Book excerpt: Each June the world's toughest mountain bike race is held. Covering over 2,650 miles with over 170,000 feet of climbing, the race course follows dirt roads, muddy tracks and snow covered mountains along the Continental Divide from Banff Canada to the Mexican border at Antelope Wells New Mexico. This is the Tour Divide, a unique race where the clock never stops and outside support is forbidden. It is the rider and their bike against the elements-and the internal demons. The Cordillera is the journal of the Tour Divide. 2015 was an epic year with ideal racing conditions. This saw both the men's and woman's records fall. After two weeks of racing, the first three men finished within 46 minutes of each other. The Cordillera Volume 7 shares the stories of the successes, and challenges, of the 2015 Tour Divide. It shares the experiences of athletes plumbing the depths of endurance, in the transformational experience that is the Tour Divide.