According to those that know the Great Divide route there is only about 10% single track and today we got treated to 1% of that 10. It must be some of the more spectacular because the adventure cycling Association chose this portion of the trail for one of their supported trips. ACA GD Montana

The climb to get there was 1500 feet in 5 miles. Views were spectacular and the trailer was pretty narrow and exposed in a few spots. Don says, “it was overgrown for many miles”. Downhill was fast and furious, not allowing for sightseeing unless you stopped to look.

We came into Sealy Lake where the ACA was camped in the local campground. Kind of overwhelmed the campground single stall male female restrooms were crowded with 38 riders and 10 support to say the least. There are also two thru-riders totally overloaded on heavy bikes. Since I am mentioning other riders we met with three northbound riders from Tennessee just about to complete their tour. All young guys who have carpetbags for a front handlebar bag.

Riding thru ranch lands south of Columbia Falls the distinctive aroma of Dill led me to notice almost a section of land behind split rail fence was entirely dill. As this was horse country, with every spread featuring corrals, stalls and hay stacks it seemed incongruous. It set me to thinking, ” do horses eat dill?” I doubt it, but it was a pleasant surprise.

Don’s rear tire was still losing air even with a new tire installed just the day before. Fortunately there was a bike shop only five miles off route half-way thru the days ride so we stopped in Big Foot for a fix. Unfortunately the sealant was on a. UPS truck due in by 3pm, hopefully. We took a real leisurely late breakfast and hung out until the delivery which came in early at 2pm.

On a long downhill high above a lake we were pretty surprised to come across an eight inch turtle smack in the middle of the gravel road. After watching him for a short spell we placed him on the down slope hoping he wouldn’t be road kill.

It was hard to start out once again in the mid afternoon especially when the route involved most the days climbing remaining. We opted for an off route campground near Swan River that was more swamp than campsite. At best you’d call it abandoned, however there was already a Canadian couple with there tent set-up next to the only broken picnic table. We asked to share the site, pitching our tents in the gravel driveway. Before long still one more couple cycled in and we had five tents clustered around.

Bugs and Mosquitos were the best redeeming factor of that site.

Not a zero today but two digit day with a zero after it and only a one in front. Between bike repairs, catching up on blogging, sleeping in, shopping and a rainstorm we didn’t get very far. We’re calling it a rest and recovery day.

Yesterday Don had to pump his rear tire up about four or five times and this morning we woke up tire was entirely flat and couldn’t get the tire to seal on the rim. We tried to seal the rim on the local picnic table but that didn’t work and so he walked a mile and a bit to the bike shop where they put it on the rack and determined that he needed a new tire.  And it was time to restore the supplies so we spent quite a bit of time in the local Safeway trying to figure out what we could fit on the bike, have high calories and protein and tasty at the same time.

We weren’t the only ones getting reorganized and recovering. Our local Commonwealth friends spent quite a bit of time in Whitefish as well. We found them on the corner lawn going thru all their gear. They said they sent a combined 20 pounds home. Young folks from Washington State sent home 15 pounds from their Bob trailers.

In early afternoon we found ourselves in Columbia Falls, Montana. Yes, only 10 miles down the road, where it started raining. After waiting over a hour for it to stop, Don found an Air BnB for a reasonable price and checked us in. Bunks tonight.

Tough day yesterday, lots of climbing, lots of dust on the road. Not to mention heat was probably somewhere between 99 and 100 and we’re only at about 4000 feet. We did manage 60 miles, actually 62 miles, yesterday but today we got 60 miles of them off the map.

It was hard not to jump into this lake at the top half called Red Meadow Lake, we still had 22 miles down into Whitefish, Montana. Whitefish is evidently a recreation town of less than 10,000. Lots of trophy homes along the lake and very small downtown area. We found a restaurant specializing in pork before we even looked for a place to lie down. Grilled pork salad went down with 3 16-ounce tumblers of water.

The hardest part of the day is gone climbing is riding with a semi-flat tire. A slow grind, it had to be pumped four times in 60 miles. Don says, “should’ve been 10 times”. He tried fixing it once we got to town on a picnic table, no joy. Now it’s on the bike stand shown above.

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.

Making sure the Spot Locater is on, as shown here, before my continuing quest to explore the Great Divide Trail that I started last year.   Had to wait until the snow was melted above 10,000, as the first two days of this leg would necessitate camping at that altitude.  Fortunately my new Zpacks 20° sleeping bag arrived in time so even if it did dip below freezing (which it did) I’d be toasty in the sack.

This leg was a continuation of the trip from Steamboat Springs (northern Colorado) to Del Norte (50 miles north of the southern Colorado boarder).  I’d planned for a 3 to 5 day ride from Del Norte over Indiana Pass (11,910′) on south over a number of other 10+ passes to Abiquiu, NM and then to Cuba, NM and hopefully Grants, NM off I-40 in south central New Mexico.

The ride went well, but I didn’t feel I was making the mileage I had the year before, probably because I didn’t train for the Iron Horse Classic this year.  However, last year I didn’t attempt as many or as high passes on the first day so I rationalized the under performance.  The new(er) 29’er was superb and my load was well within race weight, even the motor ran well, I just didn’t knock off the higher mileage I’d expected.  Weather was perfect starting out, but as all mountain folk know, afternoon thunderstorms are always a possibility and by lunch I had to don my leggings and a rain coat because the light precip was actually snow.  By the time I passed over the first range of passes and made to a NewMexico mountain town of Platoro, it started raining and I ducked into a fortuitous cafe for snack and cup of hot water.  Only logged about 70 miles the first day but I did find an excellent camping sport by the river.  I must have been tired, as I didn’t consider the colder temps along the river when I chose this site.  My tent didn’t seem to have any condensation of the inside until I realized it had frozen and flaked off when stowing the tent.

Second day rose up several more passes and stayed high along the Rio Grande National Forest.  This country was absolutely spectacular in it’s views, high mountain meadows and total lack of usage.  What a pleasure it was riding thru this high alpine terrain.  I’ll have to admit to losing my way twice because I wasn’t paying attention to a couple of turn-offs, but fortunately they weren’t but two miles the first time and one mile the second.  Enough to scold yourself for having to climb again where you shouldn’t have.

I did meet a number of cyclists and one CDT thru-hike along the way.  The first was a north bound solo rider who racer two years earlier (Bobby from Buena Vista, CO).  He was 7 days from the Mexico boarder trying to make the entire route in 20 days total.  Nice to compare gear and rigs with him and learn that mine was very comparable.  Next I caughtup with 3 guys out of Albuquerque who were “shaking-down” their bike, bodies and gear for a 50 mile section of the same trail I was on.  Two of the bikes were pulling Bob trailers and they had at least 55 pounds of bike and gear.  I don’t believe they made their goal the first day because I ended up stopping at their campground destination to get water and they weren’t there.  I also met a couple cycling north and they were 18 days from the Mexico boarder.  I didn’t ask but they probably are planning on the entire summer to complete the 2,900 mile route.

The bad news is that I bailed out at the end of the third day in Abiquiu, NM suffering from a buttock blister that kept me out of the saddle most of that day.  It’s hard to inspect the degree of injury but retrospective diagnosis said it was over a silver dollar-sized oozing mess.

For those who didn’t get my daily Spot track I’m including the last 50 GPS tracking locations that the Spot locator provides on line.