July 29, 2024
Opening Prologue
I will be riding with my good friend Peter. He will be writing about our trip too with added photos. You can find his journal here:
https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/greatchallenge/
I've wanted to ride the Great Divide Mountain bike route for a few years but the timing wasn't right. We are planning on taking anywhere from 42 days to 52 days. This year, with my kids leaving for university, seemed like the perfect time to try and tackle it.
Peter did an excellent job of explaining our route and you can find that post here:
https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/greatchallenge/what-is-the-gdmbr/
I've been an avid rider since 2017 mostly on mountain bikes, although I've dabbled in gravel riding. A few years ago I started bikepacking trips with the kids. We started with a double wide stroller that I pulled behind my bike and they rode without anything. It meant that I struggled up every hill but flew down the backsides.
Since 2019 we've knocked off several amazing trips, including Saturna Island, Maine Island, Pender Island, Kettle Valley Rail Trail and a 250 km loop on Vancouver Island from Victoria to Lake Cowichan returning through Duncan.
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Our most ambitious trip together was a 250 km section of the Kettle Valley Trail in British Columbia in 2020. I considered it ambitious because everything was loaded into the stroller and it was 100% gravel. We started at a random camp location by the Coquihalla Highway and rode 125 km out and back.
On the first 5 km of the trip I thought I'd made a colossal mistake because the gravel was loose and the trail was steep. It was hike-a-bike and very difficult. Fortunately, the trail leveled off to the promised 2% grade and got hard packed and the rest of the trip was fantastic.
I've also tackled the Sunshine Coast Mountain Bike Route from Powell River to the Lower Sunshine Coast. The photo above was my set up for that trip.
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If I added up all the trips I've probably logged somewhere between 2500 - 3000 km over about 30 nights. This cannot be fact checked :).
In this journal I plan to document our Great Divide adventure. Peter will serve as our bike mechanic, although my skills are decent. He'll also be our head navigator. My contribution will be grocery shopping and meal preparation. I think we'll make a great team!
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