GDMBR Day 14

• Start: Informal Campground #25

• Finish: Frontier Motel, Cuba, NM

• Miles: 46 miles

• Odometer: 558.3 miles

• Ascent: 2,200 ft

• Descent: 1,700 ft

• Location: https://share.garmin.com/Judice

Highlights:

It’s easy see how under the wrong conditions this could be a difficult route. Fortunately for me, last week’s rain and then the sun seems to have baked the roads and given me a hard surface to ride on. There were some sandy spots that I could see being trouble in drier conditions. I could also see that the roads could be very difficult after a hard rain. The truck ruts were still evident from the previous week’s rain. Overall, this is a very nice route under ideal conditions. 

I can wholeheartedly recommend the tableside guacamole, beef fajitas, and margaritas from El Bruno’s in Cuba.

During the first 30 miles of this ride I saw a grand total of three trucks pass me. And then up ahead I saw a small Subaru stopped on the side of the dirt road and the driver was waving me down. Inside the car was an elderly man and woman. The woman was driving. She asked me if I knew directions to the Hopi Reservation. I told her that I did not but that I would search it on Google maps. As I am in putting the information into my iPhone, she comments that she doesn’t believe in smart phones and GPS. Meanwhile, the gentleman in the passenger seat has two maps on his lap and he’s fumbling with them. I looked down at my search results and said, “Google says the Hopi Reservation is in Arizona.” She acknowledges, “I know.” I replied, “We are a long ways from Arizona, but first you’ll have to turn your car around…” (And then I gave her some directions back to civilization). Before she left she explained that the two of them had just met and were heading to Arizona for a raft trip down the Grand Canyon. You can’t make this stuff up. I hope they make it. 

Observations:

I was riding along imagining the past three days under hot and drought conditions with a strong headwind and a mechanical breakdown without the protection of shade. Things could get bad fast.