DAY 18 – Brazos Ridge camp to Abiquiu (105.5miles)

The terrain this morning is spectacular and certainly a highlight of the whole route. It is not what I expected at all having listened to others' fear of New Mexico. I expected to go straight into semi-arid shrubland, but this is a high alpine environment and incredibly beautiful. Large herds of elk are grazing in the grassy meadows and this is the closest I’ve been able to watch them from. The final descent off this high plateau toward El Rito is fast, smooth, winding, and a lot of fun. Possibly the most fun descent of the whole route?

As the descent flattens the pavement begins and there is a tiny shack selling the usual selection of GDR junk food supplies. As I’m waiting here for Matt and Bruce, a woman rolls out of her house on the hill behind the store on her bike. She opens up for me and chats away excitedly. I’m good for food, but I chat, and she wants me to write in her book. I don’t really know what’s going on until I see Jay, Matt and Alex have signed this book too and realise she knows about the Great Divide Route and the Race too. I write something in the book about chasing Alex’s ghost and buy a drink. Matt and Bruce arrive and Sylvia breaks out some chairs and we all chat for a while and she tells us about the other racers ahead. As dusk arrives we carry on to Abiquiu and a slight gradient on pavement road speeds us along. The New Mexican scenery is striking and I haven’t seen this kind of terrain before, which just adds to a really special day.

Abiquiu is tiny and doesn’t offer much, but we just make the store before it closes at 19:30 and get lots of provisions for the road to Cuba that looks hard. I also get a couple of pints of whipping cream at 700 calories a pint; the hard stuff, which I’ve moved onto from the half and half. I eat with Bruce and Matt at a posh hotel that quotes us $290 for the three of us to stay. After dinner Bruce negotiates and gets the three of us into a room for $100 that is clearly worth a lot more. Great work, Bruce!