May 20, 2025 to May 21, 2025
Cuba - Wild Camp - Abiquiu
We left Cuba well fed and stocked for the anticipated two days riding to Abiquiu. We knew we would be climbing to over 3100m before dropping down to less than 2000m. The wind had a chilly edge to it as we set about the start of the climb on pavement.
The trail turned left and we peddled through beautiful forest and meadows on lovely smooth slowly climbing dirt road.
I was managing the thin air quite well as the sections of effort were quite short followed by nice flat sections for recovery.
This was the only water source until 5 km outside Abiquiu so we carried an extra 4kg up hill for 60 km.
Karo found this lovely spot for lunch, and then the proper climbing began.
We knew we had to get to 3120m before the downhill could start, but frustratingly the road hovered around 2800m for another 20 km. Then it went to 31O0m and stayed there for ever before a final bounce to 3120m and the downhill could start.
Along the road banks were large patches of ice / snow which I learned Iater were dropped the day before in the weather we had waited out in Cuba. Our good decision, but the CDT hikers in it found it very cold and stressful.
Whenever you wish for something it hardly ever turns up in the form visualised...the downhill started as a steep riverbed of stones, turned into a rock garden, and then huge slabs of rock with cracks and drop offs. A difficult descent on an unloaded bike, but loaded and after 80 km of climbing, it was tricky, to say the least.
We had discussed riding only 25km to the nice campsites to avoid a tricky descent while tired and to make sure we had energy and time to get back below 2500m and warmer conditions for camping. Well, that's not what we did!
Eventually I came across Karo's tent and was mightily relieved to stop hammering the bike through the rocks and guessing at survivable lines through the rubble.
After pitching our tents we discovered we were on the edge of a huge ravine
Very soon after making and eating mashed potato and tuna I dressed for the sleeping part of the day : thermal socks, leggings, 2 x long sleeved merino tops, down vest, merino beanie, and into the down sleeping bag. I did not get hot and had a great sleep.
Next morning it was a short but still rough downhill ride into Abiquiu. We took the last room at the Abiquiu Inn (look it up, it's Nice :)) and had a relaxing afternoon surrounded by 'normal' people on holiday.
90.7km yesterday 1683m ascent, 11km ave speed, 8hrs ride time
27km today, 80m up, 848m down, ave speed 18kmph, 1 hr 31min ride time
It did seem as though we had the best ride direction - as much as the rocky downhill was hard, as an uphill (going SoBo) it would be very very difficult.
Today's ride: 118 km (73 miles)
Total: 965 km (599 miles)
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