After going through a short but rather nasty cold spell here recently, the warmth came back this last weekend, and that allowed for a nice ride I had been wanting to do again. With highs in the mid 50's we weren't going to experience a heat wave, but in the desert, with dry air and the warm sun, this can be plenty comfortable.
The plan, was to start at one riding area called the volcanos - as there are actually 4 dormant volcanos here - and then connect dirt roads out to two other areas, known as mesas, but in different colors similiar to fine wines: white and red.
The ride would be long, and as the computer shows in the first foto below, 105-miles to be exact. I arranged for another rider to start with me, then picked another up 15 miles down the road, and then hopefully hook up with another group of friends at a place known as red. Things went a little slow at first and after a while both of the other riders felt a little overwhelmed, so they turned back after the white mesa, but they ended up getting in 60-ish miles - so not a light ride for them either. I was determined to finish the route, and did....and even did find some of the friends out at the place called red...albeit for a short while, as I had to move quickly through here.
I ran into several jack rabbits, saw some deer, more cattle than I care to remember, dozens of hikers in Subarus, and some pueblo ranchers who had just finished rounding up some of those cattle. I caught these guys close to sunset and we both agreed that the beer was well earned for all of us. But I still had about 25 miles to go when I broke away from these guys....so I pulled out the night light and got to ride through the volcanos in the dark on the return of the out-and-back. This turned out to be the most interesting part, as I decided to take the super fast lower route, and with my Arc Li-Ion shining a huge beam, an owl decided to ride in front of me and use my light to help spot feed for the evening. It may have lasted for 5-6 seconds, but it seemed like minutes. That was just awesome watching that huge owl cruising just slightly above me and to the front, but still in my cone of light.
Here are some pics with captions;
1. The computer did record 105-miles, but I actually belive it was closer to 111. After riding through a river the computer stopped working, and it wasn't until back on the main road that I got the bright idea of wiping off the magnet. Cleaning that little thing got the computer back working. That was a first!
2. Windshield shot of volcanos in the morning on my way out for the ride.
3. Compadres.
4. Some of the two-track we covered.
5. Geologic features were very interesting on this ride...
The plan, was to start at one riding area called the volcanos - as there are actually 4 dormant volcanos here - and then connect dirt roads out to two other areas, known as mesas, but in different colors similiar to fine wines: white and red.
The ride would be long, and as the computer shows in the first foto below, 105-miles to be exact. I arranged for another rider to start with me, then picked another up 15 miles down the road, and then hopefully hook up with another group of friends at a place known as red. Things went a little slow at first and after a while both of the other riders felt a little overwhelmed, so they turned back after the white mesa, but they ended up getting in 60-ish miles - so not a light ride for them either. I was determined to finish the route, and did....and even did find some of the friends out at the place called red...albeit for a short while, as I had to move quickly through here.
I ran into several jack rabbits, saw some deer, more cattle than I care to remember, dozens of hikers in Subarus, and some pueblo ranchers who had just finished rounding up some of those cattle. I caught these guys close to sunset and we both agreed that the beer was well earned for all of us. But I still had about 25 miles to go when I broke away from these guys....so I pulled out the night light and got to ride through the volcanos in the dark on the return of the out-and-back. This turned out to be the most interesting part, as I decided to take the super fast lower route, and with my Arc Li-Ion shining a huge beam, an owl decided to ride in front of me and use my light to help spot feed for the evening. It may have lasted for 5-6 seconds, but it seemed like minutes. That was just awesome watching that huge owl cruising just slightly above me and to the front, but still in my cone of light.
Here are some pics with captions;
1. The computer did record 105-miles, but I actually belive it was closer to 111. After riding through a river the computer stopped working, and it wasn't until back on the main road that I got the bright idea of wiping off the magnet. Cleaning that little thing got the computer back working. That was a first!
2. Windshield shot of volcanos in the morning on my way out for the ride.
3. Compadres.
4. Some of the two-track we covered.
5. Geologic features were very interesting on this ride...
