Without a doubt, the sleep I got in Kingston was the best I have had all trip. My cough only woke me up one time, and I slept like a rock.
When we woke, Jake made some killer omelettes and we chatted with Shipley a little more. Shipley had a very busy Saturday schedule, so he wasn't able to ride Emory Pass with us. He left us with some details about the ride, telling us it was 9 miles and 2000 feet of vertical climbing. He assured us that all touring cyclist make it to the top in 2 hours or less, and he thought based on riding with us the day before we could make it in 1 hour 40 minutes. Gulp. That still seemed intimidating.
Shortly after 8am, we began the climb. It was tough, but not terrible. The grade was pretty constant, with very few really steep sections and very few really flat sections. Words cannot describe how happy I was to have all the extra gears on my bicycle. I spent most of the climb in my two new gears, and didn't have to stand up once. It was glorious. Switchback after switchback, mile after mile, we continued to climb. Before we could believe it, we reached the sign at the top of the pass. I looked at my bike computer. Wow! 1 hour 9 minutes and 8.2 miles.
The road below looked like a tiny snake, weaving up the valley.
The downhill on the other side was a white knuckle affair, where we quickly reached 35mph down a twisty windy road. Brakes on, brakes off. Brakes on, brakes off. The scenery on the west side was equally amazing (although much blurrier). We were suprised by a few small uphills which our legs weren't ready for.
We stopped for lunch in San Lorenzo, NM where we devoured a burger and drank an army of liquid. Gatorade, iced tea, water, mountain dew, you name it we were drinking it.
The next stretch of road was OK but not great. The official Adventure Cycling route travels in a big loop up to the Gila cliff dwellings, but we took the more direct route which is 70 miles shorter. It also passes by the largest open mine copper pit in the world (? potentially incorrect assertion). Either way, it's huge.
We also encountered some jerk face drivers in this stretch. While the shoulder was fairly large and fairly smooth, a few people still decided to give us aggressive horns and fingers. Not cool New Mexico. You aren't going to win "state with the nicest drivers" with those actions.
In Silver City, the biggest town we'd see for a few days, we stopped at Wal-Mart to restock on food and water. We still had 30 miles to our proposed campground, but it was clear we were both wiped. After a pretty long break, we got going again, and slowly meandered on our way.
Crossing the continental divide was a nice feeling. Although this climb wasn't nearly as difficult as Emory pass, the winds had picked up and the going was slow.
We made it to our campground in Buckhorn without too much trouble, about an hour before the sun went down.
One of the old guys living at the campground showed us around, and warned us of 'goatheads'. These nefarious creatures tend to jump at bicycle tires and cause flats when you least expect them. I hope we don't meet too many of these.
Shortly after dark, our friends Daryl and Fairon stopped in for a visit. They were driving from Dallas to the Grand Canyon to celebrate their anniversary (and Daryl's Birthday) and took a detour to visit their 'crazy friends on bikes'. Luckily for us, they came armed with food and drinks. Super great to see friends where we least expect it.
Day 60 - 86.15 Miles
Trip to Date - 3347.32 miles
Coast to Coast - 2344.87 miles
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