Today we rode from Joe Skeen Campground (25km after Sargents), New Mexico, US to Valle Tios Vinces Campground (45km after Pie Town), New Mexico, US. Not as sunny weather as other days, there was some overcast (which was appreciated) and a few raindrops during our second part. Road conditions included paved roads, and for the large part New Mexico gravel roads. Highlights of the day include being back in (smaller) mountains and forests.
Riding statistics: on Thursday September 8, 2022, the 39th day on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route route, it took 10:57h (08:18h moving time), between 07:37 and 18:35, to cover 133 km (83 miles), including 1267 m (4157 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 16 km/h (10 mph). During today's ride the average temperature was 29 °C (88 °F) with a minimum of 15 °C (60 °F) and a maximum of 44 °C (118 °F).
Totals: So far, it took 11 days, 14 hours, 17 minutes and 20 seconds of cycling time to cover 4075 km (2532 miles), including 48183 m (158088 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 15 km/h (9.3 mph).
Leaving Joe Skeen campground
I had a very good night of sleep under our pavilion (on the concrete floor). We had set our alarm clocks for 6am so we could leave early again. We want to make it a long day again (first visit Pie Town for a lunch and then continue on towards a formal campground 45km thereafter). The day started with a bit of sun, but mainly overcast clouds. The temperature was very nice to ride in so that was a benefit of the sun being less visible. We continued our ride through the El Maipas National Monument. A very nice scenery with canyons, lava fields, and meadows. The lava fields is something you could see from the road. They are from very long ago, so there is already vegetation growing on it, but you can still see the shape of lava underneath the vegetation. After about another 25km we turned of on a gravel road. We could see it already for many miles on the horizon. It started as a regular gravel road, but quite soon it became already much harder. Very loose gravel, severe washboarding, patches of loose sand, and eventually rocks and quite some up and downhills.
Pie Town
We arrived before 2pm at Pie Town. Went into one of the restaurants and ordered burgers with salads, a special ice drink (strawberry / banana), ice cold water, and a piece of Pie. Unfortunately it was crowdy and they forgot to get our order, then our forks & knives, and on top also special drinks & water. Eventually the special drinks were on the house for the inconvenience. Fortunately they let us fill our water blatters with fresh water so that we were again completely filled up. Fresh water will be the most difficult challenge for the coming days. Fact: Sat Sep 10th Pie Town celebrates their 40th anniversary of their Pie Festival. We’re just two days too early. With our bellies full we had to do abut 45 more kilometers to the campground where we would like to end our day (if it turned out to be too far there were informal camping spots before that in the National Forest).
Valle Tios Vices Campground
Fortunately 45km was not too far and we made it to the campground. We were tired, but that is OK. What seemed to be a flat day turned out to be a 1200+ meter elevation gain day. We also got some rain during this last section, not enough to use our rain gear. Fortunately also not enough to make the dirt road impassable, otherwise we would have needed to camp somewhere next to the road. We have again hung our food in a tree. We are again in Bear area (and cougar area).
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