Day 26 of my 22′ Rocky Mountain Tour. Back on the V-Strom, I mentally begin the ‘home stretch’ of the trip.
Debating on the best way to get back to Austin, I start with the following conclusions:
- The midwest, anything through Oklahoma, will be way too hot and way too barren.
- There isn’t a whole lot to see from Denver to Austin through the midwest.
I change my route to bounce back into the rockies and head south towards Buena Vista and Salida. I had been here before, and near Mt. Shavano is a large dispersed camp area that always has plenty of room. I get on the bike, get into the mountain, and…. oh great we get to play the thunderstorm game again.
When the storm looks like a sheet of grey touching the ground, you think ‘oh it must just be like fog no big deal’. Oh no. If you can’t see into it, when you hit it, you won’t be able to see anything. No one will be able to see you either! Ugh.
I think of the Spartan 300 saying, where Persia says “Our arrows will blot out the sun!” and the Spartans reply “…then we will fight in the shade!”
Mentally, with thunderstorms, I force a laugh and tell myself I will fight in the shade.
The weather is cool, breezy, and full of HAIL AND LARGE RAIN DROPS, but it’s OK. I ride on, I dry off when it’s dry, I wash my visor when it’s wet, I’m making do.
I get to Poncho Springs and pull into Elevation Brewing, which I’ve been to when previously visiting to mountain bike on the Monarch Crest Trail. I check out all the bikes while waiting for my food.
This brewery had all of my favorite things! Mountain bikes, dirt bikes, beer, Falafel, great. After killing an hour and watching what looked like another round of storms come in, I rode to the dispersed camping area nearby, found a spot, and set up my tent. Right when the rain started again.
Luckily, once it cleared, the dust was cut down, the temps dropped, and I could go for a hike up the trail.
I had an extra large dinner of mountain house mixed with a bag of ramen, tucked myself in, and exhaustedly said good night.
…until my sleeping pad had a leak and I was on the ground at 10:45pm. Well this had to be fixed to sleep. I had duct tape and glue in my tool bag, but I searched around in the carrying case for the Big Agnes sleeping pad and found a repair kit! With a thick dollop of glue on the valve where it was leaking (instructions stated WAIT 30 MINUTES TO DRY), I walk around outside and stargaze a bit.
- * * *A note on this portion of the story. I bought this sleeping pad from REI on sale in 2018. Recently after this trip, I told Big Agnes that I loved the pad, and it had a leak in the valve, but I’d pay to have it repaired if the warranty didn’t cover it. Instead they send me a $170 voucher that never expires to buy a new one on their website, with free shipping and no taxes. Really nice when a company stands behind their product, no questions asked, so right now I am a bit of a Big Agnes fan. Like, a big fan of Big Agnes the company. I’m not a BIG fan of AGNES, although I DO have a friend named Agnes, and I AM a fan of HER… * * *
I sleep, planning on riding down into New Mexico and finding camp near Santa Fe. If none of that pans out, Bandelier National Monument is always a safe bet.
