Day 34: Sunday School
Thursday July 22
Outside Pie Town, NM to Horse Springs Bible Church
55.4 miles, 3205 ft climbed, 2276.7 cumulative miles
The day started normally enough. We rolled into Pie Town for breakfast and pie (dessert with breakfast woohoo!) which we’d been excited about as Pie Town is a legendary stop for Divide riders. Breakfast was excellent and we were on the road with haste shortly after as the forecast called for “heavy rain”. This is bad for cyclists in New Mexico because the soil (we’re guessing) seems to have high clay content so when it rains, it turns into “peanut butter mud”. It sticks quickly to your tires in layers then gets sheared off by your chain and gums up your drivetrain in a matter of seconds, stopping you in your tracks.
We were both anxious about this day and the two days afterwards because there were no services and very little water. We’d be heavily loaded with food and water and encountering a lot of climbing and potentially rough roads.
We passed through an area that appeared to have gotten rain recently but the mud had dried enough to be rideable. We were thankful that it wasn’t raining yet at that point. A few miles later we were back in the national forest where the roads typically have sand and gravel mixed in. This is when it started to rain. We pulled over to put on our rain gear and the rain started coming down harder. We sheltered under a thick conifer for a few minutes waiting to see if it would pass but then thunder and lightning started and quickly became frequent. The skies were completely cloudy and dark so it likely wasn’t a passing shower. We knew we’d be safer on the move so we got back on our bikes but it was slow going because the moisture on the roads made them soft and our tires are worn down from the trip so traction was not optimal. The storm quickly got worse with hard downpours and very loud and frequent thunder and lightning. The lightning streamed across the sky in hues of pink and purple which was both beautiful and scary. The road was beginning to get washed out in places making for a difficult crossing and rivers of muddy water flowed along the road. We climbed a little further and then the route took us on a descent out of the forest and back out onto the prairie where we were taller than the scrub. The thunder and lightning was very bad at this point and one of the strikes was very close and scared us both. We pedaled through the flooded roads and eventually came to a paved road and spotted a cluster of buildings. We darted for the porch of one of the buildings and took shelter there while we decided what to do next. Everything was flooded and the storm was showing no signs of letting up.
Irena walked around a bit and found a building that was unlocked. We appeared to have happened upon a small church compound of sorts. The unlocked building was the Sunday School building and it was warm and dry inside. We couldn’t find anyone around and as they say desperate times…
We spent the night there warm and dry and so thankful that we were lucky enough to find shelter. The thunder and lightning continued until 10pm and rattled the building as we slept on the floor. We laid there trying not to think of what we would do if the rain continued all night because the roads would not be rideable if that were to happen. We also had a little laugh about how we had started the day so concerned about having enough water on this stretch and now there was so much that we were trying to escape it.
Published July 25, 2021