Tour Divide Part 3

Sheesh, we were nearly there, 125 miles to go. We rode into Silver City rich in many ways but not in food or water. The last couple of days had been borderline for sustenance. We were tired, thirsty and hungry.

The afternoon weather forecast was looking dodgy, and that was fine with me. All I wanted for the rest of the day was to eat food.
By 1pm we had a hotel room and directions for some food downtown.
The food was good in the restaurant. We tried to ignore the downpour outside. 

Tom was adamant that tomorrow we’d ride the remaining 125 miles in one day, and of course, I’m up for it if Tom is.

We have the laziest of starts to the day though and arrive in Hachita, 45 miles from the end of the route around 5pm. There is a store there owned by Geoff who informs us that Jefferey who runs a Divide taxi service is on his way to see us.

We drink coffee, coke and chat to Geoff who’s had a go at riding the Divide. We also chat with the border police who ask if we are going to ride to the border tonight.



I’m all for swerving a late night, but Tom says we’ll be fine. The border guards warn us of illegals.

Lightning to the right of us and lightning to the left as we head South. Snakes in the road too. 

My lights kept on cutting out. We manage with just Tom’s light.

Tired, but so happy. There was nothing that could stop us that evening.

Every now and then Tom would grab my attention and we’d fist pump like the cool kids or hold each other’s hands like the old people do.

We rolled up to the border gates around 10 pm. some 32 days after leaving Banff. A lovely warm evening and no one else around. I took some pictures. We then waited for our lift back to Hachita. We waited a good while, but our time there seemed not long enough considering the time it had taken to get there.



We’ve been on a special journey in the last 9 years since Tom’s first big ride of 35 miles at the age of 5. As we finish the Tour Divide our cycle odometer clocks 22,000 miles of rides that we’ve ridden together.

Tom has achieved so much with a seemingly endless quest to ride that bit further, but at the Mexican border for that moment we are content.

“My work here is done.”

We'll be riding the Strathpuffer 24 as a pair in January and We are going to race each other at the MegAvalanche in July!

Look out for a book that tells some of our tales which will be published by Little Peak Press next year.