I’ve been off the Hayduke for 3 weeks and I have no idea where the time went. I spent the first week recuperating (eating pizza, drinking beer, and sleeping for 12 hours (hey someone has to do it)). I then was able to spend a little bit of time in the Sierra doing some mountaineering before I went up to Idaho for a week to meet MacGyver who took me white water rafting before I jumped on the Smoke and Fire 400 which is a bike-packing loop through the Sawtooths and surrounding areas. I ran out of time and wasn’t able to complete the entire loop (ill be back for it in October) but I was able to use it as a shake-down ride for the Tour Divide. The Tour Divide goes by a lot of names some call it the Great Divide Mountain Biking Route (GDMBR), Ride the Divide, or just the Divide. No matter what you call it, it is a ~2,700-mile bike ride from Banff, Canada to the US/Mexican border at Antelope Wells with ~ 150,000 feet of elevation gain. If you are interested in more of a big picture view you can check out the following website-
https://bikepacking.com/routes/great-divide-mountain-bike-route-gdmbr/
The route is actually raced every year. This year’s race started on June 10th and the record for completing all 2,700 miles is 13 days, 22 hours, and 51 minutes, which is absolutely insane. I wanted to start my journey around the start of the race so that I have a higher chance of bumping into people as a lot of non-racers also start when the race starts, so I will be starting on the 14th of June. I have no idea how long it is going to take me to ride and have no interest in pushing miles. I imagine I will do it between 6 to 8 weeks depending on how I am feeling. I have never seen the Canadian Rockies so I am only planning on doing 50-60 miles a day at first and maybe picking up the pace when I hit Wyoming after going through Montana and then slowing back down through Colorado before I make the push to the border through New Mexico (I always say I’m going to go slow and then end up doing big miles, just like I always say I’m going to do the trip sober until I hit the first brewery).
The Great Divide Ride does not take the exact trails as Continental Divide Trail I hiked in 2019 but is never far from it. Bikes are not allowed in Wilderness areas plus due to the non-technical nature of the route (ie mountain biking), it forces the route to follow forest roads, jeep tracks, and some pavement. I share some of the resupply towns that CDT hikers use and I also know at least 5 people on the CDT this year (it’s a small community) and I am hoping to run into them in town, or in Wyoming where there is a overlap between the hiking and biking trail through the Great Divide Basin.
I am certainly no bike packing expert and in general, I am completely winging this trip. I am treating it a lot like the Appalachian Trail where I am just showing up and hoping for the best. I figure being on a bike with towns every 4 to 5 days and only a few dry stretches there wasn’t a need to spend days studying maps and there is a lot of novelty (and some easily avoidable heartache) in being surprised by every turn in the trail. I purchased a bike specifically for this ride last year. Its the base model and I am keeping it completely stock (except for tubeless tires) since the bike still costs a small fortune (I make good life decisions but bad financial decisions) and I don’t think my butt is going to be any less sore on a super fancy/upgraded bike. I named the bike Margarita and I am hoping she takes me on one hell of a ride.
Along the South Fork of the Boise River on the Smoke and Fire 400
Trail Near Anderson Resevoir
Home for the night
I nailed wild flower season
Lizzy on the final approach up the Matterhorn
Coming back down (the snow field was too soft to navigate down so we had to go back across)
Summit Picture