I’d been wanting to ride this trail since I heard about it. Many have said it’s the best trail in New Mexico, so I was pretty excited to try it! I booked a shuttle with Turquoise Tours so that I could ride the entire 21 miles.

The ride starts with a pretty steep climb, and the elevation was absolutely killing me! I felt like I needed a break every 100 yards just to catch my breath! Living at about 500 feet in Dallas certainly doesn’t help when you’re only on your second day at elevation, and over 10,000 feet on this trail! After reaching Osha Pass, the trail turns downhill in a section known as Heaven on Earth.

This was probably the best section of the whole trail. Steep enough to build up speed, but not too steep to the point you have to ride the brakes. There was some flow, but it was mostly straight & fast, with hero dirt from all the recent afternoon storms!

Unfortunately after that section ends, it’s time to climb again! This time it’s not as steep, but it is very long! It seemed like this climb would never end! I kept getting teased by short downhill segments when the reality was there was still more to climb!

Once that gradual climb was finally over, the trail flattened out. It was great to be done with the climbing, but pedaling was still required through this section. Once you reach about the 5 mile marker (meaning 5 miles left) the steep descent begins.

By this time I was so out of breath, and it seemed like no matter how long of a break I took, I could not fully catch my breath. I’d get going and be out of breath again almost immediately, even going downhill. Although pedaling isn’t required, it’s still a workout to move the bike around and through the chunk.

And this section was chunky! Some of those rock gardens I’d pull up and look at it and think, “yeah, I could probably do this.” But being out there by myself, I didn’t want to risk getting hurt and not having anyone there to help me. There’s no shame in that! It’s far better to be able to ride the next day than to try to be a hero and hurt yourself, and then not be able to ride for weeks or months. I went through that earlier this year, and I don’t want to go through it again!

At this point I really just wanted to be at the finish! I was struggling to breathe, I was tired, I was hungry! That’s not to say this last section wasn’t fun, because it sure was! I just would’ve enjoyed it more had I been in better physical shape! Don’t underestimate the effects of altitude, especially if you spend your life near sea level!

Check out the video! #LiveTheAdventure