Baja Divide: meeting Joe Hayden, a finisher
We’d love to introduce you to the people we meet every day on the road! We’re lucky enough to share, sometimes fleetingly, the lives of bike travelers on the Baja Divide and elsewhere. Like us, they’ve set off on an extraordinary adventure across a country, a continent or just their own city.
Joe: an Australian on two wheels
Today, let me introduce Joe Hayden, whom we met in Baja California on the famous bikepacking.com route, the Baja Divide. We rode most of the Mexican peninsula together. A trip like that builds bonds in no time.
The three of us went through hard times, faced illness, fixed gear and shared our water supplies! And to think it all started when we spotted his bike outside a gas station!
But before diving into the heart of the matter, let me introduce him.
Who is he?
Joe is Australian, he’s 31 and has always had the soul of an athlete. He grew up in a port town on the island and lived sweet, sunny moments there. Sometimes a hipster on his brakeless fixie, sometimes wilder on a BMX building jumps at the bottom of his garden, cycling has always been part of his life.
Shortly before turning 30, he bought his faithful companion: a Surly Bridge Club named Hilda (we’ll let you contact him on social media for the story behind that nickname!! It’s worth it!). Well equipped, he started his bikepacking adventures.
He told us about his first impressions after a few trips with Hilda: “Traveling by bike was a revelation. I love trips that take me to wild, remote places. Enjoying nature, finding a hidden, perfect campsite, that’s my definition of a good time.”
Getting ready for the adventure
Everyone has their own way of preparing for a bikepacking adventure. Baja California being a peninsula, the route is very often sandy. As you can imagine, progress becomes harder, even impossible, on some sections. How do you prepare for that kind of experience?
Physical preparation to ride the Baja Divide
Before leaving for Canada, Joe started training regularly, riding 200 to 300 km a week, with plenty of rides on the Munda Biddi. The goal was to be in the best possible shape.
“Before starting the Baja, I’d already been on the road for four months. I had dialed in my gear, reached excellent physical and mental condition, and felt at ease with the nomadic daily life on a bike. When I set off on the Baja, I felt ready, confident and excited about the challenges ahead.”
Which bike to ride the Baja Divide
Speaking of dialed-in gear, here’s his setup 2.0
His bike (Surly Bridge Club)
- Maxxis Rekon 27.5 x 2.8 tires on WTB rims, SON dynamo up front, DT Swiss hub at the rear
- Drivetrain: 30-tooth chainring up front, 11-51 cassette at the rear
- Jones H-Bar with Profile Design aero extensions
- Klite lighting and USB charging system
- A well broken-in, comfy Brooks saddle
- Tumbleweed racks
- Velo Orange and Blackburn cages with plenty of Nalgenes to carry all that water
- Rogue Panda frame bag
- Framework Designs bags,
- Hungry feed bags and various Revelate Designs bags
Camping gear
- Nemo one-person bikepacking tent
- MSR Whisperlite International stove and MSR cook pot
- Mug, Sea to Summit collapsible bowl, titanium spoon
- Sea to Summit sleeping pad and sleeping bag, dry bag on the rear rack
- Cnoc water bladder and Sawyer Squeeze filter
- Opinel knife
His three “luxury” items
- An AeroPress (essential for coffee!)
- A Helinox chair (nothing better after a big day)
- A portable Bluetooth speaker
Not chasing lightness at all costs, Joe mostly wanted a reliable, comfortable setup suited to every environment. The whole thing weighed about 25 kg, without food and water… so yes, it was already pretty heavy!
Off for 2,736 kilometers on the Baja Divide
Every bikepacker has their own routine. Well oiled, it lets you recreate a comfortable cocoon and feel at home, even miles away from home.
A typical day
For Joe, a typical day goes like this:
Wake up, light the stove straight away to make coffee. Then pedal among the cacti and sand, lunch break with a peanut butter wrap.
Take in the vastness of the desert, grind through tough miles, chat with friends, put on some music, sing while riding the dusty tracks. Then find a campsite, unfold the chair and savor a well-deserved bowl of ramen.
Ready for anything? His hardest memory
Despite this routine, the unexpected sometimes catches up with you. At times like these, you know you can count on solidarity between cyclists. For our Australian, that help turned out to be a real lifeline. While we were riding with two other cyclists (Léa and Charles), Joe probably had the hardest day of his trip. He tells us, with emotion:
“While I was riding with Marie, Julien and another couple, I got severe food poisoning in a remote fishing village. Two nights without being able to keep food or water down. I was weak, delirious, and I needed help.
They rallied to support me and helped me arrange a ride to the small village of Cataviña. There, I was able to rest, take antibiotics and electrolytes, and eat white rice to get my strength back. I was really scared I’d end up in hospital. Thank goodness I wasn’t alone.”
Joe also got a scary ride with drunk drivers and an extortion attempt, but that’s another story… Maybe for a future episode?
A Baja Divide memory etched forever
As you can imagine, some memories are more striking than others. After finishing the main Baja Divide, he rode the Cape loop. On New Year’s Eve, he was alone in the mountains… and a mountain lion stalked him:
“It circled my camp in the dark, sat on a ledge and watched me for what felt like an eternity (probably 10 minutes in reality), its eyes shining in the light of my headlamp.
I froze, in shock. Then, when I couldn’t see it anymore, I wondered whether it had run off… or was about to pounce. I made noise, tried to look as big and threatening as possible, while packing up my camp in a hurry. I rode back down the mountain and slept in a riverbed. I started the year completely buzzing on adrenaline, the image of the mountain lion burned into my head.”
Looking back
The Baja Divide is one of the most demanding and rewarding routes in North America. The isolation, the long distances without resupply, the tough terrain… Everything pushes you to go beyond your limits every day.
With some hindsight
A few months after completing the route, Joe remembers the days riding together, the joy of eating fresh tacos after several days in the desert, and… far too much ramen!
“Baja California and its people were wonderful. I’ll definitely go back.”
Your turn to ride the Baja Divide?
We asked Joe for his ultimate advice so you too can ride this peninsula from end to end: wide tires! 2.8″ minimum. There’s a lot of sand!
It’s an achievable adventure, but a demanding one. If you can, go as a group: it’s reassuring, safer, and you can help each other if something goes wrong.
What’s next?
After the Baja Divide, he spent 6 weeks riding New Zealand’s South Island. Completely different, but just as incredible.
Today, he’s back in Fremantle, trying to get used to no longer living on his bike. He recently rode the Munda Biddi again, going for a personal record: the whole trail in five and a half days.
We wish him the best in fulfilling his dream: setting off again on a long-distance bike adventure across several countries… In the meantime, he keeps riding, staying fit, and plans to take part in the Hunt 1000 toward the end of the year.
Thank you, Joe, for your trust and for putting up with us for a month! This first Mexican state was full of joy, laughter and sometimes tears. But Julien and I knew we could always count on you and your legendary good mood!
One last word about the photos you took with your film camera, which punctuate this article. They’re deep and capture exactly the atmosphere of Baja California!
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