I sprung from my sleep like a jack in the box that had reached its peak of full crank and clown music.
Looked around and could see nothing but desert sand in all directions, speckled with cacti and mountains.
It had been 2 hours since I had fallen asleep and I immediately packed my things and did what I had to do to get on my way.
My clothes were covered in salt as was my face. Considering I had been riding all night in what I thought were tame conditions I felt filthy as if I had been wallowing in a sand box at the local playground.
I took a second to soak it all in.
The remoteness.
The crisp chill in the air.
But didn't linger long before I was up and pedaling.
Although I had only slept for two hours I felt very rested, and immediately dug into my top bags for food.
The chocolate was still in a hard state as I pedaled along wondering when this sandy section would end, secretly cursing myself for not doing better route study. Time was just hard to find as my busy life wash drain spiraled into this event.
I continued on and before long I saw a street sign of all things in the middle of nowhere. AN animal that was long like a goat but ran like a deer, two of them tearing off after they spotted me. Climbed some big climbs and then dropped down a sweet canyon before I finally started seeing actual trees.
Some bigger climbs came along followed by some white knuckle rutted dirt road downhills that were bringing a smile to my face, leaving me thinking that finally I was seeing some variety from the previous hours efforts.
Finally I found the end of the dirt and hit pavement once again. I took a bit of time to eat a little more food before my chocolate returned to a melted state and drank some water before riding the pavement section all the way into Silver City.
AS I made my way down the pavement I started to feel fatigued. I didn't know if it was the fact that the temperature had gone from cool to hot so fast or the fact that in the past 30 hours I had only slept two, but I was hurting. It bothered me that I was hurting so much so early into this 20 plus day epic.
I was contemplating all this in my head when a car sped by and quickly stopped. I wondered if I was already being SPoT Stalked, but that wasn't the case at all as I saw Lloyd's familiar face emerge from the car.
He gave me a run down of everything I had done in the past 14 hours, which I smiled at, and asked me if I was OK, before he jumped back in his car on his way to complete the errands him and his wife were performing.
I cant say enough about Lloyd, truly a superstar. A Former Sheriff for the entire area, Judge, etc, this guy was all around Bad to the Bone.
The climbs were long riding into Silver City. I kept thinking wow, this would all be downhill if I was coming from the north. But I kept the cranks turning and geared down intently looking at my GPS and that way point that let me know I was getting closer to my goal.
Here I was climbing what seemed to be the longest climb of all stretching for what seemed an eternity. When I got to the top I felt dazed and dizzy, dismounted from the bike and literally sat there on the hot pavement with my eyes closed hiding behind my bike since it was the only form of shade for miles and miles.
I couldn't understand why I felt like warmed over crap so early in the race. I was hungry but couldn't eat, thirsty but tired of drinking so I chalked it up to sleep deprivation.
After a few moments I commanded myself to get up and go forward. And just like that I crested the hill and off in the distance maybe a mile or more away I could see a gas station/convenience store. The only thing I could think about was getting a DR. Pepper. Yes, sugar and caffeine that's what I needed to recharge my body.
I got to the store ran in and bought a giant Dr. Pepper. I asked the lady behind the counter how far was Silver City and she said, its right at the bottom of the hill. Wow, I was not even a mile away and it was all downhill.
I rolled into Silver City at 1030am, turning left towards the Gila Hike and Bike shop to have my Rear Derailleur adjusted. That took no time at all, and I backtracked to where I had turned off to sit down and eat a gigantic burrito and drink even more sugary laced caffeinated beverage.
One advantage to having been stranded in Silver City, I knew exactly where I wanted to go and after my meal I pedaled toward the hostel, greeted and chatted with the people inside as I washed my clothes and took a shower before laying down to rest a little more.
It had been a LONG night, and although I was not 100% satisfied with my effort it was time to attempt to recover from the pain I had experienced on my way into town.....
Part 3 Tomorrow,
Take Care,
The NaKeD InDiaN
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