from stunner (campground) to bummer (washboard)

i have come to the realization that expecting too much of a good thing trail-wise, does not fire a reality-based synapse. for every good section of trail, there are bad, even horrendous sections of trail.

leaving stunner campground started out as a perfect ride. there would be a long descent down the conejos river valley, followed by a 5-mile climb up la manga pass which would place me firmly on the welcome mat of new mexico, the last cog in this 2,600 mile journey.

things started well, with a pre-determined breakfast destination of platoro only a matter of a 400-foot climb and a 5-mile drop.

i veered right in platoro at the first sign heralding “food”. it was the skyline lodge, a sprawling complex with log cabins and an inferred sense of colorado history.

i left my steed in a sheltered area and went in the lodge, then the gift shop, then the restaurant. nobody was home.

skyline lodge has a customer service problem. after a few plaintive “hellos”, a meek woman rose from the ash heap of the main desk and said nothing.

i asked if they were serving breakfast and she said “yes”. i asked for wi-fi and she said it “wasn’t free, it’s $5 for 30-minutes.”

in my mind, buying goods or services at any business means extra forms of skinning a profit from customers is unethical. had i been in a car, i would have left. since i was on my bike, i had to suck it up.

bikepackers have to suck up a lot.

every day.

all because your method of travel, the path you travel, or the situations you are placed in without alternatives, means that to escape, you must pedal your way to freedom.

hungry but put off by an establishment? do you ride 5 miles off route to another eatery or do you suck it up and begrudge being on a bike, with a promise to trash a place on your blog?

here is my answer.

the skyline lodge front desk types, need to pull that cork out of their backside. smile, give refreshing answers to those with questions, don’t act as though you are being inconvenienced.

i ordered food, water and coffee and requested lots of water and coffee. five minutes later, no food and no lots of water and coffee.

i asked princess front desk where my order was and she said, “he’ll bring it out when it’s done.”

pretty sure the water and coffee were done.

i returned to my table and bantered with a couple who could have written an equally unfavorable skyline lodge blog entry.

finally, a guy came out to my table with a styrofoam container and two styrofoam cups, one with coffee and one with water. no silverware, guy said “it’s over there”, pointing to a cart with plastic utensils on it.

breakfast was okay, but i broke a fork and punctured the container because i was eating out of styrofoam at a high-dollar colorado lodge.

i finished my water and coffee and asked for refills from princess. five minutes later, the food guy came back out with two new styrofoam containers.

damn, i needed to pedal.

leaving platoro removed the cork from my backside.

the next 6-miles of washboard rebunged it.

you persevere and wait for smoother roads, knowing that smoother roads will be fleeting.

up and over la manga and a couple miles after it, i was in new mexico, ready to sample a new piece of the divide.

after a couple of miles on a varied surface, the last climb of the day, and one that would place me in the lower lagunitas campground, began.

it was rideable at first, but then the magic of hike-a-bike began. i have heard this section of the trail called “doll’s head”, and that is a perfect description of the softball-sized cobble that defined the next half-mile of the trail.

footsteps needed placement; pausing meant a squeeze of the rear brake to prevent everything returning to where you had just been.

then it rained.

by the time i made it to the campground, i was eager to sell my bike and gear.

steady rain continued. i ate a bit and fell asleep in a wet tent to the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning.

new state. last state.

same challenging trail.