Today we set off to climb to the highest point on the trip. Leaving the campground at 5700 feet the road immediately began ascending, and it climbed fairly steadily over 18 miles up to Emory Pass at 8200 feet. It was a very pleasant ride through alpine forest; sounds of birdsong and wind blowing in trees, small rocky creeks, a waterfall. The pass came too soon it seemed. Celebrations, photos, more photos, more photos. Its all downhill from here.
We quickly dropped 2500 feet to the historic town of Hillsboro where we ate incredible Bubbleberry pie at the old General Store cafe, celebrating the pass and also Gerben's birthday (he's 67 but don't tell him I told you). The cafe was full of crusty local characters, not least of which were the hostesses who made you feel like you'd committed a crime just by ordering something, neigh - just by raising your eye's up from the table. I was instructed that I had ordered a milkshake not a malt, then lectured on the difference. The other hostess described our group as "Attack of the Pie People", which to be fair, was not inaccurate.
I set off from Hillsboro at a good clip to make it to camp in time to help cook. The first 20 miles dropped another 2000 feet and took only about an hour, the bike reaching 40.6 mph (65 km/h). The last 7 miles were hard slog into a flag-snapping head wind. When I arrived Felix had already checked out the meager place and said in his German accent: "I have never seen such a hole in the ground".
Bonus Video
Downhill from Reg Prentice on Vimeo.
This was actually shot yesterday in the Gila Wilderness, but it could equally well have been today.
Sent From Handheld