February 17, 2023
Today, I planned to ride from Rio Grande Campground to the Chisos Mountain Basin, then back again to the campground. It is 60 miles round trip. To generalize it is all uphill pedaling there is fairly accurate, while coming back, it is almost all downhill.
But first, a thought about … the body is a physical machine. From simple cells and tissues, to more complicated structures like organs, and to the even more complex networks of communication within, the nervous system and the endocrine systems & hormones with their associated chemical reactions that help “run the show.” The heart is pumping, the blood is flowing, and life processes are initiating and integrating it all together. We are more than our bodies of course. There are other ways, beside our bodies, that we can label or describe ourselves, but in a nutshell, we are also mind and spirit. So, when I go for a bike ride or a hike, when you wake and start your day, there is a coordination of body, mind, and spirit in preparing and getting on with it, whatever you have planned for the day. It’s all quite amazing. So, with that in mind, I looked forward to a dynamic day, not only on the bike, but in my mind and spirit.
I had hoped for an early start. Ha! The “early start” temperature was 39 degrees, and it was still windy such that it felt pretty cold. So, I meandered about, physically and mentally, putting off the start time incrementally until I finally left around 11:45 AM. A late start, no doubt, but with the sunset not until after 6:30, not a problem. However, as I wrote in an earlier post, I had some interesting conversation with other campers. So, it was a very productive, enlightening delay!
The Chisos Mountain Road is a left hand turn twenty-three miles away. Those first twenty-three miles rise from around 1800’ feet at the campground to about 4000’ at the turn-off. From there, the high point into the Basin is at the top of a six-mile climb, topping out around 5800’, followed by a mile downhill into the Basin, where there is another visitor center, store, lodge, and restaurant.
I have a tendency on this type of ride to stop frequently and take pictures, some of which you will see here in this post. That slows down the whole thing of course, but it adds to the fun of it. As I was getting re-started after one such stop, a couple, Brian and Deb I later learned their names, passed me on their mountain bikes. We said hello and they kept pedaling on, putting some distance between us. Twice I started to catch them, only to make another stop for photos. But, I caught up with them around mile 15 out of the campground. They had Salsa bikes. My bike is a Salsa, too, a Salsa Warroad. Theirs were Salsa Cuthroats. Hmm. Seems like Salsa could do a little better naming their bikes, something a little more … peace oriented, perhaps.
We rode together for the next 5-6 miles until we reached Panther Junction. We stopped at there and talked a little more. They were strong riders. I was impressed with their pace and smooth pedaling, and with the fact they seemed to be same age group as myself. I learned that they have been doing extensive bike touring for many years, trips lasting thousands of miles over several months. Since they use mountain bikes, they also utilize dirt roads, of which there are many here at Big Bend, to do a kind of back-country bike camping. Soon, they are heading to Italy and riding all the way up into Scandinavia soon on a four-month trip! No wonder they were riding strong. They were, no doubt, hard core and happy riders!
When I arrived at the Chisos Basin turn-off, I was happy to learn there was a tailwind. This helped for the first four miles, after which, for reasons unknown to me, the wind seemed to change direction and hit me either from the sides or head-on. Oh well, take what you can get. It took me about 50 minutes to get to the top of the hill. The first couple miles were in the 4-5% grade range, miles 3-4 were 6-7%, then the rest to the top was mostly 9-10%. It was 55 degrees at the bottom, 47 at the top. At the top I put on extra layers of clothing. Yea, it felt cold. I did not spend much time at the Basin. Took a few pictures, talked with a few hikers briefly. Turned around and headed back up that one-mile climb to the top, then hit the six-mile downhill. The ride back to the campground, all twenty-three miles of it, was pretty quick, relatively speaking. It took almost three hours to go from camp to the Basin. It took one hour forty-five minutes to get back.
Awesome ride. Awesome experience. Awesome day.
Comments