Feeling good and with high mileage expectations we headed out to Whitefish, Montana, as our Great Divide map says, “not by the most expeditious route.” If you discount Don’s brakes not working right out of the campground (a consequence of laying the bike over next to the tent in a downtown park), we had a great ride south out of Eureka. A beautiful slight uphill ride into the mountains on a newly paved one lane road, added to the delight. It wasn’t until we couldn’t make the map match the sparse road signs that we even sensed a problem. We’d been leapfrogging back and forth with the Commonwealth boys, and when they were stopped at a remote intersection none of us could suss out which fork to take. After 20 minutes of debate I flagged down the only truck who quickly said, “You aren’t the first ones to miss the turn 10 miles back. Let me show you where you are. That ridge line is the Canadian border.”

Incredulity turned to resignation and the error turned out to be 14 miles one-way of gravel uphill climbing, 28 miles total. The right turn we missed was still on that new-minted macadam. Turns out the two-track we’d missed was the bane of all the racers three weeks earlier. Avalanche chute after avalanche chute left debris we had to stoop under and climb over. One run of debris was over two football fields’ long and we had to side-hill more than 100′ feet above the last detritus of downed trees and rubble.

The “glorious downhill” section proffered in the map text was a very tired run down to a primitive campground. We got the mileage we’d anticipated, just not the distance. Only good thing to be said is we didn’t climb that mountain and thru the avalanche debris in the rain and cold temps the racers experienced.

It was anti-climactic crossing back into the US, as it should be. I wasn’t sure if we’d be treated to a TSA screening or not, but it was fast and easy and they weren’t surprised to see cyclists coming thru this checkpoint. We’ve seen about ten GD tourers so far, with three going north bound and seven following the same course as us. We’ve met Buck and Bob from California. Buck was on a custom Pugsley Surley with a German 14-speed internal rear hub with it’s 4″ fat tires. Jenny and Josh from Washington were towing Bob trailers, and there were three commonwealth boys from NZ, AUS and Canada.

The most interesting rider we met so far was Jill from Denver who had just finished her 27-day ride northbound from Mexico. She’s done numerous bikepacking races, twice on the Colorado Trail in five days, the Arizona 750 twice and now the GD in 27. Not bad for only taking up mountain biking in the last 3 years. She was gracious enough to answer my countless questions about gear, food, sleeping and nutrition.

Normally a vegan, Jill practices what Don and I have agreed on, “What happens (what you eat) on the Tour, stays on the Tour.” The best thing I learned, we asked, “I heard you racers can be in your sleeping bags within 10 minutes of stopping to rest, how do you do it?” She showed me her sleeping rig: a tent with the NeoLite air mattress and Mont Bell 30-degree SS 3 tucked inside. She rolls the entire thing up and stuffs it in her front handlebar pack. As of this morning, my tent, pad and sleeping bag are rolled up just like hers.

Very nice feature the town of Eureka offers is a 2-acre public park in the center of town that allows overnight tent camping. The Commonwealth boys, Don and I plus Jill on her trip back to Denver stayed in this park. It even has a shower, albeit a cold one. Weather report for next two days is 98 and 100.

The Canadian Rockies are spectacular. We’ve always been told, while living in Silverton, that the San Juans are really beautiful but second to the mountains around Banff. It would be hard for me to put Banff in first place but I’m sure I’m not an impartial judge. The highway up here does get you a closer and longer look at the Rockies above tree line, and the forests surrounding them are pristine and beautiful. It’s just hard to say.

We’ve travelled shorter daily distances than I’d imagined, but that’s a good thing for several reasons. My riding partner, Don, spent the month before the ride rowing lots of whitewater and not biking; he had to configure all his gear bags, several of which I delivered to the trailhead. And most importantly, the last time I tried to knock off miles on the Great Divide, I DNF’ed the route due to saddle sores. So this time, with a different saddle (Brooks, which they say takes 500-1,000 miles to break-in and I’ve only got 750 miles on it), it’s probably prudent to take it easier. And lastly, I asked a northbound Rider who was about to finish in 30 days, “What would you do differently?”  His answer was, “I would take more time.”

The second night we made it to a trail-side old cabin that is posted as “User Maintained.” It was nice not to have to get the tents out and we stopped early enough to do wash and sponge ourselves off with very chilly creek water.

Most of the riding has been on old forest service roads, some power line access tracks, primitive campground access roads, a delightful old logging road around a very long lake, and occasionally some paved highway between gravel roads. Two sections have been described as “a pusher” and the other as “Start climbing a virtual wall”. Fortunately these are short-lived and soon overcome without cardiovasculating.

We are now in the British Columbia side of the Great Divide and have about 75 miles to the US border.

Flights to Calgary went without a hitch. Don arrived from California within 15 minutes of me and the shuttle to Banff and Canmore was only another 20-minute wait. Assembling the bikes took almost an hour and we did it in a hotel parking lot and put the boxes in their dumpster. Even better, the hotel had wireless so we were able to send home a few photos and messages.

We’d decided to get off the shuttle in Canmore because of it’s proximity to the trail and a campground right in town. It was 7:45 by the time we were rolling, and we decided a good meal was in order. Yelp! showed an Italian restaurant close by. The food was excellent but the service from the kitchen unbelievably slow. Since we’d decided to start riding that night instead of camping in town, I actually asked to pay the check before our food arrived in anticipation of leaving the restaurant just after 9PM. One more stop on the way to the trail yielded two 12″ Subway sandwiches.

Unbeknownst to us, the Great Divide race this year was detoured thru Canmore and we all had a surprise having to climb an hour-or-more-long dirt road ascent to a reservoir. For us it was probably more pleasant because we were cycling in lower temps and with less recreational traffic. The longer evening daylight let us cycle until after 11 pm without a headlamp. The Spay Lake campground was our destination and we got there shortly after midnight. Neither of us had filled our water bottles yet because we’d planned to do that at the first stop. We never found the official campground and pitched our tents in the overflow parking lot. In the morning we learned that it was $20 and the water was at a trailhead down the road.

Slow start that morning with more gear adjustments for Don, because his new front bags came with me from Durango.  On the second night we found a traveler’s cabin and made ourselves at home.

Preparations are in the final stages for the Great Divide adventure which begins shortly after we fly to Calgary, Canada on the 8th of July. (I’m going with Don the high school friend I cycled from Austin to St. Augustine in 2009) The equipment list has been tweaked and jiggered, weights adjusted, packs & straps altered and waterproof bags sealed for items that shouldn’t get wet.  It’s hard to plan for this long a trip even though we’ll be passing thru towns and near outdoor stores, most of our gear is fairly specialized and mostly available thru stores online specializing in Ultralight and Backpacking gear. McKenney requested the above detailed photo with labels on each, but those labels will have to wait. It was a good idea to check off each item against the Excel sheet because there were still a few items in my hiking backpack that needed to be transferred to the floor.

Shakedown(s) provided plenty of opportunities for changes, repairs and corrections to gear and the bike. Now it’s time to consider weights.

The Cannondale Lefty is an all carbon bike but with all the packs velcro’ed on she weighs in at 27.4 pounds.  Best guess on the frame packs is 5.15 pounds and the Excel sheet calculates the gear and clothes on the bike (Base Weight) at 10.2 pounds.  If I take out the Electronics at 1.78 pounds the Adjusted Base Weight is 8.16 pounds. Total bike push/lift weight should be right at 41 pounds.  Total Pedal Weight with water is 53 pounds.

Thanks to my nephew, Christopher, who discovered a number of maintenance items – derailleur hanger bent, shock release not working, seat post rails too small, chain too dry and tires needing sealant – the bike should be in good shape now.