Day 4: deja vu all over again
Three years ago I organized a ride of the New Mexico and Colorado sections of the
Continental Divide Ride (CDR). Candidly, I only enjoyed the riding on one day of the five it took to travel from Silver City, NM to Steamboat Springs, CO. Eighty percent of our riding time on that trip was spent on easy, class 1 gravel roads that were surprisingly not very scenic. But there was one glorious day when the riding was superb!
As it turns out, there is a little overlap between the NM BDR and the CDR where they both follow almost exactly the same route from Grants to Espanola. Luckily, it also happened to be the one great riding day on the CDR. So, while I had already ridden our day 4 of the BDR back in 2017 I was looking forward to riding it again because it had been so much fun back then.
From Grants you are routed across the desert for hours of great riding until reaching Cuba, NM. From there the road takes you across the mountains of the Santa Fe National Forest, eventually leading you to Hwy 84 at Abiquiu, NM.
What really marks today's route versus all the other riding days is the sheer volume of sustained great riding it includes. Don't get me wrong, the previous three days of riding were great fun, especially days 2 and 3. However, each of those previous days consisted of a mix of "this is why I'm here!" fun and interesting riding interspersed with sections that were, shall we say, less than inspiring. Don't take this the wrong way - I'm not complaining. It's just the reality of the situation.
Today's route included more sustained great riding than any other day, by far. Hence the reason I was looking forward to riding it again.
Shortly after leaving Grants and venturing into the desert, Mike attempted a U-turn. His KTM 1090 wasn't happy about that and threw itself to the ground in a fit of anger.
With a little persuasion we managed to get the KTM upright and back on track. It wouldn't be the only time that a bike decided to take a nap today.
The desert riding here is superb! It's primitive, remote, sandy, varied, scenic, and just generally awe inspiring.
The Kid (aka Arthur) joined our group today because his father - the Flying Frenchman (aka Oliver) - was mostly avoiding dirt due to residual pain and soreness from his crash on the difficult rocky section back on day 2. The Kid rode with us on the dirt sections while the Flying Frenchman would take pavement, meeting up with us later in the day. Unfortunately, on one particularly sandy turn The Kid's KTM got away from him.
There were a number of sandy sections on today's route. Our small KTMs did great in the soft stuff but I imagine those on big bikes might not have had the same experience. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this section nearly as much if I had been riding my ginormous Honda Africa Twin.
After several hours of riding, we arrived in Cuba. The Kid and the Flying Frenchman reunited and The Kid decided to ride pavement with his dad to Espanola. Residual fatigue was accumulating for both Tricepilot Bob and myself so we elected to take pavement also. The remainder of the group gassed up and then blazed east across the mountains on the planned dirt route.
Bob and I enjoyed a very scenic ride on Hwy 96 past Abuquiu Lake.
At Abiquiu Lake I was checking out the map and realized there was a section of the BDR that would take is to our next destination, the town of Abiquiu. This part of the BDR was not on our planned route but since we were here, why not ride it? That's what we did and it turned out to be the most enjoyable section of dirt of the entire trip. It was only a few miles long but it made up in scenery what it lacked in distance. Don't miss this section if you ever ride the NM BDR.
In Abuquiu I spotted a lone rider on a loaded KTM 790 parked at a gas station. I wondered if a) he was riding the NM BDR with us and, if so, b) where was the rest of his group? I immediately pulled into the gas station to see if he needed help. It turned out to be Hazmat (Matt) here on TWT. He was touring NM solo on his nearly new 790. We visited for a while, enjoyed some ice cream and then headed our different ways.
At the hotel in Espanola, bikes were unpacked, alcohol was consumed, stories were told, field expedient repairs were made, and dinner was sought out.
A casualty of war. Removed in the parking lot from an Africa Twin.
If for some crazy reason I could only ride one section of the NM BDR, this would be the section I would choose.