This is the end, beautiful friend

Don't worry, I'm not about to top myself. However on the final stretches of pavement to the Mexican border and the end of my great divide odyssey the Doors song referenced above began to play in my head. And as my journey along the spine of North America has come to an end, I think this too will probably be the last entry for my blog, so a fitting enough tune and title.

What happened on the final stretch? Well I can tell you it wasn't a two day journey as planned but three. The final section from Silver City to the Antelope Wells border post is apparently all downhill, and nearly all paved. Yeah right! I set off with Maarten saying goodbye to my other divide riding friends and wishing them well, as I didn't want to spend another day hanging round silver city putting off the finish.  But the divide route had one last practical joke to play.

Firstly it's not all downhill to the border. It may be downhill overall, but we still climbed a total of 2500 feet on that first day out of silver city. And yes there is lots of pavement on the last 125 miles to the border, but still a substantial amount of dirt road with the favorite New Mexican side dish of deep, course altering, crash inducing, sand. All of this aside, we may still have made our first day target of 80 miles to Hachita but for the final joker in the divides pack. The strongest head and cross winds I have ever ridden in. At times I was covering a measly seven or eight miles an hour down hill! Along one section riding the ridge of the divide itself, through desolate dessert, I had to stop the bike a couple of times and unclip just so I wasn't blown off the edge. One close encounter with a cactus is enough!

I suppose though leaving silver city before eleven would have helped. However then I couldn't have gone to Sonics burger drive in and tried the taste revelation and the future which is cherry grape coke. Mmmmmmm! I have developed a terrible soda habit which is going to be hard to kick. But it was also fun parking our bikes in the car bays and using the intercom. The girl who brought my food was also super thrilled that I had an accent. But then forgot all about it as apparently Maarten looked like Leonardo di Caprio. Even without my beard I apparently still look like an English bum and not a film star, bah!

Anyway back to the wind, we made it fifty miles to the trading post at Separ, a giant gift shop in the middle of nowhere off the highway. They kindly let us sleep in their giant wooden teepee, which we actually pitched our tents inside. Ok it meant sleeping next to the interstate and a major railway line, but it was still kind of awesome.

The next day was a fairly relaxed thirty miles to Hachita, taking in our very last off road track, saying goodbye to wash board and deep sand. Hachita itself is a town which appears to be dying a slow lingering death. The store is shut, the cafe is shut, and most importantly the saloon is shut. The only thing that the place seems to have a lot of is passing border patrol cars and other various agencies of homeland security.

It is also home to a true legend of a trail angel. Sam Hughes has been letting divide riders and hikers camp in his garden for years. He is now eighty two but still has plenty of stories to tell and cheek and wit with which to tell them. We spent the afternoon in his garden knocking back a few beers while the 'mighty bear dawg' (Bear, his lion maned Chihuahua) kept us safe from any errant cats. Sam also very kindly offered his services to pick us up from the border the next day and drive us back the eighty miles to Lordsburg, and I was much happier paying him and helping him earn a little cash than trying to flag down a shuttle at the border.

And the final day and the final forty five miles came. Well they were relatively easy (despite me having one close encounter with a rattler), and I tried to think about the whole experience and what it had meant to me, as much to avoid just staring at the odometer when I had had my fill of the dessert scenery.

And truth be told I'm still not sure. I can tell you I think it's the best thing I have ever done in my life. I can say I feel pretty proud of myself, but I'm not sure really of how much of an achievement it is. What I have come to believe is that even though I set off solo, unless you have some real kind of wish to be alone and push yourself, possibly to gain some sense of achievement out of hardship, there is very little in this life that you have to do alone unless you really want to. I have met so many great people on this journey, and it might be a cliche, but they have really helped to make it. The conquering of all the climbs, the fantastic scenery etc. I will never forget, but the people helped bring it all to life. And on that note, I did it, I made it, and there are some people I would like to thank before I sign off.

Chris thanks for being an awesome riding buddy and dependable as a rock as I continued to adapt to the trail and find my riding fitness, you still have half a divide to ride! Hope to see you soon.

Rick thank you for sharing your vast knowledge of the outdoors and biking, oh and for the turkey jerky.

Maarten dude, it was awesome riding with you, thanks for the endless banter, noises that animals make in Dutch, and mental support. We made the border dude!

Ben, it was a blast man, I will never forget your support on the day of endless flat tyres, and please keep finding mating slugs F#!+@$& hot, and all the best with Central America. Wish I had just kept going!

Anders, thanks for the water when I needed some, the spare tyre for emergencies, and of course the comparative noises that Danish animals make.

Colin, thanks for letting me follow your headlamp in all those dark, dicey, and somewhat hilarious situations, and for generally getting me in those situations in the first place. You truly foster the spirit of adventure. I want to go on a river trip in the Yukon now! And cherry grape coke, yesssssss!

Kate and Lee, thanks for the fun Pie Town times, but also the awesome advice on how to continue my adventures, post divide. Good luck with the extra pedaling.

Thanks to everyone who let me camp somewhere for free. And thanks to all those kind strangers who gave me a cold beer just because. Generally thank you America and Canada for being so hospitable.

Connie, Sharon, Darren and Kevin, thanks for all the kind encouragement along the way.

Thanks Nita for running the toaster house. The place is simply amazing for just existing. And thanks Megan for helping us out with beer and mead. Also Kathy and the pie o neer people for just making such good pies.

Thanks to Sam Hughes and the Mighty Bear Dawg for the beer, camping, transportation, and stories.

Thanks to my family for all the support. Mum for faithfully keeping tabs on me, Dad for moral support, emails and inability to ever be on Skype at the same time. Bro for never being asleep or ever ever logged out of Skype (oh and Foxlet, you too for always being right there next to him and the extra support x). Sis for just generally being a pingu and remembering occasionally that I had left the country for a bit to do something or other and asking how it was going. Grandad for saying how proud you were, it gave me motivation up some steep passes. And the rest of the family homies, thanks for all the messages and encouragement.

All my friends who sent messages of support, so many of you I can't list, but I love you all Damn it and they were appreciated so much, I promise.

Thanks to the many along the way I can't remember who deserve it.

And thanks to my trusty old completely standard(ish) mountain bike. She rode in some elevated company with custom full suspension twenty niners, German titanium design marvels, venerated steel classics, but she never let me down...even if the thorns did.

And thanks to you readers and commenters. Friends and strangers. Having you all there with me along the way gave me such motivation. And when times were tough, in my head I just thought about the story I could tell on here to all of you once I had come through the other side. My sincerest thanks for being there.

Adios Amigos
Mat