Up up and away!
As I was riding into NM yesterday I got a call from Chris Grealish, owner of Boulder Denver Couriers. I hadn’t heard from him in say…two years, so it was a surprise to get a call from him in the middle of nowhere. Turns out, he has a place in Silver City and really wanted me to check it out. My first reaction to his offer was, HELL NO! It’s way up in the mountains. But he assured me that the trip would be worth it. My first instinct told me to stay on my route.
I had two choices here, stay on my intended route and encounter no mountains, or go off course into the hills and check out the famous Silver City.
As of this morning at 7am I was still undecided. The easy road would take me to my destination no problem, and Chris’s would take me into the world of Mountain passes, which I painfully learned in California is not fun on a cruiser.
I flipped a coin, heads to Silver, Tails to Deming and Hatch. It landed on heads, Damnit!
The ride was beautiful,windy and hilly. Chris said there were some gentle ‘rollers’ on the way but nothing too big, yeah right! I was cursing his random phone call as I struggled uphill, into the wind. Why did he have to call and tempt me?
I hadn’t felt pain on a bike like this for a long time. Every pedal was a struggle, my trailer felt like it was bolted into the asphalt. I turned to the inspiration from the book, ‘The Little Engine That Could.’ I think I can I think I can….
After 45 miles of battling the winds and some long uphills, I made it. I felt great…emotionally, not physically. A huge thanks goes out to Chris for motivating me to come this way. Sometimes in life you gotta take random opportunities and I’m glad I took this one. And he is right, Silver City is super beautiful and cozy, worth all the pain to get here.
Now all I need to do is ride another 18 miles uphill tomorrow to get back to my original route, so much fun!
