Day 11 (Thurs, 27 Mar)

I rode from Quemado, NM to Datil, NM today.  The two notable items for the ride: 1) I cross the continental divide today and 2) I passed through a town called “Pie Town” and pretty much the only thing there were 4-5 pie-serving cafes.  The ride was a short 43 miles, completely on US Hwy 60 again.  The ride had fewer hills but was at high elevations of 7,000 to 8,100 ft in elevation, with 1,716 ft of vertical climbing.   The weather was cold again in the morning starting at about 40 F, climbing up to maybe the low 50s mid-day but was pretty chilly at the higher elevations.  There was a strong 20 mph wind for much of the day out of the West and SouthWest (tail winds primarily that pushed me along quite nicely, with my riding speeds topping out at 25-30 mph on the flats just like yesterday!).

For cyclists: Hwy 60 on this stretch worked ok for the ride.  The pavement was quite smooth for about ½ the ride and quite rough the other ½.  For the most part there is no shoulder you can ride on, however, there is very little traffic on the highway (my guess is that this would also be true in the warmer summer months – not many tourist attractions here) so you can ride on the driving lane pretty safely (especially with a rear view mirror).

Continuing to ride at the higher elevations has been a good challenge.  I’ve been at 6,000 to 8,000 ft since Sunday night.  With less air to breath it creates good challenges on the climbs to get enough oxygen – definitely I’m increasing my lung capacity, which is hard to do on rides at lower elevations.

Very scenic and enjoyable ride today.  I rode through 2 ghost towns on Hwy 60 (yes, they do exist) and saw some pretty interesting rock and mountain formations.  Also, a few cool “human things” shown in the pictures below!

On to the pictures:

Check this out: this building in Quemado is so old that they have the logs on front of it to tie up horses!

Old rusty stuff - 1950s era car that I have no idea what model it is.

You will see plenty of windmills typically powering water pumps in this part of the world.  This appears to be where they go when they retire!

I rode through the Cibola National Forest today and also along the Gila National Forest for the past couple of days (it's pretty big!).

Typical landscape at the higher altitudes of rocks and pines on the hills.

Interesting rock formations.

Coming into Datil - this town is SO small that they couldn't afford a separate sign post announcing their town - that's one I've not seen before...  54 residents (luckily one motel and cafe)!

Mixed in with mountain peaks in the area, plateau type mountains.

Actual name of a town - Pie Town!  Not much here except 3-4 cafe's with plenty of pies.  No time to stop; looked good though.

Key milestone - crossing the continental divide just east of Pie Town.  Still cycling at 7k - 8k ft in elevation and building plenty of lung capacity.

Action film of the landscape from the bike.

Another example of the varying landscape of mountain forms in this part of NM.

Local history and perhaps the 1 notable person from this area of NM.

Home for the night - yes that is a gas station (and cafe, convenience store and luckily a few motel rooms).  No cell coverage here - my kids would be amazed...