This morning the mud had dried, at least enough to ride on. I chipped the remaining mud off my bike, or what I could, and headed out. Today was a lot less exciting, at least in terms of the mud. It was, however, a very hot dry day.
I don’t recall much from the ride out of the Brazos, just that it was hot and dry and all of us were running out of water. I had sacrificed some to try and clean my drivetrain. A non working bike would be a bigger problem out here than being a bit dehydrated.
I do remember the ride wasn’t too bad, a lot of “more of the same” roads. They would have been rough if it had been raining. At one point in the morning a couple of guys in a truck passed us and offered some ice from their cooler, they didn’t have much in terms of water, just the leftover ice. I declined, still having my 4 liter backup bladder in my frame bag.
We finally made it to the pavement section leading up to Hopewell lake. Which we assumed would have water in it or at least have water for the campground. When we got there we found that the lake was far down a hill, and the campground didn’t have any water running. The campground host offered us a couple of water bottles they were giving out to anyone who asked about the water. It wasn’t much, but was enough to get us to the next stop.
It was quite hot in the afternoon and the water I got from Hopewell didn’t really last that long. We ended up stopping at the Summer Store near Canon Plaza for almost an hour. I just sat in the store and ate candy and ice cream and drank some soda, and then paid for everything based on the empty wrappers. It was a nice break, and it was fun to see Silvia and hear stories about the riders from her.
While we were eating whatever we could get our hands on in the store it rained a little, and we decided that we wanted to grab a hotel in Abiquiu. David called ahead and they had a room reserved for us. We just had to make it through the mostly downhill section from Canon Plaza to Abiquiu. There was an uneventful roll through the sleepy dogs of Vallecitos. They have a reputation of being vicious and chasing anyone on a bike for quite a while. They chased me, but only for a few feet, their hearts didn’t seem to be in it with the heat.
There was a quick climb and then we started downhill toward the pavement in El Rito. I guess there’s a restaurant there, but I didn’t stop. There was a crazy looking Mars Polar Lander sculpture that caught my eye as I roll through town, but I was still tired and hot, and didn’t stop to take a picture. The pavement was fast, but there were threatening clouds on either side. I though I could just outrun the storm, or just push through it and that it wouldn’t be that bad. It ended up being a deluge, and I was foolish enough not to stop to put on any rain gear. I was absolutely soaked by the time I got to Abiquiu. My shoes were filled with water and I was now quite cold.
We ended up all crashing in one hotel room, Tim, David, Jeff, and me. It was nice to have a roof and a soft bed to sleep in.
