Georgia Boy learns what real mountains are!

Back when I was learning about building engines with Digger Don* he told me a story once about how he tried to climb Mt. McKinley in Alaska. With only a couple hundred feet to go until they summited, a storm moved in and he and several others turned back. Three people continued up the mountain in the storm and their remains are still up there. That story played over and over in my head yesterday when we were faced with a similar decision. Well, I'm writing to y'all today so I reckon you know the ending already. For those that would like to know how we came to that choice read on.

We left El Rito after meeting five new people also heading north and re-meeting Josh and Ryan. Here's a list of everybody to keep y'all up to date

Josh and Ryan - met in Pie Town, last seen in Grants, NM. Riding for Alzheimer's Disease http://joshuaelder.com/default.aspx Josh starts med school at UCLA when he gets back, Ryan it the authority on birds/ animals, critters, etc.

Jon Pierson - Easy going guy from Flagstaff. AKA Jack-o-lope due to the stuffed jackolope on his bike. We rode with him for several days after he feel behind his group.

Micheal - German guy from Colombus, OH that doesn't say much but you can tell he's a really strong rider

Lee Taylor - retired guy from Oregon (I think). Started trip with a virus and still has it.

David - an ER doc from New York. Using a nashbar trailer that continues to break on him. We met him on the way to the local welding shop for yet another repair. AKA the Transfuser because he carries enough equipment to do a blood transfusion on the trial.

George - older guy that takes off work a lot to do a variety ot tours. Rides with a lawn chair on the back of his rack so he also has a nice place to sit.

Alright, so Josh and Ryan had to stay in El Rito to wait on a package, and the other five took off and started laying down mileage. Jamie and I did a long climb out of town and eventually camped by a river surounded by ponderosa pines, aspens and green grass with lots of little yellow dandy lions. Although the first climb was hard and took us up a couple thousand feet the bigger climb awaited us.

The climb over burned mountain (10,4ish?) was long but very scenic. We caught up with David pulling his crippled trailer up over the rocks and we got to see a B-1b Bomber fly right beside us through the canyon! That was really cool, how often do you see a four-engined bomber carrying nuclear weapons fly alongside you through a canyon? The climb was 16 miles long and Jamie never quit. She's becoming a really great mountain biker! The day ended with a downhil into severe headwinds in which you had to pedal to go 5 mph. The great divide doesn't give anything out for free and it seems it always saves the hard part for last. Sometimes its a steep climb the map never mentions but usually its headwinds. Nothing like a strong wind to sap your strength when you're already tired from the days ride. During this day, we also caught up with Jon who decided our slower pace was more fun and that's cool, 'cause the trip is a lot more fun with his stories.

After getting a good nights sleep by the river, we climbed up onto the Brazos ridge. The ridge starts at 10k and keeps getting higher and higher. At this point, I would like to add that whoever tells you that climbs out west aren't steep should be shot. NOthing about the roadway was smooth, or shallow in grade. In fact, the forest service road had deteriorated so much from the weather that it was actually closed to all traffic expect us and hikers. What started out as a dirt road, turned into single track and then turned into essentially "notrack" as we were forced several times to blaze our own trail through the woods to get around obstacles.

It was up on the brazos ridge that we started encountering large snow drifts that blocked the roadways and the snow melt caused lots of mud and streams across the already eroded dirt track. It was at one of these snow drifts that I figured that with enough speed, I could just plow through the snow. How wrong this Georgia boy was..... What actaully happened was me getting the bike stuck in the snow drift and falling over. Good times. It was also on this pass I got to experience 11,000+ feet of elevation. Luckily, we are apdapting better but it is still a push up there. I have to take rest breaks to breath, not because my legs are tired. To continue our acclimitization, we camped at 10,600ft.

The decent off of the ridge was equally rocky, eroded and steep and the ascent. I ate it hard after my front wheel fell into a hole but eventually, we made it all the way down and entered...

COLORADO

Yeah, one state down, more to go.

We finished the day with a pavement climb over La Magna pass along with a descent at over 46 mph (with knobby tires and bob trailer behind you, this is a little scarier than a road bike) we turned back on dirt and climbed up a gorgeous river valley spotted with beaver dams to Platoro. Platoro began our biggest decision.

The next morning in Platoro, we ate a fantastic breakfast and listened to the locals tell us about the upcoming pass. He had two smaller passes before the big one, Indiana Pass elevation 11,900ft, the biggest pas of the entire route. We were warned by everyone that the pass was unpassable and they expected stroms and snow throughout the rest of the week on top. They told us one guy was stuck up there in a four wheel drive pickup and is waiting it out. How long does it take the pass to clear after a snow storm? The local casually replied "oh, if the weather is good, about 10 days". Hmm, not sounding too promising but these are car people. What do car people know about what mountain bikes can get through anyway?** So we continued with our plans on how to traverse this pass because after all, we climbed the Brazos ridge, it had snow, how much snow can this little thing have in front of us.

About that time, a group of guys came in looking exhuasted. They tried to get over the pass using a combonation of four wheelers, motrocycles, and even snowmobiles. They had seen the four cyclists ahead of us and warned them to turn back (no word if they actually did). They told us about the huge snow drifts that are a bit crusty on top, but if you broke through the crust you'll sink in over your head. Trying to recover a motorcycle from one drift proved too much and they will atempt to go back in a week. All of this snow and treacherous terrain was about 4 miles from the summit. One can only imagine what lied ahead (and you can only imagine b/c no person has been able to make the entire trek since last summer). Hearing this, I kept thinking about Digger Don and his mountain climbing. I kept hearing him say, "Man, I really wanted to summit but its not worth it if you can't tell the story". After all, if we got stuck, there would be no way someone could get up there to carry you out. We would really be on our own up there. It was the biggest pass of the trip and a rite of passage for great divide riders but we elected to take the alternate which led us down a different river valley into the San Luis Valley and to Monte Vista, CO only 16 miels off route. We've tried calling the other four but as of yet no word. As we were descending down the river valley, a series of storms hit everything above 11,000 feet in that range. I hope those guys are okay.

Jamie and I are taking a rest day here in Monte Vista. Tomorrow, we weill rejoin the trial in Del Norte*** and continue back up into the mountains to eventually work our way into Salida, CO.

*Digger Don is an engine builder I apprenticed under in Norcross, GA. Don used to drive front engined top fuel dragsters back in the 60's and early seventies when a horrific explosion nearly killed him. Doc's said he would walk again. Instead, he kept at it and in the late seventies started climbing mountains in Africa, North and South America. Look him up sometime, he's got a lot of stories. Don Dixon High Performance Engines 201 Cole Ct, Norcross, GA

**One rule of bike touring is that you never trust what someone driving a car tells you. If they say its only 4 miles, it is actually 10 miles. People in cars have no real perspective of distance, time, or type of terrain they are actually driving over.

***Del Norte, CO is on hwy 160 in Colorado. When Jin and I rode across America, we rode thorugh Del Norte and ate at the Taco Bell. There we met three people riding the great divide. I thought they were nuts until I saw the pictures they took. After that, I bought a set of maps and started planning this adventure. After Del Norte, we climbed Wolf Creek Pass. To us, is was the biggest, toughest climb we ever did. On the great divide we climb a wolf creek pass like climb once to three times a day.