Silver City

After a pretty rough nights sleep – tenting takes a while to get back in to the swing of it, so I tossed and turned all night, deciding I’d had enough by 6, so got up and went for a walk with my loo shovel and paper for morning offload! No toilets here! After decamping and having a measly excuse for a breakfast I headed off while Chris was still resting. He’s completely new to bike touring (yep, me too, I asked the same question….WTF you doing tackling the Divide!) He has great spirit but will learn the hard way that leaving later means hitting the midday sun and afternoon winds (which is exactly what happened!)

As I left I realised how I had relied on Chris and his whiz bang navigating app. Suddenly I realised I had to start map reading – the trail has its own dedicated map system which I had pre ordered and had sent to Jeffery’s.
What I also quickly realised is that every mile is a slog. After 1.5 hours of grinding riding I had travelled 12.5 miles! Progress is slow! There has been a drought here so the trail is all washboard and dust/sand. You’d crest a hill, freewheel down only to hit a sand patch at the bottom and the bike just….stops! Everything on the bike (including the rider) is pummelled. I had to stop many times to get my bearings and try follow the narrative on the maps describing each turn and ‘landmark’….in a barren landscape that meant wind towers and cattle grids. After 3 hours I emerged from that section of the Divide on to a road….tarmac, smooth. it was divine! I stopped at an RV park to have a rest and a morning pitta bread and Nutella before the final 12 miles to Silver City. I arrived a complete wreck to be honest and Bob was a total mess! The hotel was shut until 2 so I decided to head out of town and indulge in a McDonald’s! Junk food was perfect! Whilst sitting minding my business two older women at the table next to me were debating Trump:

“He really is trying to make America great”
“He’s a builder, he’s a deal maker, you can’t be stupid and be that successful”
I was tempted to make a few factual contributions to their enthralling narrative but decided it wasn’t wise. It’s interesting here as you need to await a persons expression of their voting before making any statement. Like last night the ranch owners starting spewing about their hatred of Mexicans (despite all their cattle hands being ….Mexican) so once they have said how they lean you then know what to say. In that scenario I said nothing but politely nodded as I wanted to camp!

I checked in to a hotel later, then had some work to do on Bob despite every bone in my body screaming for a sleep. I found a community bike repair place – like the one I volunteer with in Cork – so was able to book a work stand and fix all that was broken on Bob!

I met up with Chris around 5 who was totally buggered. He’d done the same route but it took 3 hours more. He said, pointing to the map…’and that’s where I stopped and cried’. I’m a relatively experienced cycle tourer tho by my luggage weight you’d not know it – and I’m finding this very challenging. Chris is a big unit, weighing easily 20kg more than me, and has no experience. I love his spirit but the Divide takes no prisoners. I have no idea if I’ll get anywhere close to Canada….but I’m sure Chris knows he won’t.

The next 3-5 days are all remote cycling -no food stores, no electricity, no signal, and water comes from streams! I’m quite unsure how I’ll go with that length of isolation, but once I get on the trail I’m committed-it’s an ‘all or nothing’ part of the Divide, with some of the hardest climbs on the route awaiting me. I have to have everything I need when I leave Silver City or I’m stuffed! That means a ton more weight on an already overloaded bike!! What could possibly go wrong!! Wish me luck, I’m gonna need it. I’ll see you on the other side!