Don and I decided to purchase gravel bikes in the fall of 2020. We were not aware of the shortage of bicycles until we started looking and realized that finding bikes would be a challenge. We had talked to our friend Kurt who had suggested several brands and gave us the advice to ride different brands before making a selection. The first store that we went to had an extra small and extra large Salsa Fargo. We took them out for a test run and were impressed, but heeding the advice we had gotten we decided to check out some other stores. We happened to be in Portland and thought that would be easy. Wrong! After finding out that there weren’t any other bikes to try out, we quickly called the store that had the Salsa Fargos and told the store manager we would return shortly to purchase the bikes. After purchasing the bikes we headed south and after riding in California we quickly realized the value of tubeless tires. (4 flats in a day was quite convincing) After watching numerous you tube videos we felt competent enough to get rid of our tubes and go tubeless. It wasn’t long till we were checking out places and gear to buy to go bike packing. We once again turned to our friend Kurt who was preparing to do the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. He sent us a list of manufactures that he had researched and recommended for us to check out. We started building up the gear that we needed. Since we had already done quite a bit of light weight back packing, a lot of the camping gear was easy to transfer to our new sport. Our main purchases were the packs to put on the bikes and the tools that were biking specific.
The next summer we did several trips on Rails to Trails in Missouri and Nebraska. We were hooked and the thought of doing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route became an idea to pursue. By this time Kurt and his wife Becca had done some of the trail and we looked forward to their stories. The spring of 2021 gave us an opportunity to visit and see Kurt’s set up.
We took notes and learned a lot.
A fun ride on a gravel trail near their home in Bellingham got us excited. Maybe! Perhaps! The seed was planted.
Lots of stories were told today.
Meanwhile we had some other adventures to pursue, but the seed that was planted had begun to grow and while we were in South America in Feb. of 2022, we made the decision that when we got back to the states we were going to do the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
It was the end of March when we arrived back to California and started to make lists of what needed to be done before attempting the route. We also began the logistics of how we were going to get to the start of the route. We ordered maps and the Bicycle route Navigator App from Adventure Cycling. Our first impression when we received the packet of maps was uh oh. There is a lot of miles to peddle between the start and the finish. We realized that we would need to take a day to day approach and not get overwhelmed by the distance.
We also ordered Cycling The Great Divide by Michael McCoy. Even though it was written over 10 years ago, a lot of the information was still quite relevant. Kurt also loaned us several books that he enjoyed reading before his ride. I also found numerous sites on the internet that were quite useful In fact there is so much info that I narrowed it down to several sites that would be my go to when I needed to do more research. My favorite site was exploringwild.com.
One thing that was recommended for us to do was change our front sprocket to a smaller one that would make climbing easier. Our racing friends thought that we would want to be able to go faster, but in the end we were quite happy that we could slow our cadence down and peddle up those hills. (at least some of them) We got pretty good at hike a bike, too!
Our friends who we had worked with in NOLS from the early 80’s now live in Colorado. Jim is a bike fitter and encouraged us to make a trip to Colorado on our way to Alaska. Don was quite excited with this idea. I was ambivalent since I thought my bike was pretty comfortable. After a 3 hour session for each of us I was amazed at how little changes made a big difference in the fit of my bike. We got new seats and are quite happy to report that we never had any major problems with being on our bikes for long days. In fact we had very minor physical problems.
We were able to spend several days with Jim and Celia and appreciated all the pointers that they shared with us.
We are getting excited!
Jim not only got our bikes to fit us well, but along with Celia gave us encouraging words during the trip.
Last year the Canadian Border had been closed for us to travel by van to our home in Alaska. This year with all the correct documentation, it was a go. We talked to our friends Katie and Sam who had done the Great Divide Bike route several times and they recommended to take our time thru Canada and find gravel roads to ride on the way up. We wanted to get us much time on our bikes pre bike adventure as possible, so gladly took their advice. We will do that again as we passed thru some beautiful country.
We even got out our inflatable canoe and enjoyed an evening paddle on this lake.
We enjoyed a slower pace to get back home.
Once back to Palmer, our days became divided between, biking as much as possible, doing logistics and getting our gear together. We also decided that we were going to send some resupply boxes and tried to figure out where they should be sent. We quickly realized that our strategy for food on thru hikes and longer kayaking and canoeing trips would not transfer to this trip. We had a huge learning curve! Thanks for all the help that we got from our biking friends. Don also could be found watching You Tube videos as he learned about mechanical problems that we might encounter.
One afternoon we met our friend Larry who gave us the pointers for Hill climbing. As we climbed up the 8% grade at Hatcher pass his advice was let the hill come to you and just start out with the granny gear!
Liked those matching shirts.
Finally it was time to see if the gear we had accumulated would actually fit on our bikes. We will start with Don’s bike and look at the Packs he used.
On the front forks-Salsa Expedition Series Cage with Cage bags
Top tube- Jerry Can from Revelate
Frame bag- The Ripio frame bag from Revelage
Front bag-Zeitgeist Pack from Swift Design
Handle bars he had two bags one from Oveja Negra and one from Pack Northwest
Under the seat bag -16L Spinelock from Relevate
He also used the SO useful voile straps to add another bag to his Spinelock
Don’s bike is Extra large so he had more options than I did
Donna’s bike is an extra small Salsa Fargo so her choices were more limited. A seat bag would not work so a rack was necessary in order to attach panniers.
Front Forks -Salsa Expedition series Cage with cage Bags
No frame bag-just enough room for my large water bottle
Front bag-Catalyst bag from Swift Design
Handle bar bags 2 from Pack Northwest
Panniers-Nano Panniers from Revelate
Water proof stuff sack that went on to the rack attached with voile straps I also carried a tarp on top of the waterproof stuff sack.
We both carried a Hey Bear Holster on the front cages made by Pack Northwest.
As Don worked thru bike tools, sealants and lubrication needed for the trip, I started on logistical details. Since we were driving from Alaska and not returning to Alaska we needed to figure out where to leave our van when we were riding. We checked to see if leaving our van in Canada near Banff made sense. After talking to some Canadian friends that did not seem to be an option. I next looked at getting a shuttle from Whitefish to Banff. This was a possibility, but trying to find a reasonable place to store the van was difficult. Looking more closely at the route, I saw that the route passed thru the town of Pinedale. We had some NOLS friends that lived there and perhaps that might be a good place to store the van for the duration of our trip. Pinedale is not quite half way. They were contacted and told us that wouldn’t be a problem. Now all we had to do was figure out how to get to the start of the route in Banff. We looked into a Uhaul rental. One can take Uhauls across the border. After more research I discovered that it was cheaper to actually break our travel into two legs. We got a Uhaul from Pinedale to Kalispell and then one from Kalispell to Canmore. We could easily ride our bikes from Canmore to the bike route. I also contacted several friends that lived on the route and checked to see if I could send them a resupply box. We planned the following locations for resupplies: Whitefish (planned to drop it off on the way to Pinedale) Lima CO (this was also planned to be dropped off when we drove south) Steamboat springs CO, and Salida CO. boxes were sent to friends after we had arrived in Pinedale. A friend sent a box to South Pass Wy. We also left a resupply box in our van that was left in Pinedale. The details of the trip were coming together.
We take our bikes to the Bicycle shop In Palmer to have a check up and to put on some new tires. They are called Fleecer Ridge tires and were developed specifically for this route. We are ready to begin!
We leave Alaska on July 2. It has been a sunny and hot June which made for a great summer to get lots of riding done. We hadn’t decided which route to the lower 48 we were taking south, when a friend texted us about the closure of the Alaskan highway post Whitehorse. That decision made it easy to just head down the Cassiar. We stopped at one of the rest stops in the Yukon to take a short break. A car pulled in to do likewise and then we realized that we knew the driver. He was a man that we had met on the ferry last year when we were heading to Alaska. He was doing a kayaking trip with a friend in the Southeast. We had given our email to them when they expressed interest in knowing more about Prince William Sound. This year he and his wife were on a road trip exploring Alaska all the way to northern coast. Small world! As we headed down the Cassiar several large rocks fell from a truck and smashed the windshield. We were able to continue, but began looking for options to get it fixed. A store in Frazier BC ordered one and told us that it would be here tomorrow. When we took the van in to get the work done, they came back out with the news that we needed to have bodywork done and they weren’t able to do it. Back on the road we went.
We decided to drive from Jasper to Banff. Some bicyclists start the route in Jasper, but after reading some of the blogs we opted to drive this part of the route and start in Banff. Banff was so crowed, parking lots were full and we were so fortunate to find a campsite. We were able to get the last site at one which had over 300 sites.
The next morning we headed to Banff and found a place to park the van for the day. Since we will be dropping off the Uhaul in Canmore we have decided to do the first 12 miles of the route today and when we actually start the trip we will join it where we rode to today.
The trail starts right behind this hotel. It was impressive and quite expensive.
As we start down the trail we meet a couple of bikers who are just finishing. They started in New Mexico 2 month ago. They were all smiles and it added to our excitement.
We did 12 miles of the trail today, taking us to where the trail from Canmore joins. We got a feel for the trail as it went from a nice gravel path to a very rocky one requiring some bike pushing. There were plenty of hills making us appreciate our climbing gear. One fun sighting was a newly hatched grouse.
The mother was so protective as she hurried her baby across the trail.
This is where the trail for us begins. (but now it is off to Pinedale to leave our van)
We decide to leave early the next morning to head to Eureka Mt. We spend the night at the city park there and talk to several bikers who are just starting the route. They tell us that some of the trail has been washed out and they are not going to Whitefish. We realize that it doesn’t make sense to drop a box there, if we won’t be passing thru. The next day we do drop a box off at Lima MT before heading to Pinedale.
Upon arriving to Pinedale we are greeted by Jim and JJ. Jim.unfortunately has fallen and broken his pelvis. He needs to go to the Doctor tomorrow in Jackson so we offer to pet sit. While they are gone we do our last minute packing. Since we need to get our windshield fixed, Jim and JJ recommend a place in Pinedale as well as a business that will look at our van brakes while we are gone. This seems to be a great plan as we can drop off the van tomorrow and pick up the Uhaul. Finally we are getting ready to start our trip.
A big thanks to Jim and JJ!
We pick up the Uhaul
It all fits so easily!
We decide to stop at Eureka Mt. to camp at the city park before entering Canada tomorrow. We are having challenges with the Arrive Canada App and hope that we get an understanding border guard if we can’t complete it. At the city park we meet several bikers who are in various stages of riding the trail. We figure that we won’t see any of them again, but read on later in this blog when we do. Tomorrow our journey on the Great Divide Bike Trail finally begins.