The second section of the World2 Tour is now complete, cycling from Grand Junction, Colorado to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Like most tours in the United States, parts of this section were very nice, while others were somewhat less so. Additionally, for some reason that I can’t quite remember, the schedule for this section was more aggressive than I should have made it, without any full days off for rest and recovery. I may have done that in order to partly avoid starting too early in the spring, but, as it turned out, I started earlier anyway. So I nullified any advantage that would have created. Another reason was a change of end point that added some additional distance to the route. When I first plotted out this route, a few years ago, there was a staffed Amtrak station near Santa Fe that would have made a preferable final location. However, when the time came to book the rail tickets, shortly before the beginning of the Tour, I learned that station had recently been closed, and the only available station that would take checked baggage, specifically my bike, was in Albuquerque, which added another 80 km the route, thereby removing a potential half-day off. In the end, however, I managed fairly well, all things considered.

The most scenic, and enjoyable, part of this route was closer to the beginning, in Colorado. In particular, the morning ride that began in Gateway, Colorado and followed State route 141 south through the State’s Red Rock region, was quite exceptional, with generally good cycling conditions. There was some excellent scenery in that area, of the type that causes the theme from The Magnificent Seven to constantly play in one’s mind. Further south in the same state, some of the Federal roads I used were less appealing, with a surprising amount of high-speed traffic.

New Mexico was often a little less scenic, and immediately upon crossing the border, one realizes that the State motto should probably be changed from The Land of Enchantment, to The Land of Fracking. That particular activity seems to be going on just about everywhere in that state that isn’t either heavily populated, or ruggedly mountainous. The result being that one is never very far away from the humming sound of a compressor. Additionally, the route in New Mexico was more affected by the number of wide, high-speed roads, many of which were the only practical option available. A few were visually nicer, like State Route 96, through the Carson National Forest, though the enjoyment of that particular road was negatively affected by the presence of many aggressive dogs.

Wildlife sightings, other than birds, were perhaps a little less common than might have been expected. With fewer large, charismatic mammals likely to be seen on this Tour, relative to some of my previous tours, I will need to take whatever I can get, however. One nice sighting was a large herd of about one hundred elk, which were running through someone’s ranch on the opposite bank of the Dolores River from me, and seemed to be trying to keep pace with my movements. The best sighting, though, may have been this group of female and juvenile Bighorn Sheep, which were casually checking me out from their perch on a cliffside as I rode past.

One particular advantage of touring in the intermountain west is the generally easy time one has in locating a really nice campsite. Two examples are shown below, one from Colorado, and another from New Mexico. Stargazing and undisturbed sleep were both much appreciated.

There were a few geographic elements to this route that I found interesting. For example, I have now toured in Cuba for the second time. Though, while my first Tour in Cuba included beaches, Salsa music, and lots of political intrigue, this time the night I spent in Cuba, New Mexico was somewhat more low-key.

Not far from there, I made, if I am remembering correctly, my nineteenth crossing by bicycle of the North American Continental Divide. I also have made several crossings of the South American Divide, which is really the same divide, but I have never found a map showing it in enough detail for me to determine exactly how many. If the future proceeds as I have envisioned it, this will have been my final crossing of that particular feature. Cheers!

Another aspect, which was not apparent to me originally, is that the highest point on this section of the Tour, 2550 meters, at the summit of the road through Mesa Verde (and another similar peak, the next day) will, barring any drastic route changes, likely be the highest point reached on the entire Tour. That elevation was almost exactly half of the highest point I attained during the Tour of Gondwana. Since I had to cross that particular summit twice, I believe that I can claim the same total climbing effort. Ok, sure, I realize it doesn’t work like that, but still.

Furthermore, I also noticed that the total amount of climbing I did in these first two sections will probably be more that I will be required to do in the upcoming eight months, or more. It may seem a strategic error to put forth that much effort in the first two weeks of a long tour, but for those of us who (used to) live in the North American west, it really can’t be avoided. Of course, now that all of that is behind me, perhaps I can take it easy for a while (we all know how unlikely it is that statement will turn out to be true.)

Were I to continue riding from here, I would begin a crossing of the Great Plains of North America. I have bicycled across that particular feature once before, on my very first tour, and, after careful consideration, I came to the conclusion that once was enough. Though, at least if I did do it this time, I would be traveling with the wind, instead of against it, as I did before. My general disinterest in another long, flat crossing at this time is the reason behind the rail transfer I am currently making. I will be including two brief stops in the prairie region, just for good measure, however.

I have been traveling generally south over this section of the Tour, and now I am heading east. So, unlike that comical animated lagomorph, I actually did make a Left Turn at Albuquerque!