Today was a pretty good day. We drove to Questa New Mexico, parked at a bank in town and started to ride up towards Red River. We were lucky to have Tom finally join us here in Taos, so we were all anticipating his return to cycling after focusing on rowing all summer.
The ride started slowly as there was a descent head wind. The road was a bit better than yesterday's ride as it had a shoulder and there was much less traffic. The scenery was great as once again we were riding in a pine forest. The area here is much different that Santa Fe.
The ride was pretty easy until we neared Red River where it got a little steeper. It was still not very difficult.
After stopping for a cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin in Red River, we continued on to discover that we hadn't reached the top of the pass. There was another 3 or 4 miles to go and as it turns out, it got a bit more steep averaging about 8% to the top. Tom took off, and the rest of us followed at our own pace. Soon though we all crossed the top. Here are some photos from the top.
Here is the shot of us at the top. Bill is behind the camera here so he is responsible for the fine quality picture.
Since we wanted to log a few more miles we decided to descend the other side and ride back to the top. Paul snapped this shot on the other side.
Tom took this video while we were climbing back up the pass .. great ride
It was a great climb with some good scenery. Tom and I flew down the descent and ride in a 2 man pace line the entire way. We caught Paul and flew past his at between 35-40 mph.
Tonight we had another dinner. Tom went out for bread and came back with bottles of wine ... Trouble!
