Day 13: Pushing Through
This morning we left Mexican Hat Utah named after this rock formation shown just before the sunrise. With my right hamstring injury, my focus was to go slow and just try to get through the 102 miles and over 6000' of climbing.
The scenery here in Utah continues to be stunning.
With the headwinds, the climbing, and my gimpy hamstring, I got to spend lots of time observing.
Three hours into today's ride, I had only biked 39 miles. My hamstring was hurting, the wind was blowing, and I still had 63 miles to go. I seriously started wondering if I would need to hop into one of the Trek vans.
One of my fellow riders was also having a long day of it, but in his case, it was because of the 5 flats he got today. I only picked up one flat today which brings my trip total to 8.
As we got closer to Colorado, the landscape began to change. The rocks became less red, and more of the landscape was dotted with green.
Eventually we passed a couple of small rivers.
Reaching Colorado, our fourth state, was a positive psychological milestone. At that point, I was more than halfway through the ride, and lunch was in 10 more miles at mile 67. The last couple of miles before lunch were quite tough as the winds were blowing 20-30 mph and hitting us from the right and front. A few hearty souls rode the optional 6 miles uphill and directly into the headwinds to get to four corners where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona all meet. With my leg, I did not even consider it.
Lunch was restorative, and leaving lunch by turning towards the northeast meant that the south winds became a significant help. At one point, I saw a dust devil swirling along for a few minutes moving in front of a ridge such as this one.
After seven and a half hours, I eventually reached the end of the ride, crossing the 1000 mile mark from Santa Barbara shortly before doing so. The next two days are short, only 40 miles to Durango then 60 miles to Pagosa Springs. Hopefully, by icing my hamstring and riding easy, it will recover enough to allow me to make the 140 mile ride from Pagosa Springs to Taos on Friday.