Tour Divide Update: Day 23

210km - Grants to Gila National Forest, NM

On day 22 I made the decision to end my day early and get a good nights sleep, and day 23 demonstrated that this was an excellent decision.

I set my alarm very early and was on the road by 4:30 AM out of the town of Grants with a goal of beating the heat and logging some good miles before the sun rose.

The first section of the route was fairly flat and scenic, and I enjoyed the quiet roads and the opportunity to enjoy some beautiful terrain.

As the sun came up so did the temperature, but I remained in pretty good spirits, snapping pictures of the scenery as I went, until the road turned onto a dirt road towards the tiny settlement (and Tour Divide landmark) of Pie Town.

At this point, washboard surface resumed with a vengeance, and I also found myself dealing with a lot of vehicle traffic from the long weekend - including large trailers kicking up massive clouds of dust that I had to ride through. Some considerate drivers slowed down as they saw me approaching, but they were a significant minority.

The day got hotter and hotter and, while the trail itself was relatively flat, my gearing issues, washboard surface and the heat combined to slow me down a bit. Still, I made it to Pie Town for lunch and, given the lack of real meals for the last few days, ordered two meals for myself at the restaurant. Ironically I didn’t actually feel like having pie, and settled for a reuben sandwich and a large plate of chili cheese fries.

I also stopped off at the Tour Divide-famous, “Toaster House,” a very rustic hut with (you guessed it) toasters hanging all around the outside, that is available for use for free by Tour Divide riders and can accommodate a large number of people who want nothing more than a bed and a roof for the night. While it’s a little creepy from the outside it really is an amazing place, fully kicked out with food, repair tools and gear, and basic amenities. Incredible that locals commit the resources and effort to maintaining this for the riders and hikers, and I was glad to be able to stop by and at least check it out, even if I wasn’t ready to stop for the night.

Rolling out from Pie Town into the blazing afternoon, the trail continued much as it had left off, and I found myself going through water at a rapid rate, sometimes up to a litre or two every 30 minutes.

Not too long after Pie Town came another mental milestone for me, the CDT rest stop of Davila Ranch which is another incredible place - a set of corrugated iron, shelters, and sheds in the middle of nowhere, purely for use by hikers and bikers, and maintained through donations. Despite being incredibly rustic with flimsy walls and shelter overhead, the facility included a bathroom, shower, fresh water from a well, washer and dryer facilities, fridge, and freezer, free Wi-Fi… absolutely incredible to find this in the middle of nowhere and I spent a few minutes just walking around and taking it all in. Critically, I also refilled all of my water.

This was a notable milestone for me, because it was also the point where I transitioned my final route file for the Tour Divide on my GPS unit - I’d divided the full route into 400km blocks, and this was the starting point for the final one (aside from the upcoming detour).

Continuing on the route, the terrain remained similar, with desert,-like conditions, rough dirt roads, but no major hills.

After another 40km I reached a church that I knew from my research allowed riders to use its hose outside its fence to refill our water, which I did, and also hosed off my drivetrain which was by this point covered in dust.

At this point, I turned onto get another dirt road, which began to make its way up and into the Gila (pronounced “Hee-la”) National Forest area.

One of the quirks of this year’s tour was that a forest fire broke out in the Gila Forest along the original route earlier on in the event, leading to the organizers creating a detour on the route to avoid the blaze. This detour cut out a section of singletrack on the CDT trail (thank goodness - see day 20 for why those sections can go to hell), but added a series of big climbs in its place. I wasn’t quite at this detour yet, but it was on the horizon and my target for the day was to reach the beginning of the detour.

As the afternoon wore on, it became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to reach quite to where I wanted to, and I eventually stopped riding as the sun went down around 8:30 or 9 PM. I had resolved that I wasn’t going to ride late and was going to prioritize getting enough rest to push hard for the remainder of the event, so I stopped about 15km short of where I hoped to, in the middle of nowhere. I found a patch of trees that would give me shelter if there were any overnight storms, threw up the drone to get some pictures of the sunset, shoved some food down my throat and was asleep before 10pm.

Unfortunately, at some point around 12:30am, another rider came by which woke me up. From the noise, I think they set up their tent nearby and I heard a zipper in the morning as I was waking up, but I never actually saw who it was or where they camped.

Nonetheless, overall I felt great about this day. After some really, really tough times, I had now averaged more than 200 km per day for the last two days and felt like I was getting my groove back. Getting to sleep early meant I would also have some good odds of having a good day the next day, which I needed as I was planning an epic day, checking off the last 15km to the route detour and then completing the entire detour of 190 km in order to reach Silver City and put myself with striking distance at the finish line.

Total distance for the day: 210 km (Strava)