Another nippy morning as shown in Terry's post. We huddled around our coffee, tea and oatmeal. Mitch kindly walked to a nearby donut shop for fresh treats.
Three riders chose to go 24 miles, on routes 180 and 152. They stopped at a visitor center for the Santa Rita copper pit mine. It is 1.5 miles across and 1600 feet down. See Terry's post for more details. The route was rolling hills and about 2000 feet of climbing.
The other riders did an upside-down V, taking route 15 north and 35 southeast. 53 miles and 3700 feet ascended. Nine miles out of Silver City we crossed the Continental Divide again (see photo of Carol). It was pleasant to ride through piñon and Ponderosa pine with tree squirrels chattering and jays sounding off. We were on a ridge line with great views to both sides (see photo).
We shed layers of clothing as we warmed up from the near-constant climbing. Like a marathon runner, you also shed a layer in camp just before leaving. I wore my Gore rain jacket, long-sleeve biking and technical shirts; winter long pants over my biking shorts; winter and regular biking gloves; and a stretch runner's hat under my helmet, covering the ears.
After we crossed the Divide we were back in shade and pedaling less since coasting downhill. So back on went the clothes! My toes only warmed up after 25 miles despite two pairs of socks (one heavy wool).
At mile 25 (the turn onto route 35) we stopped for a snack (see photo of Julie and Carol). We then passed Lake Roberts (photo) and had a modest ascent to the Divide again.
The last 13 miles were slight downhill and flat. Unfortunately the road was grainy chip seal, with a 10 mph headwind gusting to 15-20 mph. So the finish wasn't fun. We were all glad to pull into the Mountain Spirits RV park. We are crammed into a tiny plot of grass, surrounded by giant RVs and trailers belonging to snowbirds.
Bob Plant made another outstanding salad again for dinner. I warmed up Ragu tomato sauce, added mushrooms sautéed in butter and cooked lean ground meat, all on spinach tortellini. Seemed like everyone liked it!
Bruce
Thank for the picture everyone
ReplyDelete