again. After six miles of climbing, we began to descend and soon encountered a roadblock in the form of cattle. A cowboy using a huge whip was herding about 50 head of cattle up the road. (Picture186) After passing the herd, we had a short descent and then climbed again for a while before turning back onto a dirt surface. Just as we turned, an old coal-and-water-powered train passed by which reminded me of the Silverton-Durango train. (Picture187) Three miles later, after climbing almost the entire way, we reached the New Mexico border, indicating the nearing of the end of the trip. (Picture188) We continued along a good road passing by beautiful meadows lined by tall pines. (Picture189) As I took a picture, Stu caught up with me so we continued on. (Picture190) About a mile later, we found out we were on the wrong road as Al came riding toward us. After finding the correct road, we turned to climb up a much more primitive road. The climb was steep and rocks were everywhere making it technical but a fun climb that forced me to be alert. Close to the top, the wind picked up and the clouds that had been forming all day began to let loose. I stopped and put on my rain jacked as Stu and Al continued on for a while. Soon, I caught up to them as they also put on rain jackets. Al was huddled next to a large pine tree that protected him from the rain and wind. I ran over and did the same waiting for the rain to stop. However, not only did the rain not stop, but hail the size of peas began to fall. As the clouds flew over our heads, the rain stopped, and a patch of blue sky appeared. We walked over to where Stu was looking at his bike to discover that when he had fallen only a short while before, he had bent his rear derailleur into the spokes from the rim. The rim now had three huge cracks in it where the nipples pulled out. Also, the derailleur had broken off and the hanger was bent. For two hours, as the rain came and went, we worked on taking out old spokes, truing the wheel, bending the hanger, and replacing the derailleur. By the time we were ready to ride again, everyone who was behind us had caught up. They were covered in mud. (Picture191) Just as we were getting ready to leave, a man on an ATV drove up, sliding all over the entire road. When he stopped, he said that Marianne was 20 miles ahead! Soon, a Ford F-350 with a diesel came over the ridge and began to come down the small hill. We learned that they were delivering salt for cows and I thought that they could not have picked a worse day to so it! The truck began sliding at a 45-degree angle to the road and continued like this the entire way down. When it passed, the tracks were over a foot deep. (Picture192) Watching it go up the next hill was also interesting as the hug engine spued out smoke and it barely pulled the truck up the hill. The dog that ran beside had a much easier time! Mike, Al, and I continued on riding through the grasses to keep out of the mud. The smooth looking grasses were very bumpy underneath with rocks and lumps of ground sticking up. Soon the road became rideable again and we got on it. As we wove our way down the road, I hit a slick patch and lost all hope of recovering so I twisted my feet and ran away from my bike as it skidded to a halt. I picked it back up, hopped on, and continued down the road. Soon we stopped and waited for the others. After a few minutes, seven of us were together and ready to continue on. Marianne was ahead as always and Stu and Brian had decided to go back to the highway because of the bad wheel. So, since it was 4:00, we decided to stay as a group since we had no idea of where to stop. We rode on over a few mucky sections that were not too bad and then began to climb again. Soon, the steep but rideable road turned to be very rocky. Rocks larger than softballs covered the road making it impossible to ride. The road continued like this for the next ½ mile as we pushed our heavy bikes. Three hundred years from the top I could no longer push. In addition to my regular 55 pounds of gear, I also had eight cans of chili, my 1-gallon of water, Brian's ½ gallon of water, and Stu's lunch and eating utensils! This was at least an extra 25 pounds of gear. Tom, who had successfully reached the top came back to help me push but even with his help, I could not make it. So, Lou also helped and we got to the top of the unrideable section. When we were on top of Brozos Ridge, the clouds were black and lightening crashed in the distance and a huge black cloud was coming our way. (Picture193) We rode another ½ mile until 7:30 and then took our bikes and pushed into a large stand of 25-foot tall trees. Everyone began to scramble among the trees to set up their tents as the cloud came closer. I knew that I would take too long so I stood next to a tree as the rain came down. I watched all the tents slowly come up as the floors became soaked and the insides had puddles forming in them. (Picture194) Instead of getting my gear wet, I helped to put up the group rain tarp between four trees. As soon as it was up, a steady stream of water was flowing off the tarp at one place so I put a 2.5-gallon bucket under it and watched it fill up with fresh water. This site did not have any water so I figured that we could use it the next day for our water bottles. By the end of the night, it had completely filled up! We spread out all of the food under the tarp, then went to every large tree, and collected dry wood from the downwind side. After placing it at the corner of the tarp, we lit it, using the stove as a torch to start the half wet wood. Since we had very little fuel since other people in the group had the full containers, we saved what we had until we could no longer use wood. We then put opened cans of chili and beans next to the fire to heat for dinner. After a few minutes, one was ready so I drank the chili out of the can. After an entire can, I was very full. We huddled around the fire trying to warm our chilled bodies when it stopped raining. It was now my turn to set up my tent. In complete darkness, I set everything up, hoping that that the rain would hold off long enough to let me finish. When I was done, I quickly threw my dry sleeping bag into my dry tent and went to bed dry and warm as everyone else climbed into a wet tent at 9:15.