Tour Divide: Day 25
Ride time: 4:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. (19 hours)
Miles ridden: 127 on-course + 3 off-course =
Total on-course miles covered: 2445
MTBCast Call-in
Felix Wong searching for Pie in Pie Town
Submitted by sherry on July 7, 2008 – 1:16 p.m.
Racer update about: Felix WongHi, this is Felix Wong calling on Monday, July 7th from Pie Town, NM. Good News: Its only noon and I’ve already done 70 miles. Bad News: I’m kind of tired now.
The roads here are a lot more rolling than I anticipated and the roads are also very wash-boarded with way too much sand or gravel in some sections. I hope they smoothen out because the roads are really bad.
Anyhow, I’m in Pie Town. I’m looking for some services. I found a restaurant. The Pie-O-Neer. It’s only opened Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so it looks like I’m out of luck there. I hoping something else is open. I’m going to look for that right now and then carry on.
Pie Town is kind of a sad town. But at least the ride over here had really awesome views of the mountains. Very stunning, very beautiful. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next. Talk to you later.
(recorder time: 2008-07-07 13:04:40 EST)
Hi, this is Felix Wong again calling still from Pie Town. It is now 12:17 p.m. I’ve just wasted half an hour looking for any type of services out here. I found two restaurants; they’re both closed. Unbelievable. It’s Monday at noon; I’m standing right in front of the Pie-O-Neer. The Pie-O-Neer is apparently only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Pie Cafe is closed also.
I’ve talked to a bunch of locals about where I could find food and water. Looks like I’m out of luck. Extremely disappointing. I biked 70 miles today, been up since 4am, started riding at 4:30. I’m tired, hungry, and… there’s nothing here. No food for another 40 miles which will take me about seven hours on these really sucky roads.
This is a sad town. I’ve biked 2,400 miles now; I haven’t seen a sadder town. I’m sorry to say that. But those cyclists that have yet to come to Pie Town, be prepared and preferably stock up on food in Grants. Stock up as much as you can. There’s nothing here. Talk to you later. Bye.
From the Notebook
- Arrived in Pie Town at 11:45 a.m.; left at 12:40 without any food. See call-ins above.
- Out of Pie Town, encountered guy named Tim riding northbound on the GDMTB route. He gave me some instant spaghetti and oatmeal to stave off bonking a little more.
- Expected there to be some sort of convenience store/gas station at the intersection of the GDMTB broute and Highway 12, 40 miles from Pie Town. There was none; just an old church. As I was out of food and next supply point was >100 miles away, this was a major crisis.
- Stayed on Highway 12 and thank goodness had a cell phone signal. Called Tori. Asked her to pull up Google Maps and determine where the nearest store was, either in Old Horse Springs or Aragon. She reported there might have been a market in Aragon, 30 miles off course. It was late in the evening so it might not even be open.
- Waited for a car to come by. This took almost 30 minutes. Waved car down but it kept on going. It ultimately stopped and turned around, though. I explained my situation and asked for food. Family in the car gave me half a sandwich, a can of Pepsi, a Payday bar, and cheese fries.
- Almost simultaneously a car pulled up to mailboxes outside of church. In it was a woman named Maurine. I talked with her and it turned out she lived 6 miles down from Highway 12 along the GDMTB route in the direction I was going. She called up her boyfriend Jim and invited me to dinner, saying that he was making tacos.
- Rode an hour down to Maurine and Jim’s. Ate some tacos and refilled water. Bought food from them ($5). It was like a 110-mile round trip journey for them to get groceries, so they only went once every two weeks and hence didn’t have much food to sell. Ended up giving me a can of tuna, one or two pounds of peanuts, some tortillas, and a can of condensed soup.
- Pressed on for 13 more miles before camping in the Gila National Forest.
