Donald and I did our best to down our breakfast souflees at the B&B and hit the road at 9:30. It was a nice morning and yesterday’s wind had subsided. Immediately out of town the climb towards Emory Pass begins and there’s 3000ft of gain to make it to the pass at 8200ft. We made good progress, taking our first break 8 miles and 1200ft in.
The road became steeper and the frequency of breaks increased as we wound higher and higher into the mountains. This road is excellent for cycling – the shoulder is nonexistent but the traffic is as well! The few drivers that pass by do so safely and often with a friendly wave.
A couple more hours of hard work and we made it to the pass and were greeted with expansive views of the last day’s route. There’s a lone picnic table at the top and we stopped for a lunch of peanut butter and bagels.
The road from the pass winds down sharply and the break from endlessly pushing the pedals was much welcome. The pine trees give way to a steep narrow canyon which opens up into grassy, shrubby highlands – leaving the desert behind. The road crosses a river valley and leads up and up into the hills. The long climb to Emory pass only made up about half of the total climbing of the day – there is a long series of hills between the pass and Silver City – the decreasing heights of which could probably be explained by an elegant equation.
The “Tour of the Gila” is a bicycle race in this area that, earlier in the day, came through the road we found ourselves on and the shoulder was littered with dozens of used gels and water bottles. The wind picked up again in the afternoon but it’s not as strong as yesterday and we pushed through the last 30 miles to Silver City in time for an on-time dinner!
Silver City is the largest town in the vicinity and the downtown area seems to still be thriving. I’m curious what made it so this town is doing well when so many others are falling by the wayside. We grabbed dinner at the local brewery and found a room in a historic hotel.
We’ll be taking a rest day in Silver City tomorrow to give our legs a rest and to restock on supplies.
Notes from Donald: “The wind was kind to us up to Emory Pass – pushing us a little bit sometimes and cooling when it wasn’t. The ride down was beautiful.”
Today’s mileage: 57 miles, 5915ft elevation
Total: 198 miles
Thanks for posting a photo of the national forest sign!
The ride takes hard work, and the view is rewarding!