What a Ride!!! Emory Pass

Words cannot describe the exhilarating day we experienced. As usual, Patti had a plan and God had another plan! As we left at 8:00 a.m. my goal was to ride up to Emory Pass (Elev. 8828) and ride down the 8 mile hairpin turns to the lodge. That was Patti's plan. So...the first 10 miles I struggled with the incline because my brakes kept rubbing causing me to exert much more effort than what it called for. At mile 10, with the help of friends, we fixed the Forever Flyer and the brakes no longer rubbed. Brakes rubbing was clue #1 that my plan probably wasn't going to work as I had not made good time thus far. Now, with brakes working, we proceed and I'm loving it. Mile 19 we stopped for water (4 of us) and a pick up truck pulled over to side of road...thoughts of Jack the Ripper crossed our minds. The kind gentlemen inside the truck told us that there was a biker stranded 1.5 miles back with mechanical problems. No cell service and the SAG was ahead of us at mile 30. Executive decision - two bikers go back to help and two go ahead as fast as possible to alert the SAG. Katie and I went back - not 1.5 miles - but 5 miles(into the wind) to find Roberta with two flats and no tools to fix tire. Okay, make this short...after about 45 minutes the SAG came back and bumped us up to make up for lost miles. The bike could not be fixed at that time. Along about now I knew that Patti's Plan was in serious trouble since we were not making good time. Okay, time to quit talking and to see pictures. Backing up to last night....we had a tattoo party and here is a group picture. Sparkle is in back row with white shirt on and motorcycle tattooed to chest.

Back to the ride....here is picture of Santa Rita Copper Mine - great view - but then we would have considered just about anything a great view after the climb to get there! By the way, this was prior to our back-tracking.

Okay, back on the road again and climbing the two five mile inclines to the Emory pass. On our right was a babbling book that went on and on for miles...by the way the temp is dropping as we climb.

After about 7 hours.....we made it to Emory Pass - a sight to behold! It became magical as we sat behind the sign you can see in this picture - looking over the mountains and snow, sheltered from the wind and eating our PBJ sandwiches. As it began to very lightly snow, we could not believe the beauty and view we were beholding. A feeling of accomplishment and joy I will never forget.

Katie and I at Emory Pass...can you see the storm coming in? We saw it too and knew it was time to move on. We had eight miles of downhill, hair pin turns, strong winds, and light snow to endure. As we began our descent, we had our back brakes on at all times while we feathered our front brakes. The temp was in the low 40's and we were freezing. The traffic was super light which was good because their was no shoulder as we descended. Posted speed limit was usually 10-15 mph. We were loving our accomplishment and proceeding with great caution. However, with 4 miles left to go, the light snow turned to hail/rain/snow and the wind was blowing us and the pavement too wet for us to feel confident of our safety. We knew the SAG was behind us so we found a little "pull over", parked our bikes and waited for the SAG to arrive. Patti's plan was not to SAG in the last 4 miles...but I cannot believe the feeling of accomplishment I felt by "dropping my plan" and following the opportunity to help a biker in need, making it up the pass, making it (almost) down the pass. I am loving this!

Arriving at the lodge, freezing cold, here is Katie and I rubbing our hands in front of the fire in this unique Black Range Lodge in the Gila National Forest. This place dates back to the 1880's when it housed miners and cavalry. The lodge is "self-sustaining" and the owner is making us a turkey dinner with all the trimmings from what is grown on this land.

Sorry this is so long today....but words cannot express the beauty, excitement and victory we experienced today....unfortunately I probably just used 2,000 words to attempt to describe it.

Rumor has it, tomorrow is not a difficult route, but the mileage is great, and we don't know if this snow/rain will continue.

Lessons I'm learning:

• shorter mileage - difficult route (hills/mountains/etc.)
• longer mileage - easier route - (assuming head winds don't find us)
• this is such joy in the journey if you just forget destination and go with whatever comes your way, be it flat tires, brakes that rub, etc.

p.s. We are affected somewhat by the high altitude.

Over and out....finally!