Day 5 Enchanted Circle Loop Red River, NM to Eagle Nest

Day 5 Final day on the Enchanted Circle ride was such a beautiful end to an awesome ride. We both were worried about what lied ahead on Saturday morning. The climb up Bobcat Pass seemed a little over whelming with our greatest climb over 5 miles and then an even greater descent with almost 10% grade at times (alright Stacy was worried about this part, not David). We left our condo at the Caribel in Red River about 7 am and there was no messing around. Immediately upon leaving the city limits we began our climb and it was not easy. I was quickly winded, but as we adjusted our pace to a little less aggressive speed and my legs warmed up I settled in for the long climb. The bike lane was definitely not as nice as the previous days, but it was still there and I believe the traffic was a little lighter. It took about an hour, but we slowly made our way to the top. The worst of the climb was over by about mile 4 and the remaining mile was more flat with some occasional difficult climbing. The views once again were spectacular, but due to the laborious climb up and the terrifying ride down my pictures were few.

The ride down the mountain for myself was exceptionally overwhelming. The amount of speed you gained in a short amount of time on a bike down from Bobcat pass was breath taking and although I am sure I will eventually become more comfortable with it the ride down was definitely scary for awhile.
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Upon arriving back to Eagle Nest we decided to return to Taos in the car and visit the Rio Gorge Bridge we missed because the heat and extra distance made the trip less than tempting. We are so glad we did. There were some amazing views from the bridge and on the way home we saw of heard of 20 or more male Big Horned sheep. My photo was poor of the sheep due to no shoulder on the side of the road so we were moving, but the experience was awesome.
This experience was so much more than I had expected and I am looking forward to our next cycling adventure.