May 13, 2025
Elk Springs - Valle Tio Vinces Campground
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500m from our camp we turned into the private enclave of Elk Springs and met Tom, a dedicated trail angel.
Tom rode GDMBR in 2017 and has been a keen mountain ailor for years but is nursing a knee issue so looked for another way to be involved in the community. His plan is to upgrade this old house, now looking a whole lot younger in many places, and invite riders to stop over. There will be a shower, bathroom, kitchen and tent spaces. A biker's oasis in an otherwise unsupported stretch.
On our visit he gave us water, food and fixed my bent valve core so it would stop leaking. And Peanut helped too.
The next few hours were mostly lovely riding along nice forestry roads, passing Ghost Lake (unseen by us), hoodoos, ranches, and wide open spaces.
With the wind behind it was difficult not to have a permanent grin on my face. Unfortunately the trail meanders, so we had some headwind and lots of side wind too.
At one point the wind picked up dust and gravel and threw it in my face, blew me across the road into the soft shoulder sand, and tipped me onto the ground - another horizontal dismount!
A nice guy stopped to give us water and offer snacks and gave a bit of local history. He had been up to his summer place, and because a road was closed by fire, it was a 6 hour round trip. Quite a drive to deliver some hay.
The final stretch to Horse Spring was washboard from hell, followed by 500m of pavement and a tail wind, then a left turn across the wind to climb up to Valle Tio Vinces camp, a great place to end the day.
Annie, Imi, Seb and Joe were already settled in alongside 2 CDT hikers, so nearly a crowd!
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Apart from the effort caused by the wind it was a less intense day and the hills were a little easier. The camp was over 2400m asl, so quite high.
75km, 730 ascent, ave speed 13kmph!
Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 487 km (302 miles)
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