Well, I am a week away from starting my next bicycling adventure and thought it might be wise to document this. Just in case you don’t hear from me again (for a while).
So, what is this old man up to now? I think you all can probably appreciate the need to escape from this “unreal” world for a bit, although it will be tough to leave my wonderful wife, dog, home, family behind for a while. Anyway, I have decided to dip my toe into the world of bikepacking for a change. So, some of you may wonder, what the heck is bikepacking? Well, most of you know that Linda and I have gone wandering around on our bicycles (bike touring) in the past with large packs strapped to the side. Bikepacking is basically the same thing, except you are supposed to take the more remote, “path less traveled “ versus some paved road. It is a bit confusing since we have travelled on dirt routes while bike touring, and I know I will be riding on some paved roads while on this bikepacking trip 🧐. I am sure it is all part of a larger conspiracy by bicycle and related gear companies to tell you you need to buy a lot of new expensive equipment to be an official “bikepacker”. The cool folks obviously bought this concept “hook, line, and sinker”, (including me now). This is obviously no longer your dad’s (or granddad’s) bicycling vacation. So, I will be joining those other young (and hip) “bikepackers” at the ripe (almost) age of 69.
Linda practicing “bikepacking” while on a Bicycle tour in 2014.
But you may ask, where will you be doing this bikepacking thing? Well, I asked the Google the same thing over a year ago, and up popped this endeavor on my computer to take your bicycle north of the border in Canada, and bicycle through the town of Banff, back into the US to an obscure place called Antelope Wells, New Mexico, that is right next to the border with our amigos in real Mexico. There is apparently nothing there but a barbed wire border fence. The Google also shows some pictures of some grimy looking folks raising their trusted steeds above their heads at the finish. It is very hard to tell if they are happy, or just disgusted, ready to slam their bikes to the ground.
The official name for this route is called the “Great Divide Mountain Bike Route”, or GDMBR for short. It is about 2,700 miles long (or 4.400 kilometers for you lucky ones), and gains about 150,000 feet (50.000 meters) in elevation. It follows the Continental Divide through the Rocky Mountains. Ok, there is an equal amount of downhills, but us tough and manly bikepackers like to focus on the tough stuff. Although, there appears to be many tough mountain ladies doing this as well, as shown in the pic above. Here is more info on it all in case you are interested: https://bikepacking.com/routes/great-divide-mountain-bike-route-gdmbr/
Yep, I know I am crazy, but dementia will cure me of any knowledge of this. Therefore, I decided to try to document as much of this experience before the inevitable. However, I will revert to some old school ways to do that with a plain blog. So, those expecting a visual and audio extravaganza on TicToc, will be greatly disappointed. I do plan on taking my camera equipment with me, so hopefully pictures and some video will spice it up a bit more. Even a drone, but I expect I will lose that in a tree, or crash it into a cliff.
I will post a few more “pre trip” blogs detailing a bit more on my preparation (or lack of that), and planning.
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