Bike Ride to Abiquiu Lake

Santa Fe to Abiquiu Lake: 43.2 miles

Total Mileage: 2388.1

 

Today we had a short ride, but our host for the evening kept telling the leaders that it woul drake nearly five hours to go the 40 miles. Short mileage days and long hours can only mean one thing ... HILLS. We did check the elevation maps and didn't see anything too out of the ordinary, but there was still a looming doubt.

 

The first hill out of the gate was a six percent climb which was a little rough, but the rest was a combination of rolling hills and stupendous views. A bunch of us pulled over for a snack break and to get some pictures of the sites.

 

We were told not to arrive to our host before noon because he would not be able to pick us up so we decided to have a long leisurely lunch of hamburgers which took nearly two and a half hours. From there Nate crushed it to the our meet up location where we were told we would have to shuttle to the host's house; turns out he lived on a Mesa and the only way to get to the top was up a steep, gravel road. The host, Danny, was fantastic and met us at the bottom of the hill. He started to tell us a bit about himself and the history of the area. With the van nowhere in site we all decided that we would check out this road and see if we would be able to make it up; worst came to worse we would be able to walk up the two mile road and/or wait for the van to pick us up.

 

The road was definitely rough so I, along with many other riders did a combination of walking and riding up the hil. The view was amazing the entire way up and even better when we reached the top. Off in the distance we could see a storm coming in over the mountain which was amazing.

 

Napping in strange places does not seem so strange for us. Gravel? No problem.

 

This was also our first adventure into camping. With an incoming storm we moved double time to get the tents set up before the rain hit - a good idea because later that evening a large storm rolled through.

 

After dinner Danny had arranged for a local cowboy singer to come preform for us which was amazing!! Sadly I cannot get the video to upload, but here is a picture which helps paint a pretty good picture.

Between the singing, dinner, being around so many great people, watching the sun go down over the mountains and a thunder and lightening storm in the distance it was the perfect way to end the night.

 

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