Our motley party
packed and rolled the 30 odd clicks from El Rito to Abiquiu, where we
breakfasted and resupplied at the adobe-style gas station. I'd
read that the section between Abiquiu and Cuba was one of the toughest of the
entire Divide route, and so it turned out to be. The
day was heating up fast as we dragged up some steep inclines through rocky and
sandy sections, which were to become the order of the day.
A short descent resulted
in a front tyre puncture for Craig. The
puncture itself seemed to have sealed however the tyre had burped at one point and simply refused to seal up again, so Craig ended up putting a
tube in whilst Miro and I fiddled with kit, grateful for any excuse to have a
break. Under
way again the main obstacle of the morning ensued; an unrelenting 15 km climb through sand and rocky slabs up a never-ending ridge. The
sand robbed you of flow and energy, whilst the rocky slabs punished the backside. It
was tough painful graft in the sun and we stopped about three times to collect our
breaths before gaining the top of the plateau. Once
up on top it was far from over.
The
route profile showed an undulating progression for the next 70 km but hid the
micro details of constant little ups and downs that progressively sapped
strength and the will to live. Not
to mention some pretty heinous rocky descents where coming off would have
required hospitalisation. Even
though only about 120 km in length, both Craig and I thought it the toughest
single (rideable) leg of the entire Divide route, and that was in the context of some
cloud cover that came over midway through, so it wasn't nearly as hot as it
might have been. That
said I was still well into my second bladder by the time we fought a nasty
headwind to gain Cuba, complete with dog welcoming committee, for a late
afternoon feed and resupply.
The next sector,
from Cuba to Grants, all 160 km of it, was sealed, initially through mostly
expansive rolling flatlands. Perfect
chance to smack down some big kilometres. The
only problem, however, was the wind, which was strongly not in our favour. We mulled over staying put in a hotel for the night, but itchiness, despite the
wind, won us over. I
was still very concerned about getting to the end in reasonable time, and we
pushed into the breeze till an hour after dark before bailing off the side of
the road.
(200 km and 2675 m)
Above: a "horny toad" lizard, Craig spied on the trail
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