Day 1 + Silver City: Hot and Fast

All in all it’s been a pretty amazing start to the ride so far! The initial section from Antelope Wells to Separ was 72 miles of mostly flat pavement.

It flew by and I hit my mileage goal by lunch, where I ran into 4 other tour divide riders who started yesterday. They were from Austria, Bentonville, DC and Virginia, and all on different timelines/programs (the Bentonville guy’s wife was towing a Black Series trailer and following him every day while he rode 30 miles unloaded, for instance. He was having cocktails when I rolled in 😂). It’s so cool that everyone has their own way of doing things and experiencing the same ride.

It was crazy hot (I think the high was 96 yesterday), so I spent a little extra time drinking as many cold liquids as possible and helping one of the guys with his tires (tubeless in NM is a must).

I rode another 30ish miles after “lunch” in the heat, and found that it wasn’t totally unbearable as long as I rode fast enough to create a breeze (built in swamp cooler). Then I made a nice little camp in the middle of the desert. It’s beautiful out here, and I saw no less than 15 Antelope, tons of quail, jack rabbits, one snake and one horned lizard. I’d be lying if I said that part of my reasoning for doing this ride wasn’t scouting new hunting spots (I’m basically treating it as a 2700 mile elk scout. I even brought binoculars).

I bumped into one of my fellow northbound riders again this morning and we rode into Silver City together and had brunch at a great little New Mexican spot with “generous” portions. Yes, I finished this:

Heading out now for a climb into the Gila, and very excited to start getting back into the mountains (and some cooler temps). Next stop: Pie Town, where I’m very hopeful I’ll find a few slices of Key Lime Pie waiting for me.