Jefe Branham – Tour Divide – Masochism at its Best

By Jefe Branham

Much has been written about the Tour Divide. Seems everyone that toes the line writes a blog, a book or contributes to a collection of stories. There is much inspiration out there so it is no surprise that folks want to share their trip, and yet the experience is very personal. I rode all but a few minutes of the race alone with my thoughts, dreams, heartaches, bright and dark moments. On all those long lonely roads, so many hours and hours spent riding without sleep, smashing brain cells together on those the rough descents, as well endless heartbreaking moments that challenge your preconceived dreams of what the experience will be, I delved deeper than ever before. Every experience can be life changing, the TD is no exception. The result of all this thought, pain, suffering and introspection is hard to summarize. Too much information to boil down, yet the simple message I got was, Slow Down, Chill Out, Sip the Coffee and Smell the Flowers. I have been madly chasing this dream of pushing my limits, striving to see what I am capable of, how hard and fast I can go for quite a few years. I have exceeded my dreams of what I thought was possible from anyone, much less me. I still see myself as a regular working guy that likes to test himself a few times a year, right now I am thinking those tests are going to be farther and farther apart and I am perfectly happy with that! Over the next few days I’m gonna try and write a little blip about my TD experience, from start to finish. It might take a bit as I am still tired and it is hard to write with my legs elevated up a wall. Yes it hurts, it hurts real bad, the pain started on day one and is only getting worse even now that I am no longer riding. Ah yes the lives we chose says volumes about ourselves….more to come tomorrow! Part 2 Part 3 Part 4