We also want to encourage you to donate to World Bicycle Relief, even if it's just a buck or two, it makes a difference! http://action.worldbicyclerelief.org/page/outreach/view/individual/bigjride
Also in the next week or so we be doing an AMA (ask me anything) on the website Reddit and then a handful of slideshows in our various home towns to hopefully reach our fundraising goal and share our trip and this awesome trail with the world. We'll post more info about those here in the upcoming days.
We last left you in Grants, NM on the 25th of July. The next morning we awoke to find countless goats-head prickers stuck into our tires from rolling through the park to our campsite. After pulling them out we each had a rear flat taking the score to 3-3. We decided to take our first alternate, the El Malpais alternate, shortening the trip to Pie Town by 18 miles and making our morning totally paved in an attempt to both catch up after the misfortunes of the last few days and to avoid becoming Han Soloed in the New Mexican mud-glue. Along the way we saw an awesome arch, "La Ventana" and met Larry from Fairfield who was riding from Pie Town to Jackson, WY and who talked so much that we thought we might have to set up camp there. Luckily we managed to sneak away and soon reached dirt and the end of the alternate. As an aside we found tiny prepackaged pecan pies that make for delicious ride food. Almost like clockwork as we started riding on dirt the New Mexican sky started to open. While it rained around us it never did more than drizzle on us and yet the closer we got to Pie Town (so named for having delicious pie and literally nothing else) the muddier it got and the slower we went. And the mud just got worse. What the map called "a little mucky" was in reality so devastatingly sticky that our wheels literally ceased to turn with all the mud jammed in them and we resorted to dragging/carrying all 120 pounds (60lbs of bike + 60lbs of mud) of them for at least a couple of miles. When we finally reached Pie Town at 8pm, two hours after the 6pm we aimed for we were muddy, exhausted, and mentally crushed. Hoping to get a meal or at least a slice of pie we rode to the cafe in town (essentially all there is in town) and found it had been closed since 4. Hoping against hope we knocked and out popped a lady stating "I hate it when this happens." Turns out Pie Town is not only home to pie, but also to some of the friendliest people in the world. Kathy, the Pie-O-Neer cafe's owner was just closing up and hoping to get home before dark when we showed up. Instead she greeted us as if we were family. We each got a slice of amazing strawberry rhubarb pie and then took pictures with Kathy and her hostess Megan who had arrived with a gorgeous sunset in tow. After enjoying the amazing scene Kathy gave us hugs goodbye while Megan gave us directions to "The Toaster House" a house for travelers of all sorts. Nita, the owner, who was unfortunately out of town, had turned the home where she raised her kids into a house for hikers and bikers complete with frozen food and even pie! We took hot showers, ate dinner, turned on the "hiker mix" CD, read the guest book full of stories of other travelers. Shortly thereafter we each retired to the beds in our own rooms, the furthest we had been apart in over a month and feeling like we had almost found home passed out. We both hope to go back to Pie Town in the near future, hopefully for pie festival!
The next morning Jasper's pesky stomach bug reached a new low. Realizing there was no way we were going to make it to Antelope Wells in the planned 2.5 days with around 300 miles to go Jasper called his parents from the neighbors phone and pushed out finish date back a day to the thirtieth. After a bit of bike TLC we hit the rode and after a few hours realized we were quite probably lost. Naturally we continued riding. Growing ever more frustrated and ever more certain we were lost we finally hit a junction. We turned toward where we thought the trail might be and luck was on our side. We found a cowboy drinkin' a Coors and being driven around by his wife on an offroad golf cart who looked at our map and quickly turned us around putting us back on route in about a mile. We're still not sure where we had been but had probably been off route for around 15 miles. All's well that ends well I suppose. After only making 20 miles of progress in the morning due to a late start, sickness, and misnavigation we hammered out 45 miles after lunch at 3pm. We tried to camp at a small reservoir that we're pretty sure didn't exist this time of year and so due to our frighteningly low water supplies decided to have lunch for dinner and quickly crawled into bed with the distant flashes of an electrical storm illuminating the sky.
The next morning was no better for Jasper's GI system And after 1.5 hours of riding we had made it 9 miles and still had no water. Once again the bike gods smiled upon us and we met Dianne while on her morning walk. She took pity on us and took us into her house giving us bottled water as there's no other drinking water available in the middle of nowhere New Mexico. Upon noticing Jasper looking somewhere between tears and death brought him tums and saltine crackers. We made it to the large Beaverhead Ranger station for lunch of macaroni and cheese and more water as well as making use of the soda machine! Jasper began to feel a bit better but as we started out from lunch into the wooded and hilly Gila Wilderness the trail once again crushed his spirits. With 1000 foot climb after 1000 foot climb each one made him a little more weary. By 7pm we were still 25 miles short of our planned destination. After a long talk we came to the conclusion that Antelope Wells and the Mexican border were no longer a realistic or worthwhile destination and our final destination would probably be Silver City, NM. It would be nearly impossible to make up the miles needed and the trip was no longer fun. Jasper was feeling more miserable on a daily basis while Joshua was growing more stressed about how they would make the miles they needed to. In addition we had accomplished what we had set out to do. We had seen the country, met amazing people, and had an amazing experience! After making what was probably the best decision of the trip, the mood instantly improved. After a day of quiet, sullen, stressed, miserable riding it was as if a cloud had been lifted. The riding was easier, laughter was heard, the sun came out, and I'll be darned if we didn't have a flock of birds following us chirping out a song. We dropped down after another climb to Bear Creek Campsite where Jasper quickly passed out while Joshua went and made friends with the neighbors until the rain started at which point he too retired to his warm dry bivvy sack.
The next morning started off with more Gila Forest climbs. Joshua was waiting for Jasper at the top of the last big climb expecting a dejected rider to crest when Jasper flew by with an exuberant "Onward!" In the excitement Joshua almost rode off without his helmet. Of course now that Jasper was ready to go Joshua's bike decided to give up. His rear wheel began falling off every five feet. After much struggling and a few sketchily placed fender washers Joshua got rolling again and together they dropped into Mimbres on what was possibly the worst washboards of the entire trip. After 2600 miles one would expect us to be immune to any sorts of aches or soreness but by the time we reached pavement we're pretty sure the bones in our hands had turned into a mess of splintered fragments. We rolled into the "town" of Mimbres which had a closed store and a few houses. A friendly lady gave us directions to the small cafe that was really the only thing that gave them the right to call Mimbres a town. Tasty southwestern monte carlo sandwiches were eaten with the obligatory New Mexican green chiles. We slowly rode the last 8 miles of dirt as we approached the Silver City area. After 12 more miles of pavement we reached our destination. We shared a sigh of relief and a high five, had burgers at Blake's Lottaburger, and got a hotel room as the "bike house" we had hoped to stay in was full for the night. After catching up on some Olympics we said goodnight for the last night of our trip and dozed off with dreams of home cooked meals and our sleeping in our own beds, and the promise of Jasper's parents picking us up in the morning.
That's our trip; and nope, we're still not tired of beautiful.
J out
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