Epic Bike Ride Day 7 May 26 and 27

Thought from Kelly: After a couple of relaxing days in Albuquerque visiting my amazing Uncle Wally, sister Marla, nephew Matthew and his fiancé Savanna, we drove back to Pie Town NM to restart the ride. When we arrived in Pie Town, Mark was excited to get some pie but the store had just sold their last pies to another Great Divide rider that we were talking to outside the store. We set up camp and looked forward to pie in the morning. The morning of the 27th Mark got a great breakfast and bought some pies for the road. Today’s ride was a combination of extremely sandy roads and nice pavement. Mark found himself again having to walk his bike through the sandiest parts. I finally had the chance to ride a bit today. I have not been able to train at all, so I got in 3 miles and 160 ft of elevation. We all have to start somewhere, right! Then I hopped back in the truck and met up with Mark. We decided to take an alternate route to stay on pavement that took us through the El Malpais National Monument where we found Joe Skeen Campground. We loved this campground!!

Thoughts from Mark: PIE TOWN! How could anyone drive/ride to a place called Pie Town, and not get…pie? I decided on the Coconut Cream, as well as a Lemon-something. Both were fantastic, and I’m a bit upset with myself for not getting more. The roads out of Pie Town were a different challenge, with some sections having (more than) 6 inches of sand! I did the best I could trying to ride through it, but at times the sand simply grabbed my wheels and stopped them dead in their tracks. The last thing I want to do early in this adventure is crash and injure myself, so I had to hop off for a bit, and once again hike-a-bike. Eventually, as Kelly said, we were able to take a paved section for 15-ish miles, and I felt like I was flying (even hitting over 20mph in some sections). Overall, the rest really seemed to help me - probably mentally just as much as physically - and I felt pretty good on the bike today. While on our rest days in Albuquerque we visited multiple bike shops in the hopes of making my bike (and my body) more comfortable while riding. We bought a new seat, which has more “give,” and so far it seems to be better. The Joe Skeen campground was indeed really cool, and we had a nice meal (thanks Kelly!), and slept like babies.

Miles for today: 45.19 Feet climbed today: 1,657

Total miles ridden: 317.28 Total feet climbed: 18,922