Birthday Bike Ride or, The Apocalypse Ride

Monday, March 12th was my 44th birthday. On Sunday the 11th, I lead a few friends around the region for what would turn out to be a 53mile slog that we named The Apocalypse Ride.

The night before, chatting with my dear friend Reilly, I described the route and he asked why on earth I would ride it clockwise, rather than counterclockwise as we once did. Knowing that climbing west to east would be brutal, I simply said “I want to massacre people.” Truly, I love my friends.

Just after 9am, Sam, Kevin and I rolled out from Desert Sports. Our route took us west to the Lajitas Trails, collecting Mark along the way. Several other folks bailed, the weather too much for their tender souls.

Not long into the ride, Sam got a slide-wall cut that forced him to turn-around, install a new tire at Desert Sports then drive to the East Contrabondo Trail-head where we regrouped for the ride to the Buena Suerte mine within Big Bend Ranch State Park.

From there, our route took us behind the Mine, up and up then down into Lowes Valley, past the Solitario Hunt Camp and along Ranch roads back to Desert Sports. All in all, 53miles with 4100′ of climbing. A tough day for sure.

The climbing was oppressive, oftentimes forcing us off the bike to slowly hike up those steep hills. All day the wind whipped against our faces. As we headed north, the wind blew at 20-30mph from the north. As we turned north-east, the wind moved to come from the north-east. When we turned to the east, so too did the wind. At the same time, the weather was cool, never more than about 60deg. The heavy, dark clouds lay low over the land, obscuring many of the prominent natural features we would need later in the day.

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That stretch of abandoned “road” from the Mine to the Hunt Camp is one I’ve only seen once before. Riding it, you could tell it hasn’t been travelled in a very long time. When Reilly and I rode it several years ago, it was a sunny day and we rode easily east to west. So, while I knew roughly where we were going, I was not fully certain of the route.

After several hours on the bike, I finally had to confess; “Guys, I no longer know where we are. I don’t recognize any of this.” As my anxiety began to swell, the rain began to fall. We knew we had to head east to hit the Ranch roads that would take us to the Hunt Camp where Bryon was waiting with beers and water. We just didn’t know which turns to take to get us there. As I mentioned above, the landmarks we should be able to rely on to help us navigate were completely obscured by the clouds.

As we pressed on, I got more and more anxious and silent, stewing in my own mind. “I can’t believe I’ve done this to my friends, I can’t believe I’ve gotten us lost.” Eventually, after taking a couple of wrong turns, we spotted Bryon and his friends. They had left the Hunt Camp to look for us. I had estimated we’d be there between 1-2pm, and it was now nearly 2:45pm. Turns out, we were just five minutes from the Hunt Camp.  Cheers and beers were enjoyed before we said thanks to Byron and his 4-wheeler crew, heading back to home along very familiar dirt roads.

The ride took about 8:20hrs door-to-door; I had estimated it would take us 6-7hrs. The weather was like something out of a Mad Max movie. Lost, the ride really felt rather apocalyptic; the possible need for overnight camp was even discussed before we found our way.

Back at Desert Sports, we all enjoyed a huge pot-luck cook-out meal with about 15-20 other dear friends, replete with home-made ice-cream cake. While we were glad to be home, we four were also pleased to have survived the Apocalypse Ride.

Thanks to Sam, Kevin and Mark for joining me on that ride. Thanks to Byron, Rush and Steve for hauling water and beer way out in the desert for us. We needed it! And a huge thanks to all who joined for dinner that night. I love you all.