7/20/22, T-3 days

I told myself I wouldn't do another blog.  The last one I did, for my 2016 cross country ride, was a bit of a pain.  That was mainly due to my commitment to posting something for every day, and due to the fact that I was doing it using an S3.  Not much has changed in terms of the device.  Its newer but I will still be posting using a tiny cell phone screen.  What has changed is I am not going to hold myself to have a post for every day.  There were many days I just didn't feel like it but was doing it out of a sense of duty.  So this time you may not see a post for 3 or 4 days, or more.  This is also partially out of necessity since the route this time will often put me out of the reach of cell towers.  The entries will probably be better for it.

At this point I am almost all set to go.  I have every piece of gear I need and travel plans are all in place.  The only thing I need to do is take my bike apart and stuff it into a bike box for the flight to my starting point (Banff, Canada).  Given all the airline issues I am just hoping that my bike and gear all make it to the start.  The route this time is the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR).  The following links have more detail for those that are interested.

The short explanation

A bit more detail

A very detailed overview by the company that produces the mapsets  

This time I will not bother posting a gear/equipment list but I darn near replicated this rider's equipment.  She has a link somewhere near the bottom of her page with a detailed equipment list.  Her page is a very good read.  Putting together the equipment has been a learning experience.  I am using a bikepacking setup this time and it has about half the carrying capacity that the typical bike touring setup I am used to.  It has forced me to significantly reduce what I am bringing along (even foregoing the usual backpacking stove).  Over the last few weeks I have had to go through several rounds of packing, realizing not everything fits, figuring what to weed out, then repeating the process.

As for duration, I am constrained to 8w by work considerations.  Based on the mileage for the section of the route that I plan to do (Banff to Hachita, NM) I need to average 50 miles and 3,700 ft of climbing per day.  In training I got up to 65 miles and 5,000 feet of climb in a day.  Although that may sound like I have it made, that is not the case.  Day after day of 50 miles on a loaded down bike is a very different thing than 65 miles once a week on an unloaded bike.  It should be enough though.

That is it for now.  My next post will probably not be at least until I start riding.







Comments

  1. TanyaJuly 26, 2022 at 9:27 PM

    I love the blog. It reassures me that you are still alive. Lol. Actually, I love being able to share this experience with you via the internet.

    ReplyDelete

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