Indiana pass and the last Gatorade
Alternative titles included “Indiana pass and the riders of the lost park”, “Indiana pass and the pedal of doom” and “Indiana pass and the kingdom of the tired legs”. Okay, the last one needs some work, but I had four hours and 4000ft of climb this morning to think of good set of titles. Let me know if you can think of any better ones.
Indiana pass is the highest point of the Great Divide route at 11,910ft in a long single climb. The ride up wasn’t too bad actually, not particularly pretty or hard, just a long old slog. I had my John Williams playlist on to inspire me on the way up and we made the top by 1.30.
Unfortunately for such a monumental achievement there was no sign at the top to pose next to. The best we could do was a makeshift wooden board someone had left there.
To make matters worse, the mining activity at the top of the pass has poisoned all the creeks in the area so the ground water is undrinkable, even once treated. This means either carrying two days worth of water with you, or making it out of the other side in the same day to get water at the next town.
I was hoping for a nice easy run down the other side but the road rolls on for miles after the pass and before long the the storm clouds that had been looming all morning finally broke and showered us with hailstones then torrential rain. Hailstones in the middle of august, can you believe it?!
Well the biggest hill is behind us now and New Mexico is ahead. It’s all downhill from here.
