Abiquiu Lake to Not Cuba

Today's ride was absurd. 106 miles uphill. By the days end we had climbed 6200 vertical feet. We left Abiquiu early, around 6 and Hannah and I enjoyed the scenery at a very low speed due to headwinds. I left first lunch with Jack and Nate. We made it to the city of Cuba around 2 pm and still had around 40 miles to bike. We had heard that the van was stuck at mile 51 with some riders caught in the storm. So, after filling up our water the "gravy train" decided to head across the street for some real food. I ordered a Mexican bacon avocado cheeseburger. It was served on a tortilla. Delicious. And a real morale booster. After we finished inhaling some real food we cranked out the miles to lunch around 25 mph. We breezed through second lunch and continued to dominate until we passed a group of riders with a flat. Jack doubled back to give them an extra tube and Nate and I lost him. We saw a few fellow riders enjoying some July 4th fare and headed to check it out. We heard a man recite the Declaration of Independence and forged on to the host. It was more miles and more hills than I expected. I ended up ahead of my group and due to the impending storm decided to continue on my own. It started pouring and the rain hurt. It got to where I couldn't see. I turned in to the road leading to the church, but it was dirt and the rain had turned it to mud. I instantly sunk in and my wheels became too caked with mud to spin.

I carried my bike up to the church only to discover our shower was a freezing cold hose. All my warm clothes were in my camelbak and became soaked. I took a "shower" which involved covering myself in hand sanitizer and splashing myself with water afterwards. A few people, including sweep had to be vanned because it got dark and they were still 40 miles out.

Dinner was good. And we slept very close together in the tiny church. The bathrooms were outdoor outhouses which with the rain and cool temperatures were less than desirable. It was a long bike day but the views were definitely worth it. But we did all smell pretty funky since no one really took a shower.