THE BAJA DIVIDE

BAJA DIVIDE

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THE BAJA DIVIDE
The Baja Divide is a new established 2735km long off-pavement
bikepacking route, starting in San Diego, USA and following
the length of the Baja California Peninsula all the way to
San Jose del Cabo, Mexico.
It crosses the Peninsula several times, connecting the Pacific
Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. On it’s way cutting through
beautiful backcountry deserts and major mountain ranges.
Using already existing roads and tracks, of which more than
95% are unpaved, the Baja Divide leads into the remote
wilderness of Mexico’s Peninsula. This often requires the
rider, to carry 2-3 days of food and up to 12liters of water.
The condition of the route varies, between graded dirt roads
to rocky or sandy jeep tracks and this makes the riding tough
and sometimes technical. It’s essential to pack light and make
use of the warm, dry climate between November and March.
When we heard about the Baja Divide, we immediately
knew that we wanted to ride it. Finishing the Great Divide
in the USA, we not only wanted to explore more bike packing
routes on our way to South America, but also to ride something
even more challenging. Excited to test out our comfort zones
and physical boundaries, we started the Baja Divide at the
beginning of November, as one of the first ones ever riding
the route. It took us more than seven weeks to ride from San
Diego to La Paz, the covered daily distances varying between
50 and 80km.

AREA: BAJA CALIFORNIA / BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR
San Diego
SAN DIEGO USA
↓
SAN JOSE DEL CABO MEXICO
2735km +95% unpaved
bikepacking route
La Paz

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The riding was tough, beautiful and breathtaking in every
way. We enjoyed being surrounded by vast desert landscapes
and days, passing without coming across towns or many
other people. The Baja Divide is mainly about being in the
backcountry, but nonetheless specially in the south part of the
route, we passed through small Spanish mission towns, with an
abundances of history, palm trees and charm, basic fishercamps
or bustling highway towns, Which give you the opportunity
to refill your resources and enjoy some worldy comforts. The
Baja Divide felt raw and bold to us and we can only recommend
to take on the challenge and ride it. Be aware, that this Route
requires special equipment and some previous bikepacking
experience, for more detailed information head over to...
www.bajadivide.com
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www.tales-on-tyres.com
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“After a while you get used to
all the prickly plants in the desert
or at least you try.”

“The camping opportunities
where plentiful and suberb”.

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“Despite Mexicos‘s bad media
coverage, we felt always safe
and welcome.”

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“The quailty of Tacos, can vary
between dry with hardly any filling
to juicy and stuffed to it‘s limits.

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“Officially it‘s recommended to be
able to carry 10Liters of water per
person on some stretches. We often
carried more, running out of water,
in our opinion, is absolutely no fun.

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“At some point we bummed into the preruns
of the Baja1000, an off-road race.
We were not too excited sharing the road
with those monster trucks but after getting
handed an ice cold coke and water,
we decided it had some advantages too.”

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BAJA DIVIDE
ROADSCAPES

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“Daily drivetrain maintenance is a must!”

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“Steep but never hopeless.”

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“ The Route is pretty remote and often
leaves you having to deal with mechanical
problems or sickness on your own.
A wasp stung Franzi‘s eye and an allergic
reaction, let it swell up completely.
For a while she had to ride one-eyed.”

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“Sometimes we were swearing out
load and other times we pushed
on in silence. This is not an easy
ride across Baja California. It has
challenged us as riders and personally.”

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“Sometimes, we caught ourselves glancing at
the elevation profile, thinking it was flat and
so somewhat it should be an easy ride. That was
never the case, because when it was flat, it was
sandy. And believe us, that‘s sometimes even harder
than being confronted with some steep climb.”

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“Bringing enough limes is essential.
Even if the water we drank was purified,
it sometimes had this weird taste...”

“The most stores are small and only offer
limited food options. It requires some
creativity and we can promise you, after
this you will not eat fried beans and
tortillas for along time.”

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