I found myself at the Hilso Trailhead on a spectacular Saturday morning wondering what I should do! I knew exactly! A mountain bike ride on some of the most spectacular trails on which I have ever ridden.
I’ve written about this area before. It is south-east of Gallup, NM in the Cibola National Forest. The Hilso trails are some very nice groomed mountain bike trails. I’ve found, however; that many of the trails are not well documented. I’ve found one book that does a very good job at documenting many great rides but there are trails all over this area. The book is “Gallup Waypoints” by Steinar Smith. Note: This first edition guide has been updated to a second revision by Peter Tempest and is available here. Buy it! It is worth every dime and much, much more.
On this Saturday, I had plans for a long and challenging ride. The name of the trail is Quasimoto (#20 in the book). It is listed as a 20.75 mile ride, 1600′ of climbing, and a black diamond rating (hardest). I loaded up two bottles of water, a couple granola bars, and hit the trail.
I was not starting from the documented “start” as I was camping at the Quaking Aspen campground. So, finding the trail from my starting position proved to be a bit harder than expected but I did get onto the trail in short order. Starting from the Hilso Trailhead, I rode north on the east side of the valley and then on the trail in a counter-clockwise direction.
There has been a lot of rain in the area which makes for beautiful green forests with lots of plant life. It also makes for some rough trails when the cows decide to walk on them when wet. Several sections were chewed up pretty badly by cow hoofs – need more riders!!
The first overlook was very nice with beautiful views.
The 360 degree overlook was exceptional! I spent some time here relaxing and enjoying God’s creation – amazing!
It was about this time that I started thinking that I may not have brought enough water or food. Most of my rides are three hours or less and I am trying to lose weight. So, I don’t eat a bunch while riding. It seems to me that eating like a pro while riding (gels, Cliff bars, etc…) will only result in my maintaining weight, at best. I was now three hours into this ride and had a very long way to go.
After dropping off the peak with the 360 degree view, the trail guide makes it sound pretty easy to stay on the trail. I completely lost it. In hindsight, I know what I did wrong. At the time, I thought I had to be further west. There is a fence line that borders a military munitions depot and I thought the trail followed that fence line. So, took off into the forest – no trail – thinking sure I would intercept it if I headed towards that fence line.
Nope – it didn’t happen.
I found the fence but not the trail. None of this section was ridable (by me)- I was pushing my bike the whole way. I’m not exactly sure how far I went but I know it was hard duty. Up and down ravines, thru fairly dense forest, back-tracking to find passable routes, etc…
I finally intercepted a gravel road! Yay! Prior to finding the road, I was definitely getting worried. My water was very, very low and I was using it fast. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced a bonk but this sure felt like what I had read. I was beat, my legs were jello. I elected to just take this gravel road to the main road and back to the campground.
Suddenly – there it was – the trail! Much farther east than I had thought. Change of plans – I knew it would be easy to get back on the trail and proceed as planned.
Bad choice.
Remember I said this was rated as a Black Diamond? It was this stretch of the ride that warranted that rate. It was tough and most certainly beyond my abilities – both technical skills as well as strength/climbing ability.
Now I was really worried. Water was mostly gone and my body was shot. I kept thinking that ‘just over this ridgeline’ this trail would join with the easiest trail to the campground that I knew existed. I’d ride a section, I’d push a section, I stop and cool off for a bit – repeat. I know that mental attitude is big percentage of dealing with situations like this. The very good news is that I knew where I was and had PLENTY of reserve energy stores (body fat) to get me thru. So, positive mental attitude!
Eventually, this trail intercepted the Burma/High T trail, just like it was supposed to.
The ride down the Burma Trail was a blast. My body was spent but I was going downhill and I knew food and water waited for me at the bottom (actually, at the campground which is just past the bottom…). I even got a bit of air on the bumps. I was flying – happy to be saved! All of this is captured in the following video:
After getting back to camp, I consumed a bunch of water and fruit. Boy, it sure tasted good! Then, I laid there. It took me several hours to get enough energy to take a shower. The next morning I awoke to the sorest legs I’ve had in a very long time!
Will I do Quasimoto again?? You bet! However; I’ll be a better rider next time I do it and I’ll have much more food and water with me.
Strava recorded (my version of) the ride at 19.5 miles and 3,070′ of climbing. Total time was nearly 7 hours. Ugh – no wonder my body was destroyed!
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