 Oh God, look at that, look at that. Previously on Dooser Does the Divide, or whatever you want to call this supper fest, Ryan got stuck in a lot of snow, a lot of snow. Let's see how he's doing now. Well, the good news is the lightning stopped. Bad news is there's another storm over there. Looks like it's heading this way. And bad news number two, more snow dress. These things use absolutely all of my strength to get through. You take a step and you sink two and a half feet down and then you're trying to like just, you know, pull your bike and tug on it. Wow, I haven't had a full body workout like this in a long time. My hand is just tired holding the camera up right now. My arm is so sore. Oh man. Check it out. You don't need a kickstand when there's this much snow. It just stands there. How are you doing, bike? So this is kind of how it goes. When I try to move, I get behind the bike. I try to push, I push and my legs sink down a few feet. Try it again, heave a ho. And then I sink and then I, my feet are stuck. Okay, and then I do it again. Let's see here. You see, and I make a little bit of progress every step I take. That's the moral of this story. Just keep moving forward even if it's super slow. This is good news. Looks like I'm finally gonna have somewhat of a downhill. I need to lose elevation so I can lose the snow. You know that I got off that main highway at about nine in the morning. It's now two 30. I have gone 24 miles total. And I did six fast ones on the highway today. Man, this has been, this has been a push. Like I've never experienced before. Maybe, maybe in Baja once before I just was completely exhausted. This is about that level. Let's go. Jesus, come on, man. Sam, this is hard. And I hope that this pedaling continues because I can't deal with any more pushing through snow. It's so hard. If it's not one thing, it's another. Now I'm in just evil, sticky mud. And it's super slippery. Super slippery, it's really hard to pedal. It's hard to walk actually. When is this all gonna be over? Give me some dry roads. Please, New Mexico. You have to keep a good attitude really. Otherwise you'll just go into a dark hole. But sometimes it's hard like right now. This just, this sucks. Oh God, look at that. Look at that. Oh my God, oh my God. I thought the snow was bad. This is insane. I want my mommy. So muddy, I've never seen mud like this. Stay in the water, stay in the rut. So every now and then I need to reach down and rub all the mud off my belt drive. Because it can pop off. It has happened and it's because mud just gets under there and there's no place for it to go so it pops off. And man, I thought I was done with mud but I also thought I was done with snow 15 times. Look at those tires. This bike is pretty darn dirty. Let's mount up again. Okay, that's, we need to get lower where it's dry. And this is how I clean the drivetrain. Look at this, it's insane. Nothing about today has been easy. Except for breakfast, that was easy. I miss Libby and Charlie already. I wish I was at their house right now. This is what happens. Just, just gobs of mud. Clogs, clogs everything. Oh my God, that was without a doubt the most trying day of bike packing in my life. Without a doubt, what are the hardest days, physical days of my life. Oh, and I'm so glad to be in my tent. As you can hear, it's raining or sleeting or something. It's been in and out all day long. I was riding and riding and trying to get lower elevation and I just wasn't going downhill. So I decided to just park it, put up my tent. It is 6 p.m. There were clouds all around that looks threatening and I just didn't wanna be setting up my stuff. In the dark and wet. So wow, I mean, it was one of those days where I thought, you know, when I first hit the snow, I was like, oh, this'll be fun. I'll ride through a few snow drifts and then it got longer and longer and then it got really hard and I was just pushing and dragging and my post-holing, my feet just falling into the snow every step I took and then I would get to a section like, oh, maybe the snow's done because I would ride for like, you know, 200 meters and then no, the snow would come back and it did that for like seven hours in and out of snow. And then I was like, sweet, I'm done with snow and I started cruising and then the death mud and I mean, that almost was worse than the snow. I mean, it just locked up my bike and I would stop and wash it off and blah, you saw it all. But man, what a crazy day. You know, I started this morning with Libby and Charlie eating oatmeal and just, you know, life was perfect. The sun was out and the birds were chirping and I rode the first seven miles on pavement and it was like, la-de-da, this is gonna be the best day ever. And then things changed. And you know what, it's weird to say this but I'm proud of myself. You know, there were many times I could have panicked and just freaked out but I didn't and I think it's because I've been through so many of these situations in my life now and yeah, I just kept moving forward. I mean, that's the only thing. I mean, I was in the middle of nowhere. There's like no, I didn't see a human all day on this dirt road. I mean, there's no way a car can come up here right now. So I just kept moving forward and forward and forward and you know, problem solving, that's what it's all about. Like, you know, something happens that's less than ideal and you figure it out, right? I only made it 30 miles today. I was thinking about 90, not even close. And I don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. Hopefully less mud. I think I'm out of the snow, I think but I thought I was out of the snow yesterday but yeah, now I'm just gonna sit in my tent and get cozy and hopefully be warm because I'm at 10,000 feet and I can get chilly up here. But you know, this really to me is the first day of the adventure and this was pure adventure. I lived an epic 10 days of bike packing life in one day and here I am dry and happy and smiling and I'm safe, I got my tent up and I'm gonna be all good. And tomorrow's a new day and hopefully it'll be a little easier but if not, I know what to do. And you know what? I wish John and Mira were here. Mira would make things all better. She'd be like, who cares about little snow and a little mud and a little rain? We're all good, throw me a stick, bud. We'll connect with them sometime later this summer whenever the border's open but this is one of those moments that'd be really nice to have a happy dog bouncing around. Look who's up and ready. Good morning, Mira, good morning. Oh yeah, time to wake up. Wow, it's time to listen to the birds. Sorry, Billy Idol. Oh yes, blue skies. Don't leave home without it. You know what I love doing in the morning? Putting on soaking wet, cold shoes. Oh yeah, that feels so good. Took me a while to pack up. I haven't done it in a while. I'm a little out of practice and I'm looking at my bike and it is just so dirty. I don't think my bike has ever looked like this, any of my bikes. This is insane. I hope it works okay today. I can't tell you how relieved I am to see the sun up in the sky and no clouds right now. When I got in my tent last night, it was Storm Mania and I was like, oh no, it's gonna be so muddy all day today but it seems to be warmer, drier and that makes me very happy because yesterday was straight up traumatic. That was just, oh my God, I was like yee shaking all night in my tent. That did a number and my shoulders hurt so bad but it's a new day and it's a Thursday, happy Thursday. So thank you, ground, for sheltering me. Beautiful spot to sleep for the night. Let's go ride bikes. Woo! What do you say we start the day with a little, no crashies, no flaties, no whammy's, no snow ease, no mud ease, no lightning ease. What else do we need today? Woo! Hello beautiful world! Let's have some fun today! I'm definitely getting lower in elevation. You can tell because these aspens have leaves on them. All the other aspens I've passed, we're still straight up winter style. No leaves at all. And you wouldn't believe it but like there's no mud anymore. Like where did all the mud go? Did it dry out overnight? Did somebody come and just blow dry it for me because they felt bad? I don't know but I'm happy. I finally found the downhill that I was looking for yesterday. I'm dropping quick and it makes me so happy! Again, the shot up signs. I don't get it. Your taxpayer money is paying for this and then you destroy it. Why are we shooting signs? I don't need to worry about that today though. I'm riding my bike. So there's quite a bit of headwind right now and normally this would be a big bummer but after yesterday's challenge, it's okay because I'm actually pedaling and I'm moving forward. And I guess it just goes to show that once you face like the ultimate challenge and then something else like slightly less challenging comes your way, you're like ha! No big deal. I might not be saying the same thing if this wind persists for eight hours but I'm just so thankful to be pedaling my bike right now and not pushing through four feet of snow. And I feel like I'm getting back into my rhythm, into my groove from last year's great divide where you just pedal and you look to your left and you're right and you listen to the birds and just appreciate being out here. And even though I'm alone, you know who's with me? All of you, definitely you're all with me in spirit and John and Mira and Dana and Kevin and Barbara and John up in Montana and the roses and Colorado and all the other wonderful people that I met when I started this journey last July. This is a continuation of that and I'm tapping into that spirit and that power of everybody I've met along the way and I'm gonna take it with me. You see that way over there? Snowcapped mountains and I'm so happy to be leaving them behind. Goodbye, let's go to the desert. Look at that, mango licorice. I thought I was smooth sailing, but I found mud again. Oh, so fun with the mud. Right when I was getting in my groove. I found a side road, which is a lot less muddy than the main road over there, as you can see. I just stopped off the side of the road here because I could start smelling the sage. Ah, the sage. And you know that I pick sage when I can for every ride. It protects me and I take a little bit of sage and I put it on my bike. Oh, it smells so fresh. Mmm, I feel better now knowing that I have my sage with me. A little town now called Vallecitos, which means little valley in Spanish. There's the dog. Hi, doggy. I'm glad there's a fence. There's lots of dogs in this state. I remember when I rode through here last time. But I always love riding through towns like this. Kind of fascinating. So much history, even though they're all broken down and busted up. You know, it's making me really happy right now. The fact that I'm not pushing my bike through snow. As hard as it was, I feel like I always learned the most about myself when life gets hard. You really gotta dig deep, you know, spiritually and physically and you gotta pump yourself up in those situations, especially when you're alone. And we did it. It feels like I'm in New Mexico. The first few days definitely felt like Colorado. High alpine and snow and pine trees. Now it feels like the desert. And this is my happy place. Look at that view. So I'm rolling through this tiny town called El Rito. And I see a Mexican restaurant right here. So of course I gotta stop and get some bean burritos, right? And it is perfect temperature right now. See you, buddy. Everybody here is so friendly, helping me out. And this is a cool little town. I dig it. I took a few steps from the restaurant and I see some desert art. I love desert art. People that live in the desert just put weird stuff together. And we have the Mars Polar Lander here. So the pattern in many small towns is you hang out long enough and you meet people and then you're gonna stay here. And that's what happened today. I ordered my burritos and then a nice guy named Ted said, hey, you can camp in my backyard if you want. I even have a hose. You can hose off your bike. So I'm gonna sit here and eat this massive bean burrito. I had no idea what I was getting into. But this thing right here looks pretty darn amazing. I wanna show you this. This is what makes New Mexico cuisine so famous. The green chilies. And what an incredible way to end the day. Okay, 600X, time to take a bath. Oh yeah, so satisfying. Check it out. It's like a brand new bicycle. Ended up being a fantastic day and I'm in my groove. I'm feeling good further south tomorrow. Let's do it. Look at those curly cues. That can mean only one thing. Steep.