Entry for Saturday, 11 September 1999

On the way to Espanola Black Mesa sits alone in the Espanola Valley.

Bode's General Store in Abiquiu.

View of the Chama River beneath Abiquiu Dam.

Looking back towards Abiquiu Lake on the way to Coyote.

Connie at the Coyote Crossing grocery store and Laundromat.

Ray being dropped of at the 7800 ft. pass near Gallina.

Wrecked car being used as makeshift bridge over arroyo near Gallina.

Post office in Regina, NM.

Last Modified on 9/12/1999 at 18:29:37

Day's Narrative: This is a 100 mile century ride I've wanted to do for over 20 years. So far as I know the first people to bicycle this route were Fred Siebel and friends during the 1970s. The distance is actually a little more than 100 miles; about 107 miles (172 km).

I left my home in Los Alamos at dawn shortly before 7:00 am, September 11, 1999. The temperature was 49 F (9 C) at home at 7350 ft. elevation, but dropped to 45 F (7 C) at 5700 ft. elevation in the Espanola Valley. I was headed for breakfast at Big Dawg's Chuckwagon Cafe in Espanola.

After breakfast I was on the road again at 9:00 am heading for Abiquiu (pron. Ah-bee-que) on US 84 and NM 96 around the Jemez mountains to Cuba. The winds were calm. At the village of Abiquiu, made famous by the artist Georgia O'Keeffe, I stopped for a coke break at Bode's General Store. See Photo 2.

After leaving Abiquiu the road starts a 300 ft. climb from 5900 ft. to Abiquiu Dam and NM 96. The tourist traffic in this area is high here due to recreational use of Abiquiu Lake which was formed by the dam. As I reached the Dam the wind began to blow from the Northwest -- a headwind. This headwind was to be with me almost all day. It shortly increased to 20-25 mph (32-40 km/hr) making travel slow.

Many people say that this area is the prettiest in New Mexico, and I agree with them. The vistas along this road are almost without comparison and are largely unseen by most New Mexico visitors.

The Army Corps of Engineers has a visitor's center at the Dam with drinking water and flush toilets. I stopped for a break there to fill my water bottle. The Dam is also half way to Cuba. I got there about noon. The village of Coyote (pron. Coy-o-tay) is about 10 miles further down NM 96. I planned to have lunch there at the small grocery.

After the Dam the traffic drops off dramatically. Sometimes there were periods of 10 or 15 minutes when I would not meet a car in either direction. This is a good thing because NM 96 is narrow and has no paved shoulder. From the Dam to Coyote the road is rolling terrain with a few small steep hills. However, due to the headwind, even the smallest hill forced me to go into the lowest gears.

As I was coming into Coyote I had a flat tire within sight of Coyote's small grocery store, Coyote Crossing. I changed the tube. Apparently I pinched the new tube installing it, because the tire immediately went flat again. I put in my second of three spare tubes. That one was OK and I went on the the store. At this time I was pretty tired from pedaling against the wind. Coyote is at mile 70 of the ride, and it was after 2:30 pm.

Connie arrived shortly as I was getting ready to eat a microwaved roast beef and cheese sandwich. The wind had exhausted me and made the trip a lot longer than expected. I figured that at the current rate I would reach Cuba at sunset.

We discussed the problem. One option was to abandon the remainder of the trip. However, the sandwich had revived me considerably, and we decided that Connie would take me in the van 10 miles further to the top of the 7800 ft. pass about 5 miles east of the village of Gallina. This is the toughest part of the ride. In the 10 mile stretch from Coyote to the pass the road goes from 6400 ft. to 7800 ft. -- a climb of 1400 ft. One mile of this is really steep. The remainder is not so bad.

We decided to do this. This shortened the ride by 10.3 miles. After Connie let me off at the pass and I watched the van disappear down the road, I felt the full force of the afternoon headwind. "Why have I done this?" I wondered out loud. I was forced by the 25 mph wind to pedal down the hill into Gallina. Connie was to come back looking for me if I was not in Cuba by 5:30 pm. At this point I was sure she would have to.

Since I had just eaten, I didn't stop at the Mini Mart in Gallina, but pushed on the the village Regina where I stopped at Bud's Oil Company. Regina is about 15 miles from Cuba. It was about 4:50 when I left Regina, and it probably was not possible to get to Cuba before Connie left the motel to come back looking for me. I was right -- we met 4 miles outside of Cuba. Since I was so close to Cuba and I would not have a headwind for the first time on the ride, I rode the remaining four miles into Cuba -- arriving just before 6:00 pm.

The overwhelming reason to do this ride is the scenery. It's really not possible to do justice to the beauty of this part of New Mexico with a photograph since the photo can only show a small section of the vista one sees.

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© Ray & Connie Poore, 1998