The long road to Taos

Standing at the Continental Divide in New Mexico

The long road to Taos

No "Welcome to New Mexico" sign on our route so to this is the best I got!

Spanish Omelet with red and green chili's; Breakfast in Taos

Taos Plaza and the Hotel La Fonda

Chores on my rest day in Taos!!

I took Marcy out to see the Rio Grande River Gorge, 7 miles outside of Taos.

Nearly 700' to the bottom of the gorge.

Date night in Taos; dinner at a nice quiet restaurant.

The most unique Caesar Salad I've ever eaten; delicious too.

To get to Taos in the daylight, we had to leave Pagosa Springs in darkness. My wake-up call came at 5:00 am, at 6:00 we had to ride 0.5 miles to the little cafe for breakfast for a 6:45 am start on the road just before daybreak. to add to the adventure, the morning temperature was 33 degress!

With my headlight strobe flashing, my tailights on and my teeth chattering, I was on the road to meet Marcy later inthe afternoon on Taos. The layers i had on worked but my bike wasn't. The cold temperatures kept my SRM Power meter from working for nearly one hour; my rear gear shifter would not change gears for me for nearly 30-35 miles. I was basically stuck on a two gear bike as I could only shift between my large and small chain ring. This made climbing extra hard and descending a total aggrevation as i had to basically coast downhill. As the temperatures warmed up, I started to get some response from my right hand gear shifter.

After lunch at mile 47, the serious climbing would begin. Earlier in the day we crossed over the continental divide shortly after crossing into New Mexico. Now we were heaed to a mountain pass at 10,500'. At lunch i got ride of my layers as the sun was out; little did i know what lie ahead. With all off the bike problems early in the day I expended a lot of extra energy up to mile 71 and i was at 8,500 feet, the highest i had ever ridden. In the next 9 miles i would have to climb another 2,000', than still ride another 60 miles to Taos. Clouds were dark at the top of the mountain. I decided to ocnserve my energy, taking the support van to the peak.

At the peak, I met up with the Colorado trio. As soon as i got out of the van, got my layers back on, the hail started to fall. We took off thinking we had a long downhill and a quick ride out of hte weather. We didn't look at the elevation chart of the ride! We had a two mile decent to 9,700' returning to a climb back to 10,300' all in a steady rain. I was cruising along despite the rain then i flatted. Believe me there are many things i would rather do than change i rear wheel bike tire in a cold steady rain. By the time i finished, I was chilled to the bone. I started downhill only to stop as I was in a "speed wobble" that was caused my trembling so I stopped to eat an energy bar and drink some liquid. Fortunately the support van came by and I got in to warm up.

Once I got rid of the chill, ate an orange, and changed to some dry clothes, I was once again on my way. The downhill finally became fun! For over twenty miles I rode down to the Taos valley averaging over 25 mph. As the rollers came into play so did more rain. At one point I found the sun shining on my right ear and rain falling on my left.

It was now past 4 pm, over 9 hours on the road and I was out of gas at mile marker 124. When I got to the hotel, I found Marcy had already arrived so I went up to the room and gave her a big hug and kiss.

I burned over 4,000 kcals today. 1 flat tire.

I'm looking forward to my rest day with Marcy in Taos.

Part 2: My rest day.

After a delicious breakfast at Michael's Kitchen we took a walk through the plaza of Taos which is filled with art galleries and custom jewelry shops typically filled with items from the local indian tribes and the various artists.

One necessary chore had to be taken care of today - wash my clothes, which I'm getting good at but don't tell my wife.

Once the chore was done, I took Marcy to see the Rio Grande River Gorge; this gorge is nearly 700' deep. On the bridge overlooking the gorge was quite the experience as the bridge vibrated whenever a tractor trailer passed over it.

After a short nap and additional shopping, we had a nice quiet dinner at "Byzantium" where we experienced unique presentations of our dinner selections; delicious also. Lastly, a visit to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory capped off our day.