Huge thanks to Kate, the Villatoros, my Aunt Jenn, and my Aunt Jodie for the donations! You guys are awesome, your contribution to the Julian Casanova Beef Jerky and Cliff Bar Fund is greatly appreciated.
Anthem of the day:
Today was a journey. At breakfast I met Andrew, another Ocean State resident who lives in Kingston and works at the Lodge. He happened to be a bike mechanic and had experience with bike touring. We reminisced about some Rhode Island staples, and made fun of my bike for a while.
As mentioned before, the Lodge is halfway up the highest point of the tour (Emory Pass), so in the morning I set out to reach the peak, and was looking forward to some downhill riding at the end of the day. On my way up I met Duncan, another bike tourist who was heading East.
Climbing up I got some great views and after fighting my way to the top and reaching Emory Pass I was pretty exhausted and ready to sit back and let gravity take me down the mountain.
The mountain had other plans though, it wasn’t just a straight decent, there were still hills and steep mountain roads to climb through. I’ll admit it’s frustrating and exhausting to fight your way to the top of a hill only to see another one rising in front of you. I was low on food too which didn’t help my morale.
I passed through a few of the five stages of grief and just put my legs on autopilot so I could reach somewhere to sleep. I passed the massive Santa Rita Copper Mine, and from there it was mostly downhill. There’s a childlike ecstacy in coasting down miles of hills listening to LCD Soundsystem while the sun sets in front of you.
I restocked on food at a Dollar General and crawled into one of the many 50$ motels that New Mexico has to offer. Hiding out from another subfreezing night.
Ride info
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/83072068
Gallery
Those views make the hills worth it