Almost Home!!

We awoke today with a renewed sense of purpose.

After the incredibly frustrating day of yesterday, we knew a couple of things. 1) The last rough climb on dirt of the Tour Divide was behind us. 2) The only big climb of the Tour Divide remaining was in the first 25 miles of our ride today 3) Ray and I were now back on familiar roads! 4) Silver City has food!

So off we were to ride the Sapillo climb! As a former road racer who has ridden the Tour of the Gila thirteen times,and trained in the area, I know the climb to Pinos Altos VERY well. Ray, Nathaniel and I had talked about the first part of the climb, departing Sapillo Creek and starting up the roughly 15-20% grade. We also knew that climbing at our own paces was the best way up a climb.

As we hit the base of the climb, we quickly settled in and started up the hill. The entire 18 miles to Pinos Altos can actually be viewed as three separate climbs. The first is the hardest and essentially ends at Wildhorse Mesa. It is only abut 3-4 miles long, but it is tough and has very little shelter from the sun. As we made our way up the climb, I stopped to take a couple of pictures on an exceedingly steep part of the climb. It was a nice rest as well.

We made our way up the climb and stopped about 6 miles in a what the locals affectionately refer to as the “Broccoli Tree”, a very large Alligator Juniper that features prominently at the top of rise after Wildhorse Mesa. We stopped in the shade, now in mixed conifer country, and had a bite to eat.

Soon we were on our way back up the road and towards the top of the second section of climbing near Signal Peak. This was about another 5-6 miles and was seemingly much easier that the first section, owing mainly to the fact that it is at higher altitudes and much more shaded by ponderosa pines.

After a quick descent down along Meadow Creek, we started the final climb to Pinos Altos. The climb was uneventful and enjoyable as we topped out. Just as we were leaving the small community of Pinos Altos, I saw a familiar face in Dave Baker, a cyclist and bike mechanic from Silver City. He was out with his boys on small scooters enjoying the day. We stopped for a quick chat, and after taking some pictures at the Continental Divide sign, dropped towards Silver City. Before we did though, I called a good friend who lives just about 3 miles down the descent to let him know would soon be riding past his house.

Soon we were pulling up to the driveway of Dr. Brian (and Lynn) Robinson. Brian came out to the road to greet us and chat for a few minutes. It was fantastic to see all the friendly faces in Silver!!

Now back on the road,. Earlier I had gotten a DM from Martyn Pearson, a great guy and the co-owner of Gila Hike and Bike in Silver City. He wanted to let me know that if I needed anything I could go to the bike shop. They were closed on Sundays, but he would give me the security codes to the shop!! He also said, that if we needed mechanic worki, we cold go down and help us! On his day off!!

We mad our way into Silver, only to find that the restaurants we wanted to go to were closed on Sunday. We decided to stop for a burger at Lotta Burger. Still a great choice. We also made our way across the street to a local market to pick up our final few snacks and a breakfast for tomorrow, and were off to the bike shop.

As is tiurned out, I was starting to get cuts in the sidewall of my rear tire. As we rolled up to the shop, Martyn was already there!

We went inside and Martyn, a true gentleman as usual, mounted a new tire, installed badly needed brake pads, and bled by brakes. All in about 20 minutes!! I cannot say enough about how incredible Martyn is, nor how great the shop is. It is literally one of the top 2 shops we had stopped in during the entire 2500+ mile Tour Divide. If you need anything along the route, Gila Hike and Bike in Silver City, NM is the place!!!

We bought a few more items and were on our way towards Mexico!

The next 50 miles or so were some of the absolutely most enjoyable of the entire ride.

We rolled out of Silver and to the mining area of Tyrone, NM on smooth pavement and with a great pushing tail pressure differential!

The miles rolled easily as we took a left hand turn onto Separ road, a smooth and fast dirt road across the plains and desert of southern New Mexico that would take us to a resupply point at Separ, located next to I-25 between Deming and Lordsburg, NM.

The pushing pressure afforded us a great ride as we crossed the cool desert, courtesy of some cloud cover. We noticed some dark clouds to our East, near our home town of Las Cruces. We wondered if they were getting weather…hmm??

But for us, the weather was perfect and gave us a beautiful sunset as we neared Separ, NM. After a quick stop for a freight train, we crossed under I-25 and to the small store, Bowlins Continental Divide, at Separ. Unfortunately, it had already closed, s it was now about 8:30PM.

Pulling up, we saw two other bikepackers putting their tents up under the gas pump awning. The pumps had not been in service in quite some time. The told us the managers of the store said we could camp out front.

We thanked them, knowing our goal was Hachita, about 20 miles down the road. We were ready to roll, until..I got a call from my son, Zane, in Las Cruces. He face-timed me to show me the incredible thunderstorm that was taking place in Las Cruces, about 90 miles to our east. The storm was incredible. After hanging up, we decided to check the radar to see where the storm was headed. It was coming directly at us!! After a quick conversation, we decided that we would stay at Separ. There is NO shelter from a storm in the desert between Separ and Hachita, and given what we had seen on the call, we were potentially in for a rough one.

Now, Nathaniel had a different option. His wife was in Hachita, in their Sprinter Van, in anticipation of his finish tomorrow. She was going to drive the 20 28 miles or so to Separ for him to sleep in the van. Ray and I opted to set our tents up on the front porch of Bowlins, hopefully sheltered from the anticipated rain.

So, there we were, camping on a porch.

It was a wise decision. About 2 minutes after getting our tents set up, it hit! First with incredible winds, then adding in driving rains. Everything we owned, including our bike packs were thrown into the tents to keep them from blowing away. Not long after the storm hit, Nathaniel got a call from his wife saying the road to us was flooded and she could not get to him. Up went his tent as well!!

Because we were set up on the board walk porch, we had no way of staking down the rain fly on the tents. The next several hours were intense as we sat inside the tents and tried to keep them from blowing away or geting our sleeping bags/quilts wet. The guys under the awning were getting it even worse. So much so that one of the cyclists had to leave his wet tent and climb inside an abandoned car parked under the awning. It was funny, as the car was actually a prop for the store. It had two skeletons dressed as a bride and groom in the back seat, and a creepy driver up front. I believe moved the betrothed and slept in the back seat!! It’s gong to be an interesting night!!

At lest were safe and relatively dry.

Just another day on the Tour Divide!!

We’re South bound and down!

Shane and Ray