Adventures

Day 24: In the Wilderness

La Manga Pass, first thing in the morning

Mikki tops La Manga

Horca (7 July 2019) In 2006, a group of us participated in Ride the Rockies (RTR). The route that year passed into New Mexico for the first time ever for RTR. On that ride, my good friend Steve introduced us to Allison Dunlap who rode with us for a couple of days. It was an honor to bike with the former world champion. Also on that ride, we returned to Colorado by crossing La Manga Pass. When I topped this pass on the Tour Divide, I recognized it immediately. On the climb it occurred to me that the RTR route could have come this way and was thinking about the wonderful time we had on that ride. I recall vividly chatting with my friends Bob, Dan and Steve as we climbed mountain passes with relative ease. We were in such great shape back then. We were also joined by my friends Evan, Adam, David and Libby on that trip. We made memories that will be cherished always.

On the Tour Divide, La Manga Pass was engaged the moment Jim, Mikki and I left camp in Horca. The familiar feeling of the route stirred within me and propelled me toward the top. The pavement was smooth, the air was cool and sky was bright. The shinning green pasture at the top was a welcomed contrast to the deep shadows of the tree lined climb.

Not far from the pass, the route turned from the paved highway onto national forest service roads. From this spot we spent the rest of the day traveling through the wilderness of the Carson National Forest.

The route offered up sweeping gravel roads and a few punchy climbs. The three of us were separated by differences in pace on the inclines but we came back together on flats. At one point, a forest service ranger came alongside to check on us. It was Sunday and I guessed he was checking us out -- wanting to spend time with his family rather than getting called in to haul people out of the wilderness later in the day. He briefly quizzed me regarding my supplies. At the time I thought it was very nice of him to check on us.

In the year prior to the Tour Divide, I read just about everything written about the race. I don't recall anyone mentioning a section of trail in New Mexico that rivaled the climb to Koko Claims in Canada. Yet that's what we found some miles after crossing the border. The hike-a-bike wasn't as long but it seemed every bit as steep and rocky. After pushing my bike partway up, I stopped to catch my breath. Mikki was quickly wrestling his bike over the rocks as efficiently as I recalled from when we first met on the second day of the race. After taking a moment to read the landscape, I decided to rock the bike on my back and haul it to the top, however long that was. This turned out to be a good move and a satisfying decision because this steep rocky section of the Tour Divide route was only a fraction of the length of the climb to Koko Claims.

The top of the steep climb made for a great time for a snack but I could not could eat. My lack of appetite from last night persisted and I found it difficult to choke down a peanut butter cracker. Due to the volume of food needed for the crossing of this wilderness, potato chips were not packed. In the past when this happened, eating a few chips often restored my appetite. Unexpectedly, the salty crackers didn't do the trick. It's impossible to explain exactly how difficult it was to eat when this happened but there was no forcing it. Mikki and Jim passed by as I sat in the vain hope of finishing a cracker but ended up packing it away instead.

Wild flowers and Mikki in the Carson NF

Impatience crept in and trouble began. The danger of running a calorie deficit was in how it impacted my attitude. I became irritable and impatient. In this instance impatience led to disaster. Faced with another rough fast downhill, impatience caused me to loose control. "Just get it over with," I recall telling myself. Suddenly, after the front tire bounced unexpectedly off a protruding rock at speed, I lost control and bounced down a cascade of sharp rocks off to the side of the road. After control was regained, the bike was rolled to a gentle stop on a smoother portion of the gravel road. Immediately, I recognized this was the result of too few calories. My head was not working properly and my attitude was undesirable for travel in the wilderness. For a brief moment, I was grateful for this awareness and the lack of consequences.

New Mexico -- the last state on the Tour Divide route

As soon as the bike started to roll, it was obvious the front tire was going flat. After setting the bike down off to the side of the road, I sat on the ground to collect myself. Mikki was ahead but my impatient tear down the rocky descent pushed me ahead of Jim. He stopped when he saw me sitting on the side of the road. I was fine, I told him and would be on my way after the flat was fixed. When he rolled away, I was confident that was so.

It took only a moment to find and plug a hole in the tire. When air was pumped into the tire very little inflation occurred. At first this was blamed on the low volume of air that can be delivered by the compact pump. After awhile doubt crept in and the tire was searched for a second hole. A second hole was located and plugged but the tire still didn't hold air. I felt air escaping from near the stem, perhaps it would need to be replaced. At that moment a young man on a motorcycle appeared and stopped. He told me his family would be by soon and would happy to help.

Sean, Keri and their other son arrived and found me floundering as I started to dig a tire tube out of the framebag. Although the stem looked okay, it seemed like using the tube was the only solution. Sean was a take charge sort of person and given my compromised mental state, I was in no position to argue. The tire was removed, the sealant in the tire was wiped out and the tube I carried was deployed for use. To our surprise, the Sean's air compressor failed to inflate the tube in the tire. Upon examination of tube it became apparent that the tube sustained many small cuts from being packed tightly in the frame bag along with tools and such. After inspecting the tire, a third hole was found right next to the bead. We agreed that it was too close to the bead to be plugged. With a hole that can't be plugged and without a tube, talk of getting hauled off route to Albuquerque began. At this point Keri sensed what I needed most -- food. She offered a chicken sandwich and this was consumed while Sean worked out how to patch the tire in hopes that it could be reinstalled and inflated without the tube. The sandwich and coke went down easily. Perhaps it was the carbonation in the coke that broke down my inability to eat.

View from the top of the steep rocky climb

Sean was surprised when the tire made a loud POP! That was the sound of the tire bead being pressed back onto the rim with the air pressure generated by the compressor. That's normal and a good sign. The patch Sean installed appeared to be working. I would be riding my bike out of the wilderness and not traveling in a car after all. Many thanks were given to Sean and his family as they departed while I repacked my framebag.

It was a short trip. After traveling not more than 300 yards, it became clear the patch did not hold. I stopped immediately to keep the tire bead on the rim as long as possible. As I started walking, a hard truth was suddenly apparent, I was in the wilderness. Despite spending weeks on the Tour Divide traveling through several remote areas in the rocky mountains, this was first time I felt truly in the wild. Having a bike that can cover 150 miles a day, if need be, created a sense of security that I was previously unaware of. As I walked my bike I realized it would require nearly two days to reach the possibility supplies. It scared me. It scared me a lot.

I carried an InReach Mini which is a device that can send text messages and your location via satellite. As such, it works even in the most remote locations. I texted my wife that I was in trouble. It was around 4 PM on a Sunday afternoon and, as far I knew, the closest rider behind me was a day or more away. After a couple of panicky exchanges, Pat sent me a text that changed everything. The text said that the forest service office would not be open until the morning. Instantly, that obvious fact flipped a switch in my head. Everything was suddenly okay. I was not going to walk for two days on the resources for one. I was just going to walk as long as I liked, camp and get rescued the next day. This realization calmed my mind and gave me the moment I needed to review what just happened so that the problem could be worked.

Jim rides through a wilderness

What transpired in my head was this:

The tire couldn't be patched or more precisely, the patch Sean applied did not hold. I could try that again but the glue I had was not nearly as good as the glue Sean used. We decided to patch the tire because the hole was too close to the bead to plug. Wait a second, I thought. What made it too close to the bead? What if it I tried to plug the tire and it failed -- things would not be any worse. Whereas if it succeeds, the ride could resume. That would be awesome...

The hole in the tire was small but right next to the bead. That probably explains why Sean had no luck patching it. It was a tricky place for a plug because pushing the plug into the tire could pull the tire away from the rim. In this case, it was even more tricky because the patch on the inside of the tire would resist the plug thereby increasing the chance that tire would get pulled off the rim. I decided to punch through the patch with a reamer before

Left to right, plugger, plugs and reamer

plugging the tire. Most plug kits come with three parts, a reamer, a plugger and plugs. Seldom have I used the reamer but it seemed like a good idea to cut through the patch with something sharper than the plugger. The reamer was pressed into the tire with just enough force to pass through the patch or perhaps it pulled the patch away from the inside of the tire, it mattered not which. After reaming the hole, a plug was carefully inserted with the plugger. Thankfully, the tire remained on the rim. If the tire came off the rim, there was a chance it would not go back on with with the CO2 cartridge I carried. After a few strokes of the pump, the fix was uncertain. Finally, after the tire was pumped further, I trusted it enough to stop to feel the tire. Holy smokes -- it was inflated and seemed to be holding air. Normally after inflation, the plug would be trimmed down to the tire but in this case, it was left alone. After more air and a few hundred feet of riding, I stopped to check the tire. Awesome -- it felt solid. There was no sign of softening. Cautiously, the march toward the Mexican border resumed after several hours of stress. Pat was informed of my success and I was able to eat and drink some more. My attitude was coming back. It was just after 1 P.M. when progress was stopped by the flat and it was 4:30 when progress resumed.

Tire plugged near the bead

The wilderness was glorious again. Traveling through it by bicycle was amazing with long views of grass dotted by knolls topped or sometimes ringed by trees. The gravel forest service road undulated slightly as the sun advanced toward the horizon. It was early evening when a white truck pulled alongside. It was Sean, Keri and the boys! It was so wonderful to see them and thank them for their help. Sean asked, so I told him about the patch failure and plug solution. They offered more water which I gratefully accepted and Keri offered to put me up for the night. After declining, we both continued on our way. Just prior to this encounter, two other trucks passed me but except for these and the gravel roads, no human trace was seen since the tire was fixed more than 2 hours ago.

After about 25 miles from the site of the flat, the route came to a paved road. On the approach to pavement, the road was muddy and I could see deep bicycle tire tracks and what appeared to be signs of a cyclist slipping out in the mud. For me, the road was only slightly muddy and it was not difficult to navigate, provided I kept my cool. I imagined Jim and Mikki had some rain and mud to deal with.

The sun was setting when the paved highway was finally reached. Still within the National Forest, it felt remote despite the highway. There were no cars in sight and after more than 10 minutes of riding, not a single vehicle passed.

Sean, Keri and the boys

After consulting my notes on the route, I knew there was a climb on this road to a campground and decided to make that my destination. The climb felt arduous. It was smooth and not overly steep but a gentle headwind made the going slower than desired. It was past 10 PM by the time the campground was reached. After the turn off the highway toward camp, an owl flew low overhead and disappeared in the blackness of a tall pine tree.

The campers were all tucked in when I arrived. There was no obvious place for water but not far along the loop of campsites, a bikepacking tent was spotted. It was Jim and he was obviously asleep. I quietly set up camp nearby. My tire felt good after 5 hours of riding. Just to ensure the tire stayed on the rim overnight, air was added. Most of the rest of my food was consumed -- except the peanut butter crackers. I couldn't even look at those crackers after so many failed attempts to eat them. I still had food for breakfast but not much else unless you include the crackers. My notes indicated the next place for supplies was about 40 miles away. It seemed wise to eat as much as possible that evening instead of trying to save food for the morning.

Evening view from the paved highway

This was a scary day. In some ways I'm very grateful it happened and I was able to pull myself out it. Perhaps it was a necessary learning experience. At the very least, it taught me how different it felt to travel through the wilderness, as opposed to being in the wilderness. A calorie deficit very nearly ended my tour. First, with impatience and then later with mind-freezing panic. Fortunately, composure was regained and the boat was steered to safety. Of course, at this point in the ride I wasn't out if it just yet. There's the matter of the tire without any sealant to suppress flats and the limited supply of food for another 40 miles of riding. Regardless, that was a plan I was comfortable with. I'll get up and head out in the morning with Jim, who so kindly camped in a location that was hard for me to miss.

Elevation Profile for Day 24

On to Day 25

Allison, Joey, Mark & Steve enjoyed potatoes in 2006