Entry 12 cont'd
I just sat there in what must be hell like temps, drinking water, hoping I wouldn't enter cardiac arrest for what I had to do in order to have a chance at getting back to the top.
Firsts things first, I unclamped my Ortlieb banana bag, which after sending many items home, was now down to the portly sum of around 100 pounds and hiked it up the hill.
Next trip, my pelican cooler, helmet, anything else I could think of to get a little more weight off the bike and less chance of breaking camera equipment from a bad fall.
After two hikes up n down, I felt like I was going to die...............SERIOUSLY! I have not ever been that hot in my life, my body felt like it was broiling internally.
I sat down and rested for a few minutes, drank more water from my back bladder, thoughts began entering my mind that if I don't make it back up these stair steps, could this really be it for me. I was thinking if I run out of water I only have a couple hours left before I'll die, if I hit the SOS button on my transponder, will they find me within a couple of hours? The brain defeating its host, I'll not ever understand.
I got emotional, all the dust in me eyes
eepwall: all the riding in triple digit heat the day before, my spine spasming the night before, the cramps I'd dealt with in my legs, I felt emotionally spent, though not quite physically yet.
That's when I just said phucket, I'm not dying in this phucking desert, I must get back to my dog and cat.
I deflated my tires. I mounted my big Austian girl, pressed the Race On button, hit the ignition switch, 1,301cc's burbling like a 69' Camaro RS, I turn off all electronic nannies, it's going to be me and the bike, I don't want any aids screwing me up because I may only get a few chances at this before it's too late, I'm out of water completely, and rescue personnel too far away to help.
It's amazing how a mans mortality can light a fire under his ***.
I feathered the clutch lever out, game on mutha phucka. It was poetry in motion and I'm not gloating. I'm not that good of a rider, it felt like for the first time in my life, I wasn't a giant aboard a motorbike, nope, I wasn't 6'6" 275 pounds of 'merican manimal anymore, I was doing my best interpretation of Mr. Burch, allowing the 21 inch front wheel to climb over the smaller stair steps, the larger steps, much more clutch modulation to get the front wheel unloaded or up in the air a little to clear the higher steps.
I'd made it to the top on my first attempt, oh my dear lawwwwwwd, it gave me a second wind.
I strapped all the coke in the banana back on the bike, my pelican cooler, and I was on my way again, until I was lost again :'(
Yes, now, I wasn't on any road or trail, I was in some farm lane. I rode the lane for a couple of miles and began noticing water pipe strung out across the land.
Then, I rode up to within a couple hundred yards of an old early eighties Chevy pickup out in the middle of nowhere
atch:
Then, I saw a barn in the distance.
No way, this can't any worse, please don't tell me I've just discovered a grow operation. :'(
You know what that means if you've witnessed a large grow operation.
I turned around and hightailed it out of that place, found my Tkc 80 track, found my way back to the main trail and said, that's enough NM Backcountry Discovery Route for me solo.
I was almost back to the main road when I saw one of my neoprene elbow pads in the middle of the trail. I didn't even stop, to hell with that pad, I bought it on clearance anyway, I'm getting back to civilization.
I made my way back to the main road, rode for a few miles, then stopped to regroup. I was physically spent and almost out of water by this point. I dropped my bike dismounting. Picked it back up. Then when I was ready to roll, I dropped my bike mounting it. I just completed what felt like the impossible no more than 15-20 minutes before and now I can't dismount or mount my bike without dropping it. That's the power of the mind, my friends.
I rode back to Carlsbad, NM, ran into a Subway, directly to the bathroom, I had stopped perspiring approximately 30-45 minutes previously. I knew I had to get cooled down and some fluids in me. I went into the bathroom, took both hands to splash some water on my face. I wanted to bathe in the sink, but I was a little large.
I wanted a hotel room with A/C.
Because of the oil boom in Southeast New Mexico, near Carlsbad, NM, there’s a shortage of hotel rooms. The cheapest room available was Days Inn at $291.00 + tax + fees, next cheapest, Comfort Inn priced $389.00 + tax + fees. Holiday Inn had 1 room left, $600 per night + tax + fees
. I ended up riding another 70 miles to Roswell, NM where hotel prices are normal.
I'd survived, what felt like by the skin of my teeth. I arrived at my hotel room in Roswell, NM, set the thermostat to Igloo, and drank fluids the rest of the day and night.
