Meet Joe: Baja Divide finisher
We'd like to invite you to discover the people we meet every day on the road! We're lucky enough to share, sometimes furtively, the lives of bicycle travelers on the Baja Divide or elsewhere. Like us, they've embarked on an extraordinary adventure across a country, a continent or just their city.
Joe: an Australian on two wheels
Today I'd like to introduce you to Joe Hayden, whom we met in Baja California on bikepacking.com 's famous Baja Divide route. We rode most of the Mexican peninsula together. A trip like this strengthens bonds in no time.
The three of us have been through thick and thin, battled illness, repaired equipment and shared our water supplies! And to think it all started when we spotted his bike in front of a gas station!
But before delving into the heart of the matter, let me introduce you to it.
Who is he?
Joe is Australian, 31 years old and has always felt like a sportsman. He grew up in a port town on the island. And he's lived some sweet, sunny times. Whether he's a hipster on his fixie with no brakes, or a wild BMX rider building jumps in his backyard, cycling has always been part of his life.
Just before his 30th birthday, he bought his faithful companion: a Surly Bridge Club in the name of Hilda (we'll let you get in touch with him on his networks so he can explain this little nickname to you! It's worth the detour!). So, well equipped, he began his bikepacking adventures.
He tells us about his first impressions after a few escapades with Hilda: "Travelling by bike has been a revelation. I love trips that take me to wild, remote places. Enjoying nature, finding a perfect hidden bivouac spot, that's my definition of a good time."
Preparing for adventure
Everyone has their own way of preparing for a bikepacking adventure. Baja California is a peninsula, so the road is often sandy. As you can see, progress becomes more difficult, if not impossible, on certain stretches. How do you prepare for this kind of experience?
Physical preparation for the Baja Divide
Before leaving for Canada, Joe started training regularly, riding between 200 and 300 km a week, with many outings on the Munda Biddi. The aim was to be in the best possible shape.
"Before starting the Baja, I'd already been on the road for four months. I had optimized my equipment, achieved excellent physical and mental condition, and was comfortable with daily nomadic cycling. When I set out on the Baja, I felt ready, confident and enthusiastic about the challenges ahead."
Which bike for the Baja Divide
Speaking of optimized equipment, here's its 2.0 configuration
His bike (Surly Bridge Club)
- Maxxis Rekon 27.5 x 2.8 tires on WTB rims, Son front dynamo, DT Swiss rear hub
- Drivetrain: 30-tooth front chainring, 11-51 rear cassette
- Jones H Bar handlebars with Profile Design extensions
- Klite USB lighting and charging system
- Well-tuned, comfortable Brooks saddle
- Tumbleweed luggage rack
- Velo Orange and Blackburn bottle cages with plenty of Nalgene to carry all that water
- Rogue Panda frame bag
- Framework Designs bags,
- Hungry Feed Bags and various Revelate Designs bags
Bivouac equipment
- Nemo 1-seater bikepacking tent
- MSR Whisperlite International stove and MSR popote
- Sea to Summit mug, folding bowl, titanium spoon
- Sea to Summit mattress and sleeping bag, dry bag on rear rack
- Cnoc water pouch and Sawyer Squeeze filter
- Opinel knife
His three "luxury" items
- An AeroPress (essential for coffee!)
- A Helinox chair (nothing better after a long day)
- A portable Bluetooth speaker
Not looking for lightness at any price, Joe wanted above all a reliable, comfortable configuration suitable for all environments. The whole thing weighed around 25 kg, not including food and water... so yes, it was pretty heavy!
2,736 kilometers on the Baja Divide
Every bikepacker has his or her own routine. Well-oiled, they recreate a comfortable cocoon and make you feel at home, even miles from home.
A typical day
A typical day at Joe's is as follows:
Wake up, turn on the stove and make a cup of coffee. Then pedal through cactus and sand, break for lunch with a peanut butter wrap.
Contemplating the vastness of the desert, racking up the difficult kilometers, chatting with friends, turning on the music, singing along to the dusty tracks. Then find a spot to camp, unfold your chair and enjoy a well-deserved bowl of ramen.
Ready for anything? His most difficult memory
Despite this routine, the unexpected sometimes catches up with us. At such times, you know you can count on the solidarity of fellow cyclists. For our Australian, this proved more than ever to be a real lifeline. While we were riding with two other cyclists(Léa and Charles), Joe probably experienced the hardest day of his trip. He tells us with emotion:
"While riding with Marie, Julien, and another couple, I caught severe food poisoning in a remote fishing village. Two nights without being able to keep food or water down. I was weak, delirious and needed help.
They rallied round to support me, and helped me organize transport to the small village of Cataviña. There, I was able to rest, take antibiotics and electrolytes, and eat white rice to regain my strength. I was really afraid of ending up in hospital. Luckily, I wasn't alone."
Joe was also treated to a creepy ride with drunk drivers and an extortion attempt, but that's another story... Maybe for a future episode?
A Baja Divide memory to last a lifetime
As you can imagine, he has some memories that stand out more than others. After completing the main Baja Divide, he did the Cape Loop. On New Year's Eve, he was alone in the mountains... And a puma gave chase:
"He circled around my camp in the dark, sat on a promontory and watched me for what seemed like an eternity (in reality probably 10 minutes), his eyes shining in the light of my headlamp.
I froze in shock. Then, when I couldn't see him, I wondered if he'd run away... Or if he was about to jump me. I made some noise, tried to look as big and menacing as possible, while dismantling my camp in a hurry. I went back down the mountain and slept in a riverbed. I started the year completely high on adrenaline, the image of the puma etched in 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 refuelling, the difficult terrain... everything pushes us to surpass ourselves on a daily basis.
A little hindsight
A few months after completing this route, Joe still remembers the days spent riding with the three of us, the joy of eating fresh tacos after several days in the desert, and... way too many ramen!
"Baja California and its people were wonderful. I'll definitely go back."
Your turn to ride the Baja Divide?
We asked Joe to give us the ultimate tip so that 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 but demanding adventure. If you can, go with others: it's reassuring, it's safer, and we can help each other in case of trouble.
What next?
After the Baja Divide, he spent 6 weeks riding on 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 did the Munda Biddi again, attempting a personal best: the entire route in five and a half days.
We wish him every success in realizing his dream: to get back on his bike for a long-distance adventure across several countries... In the meantime, he continues to ride, to stay in shape, and plans to take part in the Hunt 1000 towards the end of the year.
Thank you Joe for your trust and for putting up with us for 1 month! This first Mexican state was a time of joy, laughter and sometimes tears. But Julien and I knew we could always count on you and your legendary good humor!
A final word on the photos you took with your film camera that punctuate this article. They're deep and reflect exactly the atmosphere in Baja California!
By the way, if you feel like discovering more of Joe's photos, we invite you to check out his Instagram page right now!
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