Category: TD/GDMBR 2024

Tl:Dr; Gila singletrack is hard. Take more water. Trail angles rock, hole in sleeping pad. The plan for today was ride from Silver City to the Black Canyon campground, about 56 miles and 6200 feet of elevation. A fair bit of pavement with hiking trails (aka singletrack) through the Gila National forest. Seems doable… Except:…

The next town is Pietown, some 180 miles & 16k feet of elevation away (those are the conservative numbers, probably 20 miles more TBH). Zero chance of doing that in a day. Most folks seem to stop at Beaverhead – 80+ miles and over 11k feet of elevation. That sounds like a lot. Yesterday was…

The last post was pretty much about repair, but I had a good Father’s day in Silver City. A few calls to bike shops in the A.M. All closed. I walked into town for some breakfast, and to see if I could find anybody at a shop on their day off. Breakfast was at Roxy’s…

My rear brake is pretty done – I think it got air in the line on the plane. My front is still working ok, but also seems soft (and it’s annoyingly dragging a bit). Hoping to get some repair today. Update: all the bike shops are closed, so I’m working on a backup plan: Baby…

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…

The eyes of spiders shine like little gems in bright lights. It’s kind of amazing, I thought it was maybe pyrite or something else in the soil – nope: tiny spider eyes. Also: just saw a shooting star. Tomorrow: start early, do the CDT northbound. Then head for Silver City