diablito verde

It's a nice bike ride from town and through Buena Vista to the monument de la banderas and back and that was my plan for a windless day. It's even nicer to head out in the desert if you have water, a snack and body armour.  

Riding fast and light, I had 500 ml water, a protein bar and bare arms and legs. Did that stop me from heading off-road after riding to the flag monument? No - some riders don't wear armour here and my route was mostly an old washed out road. Off I went and almost immediately after I hit the single track, a chollo cactus bud jumped out and multiple criss-cossed barbs sunk into the bare flesh of my calf. 

Fortunately I did have gloves on, reached down, took a deep breath and ripped the little green devil right off. Unfortunately, now I had cactus needles in my glove and in my palm. Did that stop me? No. I picked them all out and set out again looking for familiar landmarks amongst the washed out trail and taking pictures along the way.

I took my time, walked what I couldn't ride and rationed my water which was assisted by cool breezes and thick cloud. Suddenly, I couldn't unclip my cleat from my pedal as I stopped to take another picture and fell on my knee. Did a lttle scrape stop me? No. I picked off the gravel, had my snack and walked the next section of road to spot bike tire tracks and see how I should pick my way through. If cars could make it through here, no problem for me and I pedalled on with on unclipped foot.

The trails were more washed out than I remembered them from four years ago when I last rode this section, but I rode on through the cool, quiet desert hills and down out into the flat arroyo to the highway without further incident. Once I was on the sidewalk, my foot was slipping off it's uncleated perch, so I got off to check out my cleat and clip. It turned out that a screw that held the cleat to my shoe was loose, so I screwed it back in as best I could, but rode the rest of the way home avoiding getting cleated in. But despite the little annoyances, it was a great 1st ride out and next time I'll have the right gear for the off-road world! Then I saw an ice cold beer in my fridge. Did that stop me? Yes it did!