Tl:Dr: CDT south to north, then Silver City. Slept ok, good breakfast. Thank you Hatchita Bike Ranch. Later: 70 miles to Silver City is a lie, but I mostly had fun. Current status: taking an outlaw bath at Motel 6.
Maps & stats at Strava: https://strava.app.link/ZbpD5hk7sKb
More below the photo…
Song of the day: Every party has a winner and a loser
I finished the CDT section in about 3 hrs. Still hard, but 10x easier than at night. I feel _good_. Finished in 3:30 or so. Stopped at the last time at Hatchita Bike Ranch for water, and headed on my way.
I had heard 70 miles from Hatchita to Silver City, which seemed quite do-able. Northbound up a paved highway, then a short, nasty gravel frontage road, then a ‘trading post’ where met Todd, John & Justin. John & Justin are finishing out a ride they started some years ago heading south to antelope wells. John is the director of the Arizona Trail Race – cool!
Todd is a brand new bike packer, and a very strong cyclist. We rode out around 3, hoping to make the last 50 or so miles to Silver City that night by 9 or so. Todd was all on his own, no tracker (but a helpful spouse in with an RV at points on the way). We rode up to Thorn Ranch and found Shawn (sp) hanging out. After a little rest and chitchat Todd and I rode on.
Above Thorn Ranch we hit 5,000 and 6,000 feet of elevation. Lovely up country ridges – some headwinds, some tailwinds. Well maintained dirt road, and eventually we found The Tree of Grant County NM.
Just kidding – as we got to the end of the dirt road there was a whole grove of trees – a perfect place for camping. Sadly, I decided to skip that and push on for Silver City that I thought was 10-15 miles away. I was tired & hungry, Todd waited while I woofed down a Hatchita Burritos, but headed on his way as I was going pretty slow.
Also – I stayed on the Tour Divide route which was very different than the paved road into town. An amazingly endless 1,000 foot descent on washboarded dirt roads in the NM sunset.
Song of the moment: Baba O’Riley
Really fun and peacefully floating down through the hills, and I thought I could see Silver City just over the hills.
But, the road was long, like – 12 more miles long. And my rear brake was failing. John and Justin told me about a camp a few miles before silver City, which I kept looking out for but missed. I was very, very tired and getting increasingly frustrated with the route that just flirted with the town, but kept sending me deeper into the wilds through tough terrain. Here’s my bike after being boosted over a locked gate on the route (it was after 10 I think).
This section seemed to follow some trails alongside a golf course, and was clearly labeled as GDMBR, so I knew I was on the right track, but feeling increasingly like this was a cruel joke. I finally exited into Silver City at this vista
From there right into Saturday night in downtown at 11:30pm. There was lots of… Character – local pub with a cover band playing 80s rock loud enough to hear 2 blocks away, the pot shop closing up for the night. A no-shirt, pants worn low shuffling street denizen. I quickly booked a room at the cheapest motel and skedaddled.
The plan for the next day was: fix my brakes, rest up for the push to Beaverhead. Read on for more…
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