Dramatis personae:
Dov: Our hero, riding a Kona Sutra.
Kyle: A ~30 year old bicycle mechanic from Portland, Maine, riding a Salsa Fargo.
Johanna: A ~30 year old paralegal about to return to law school, also from Portland, Maine, riding a Surly Long Haul Trucker.
Russ: A ~60 year old retired firefighter and RN from Prescott, Arizona, riding a Marin Bobcat Trail.
Jane: A ~60 year old retiree from Long Island, New York, riding a Surly ECR.
Ben: A 22 year old student from Montana, riding a Trek 1120.
Candace: A ~70 year old retiree, riding a Salsa Fargo.
Et al.
June
1: Our hero did spend much of this night packing; disassembling his
noble steed, Serenity, and trying to cram her into a slightly too small a
bike box; sporadically watching Brooklyn 99 to relax; and freaking out a
little when the Brooklyn 99 did not cut it. Afore he called it a night,
he had his things packed into one (1) bike box, one (1) handlebar roll,
two (2) heavy duty high capacity canvas panniers, and one (1) small
nylon daypack.
June 2: Woke our hero at about 5
AM so as to get to the airport in plenty of time so as to deal with the
inevitable unpleasantness of boarding an international flight with a
bicycle (aside, paraphrased from a cycle touring blog I can’t remember:
Traveling by bicycle is a uniquely sublime joy of the universe.
Traveling with a bicycle is one of Dante’s circles of hell). The
way his tickets worked out were Vancouver to Calgary to Los Angeles to
Tucson, arriving in Tucson at about 9 PM. LAX is easily the most
confusing, egregious, pestilential, least-well thought out airport in
the world, and the people who work there reflect this. In any case,
arrived he in Tucson to be met by Doug (a.k.a. Kingsnake) and Heather
the Younger.
June 3: When dawn spread out her
fingertips of rose, awoke our hero to begin the day’s preparations.
Serenity was unboxed and rebuilt with the occasionally disruptive help
of three beagles and the much more useful help of Doug. Supplies were
obtained, including food, denatured alcohol for use as stove fuel, the
first of three tubes of sunscreen, the first of two bottles of DEET
based bug spray, a bottle of permethrin as a prophylactic clothes-based
bug repellant, and a canister of whupass bearspray.
June
4: La madre de nuestro héroe, a.k.a. Sidewinder, arrived before the
gate of the house of Doug and was permitted entry. Serenity, baggage,
hero and la madre departed on I-10 heading east for Silver City. Once
arrived in Silver City, la madre thought it wise to seek council from
the Forest Service with regard to fires and road closures. Taking heed
of the advice bequeathed, our hero was deposited outside Silver City
onto a forest service road instead. There, while in the midst of
unpacking and setting up his valiant steed of the next two months, Dave
with the B.O.B. trailer showed up, confirming that yes, this was indeed
the trail. He chatted for a little and went on. Once our hero was kitted
up, la madre brought out her Trek for to ride a little bit of the ride.
This particular forest service road, however, was steep, gully ridden,
and made of tire-sucking sand, so progress was slow. After a heartfelt
farewell, la madre ceased her Trek and began her Voyage Home, while our
hero began the ride in earnest. “Hot”, “dry”, “dusty”, “godforsaken”,
“alien”, and “pine-smelling” are all choice adjectives to describe this
area, known as the Gila Wilderness. Our hero made about 10 miles before
setting up at a forest service camp.
| Gila Wilderness |
| Gila Wilderness |
| Top of a mesa |
June
5: Our hero began this day with about 13 liters of water weighing about
27 pounds, way too much food, no adaptations for the altitude, and
chicken legs, all of which contributed to the single hardest and most
unpleasant day of the entire ride. When there was shade, our hero would
dismount and hide from the sun for a few minutes. When there was a steep
climb, he would dismount and push. He ate far too little and drank not
nearly enough because his stomach was upset and forcing anything down
made him feel sick. In the early afternoon, came he upon Kyle T. Randall
on a Salsa Fargo, who was in the middle of tidying up from a snack. The
two chatted and rode together for a bit before being separated eight
miles from Beaver Creek fire watch post, as Kyle’s setup was much
lighter and he was doing better. Valiantly our hero journeyed onward,
but at this point he was flirting with heat exhaustion, and wound up
walking for a big chunk of the time. Eventually, he just put down his
bike and lay down on the side of the road, too worn out to do anything
more. Eventually, Kyle returned, as he was combing the trail for an
article he dropped. He managed to rouse our hero’s spirits and got him
to continue on to Beaver Creek with the promise of cold water. This was
achieved, and it was most refreshing. The fire fighters offered our hero
a burrito, which he ate slowly, and some mint-infused sweet tea, which
sent life and feeling coursing back through his sun-scorched frame. A
cot was offered, and our hero passed out for the night.
June
6: The previous night, the fire fighters had provided council to our
hero and Kyle, who dropped by after a fruitless trail combing. North of
the outpost, the route took cyclists close to an area that was closed
due to fire danger. A reroute via another forest service road was
recommended, one which would cut off about fifteen miles of traveling.
Our hero kept this council in mind as he departed, wearing his thermal
underwear so as to avoid having to put sunscreen on his legs. Eventually
he caught up with Kyle and his riding partner, Johanna GDMBR Greenberg.
Rode the valiant three on and on through the Gila wilderness, stopping
at a Continental Divide Trail water cache to top off their supplies,
pausing under a tree for a late lunch and a siesta. Eventually the three
crossed a highway and made their way up the road to a decent spot for
wild camping.
June
7: Woke the three amigos after a refreshing night’s sleep and continued
they on their way. The prospect of Pie Town hung over their heads,
urging them along the trail with a hope of hot food, cold drinks, and
showers. Much of this day took place in forest, providing at least some
shade, and old buildings were occasionally passed. Our protagonist had
learned his lesson about hydration and was packing it in to the best of
his ability, but food was still not sitting well; the most he did snack
wise was nibble a Cliff bar. The amigos stopped for lunch under a tree
after a slog through tire sucking sand (Kyle had the only really
appropriate tires for the sand: 29” x 2.25” Maxxis Ikons, versus
Johanna’s 26" x 2” Schwalbe Marathon Mondials and Dov’s 700C 40mm
Mondials). Lunch was delightful: Dov provided cheese and tortillas, Kyle
had some dehydrated refried beans and MRE chili, and so everyone had
freshly made burritos. The tire sucking sand continued for a little bit
after lunch but eventually gave way to well packed dirt road. A storm
started coming in too, which cooled off the air considerably but did
generate lightning that was a little close for comfort. Dov and Kyle
rode together to the outskirts of Pie town, while Johanna rode more
slowly and fell behind. When they reached the south end of town, a
dilemma reared its head: down which of the two roads lay the diner
foretold by the map? Dov went straight and Kyle went left. Dov found the
diner and got some food set up and was joined a few minutes later by
Kyle, who rolled in via a truck carrying four other people riding the
ride: Russ, Jane, Marty, and Ed. As Dov ate, drank, and thereby became
more coherent, he chatted with the new riders and learned of the famed
Toaster House, whence all the others were planning on sleeping. At some
point another cyclist, Ben “Bearspray” GDMBR arrived, also a little
strung out from the road. He had pulled a 100 mile day and was filling
kind of worn out. Everyone finally finished eating and made their way to
the Toaster House, where showers were had and cold drinks on the deck
were enjoyed.
| Right near an abandoned church about 20 miles South of Pie Town |
| A literal profile picture right after the storm |
June 8: The three amigos from the day before plus Ben went out to eat breakfast, which was packed away nearly instantly. Kyle, Johanna, and Ben intended to make the day a rest day, but Dov wanted to push onwards and decided to only take a half rest day. He intended to resupply and see the town, tasks that he accomplished magnificently. During the resupply, our hero discovered two articles that would become staples of the rest of his ride: Country Time lemonade and Knorr noodle packets. The intended half day oozed into a three-quarters rest da, but he eventually hit the trail again and added some solid miles before stopping at the first alternate on the map.
| Sunset just outside El Malpais |
June
9: Our hero proclaimed that the easy road was not one he was interested
in and stuck to the main route through El Malpais. He saw magnificent
lava flows, fleets of pronghorn antelope, azure blue skies, and
breathtaking mountains, all while listening to Going Postal. As
the day was drawing to a close and as he was coming to the end of his
water supply our hero rolled into a KoA just outside of Grants, where he
proceeded to eat about 2000 calories, called his folks, and passed out.
June
10: After replenishing his water, our hero opined that Mount Taylor
looked a little sparse in the aqueous way and that the Chaco alternate
would be a better bet. Having chosen this path, he set off from Grants
along the second most desolate section of the entire ride. There is nothing north
of Grants except for mining and ultimately the eastern edge of Chaco
Canyon. Water was a serious concern on this stretch of trail: our hero
set forth with 12 L squirreled away but went through most of it
throughout the course of the day. Eventually in the early evening he
came to rest at the one business he had seen all day: a combination
laundromat, gas station, convenience store, and post office called Chaco
Wash. As he stumbled into the air conditioned building, verily did he
run into Jane, one of the other riders from Pie Town! She and Russ had
arrived earlier and spent their time drinking cold drinks and eating
microwave burritos. The three shared plans and reminisced before making
camp behind an abandoned freight container inside the Chaco Wash fence.
| Bluffs just north of Grants |
| Cliffs along the scorching highway |
June 11: Feeling refreshed and with only about 40 miles to go til Cuba, the new amigos mounted their steeds and began to ride. Most of this was highway shoulder riding, and our hero’s 700x40 tires sang as the miles burned away. Russ’s 29”x2.25” and Jane’s 29”x3.0” proved slightly cumbersome on pavement, but they stayed close behind for much of the way. As the day wore on our hero pulled further and further ahead until Jane and Russ were out of sight beyond the distant hills behind him. Eventually the town of Cuba resolved itself on the horizon. Our hero pulled into town, reserved a motel room, rummaged through the hiker-biker abandonment box for three packages of MRE chicken, washed the accumulated dirt strata off his body, and crossed the street to chork down some food. Eventually wandered back to his room for the finer things in life, i.e. air conditioning and mindless cartoons, before acquiring another 1800 calories for dinner and calling it a night.
June
12: Having sought council with his progenitors the night before, our
hero did telephone the Forest Service to determine how recent forest
closures would affect his route to Abiquiu. The Santa Fe National Forest
had been closed due to fire danger, so he was forced to loop around the
Jemez to the north on highway 96. Near the end of a long climb, stopped
our hero for some lunch and a small break. Just as he was prepared to
hit the road again, saw he in the distance Ben from Pie Town! The two
talked for a bit before setting out again, refreshed and invigorated.
Soon after the small town of Galina the vertical distance they had made
became apparent, for now the road turned into a near perfect descent.
“Fun” and “awesome” are adjectives that were used after the fact.
Eventually they reached the overlook of Abiquiu Reservoir, only to run
into Jane and Russ again. The four then set about trying to find cheap
accommodations in Abiquiu, eventually calling a woman who let people
camp in her yard. The four arrived, set up camp, and proceeded to eat.
| Ben tries to capture the stunning red of the mesa |
June 13: Our hero took a rest day with the intention of meeting up with the padre and the expectation of being provided with a truly enormous meal. The bottom bracket of Serenity had been creaking and clacking, so pater et filius drove to Santa Fe for some servicing, bringing along a picnic lunch. A delightful time was had, and the creaking fixed by swapping in a new bottom bracket, before returning our hero to Abiquiu.
| Our hero and Padre |
June
14: Our hero and Ben set out from Abiquiu at about 5 AM, for Ben wanted
to get some serious milage in before the day was too hot. This
unfortunately brought the two to El Rito at about 8 AM, which was
earlier than the one restaurant in town opened. Continuing the uniquely
unpleasant but not really bad highway climb up to and through
Vallecitos, our heroes eventually found themselves on dirt road again.
Near the edge of town they found a small building being run as a hobby
like convenience store by a man who lived across the street. He welcomed
in the road-wearied travelers, where they partook of ice cream and cold
drinks and wound up discussing such topics as water rights, trout
fishing, motorcycle ignition systems, and elementary education with the
proprietor and one of his friends who happened to stop by. Refreshed by
their repast, our heroes continued on and up through Carson National
Forest. The ride was pleasantly shaded, but the climbing rough.
Eventually Ben peeled away, leaving our hero to struggle valiantly
upwards. Afterwards, during camp, it was calculated that the two had
ridden 50 miles with ~4000 feet of climbing over 13 hours, which
remained the single most exhausting day of the entire ride. In any case,
eventually our hero reached the summit, coincident with Hopewell Lake
and campground. He attempted to determine the location of Ben by reading
tire tracks in the dust, eventually leading him to the main entrance.
Wheeling in on foot, our hero ran into Jane yet again, who informed our
hero that she, Russ, and Ben had set up camp a small ways further in.
Everyone had had a bit of a long day, so conversation was somewhat
muted.
June 15: Ben peeled out early in the
morning, leaving the remaining three amigos to do their own camp
teardown and ride up to Lagunitas. The ubiquitous pine trees started
giving way slightly to Aspen, and the air seemed slightly cooler.
Although this day was shorter in terms of milage and climbing, nobody
had fully recovered from the day previous, and progress was gentle.
| Ponderosas starting to give way to Aspens |
| Jane in the distane |
| Fun with Russ and Jane |
June 16: As the amigos were conducting camp teardown, a light drizzle began to fall. This caused some commentary, but only led to the donning
of
wet weather gear. Our hero took lead, heedless of the increasing rain.
The day soon devolved into a hell of unridable, technical descents on
rocky roads followed by thick, sticky, peanut butter mud. Serenity’s
fenders were eventually removed to ease pedaling. The New
Mexico/Colorado border was a cattle guard in the middle of a forest, one
side of which was proclaimed to be Rio Grande forest and the other
Carson forest. Once our hero had made it to the Colorado neck of the
woods, the road improved slightly, and eventually he climbed up to the
highway after crossing the rails of the Cumbres and Toltec railway. As
he paused on the shoulder of the highway, our hero was lucky enough to
see the train riding the rails. The rain picked up again at this point,
and our hero struggled valiantly onward for a few miles before being
stopped by a guy in a pickup truck who proclaimed “Dude, you’re risking
hypothermia. Get in.” Our hero was thusly transported to Antonito, where
he got a room and took two hot baths and a shower before he felt fully
human again. He then rode into town proper, ate two large dinners, and
was wandering over to do a resupply when he heard an incredulous “Dov?”
from behind, an exultation that was made by Jane.
Jane and
Russ had not made it far from the previous night’s camp. The sticky mud
and small frame clearance held them fast, and they set up a shelter to
wait out the rain. At about three in the afternoon, however, a local,
tooling around off road, happened by them and transported them into
Antonito, where by sheer coincidence they caught sight of our hero. The
three made plans to take a day off and discuss plans and strategies, and
all retired to the Narrow Gauge Inn, beaten but not broken.
| Just a few miles to the border! |
June
17: As was planned the night before, the fellowship spent some time
perusing maps, checking long term weather reports of the surrounding
area, and washing caked mud off of bikes and equipment. Jane opined
that, the previous day being ignored as an outlier, she was not enjoying
herself and was considering leaving the trail. Russ and Dov were sorry
to hear such tidings but hoped that a pleasant day in town might relieve
her feelings somewhat. More cartoons were perused, and the three called
it a night.
June 18: Russ and Dov pulled out
of town with the intention of making it to Platoro, while Jane stayed
behind, intending to ship her bike back home and continue her trek of
Colorado via car camping. It was twenty miles from town back to the
trail via highway, and the miles melted under the dynamic duo’s
relentless pedaling. The two stopped at a small gallery at the turn-off
from the highway, where they had been informed by Ben that there were
Amish fried pies. Fried pies were had, as well as cold drinks, before
the duo continued their journey north. At one point they passed a CDT
hiker resting in the shade. Dov completely did not see him, but Russ
stayed and chatted for a bit. Eventually the two got to Platoro in time
for a well deserved dinner before pushing on to a forest service
campground just after Stunner pass.
June
19: Wiping the frost from their tents, our intrepid adventurers packed
up and hit the road. They were anticipating a long, hard climb up to
Indiana pass, the literal highpoint of the ride at 11,912 feet. The
day’s journey took them through the ghost town and subsequent Superfund
site of Summitville. Post Summitville, our adventurers passed the
treeline and began the long climb towards Indiana pass. The air became
thin and difficult, and eventually our adventurers paused for lunch. As
luck would have it, just after they packed up, another cyclist, headed
southbound, stopped to search for a sign indicating the pass. A cyclist
named Lewis Ciddor, who was the current Tour Divide southbound race
leader and eventual race winner. Russ and Dov got him to stop and talk
for a whole two minutes before he jetted off again. The two amigos
started off again and reached the unimpeachable highlight of the entire
ride: a 25 mile, 4000 foot descent over well maintained forest service
road. When they stopped at the bottom, the two conversed, half joking
but also half seriously, about flagging a ride in a pickup to take them
up to the top to ride it again. Hunger and a bike shop beckoned,
however, and the two set up in a local hostel before heading into the
town of Del Norte. Johanna had left the trail a few days before and
started riding the highway, making it into Del Norte before our
adventurers, and the three rendezvoused for a well deserved meal.
| The road up to Stunner Pass |
| In Russ's words, "Don't bother looking it's just another gorgeous view" |
June
20: After a hearty breakfast, Russ and Dov headed out again, making
good time and running into a couple of other southbound racers and more
casual tourers. They stopped for the day and set up a pleasant wild
camp.
| First route sign! |
June
21: Dov, having not wanted to schlep a lot of water and being confident
about the likelihood of finding lakes and streams, had only brought six
liters with him from Del Norte. He drained these by the middle of the
day, luckily just before finding a reservoir from which our heroes did a
water filter. This provided them with enough fluid to make their way
into Sargents, where they stopped for the night.
June
22: Riding out of Sargents, our adventurers ran into a trio of ladies
riding the divide in segments. The ride into Salida, late in the day,
encountered a bit of a snag: Dov got ahead of Russ and, wanting to
follow the obvious choices, stuck to the route. Russ, wanting to follow
the obvious choices, bypassed all the county road doglegs and followed
the highway into Salida. This led to some confusing hijinks, but the two
eventually reconnected, partook of swanky pizza, and called it a night.
| Two of three ladies riding segments |
| Aspens are now the dominant foliage |
| Going over a pass is a great opportunity to wait for your buddy and have a snack |
June
23: Most of Colorado had been beautiful and mountainous so far. This
changed with the road north of Salida: mile after mile of sandy
washboard leading into Hartsel. There our heroes were gifted a free bag
of cherries before they slunk off to an abandoned playground where they
made camp rather sneakily.
June 24: Our
intrepid adventurers rose on the early side so as to avoid detection and
a potential storm brewing around Breckenridge, steeling themselves for
the arduous journey up Boreas pass. Many of the climbs in Colorado were
very pleasant: while they were often long climbs, the roads were usually
good, and many of them were old railroad beds, meaning that they topped
out at a 3% grade. While paused for lunch at Boreas pass, our heroes
were hailed upon briefly; the storm continued to threaten and grumble at
them on their way down into Breckenridge. After rolling into town, our
heroes stopped for hot beverages and pastries, having been thoroughly
chilled inside. Russ forged on ahead into Silverthorne to negotiate a
room while Dov stayed behind awaiting Johanna so they could chat (she
had ridden over Hoosier pass). After settling in in Silverthorne, Russ
had a pizza delivered from a Dominos about 200 yards away because he
wanted someone else to do the running around for a change.
| Dov waited out a hailstorm here while Russ climbed at his own pace |
June 25: Our heroes took a well deserved and relaxed rest day.
June
26: Having refreshed themselves after their rest day, our heroes ground
out a 76 mile day, including a late lunch break in Kremling and a long,
screamingly fun descent into the campground just outside Radium.
| The first Tour Divide specific trail angel box |
June
27: If the day after Silverthorne was industrious and successful, the
day after Radium was much less of a successful day. Russ’s odometer
clocked about 20 miles throughout the course of the day, many of which
were walked while pushing the bikes. The road was steep, twisting,
rutted, crossed by gullies, and deep in sand. The sections going up were
too horrible to ride while the sections going down felt dangerous and
unsafe. A common refrain for the rest of the ride were variations on the
theme of “at least it’s not as bad as the climb out of Radium.” Our
heroes stopped for the day at a campground with a pump, encountering one
of the last groups of racers.
June 28: Our
heroes pushed out for Steamboat Springs, having been informed via
sporadic text that Kyle was taking a rest day there and was interested
in forming a trio. Dov bent his front wheel in a bike rack but managed
to get it whacked back into shape by a skillful truing in one of the
bike shops on the way out of town. The party then voyaged north of
Steamboat Springs, eventually setting up a stealth camp on the other
side of a break in a fence.
June 29: The
general store and cafe of Clark beckoned our travelers onward for a late
breakfast and a chance to mail some postcards, in Kyle’s case, and they
did drag their feet a little in leaving the last bastion of
civilization in Colorado. Our heroes had been hearing for some time
about a place called Brush Mountain Lodge, an unearthly paradise just
south of the Wyoming border that was kindly to Divide riders. They
nearly got lost off route a few miles after Clark,
almost taking the Columbine alternate by mistake, but they corrected
this navigational error and got back on the trail, rolling into Brush
Mountain in the early evening. There they were greeted by a party of
four Kiwis riding southbound, the proprietor of the establishment who
plied the weary travelers with wood-fired pizza and cold drinks, and
eventually the last southbound racer they encountered. Everyone was well
fed, relaxed, clean, and at peace with the world.
| Looks like Lewis made good time! |
June 30: Our heroes had been provided with this council by the proprietor the night before: when getting into Wyoming, go as far as the treeline on the first day, no further, and make camp there for the night. The wind on the plain was dreadful indeed and not the sort of thing people should really try to sleep through. With this in mind they did cross the border into Wyoming, riding into Medicine Bow National Forest, where it began to drizzle ominously. Verily did our heroes brave through the onslaught to a converted forest service station now campground with the intention of refilling their water. This they did, while also meeting a family out for a weekend of camping. After chatting for a while, our heroes set back out on the road, having been gifted with a pound of smoked salmon, a pound of elk jerky, and a pound of elk and cheese home-made Slim Jim equivalents. The edge of the forest was eventually reached in the late afternoon, and our heroes made themselves some salmon burritos before calling it a night.
July
1: Wyoming has a bottomless supply of strong, incessant wind, which has
apparently attracted the attention of the powers that be. As a result,
there is a project going on in southern Wyoming to build a wind farm. A
side effect is that the road the route goes through is being paved,
necessitating a two-mile shuttle by the road builders. This was pretty
nice, but the subsequent wind and dust were less pleasant. The three
rolled into Rawlins in time for an early dinner and set about finding a
room for the night. Russ, who had ridden the TransAm four years prior,
was concerned about the Great Divide Basin, calling it “desolate” and
“barren”. Supplies were laid in and a good night’s sleep was had.
July
2: After a fun climb and descent out of Rawlins, the three entered the
Great Divide Basin. The Kiwis from Brush Mountain Lodge had had a severe
headwind that they waited out, so our heroes were cautiously optimistic
about receiving a tailwind. But that did not happen. The basin is
nearly perfectly flat and level, but the average speed was about 8 miles
per hour if not a little slower. The wind was all, and there was
nothing but the wind. Our heroes eventually reached the A&M
reservoir in order to do a water filter when they met some CDT hikers
who had started in New Mexico back in April. Eventually the two parties
parted and our heroes rode on, trying to push a few more miles out
before making camp on a relatively flat road shoulder.
July
3: Mindful of the wind and weather, our heroes woke on the earlyish
side so as to ride during the calm part of the day. They continued to
ride until Dov and Kyle came across a stretch of road that was being
repaved. They chilled for a few minutes, waiting for Russ, until Dov was
hit by a horrible nagging doubt. “Wait a minute, we’re not supposed to
hit pavement. This is all supposed to be dirt.”
Some time
while traversing the featureless void and attempting to reason backwards
from southbound cues, our heroes had taken the wrong turn at a three
way intersection. They continued to ride, blissfully unaware that they
were headed north when they should have been headed west. When Russ
arrived at the impromptu rendezvous, a conference was held. The
available options were: 1) backtrack to the trail, probably getting lost
on the way and leading to an at most 15 mile net gain on the day, 2)
attempt to short circuit back to the trail via other dirt roads hinted
vaguely at on the map, probably also getting lost, or 3) ride highway
287 into Lander for the 4th of July. The third option was chosen after
little discussion. Lander was a solid 40 miles away, so the amigos
pushed valiantly onward, trying to lessen the distance they would have
to ride the next morning.
July 4: Kyle woke
early to scoot into town in time for an all you can eat pancake
breakfast. The other two took a somewhat more relaxed start to the day
but arrived in plenty of time for the parade. The rest of the day was
idyllic: barbecue, meandering throughout a classic instance of
Americana, chilling with other cyclists, watching private individuals
launch easily $1000 worth of fireworks. Good times.
| Just wake up and smell the freedom |
July
5: Our heroes headed south from Lander on the highway in order to get
back on the trail. Wicked climbs and freak hail-driving thunderstorms
did nothing to daunt their effort, and by the end of the day they had
made it to South Pass.
| The scope of the valley was staggering |
| A truly staggering amount of Grape Hyacinth, with Russ in the background |
July
6: Yet more Wyoming. Russ and Dov pushed on to an RV park in Boulder
while Kyle called it earlier and set up camp by the side of the road.
July
7: Rode through Pinedale, did a resupply that included hotdogs and
green chile before winding up in Whiskey Creek campground, where said
hotdogs and green chile were enjoyed over a campfire.
July 8: Even more Wyoming, through the Bridger Wilderness. I’m running out of ways of describing it.
July
9: Coming out of the Bridger Wilderness and climbing up to Togwotee
pass, our heroes were met with enough rain to cool the air and impede
visibility but not so much that the road was unridable or the ride
miserable. Eventually the road flattened out and the storm cleared,
leaving a clear view of the staggering Tetons rising up from the plain.
The attached photo absolutely does not do it justice. Russ opined later
that Tetons is one of the places where it’s better to just buy the
pictures. The three rode into Colter Bay Village and finagled a
hiker/biker campsite close to the ACA supported TransAm group, with whom
a very pleasant chat was had. A huge and satisfying dinner was also
had.
| Tetons is a place where you just buy the photos. Home-made can't do them justice. |
July
10: Kyle, feeling antsy about his ticket out of Calgary, decided to
push onward with another northbounder. Dov and Russ took a rest day,
which was spent swimming (Dov) and with Diet Coke (Russ).
July
11: When preparing to pull out for the continued journey north, Russ
noticed a weird noise coming from his bike, a noise that was eventually
discovered to be coming from bubbles in his rear tire rubbing against
bolts on his rack. The dynamic duo instead made a trip down to Jackson
to get new tires, Dov feeling that he should probably pick up a
spare/replacement. On returning from Jackson, Russ realized that he also
had a broken spoke, which was replaced with some grumbling that the
bike shop should have noticed this when doing the tubeless install.
July
12: The two set out for real this time, making their way out of Wyoming
and into the small chunk of Idaho that connects to Montana. The trail
was steep and heavily rutted, causing Dov to get a pinch flat in his
front tire that took nearly an hour to fix: both of his spare tubes
turned out to have holes in them, so he patched all of them and then
installed the least horrible one in front. The day turned out to still
generate a high milage however, and the two rolled into camp in the
early evening. There they met Candace, about whom they had heard stories
as far back as New Mexico.
July 13: The first
segment of trail was very pleasant: flowy, scenic, well-maintained but
unpaved county road with not too steep of a climb due to being another
decommissioned railroad bed. The second bit, not so much: a segment of
road submerged by a seemingly impassible swamp, followed by mile after
mile of straight, monotonous, tire sucking sand that eventually spat the
two riders out into the thoroughly disappointing town of Macks Inn.
Pushing on from Macks Inn, the riders wound up at an RV park where they
ran into Candace again.
July 14: The border
between Idaho and Montana is the continental divide itself, but the
climb and pass were so gentle that had there not been a sign our heroes
would have totally missed it. The road came down from the mountains and
led through pleasant grassy swampland that meandered this way and that
and eventually passed a small reservoir. Feeling that they wanted a nice
big meal that someone else had prepared, our heroes pushed on to the
small town of Lima (as in bean), where they met Candace for the third
and final time before partaking a repast rich in the four bike touring
food groups: fat, carbs, salt, and protein.
| Grinning like a maniac |
July
15: The ride out of Lima took our heroes through rugged canyons and
dusty roads and over one very tough climb. Our heroes met and interacted
with a guy who had gotten to Glacier via the Northern Tier and was now
riding the Great Divide, leaving them very impressed. While they were
busy checking out his rig (Surly Troll with dyno hub and internal gear
hub) a woman in a pickup stopped by and volunteered her lawn as a
camping spot for the evening, a suggestion the dynamic duo met with
enthusiasm. The mosquitos were in full bloom, but by all other metrics
the location was perfect.
July 16: The day
started slowly: Russ had discovered another broken spoke the previous
night and decided to wait until morning to deal with it because the
people involved had been not entirely coherent when they set up camp.
The ranch owner’s mother was mowing the lawn as the two started to roll
out, generating another half-hour or so delay due to chatting and
general foot dragging. This state of affairs continued as the two rolled
into Bannack State Park, a gold-mining ghost town that provided shade
and cold drinks in addition to a fascinating early afternoon tour. The
two ran into Candace for the fourth time out of three (forgot about this
one) and a woman from London on an Oxford Bike Works rig before pushing
on to the Elkhorn Lodge in Polaris for a meal and a room for the night.
July
17: A very steep climb met our travelers this morning before flattening
out and descending through a veritable corridor of idyllic campgrounds
and recreation areas. Dov tore away due to his relatively skinny tires
and the thrill of speed, winding up at the highway intersection of Wise
River. Russ arrived after not too long, and the two had a pleasant
lunch. Candace rolled in just as the two were about to hit the road
(last time we saw her, for real, I promise) and warned our intrepid
adventurers against trying to ride Fleecer’s Ridge northbound,
commenting that “people have broken forks.” Bearing this in mind, the
dynamic duo opted instead for the Divide alternate before rejoining the
main trail for a very long, very steep climb that left them very worn
out. Eventually they were overtaken by two guys in a van who were
planning on doing some mountain biking on the CDT. Russ and Dov pushed
on to the forest service camp where the two van guys had set up and
called it a night.
July 18: Over the course of
the trip so far, Dov had occasionally thought “Wow, what a nice town.
This might be a fun place to retire to.” Butte was not one of those.
It’s an old boom-and-bust mining town with no character and really
obnoxious drivers. The two amigos made a stop for lunch and a stop at a
bike shop to get Russ’s wheel trued by someone who knew what they were
doing before pushing on. They passed by two abandoned forest service
campgrounds before taking the Boulder alternate, which led them down a
surprisingly fun and well maintained gravel ride into the Merry Widow
Health Mine camp. They negotiated for a camp spot and then were told
offhandedly “Oh, you’re in time for the tail end of the pot luck.” Free,
functionally limitless food was quite appealing, and the two partook.
As they ate, they heard the people gathered there talk about how the
mine had helped treat various ailments of theirs, including arthritis,
migraines, and muscular issues.
As an aside, Dov has little
patience for anecdotal, non-double blind treatments but was feeling too
polite and good natured to say anything about it at the time. Instead,
he happily imagined that the health benefits existed and were caused by
ancient, half-broken, self-replicating nanobots left in the water by a
crashed alien spaceship from the Lower Transcend a la A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky.
July
19: The two continued the ride on the Boulder alternate, following the
frontage road out to the highway. There, they made council. It was
decided to stay on the highway so as to arrive in Helena before the bike
shops closed. Russ’s replacement tire was very slightly too large for
his frame and cause chain rub when in low gears, and Dov’s luggage rack
had two broken welds and two snapped struts and was being held together
with zip ties and electrical tape. The climb was long but not too
arduous and was followed by a screamingly fun descent, and the two
continued on frontage roads into downtown Helena. The people at Big Sky
Cycling and Fitness were fantastic and, while completing the repairs,
recommended a Cajun restaurant and an old-timey motor lodge.
July
20: Our heroes dragged their feet a little leaving town, which was
absolutely par for the course, but started climbing valiantly, running
into such delightful south bounders as Dana (rhymes with Montana). Ever
since Colorado, south bounders had been singing praises of “The Llama
Farm.” informing our heroes that it was a respite similar to the Toaster
House and Brush Mountain, not to be missed. After some route
confirmation via GPS, our heroes eventually saw a big fat sign saying “^
GDMBR” that eventually led to another sign that looked like a local
radio station call sign: GDMBR 88.1 Bicyclists Welcome. The 88.1 stood
for the odometer reading from mile zero on that particular map segment
and indicated the llama farm. There was a vast fleet of south bounders
there first, and our heroes had to scrounge up spots on the ground.
| Onward! To llamas! |
| Doesn't GDMBR 88.1 sound like a college radio station? |
July
21: The day previous had been on the short side given the llama farm
distance from Helena, and our heroes attempted to improve on it this
day. There were three climbs: one over Huckleberry pass that then
dropped into the thoroughly unremarkable and forgettable town of Lincoln
and the climb out of Lincoln that eventually plopped our heroes down
into the incredibly small town of Ovando, where our heroes partook of a
solid meal and Dov fell asleep in the hoosegow. Seriously, it’s the old
town hoosegow that cyclists are allowed to overnight in. Very
comfortable.
July 22: There was a trail this
day that could have taken our heroes to Seeley Lake, and a second one
that will be mentioned momentarily. The two riders elected not to head
into Seeley Lake, however, and instead pushed onwards, aiming for
informal campsites at Clearwater Lake. This led them to the first real
single track of the entire ride, a mountain-hugging stretch of slumping,
deteriorating road that led up a very difficult, occasionally unridable
climb and down a screamingly fast descent. Once our heroes caught their
breath on the other side, they noticed a sign marking the trail they
had just come across: Closed to motorized vehicles to preserve grizzly
habitat. Knowledge that they were very glad they had after riding
the trail. They pushed further down the mountain and set up a wild camp
on a decommissioned stretch of road near Clearwater Lake.
July
23: Dov had run out of water the previous night, and Russ was running
low, so the two decided to take on some water at Owl Creek campground,
just a few miles down the road. The pulled in and noticed, hey, there’s
horses here! As they were filling up a woman taking her two year old
granddaughter out for a sunlit perambulation started chatting and
invited the two over to the mess tent for coffee. Having been on the
road too long to pass up free beverages, our heroes agreed and were then
plied with coffee and iced tea and cookies and two hours of truly
delightful chatting. It was noon before our heroes rolled out. The next
stage of the trail took them over some more singletrack that connected
dirt roads, and they ran into more south bounders than ever before. At
one point Russ saw a large, tan shape that was almost certainly a
mountain lion. The two pushed on and on, which may or may not have been
more on and on than previous on and ons, but it felt like more on
and on. Eventually they crossed Fatty Creek and saw a spot near the
river where people had cleared away the trees and made a small fire pit
for a campsite. The evening was pleasant and cool, making them well
aware that the following morning would be cold and damp.
July
24: The climb up from the river and over the mountain was an
exhilarating wakeup and warmup for the rest of the day. A southbound
couple on Tumbleweed Prospectors informed the duo about a
brewery/pizzeria just south of Eureka, seemingly in the middle of
nowhere. The day was spent pushing into Columbia Falls with the prospect
of showers and food cooked by other people.
July
25: Foot-dragging leaving the nearby town of Whitefish coupled with a
slight off-route error led to initially slow progress by the dynamic duo
leaving the Columbia Falls/Whitefish area, but they started climbing
with nary a complaint and eventually reached Red Meadow lake, which
included the two things our heroes had learned to look for in
particular: pit toilets and bear boxes. A lovely evening was had talking
with a family out for a weekend of camping and fishing, and our heroes
were plied with Dutch oven cake.
July 26: Our
heroes left the campground on the early side, knowing deep in their
hearts that their was drawing to a close. They pushed on through long
but mostly gentle climbs, encountering even more south bounders, coming
across fresh bear scat on the road, and zooming into the land below
where lay the pizzeria. Dov, being the incurable speed demon that he is,
saw a big “Closed” sign and breezed on by it. Russ, passing by hot on
his heels, noticed that someone was swapping the “Closed” sign with one
that said “Open” and sped on after Dov, trying fruitlessly to flag him
down before he had gone too far. Dov was eventually rounded up and,
feeling chagrined, he followed Russ back to the now open establishment.
The two partook of really, really nice pizza, which was saying something
as the two had had many opportunities to partake of the pie during
their expedition. Eventually they finished and rolled out for the town
of Eureka, where there was free camping in the city park. Russ had heard
a loud pinging noise coming from his bike on the ride over, and when
the bike was inspected it was discovered that he had broken not one, not
two, but five spokes on his rear wheel, possibly due to a loose
buckle from his luggage that had got caught in the spokes. His two
remaining spare spokes were called into action, but this still left
three duds. Dov’s spares were just slightly too short. Figuring that the
last ten miles to the Canadian border were merely a formality, Russ
threw in the towel and renegotiated to be picked up in Eureka.
There
were several southbound riders sharing the park, including a woman and
her father who bequeathed their (greatly improved and very helpful) 2018
20th anniversary Canada section map to Dov.
July
27: Russ and Dov enjoyed a last big breakfast as amigos before going
their separate ways. Dov crossed the border into Canada and was again,
for the first time since Cuba, riding Han style (a.k.a. Solo). After
grinding through some mildly unpleasant rural-residential roads, he
continued onto the souther tip of the Elk Valley trail, which he would
follow for the next few days. Dov stopped by a river north of Elko to
make camp and called it a night, exhausted and worn out but mostly
happy.
July 28: Another very damp, very cold
morning found Dov eating his customary unheated instant oatmeal mixed
with peanut butter and raisins. He set off on what soon became the most
verdantly picturesque section of the trail so far, a veritable lush
temperate Pacific Northwest rainforest. There were thimbleberries and
saskatoons, and our hero would occasionally stop for a few minutes to
browse. The road eventually turned to single track just south of Fernie,
which made for slightly slow going. This was the one type of trail our
hero’s rig was not well suited for. Our hero lunched in Fernie and then
pushed onwards through yet more beautiful, enjoyable,
thoroughly-inappropriate-for-
July 29: Our hero,
having thought long and hard about how slow he had been on the previous
day’s single track and how much of a completionist he really wanted to
be, left the trail and took the highway into the town of Elkford, where
he did a quick resupply before getting back on the trail. The road was
well maintained, well packed dirt, and our hero’s tires did sing,
letting him eat up the miles before he found a small, user maintained
campground right next to Weary Creek. There was a Belgian family already
there. As he talked with them, Dov learned that they were riding from
Vancouver to Calgary via the TransCanada and had already been on the
road for three months. Such a relaxed pace was explained away by the
fact that they were traveling with two small children, and so their days
had been of the 20 and 30 kilometer sort. A solo southbounder soon
rolled in, closely followed by two friends who were riding the divide
via guidebook and odometer. Dov bequeathed his US maps onto them,
professing that they needed them more than he did.
July
30: This day found Dov really pushing some tough climbs up to Elk Pass,
which marked the division between BC and Alberta. His drivetrain, while
not actually dead, was definitely lying in bed waiting for the priest,
and he had to carefully traverse so as not to stress it unduly. The
descent from Elk Pass followed a power line for a ways but devolved into
hiking trail and single track, which was slightly more confusing to
follow, before dumping our hero out into Peter Lougheed Provincial Park,
where he had to do yet more climbing. His estimate based on the map put
him at only forty miles for the day, however, so while the siren song
of official camping spots did test his resolve, grimly did he head north
towards Spray Lake. Our hero had been on the road leaving the park for
barely an hour when he saw a car stopped by the side of the road.
Concerned for those inside, he pulled up close, finally noticing the
driver leaning his body out of the window with a big ol’ camera pointed
at the opposite side. Just as Dov was about to pass in front of the
camera, two bears popped up from the grass, a mother and cub, seemingly
grizzlies. While the bears seemed unconcerned and relaxed, our hero
decided to place the car between him and them and passed behind it to
continue his journey up the road. He was rewarded with a tough but
enjoyable climb nestled in the rift between two enormous chains of
mountains that eventually brought him to the southern tip of a large
artificial lake. Our hero did bravely push on, knowing that at the
northern edge there was a campsite where he could safely plotz.
July
31: Still worn out from a very long previous day, our hero was slow to
move this morning, but rise he did eventually for the last day of riding
during his epic journey. He had not been on the trail for more than an
hour before he encountered another grizzly about thirty feet in front of
him on the trail, contentedly doing its own thing. Calmly and smoothly
our hero did turn back and gave the bear a chance to go away on its own.
Twice did our hero venture forth again, and twice did he retreat due to
the bear not having moved. The third time, our hero did start singing
for a good two minutes before venturing forth, and this time the bear
had gone away. Slightly shaken but undaunted, our hero did continue
riding the Highline and then Goat Creek trails, confidently singing his
way through such classics as Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath
(both Ozzy and Dio), Kiss, Judas Priest, Amon Amarth, and Motorhead
before he ran out and had to start recycling material. Soon he began
seeing more day riders, and eventually, tired but triumphant, our hero
rolled into Banff, which he immediately disliked. He had been on the
road for nearly two months and was not used to crowds any more. Banff is
touristy to an extreme, and most of the tourists are loud and
obnoxious. Our hero was able to suck it up, though, and had some lunch
while he bought himself a return ticket to Vancouver online. He then
checked himself in to one of the least horribly expensive accommodations
and, after conducting some other small items of business, went to
sleep.
August 1-2: This was our hero’s return journey to Vancouver and, from a bicycling perspective, was not particularly interesting.
There
you have it, my friends. The mostly accurate, sporadically photographed
first hand account of Dov’s journey along the Great Divide Mountain
Bike Route.
This is the collated trip report I did of my stint Northbound on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which I did from early June to early August of 2018. It remains the single most joyous and pure experience I have ever had, and it's filled my life with purpose and meaning to ride even crazier trips in really wild parts of the world.
The report was stitched together after the fact based on emails and texts I'd sent to my parents, dated photos I'd taken, and triggered back-of-the-envelope reckoning with the map. While compiling it I'd frequently realize "there must have been another day in there, because otherwise this timeline contradicts itself." I was actually a little surprised with how well I could remember some very specific interactions, interludes, and pieces of scenery, even over a year and a half later.
The images got a little mangled when I turned this into a blog post. I will come back and fix them at some point.
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