Travel

Tour Divide - The Final Push

We’ve had no reception at all from Pie Town. You have no idea how bad some of these trails are! We are riding the bikes more delicately now on any technical descents as their load is much heavier now with all this water. My forks have started knocking! A minor worry now.

The occasional super heavy rain made the trail’s mud like peanut butter and quite slippy. Suddenly it would also become hot again with temperatures of 39’C.

During a very heavy rain spell we passed a family camping who invited us to shelter under their canopy and to eat the rest of their breakfast of tortilla and coffee! They have been coming here every year for 20 years to relax and see wildlife.

We have just decided to try and “race”, to complete the route in under 30 days. (You are classed as a “racer” if you complete the route in under 31 days but as a “tourer” if it’s longer than that.) So when we got to Silver City, we refuelled, stuffing our faces with more chocolate milk, omelette and French toast quite quickly, (unattractively!) to head on our way, hoping to finish before 8am the following morning. It was 3:30pm as we left.

124 miles to the end. … Let’s ride for 24 hours…We brought our lights so it’s time to take to the desert for the final push to the finish!

11.30pm and this closed petrol station opened for us. Another refuel. Whilst we ate and drank, this tarantula (above photo) crawled around in front of us. I’m glad we aren’t about to set up camp.

The last 60 miles was a smooth road to the finish, Antelope Wells. Green mile marker signs counted down the way. One thing keeping me awake was the huge lightning strikes I could see in Mexico. Also, I had to play games in my head to stay awake.

At 5 am, we made it. 29 days and 21 hours. Thank you, everyone, for following this blog. More write up will follow along with more pictures. But for now, it’s time for some rest! But first some zzzzs!

Blog created by KMB.