In Search of Green Chilies – Cloudcroft, 2012
Well, here is my story. Disclaimer: If any part of this story has any resemblance of the truth, it is purely by accident. I will not be commenting on the consumption of cheeseburgers, beer or pizza, as I do not condone eating such foods and would never be involved in such debauchery. Nor will I comment on cow parades or Uranus. And lastly, I will not admit to hitting the ground more than a couple dozen times in one day, or getting trapped between my bike and a tree and squealing for help. But thanks guys.
I left the house at 4:30 a.m. Sat. morning to meet JT and MotoTex at the Whoop Stop on Hwy 21 at 6:00 a.m. I was really looking forward to riding with RG, JT and MotoTex in the cool southern rockies. Once at RG’s, we loaded up in his trailer with all the gear and the bikes. The back of the truck was full of camping stuff, too! Good thing we were just taking the bare necessities.
After a day long drive, we arrived at the Mayhill Café for our first try of the famous Green Chili Cheeseburgers. Except one of us ordered a chicken sandwich. What? I thought this was the place with the best Green Chili Cheeseburgers? The reply was, “No that was the Weed Café.” It was decided right there that we would just have to sacrifice ourselves and try all the GCCB’s in the area. Well, I thought the Mayhill was very good. (see disclaimer above)
Once we set up camp, we spent a few minutes having some libations under a star filled evening. I brought a growler from Whole Foods with one of their on tap beers that they sell, but I could not remember what it was called. But it was very good. Oh well. (see disclaimer above)
We woke up to this with a slight chill in the air.
My home for the next few days.
MotoTex and JT getting ready for the second day of riding.
This is a picture of what we saw while sitting at the table at sun up.
After lunch on the second day, we ran into Jim’s group. MotoTex was going to show us a route under the old trestle thru a tunnel to the north side of the hwy, but it had been changed to non motorized traffic.
The third day we joined up with Vinny and rode the Rim Trail south from Alamo peak to Sun Spot. This is where I think I hit my head and do not remember or will not admit to spending more time on the ground than on the bike. Thanks again guys. Here are some shots from the Rim Trail before Sun Spot.
Where the Rim Trail crosses Westside road, MotoTex had to pave it into Timberon because he was running low on fuel. Hmm… he had a 5+ gallon tank. I was still too shaky to understand that we were being set up. Once he took off, we continued on the Rim Trail south for more fun. This was the type of fun that if it didn’t kill you, you will be stronger. Yes, more ejections from the bike followed. We met up with MotoTex where the Rim Trail crosses Sun Spot Hwy. He was sitting in the shade with a Cheshire cat type grin. Note to self: stay with MotoTex!
Next stop is Weed, for more GCCB’s to be evaluated. On the way, we hit a couple of rockie/dirt roads till we came upon a T. JT and RG had already gone to the right. Hmm.. MotoTex was nowhere to be seen. Vinny is just sitting there in the intersection and I hear on the radio JT and MotoTex discussing which way to go. Vinny indicates that MotoTex has gone to the left, up the hill. Well, I’m going to the left, and Vinny indicates the same. We wouldn’t want MotoTex to go off alone again, now would we! About 4 miles later, the two roads came back together. In the meantime, we had some fast and fun dirt road riding. Vinny tried to impress some of the local bovine with his riding skills, Jay Springsteen style. It ended badly, but he got up and walked away, with little damage. Once we caught up with RG, he was riding a rear flat. With no trees large enough to shade us on that road, we decided he should ride it in.
Here we are at the Weed Café/Post Office/Store.
RG had to get his boots their own table.
Here we are with the main course. Very Good! (see disclaimer above)
Evidence of the carnage.
So Wednesday morning we got up and headed south to ride one of the canyons we had not yet explored. Nice trail, not very used and dead ended after some time into a group of trees, just about where the GPS said it would. A nice sit down area, so we sat and contemplated what we would do next. All we came up with was “Let’s go back to camp and come up with another plan.” Good enough, so we rode back to camp, where I suggested I needed a rest so my scrambled brains could heal from the day before. I thought everyone else would still go out and play. But I must have hit a cord, ‘cause everyone was up for just walking around CC for the afternoon. And so it was. Later, JT, MotoTex and myself went up to check out a pizza establishment that we had been eyeing. Well, it turned out that we walked in 20 minutes before closing, and we could only get a pizza to go. “Can we eat out here on the porch,” I asked. “Sure,” the young pizza maestro said. It was good. So ends another day.
Thursday morning we are all refreshed, looking for adventure and agreed that this would be our last day of riding. We need to make it good. So we start with the Rim Trail north, starting at Alamo Peak road. Still a little shaky from Tuesday, I led, at least that way, they would not have to walk far to pick me up! Here are some pictures from trailside.
It was a totally different day. The bike stuck like it had never done before. I went from thinking of selling it to this is the greatest bike in the world, with just a couple of clicker adjustments and letting the air out of the forks. Or maybe I was getting used to the altitude, who knows. We finished the north end of the Rim Trail and JT led us on one of the trails north of CC, ending up just east of Mayhill for lunch.
From there, we headed south out of Mayhill to one of the trails we had done earlier in the week. Nobody crashed all day – excellent way to end the ride. That night, we went back to the pizzeria, making sure we got there early enough to eat dinner inside! Two medium pizzas loaded with green chilies and one beer for each of us and we were some pretty happy campers.
Really! Do I need to say it?
Sam
P. S. – Thanks for a great ride, guys!