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. 2016 saw the first ever sub-14 day ride. There was an unprecedented number of animal encounters. The weather was torrid. The Cordillera Volume 8 shares the stories of the successes, and challenges, of the 2016 Tour Divide. It shares the experiences of athletes plumbing the depths of endurance, in the transformational experience that is the Tour Divide.