Every time we go on one of these trips it reaffirms to me why we do this. Three days of fun in the woods of North Eastern Az. and North Western New Mexico was really the perfect way to "end" the season.
We had a real great crew go up on this one. Ashley and Julia came and had a dress rehearsal for their trip this summer. They rode all three days with their loaded touring bikes over not easy terrain and were all smiles at the end of the trip. Lizzy was on the ride as well and really enjoyed riding with Julia most of the trip.
Max, Donovan, Pablo, Alex S., Nathan, Kramer, and Nelson also road and they played nice until one of them saw a place to attack. I heard their days were fun and pretty hard.
As for Daniela, Damiano and I, yes that's right Damiano, we rode at a bit of a slower pace than the rest. Daniela for one was able for the first time in 1 year and 9 months to get on a single bike and enjoy mile after mile. YEAH!!! I on the other hand rode with a parachute attached to my bike. Or a kids bike trailer as they are more often called. Damiano rode in it for every mile of the trip and did great. This was our trial run for our summers trip. We hope to ride from Bar Harbour Maine to Quebec City Canada, and I think it is quite possible now.
The adventure itself starts in Springerville, Az. A real small old horse and cattle town that now is home to one of the biggest coal plants in the state. We all arrived there on Friday night and slept at the local RV park because the camp ground in town did not allow people to pitch tents, go figure.
The first days ride takes you from Springerville to Quemado, New Mexico. It is a strait shot one road of super rolling hills, like nothing we have in Tucson. This is probably the least awesome of the days, yet it is where we all hit our top speed of the trip, and where the most wild scenery exits for me at least. I hit 40 miles an hour coming down a hill with Damiano in the trailer. He did not tell me to go faster but yes I am excited for the day that he yells VENGA, VENGA, VENGA at me. As for the scenery there is a section of the road where if the moon does not look like it I will be surprised.
On most of these trips though it is not the ride itself that becomes the great memory or event but the hanging out after wards that means the most. So on this first night we stay in this teany town of Quemado. I have no idea what people do in this town but the school is by far the biggest building in town. The school is for every kid in the area. It is the elementary, middle and high school that this year had a graduating class of 12. In town we camp at the school in the middle of football field. We arrived pretty early around noon as the bike ride was only 50 fast miles and we started early. The school was left open for us to hang out, shower, and to play in the basketball gym. So for the next 5 hours the kids played basketball. I mean everyone of them got involved. I am going to try and post video of them playing and then you will understand why it is great thing that all have discovered cycling. They played for 5 hours straight, and had the girls of town come and join as well.
Day 1 50 miles
As for the girls of town it seemed to me that Volleyball is king. In fact they made us all dinner of lasagna that night. The volley ball team that is. And really if you told me that the girls volley ball of this town was going to make us food I probably would be a bit frightened, however they did incredible. Really dinner was fantastic. I will look forward to it next year. Way to go Eagles!! Ca-Ca the Eagle cry!!
Day 2 is Quemado to Reserve, New Mexico
A great ride that has riding along the Apache Creek for most of the day. A perennial stream with large Cotton Wood trees lining the way and ranches all along the way. This was the first day that were surrounded by big trees and cool weather and it sure was nice. The boys at the second sag took the option of riding out to the continental divide and back. A 32 mile round trip adventure. So at the end of their day they had ridin 90 miles. It will be known for the month as Donovans best ride ever. He hung in there with the big kids all day. Daniela, Myself, Damiano, Lizzy, Ashley and Julia did not take this option and went right into Reserve. Where we camp at the city park.
Again once at the city park the real fun began. With 4 hours to spare before dinner and plenty of sun left after dinner the kids played non-stop for hours. First they played PE style run around games and then finally we started playing ultimate frisbee. Once that game started we had a crowd watching and every other GABA member at the camp ground was spectating. I think we will try and play more this summer.
Dinner and breakfast in Reserve is catered by a women Jennifer who lives in the area running a few hotels and her business. She creates food that would be marveled at in New York City and yet does so in a real sleepy corner of the US. She is quite impressive and almost worth the trip in itself.
Day 3 Reserve, NM to Springerville, AZ
The longest day, with the most climbing. But just dang gorgeous. It takes us to our highest point on the trip so 8,000 plus feet with Aspen trees all around. We had quite the head wind for most of the day so couple that with hard miles and this was a good hard day any way you did it. So it was quite exciting for the girls to finish this day in good spirits as I think they now know physically they can handle their west coast bike trip no problem. Other things might come up but physically the girls are ready and really thought it was cool for Lizzy to see them so tough. Daniela rode me and Damiano into town and we too now know that our summers idea is not crazy. As for the boys well they all came in smiling and loving life.
As trips go and all the trips I have taken the El Grupo team on this one is up there with the best of them. The kids on this trip have all been on trips before so they all understand the "drill". How pack up and set up happens and all those little things that I am so anal about. Thanks riders!!!
As well these trips are so often not about riding, but enjoying friends, making friends, the creation of a team. I suppose that is why we are El Grupo. I want this to be about a group of kids that has full trust and respect in each other that allows and then helps them achieve what alone they would never be able to.
I want to say thank you to all the riders for a great trip, and I hope they realized that they left a great impression on everyone that was on that ride. We have already been asked to ride the Blue loop this year. The team was donated a nice chunk of change after the ride and we had sandwiched bought for all after day 3. This is in direct relation to how great you kids were on the ride. Keep up the good work!!!
More thank yous-- This trip would not have been possible with out the help of mark Franklin, Kenneth Armstrong, and Hunter King they all were the key members in building the bike trailer that El Grupo will now have for years to come to get us to bike races. Also to Nelson thanks for driving and working with the guys on the ride. And of course to GABA, Pam Cullup and Dale, without you guys truly we would not have .had this great experience
--- Note- My camera died on the trip on the second day. So I only have a few. I take pictures for documentary reasons so they are not great. Julia on the other hand took a ton and I am going to try and get them from her.
