Is This Ride for You?

Here is my answer for you: yes. Please, ride this ride. After experiencing two very different bike tours now, (and this is Michelle writing), I appreciate the Divide even more than I did while riding it. For me it ended a week early and in a great deal of pain, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it. You will be challenged, you will have a hard time, but you will also experience the glorious, heart opening beauty of mountain tops and wide open spaces that give your mind space to think. Who you are will determine the content of all that mind-space, and whatever it adds up to it is just as it should be. What matters is this: after a certain number of hours or days the busyness of life back home fades and you are in the present. You can’t help it. It is then that the depth of the color fills you, the sweetness of the pines hits you, the rush of the water passing by your tent reminds you of what really matters.

OK, Enough of That – Some Practical Stuff

Here are some things to think about. While this is a challenging ride physically, you don’t have to be a technical mountain bike rider to complete it or to enjoy it. There will be small sections that even the best riders will push, but the majority of the ride is on dirt or gravel roads (though these are sometimes in pretty rough shape). Your main concerns will be strength and endurance. However, if you have plenty of time these can become a little less of an issue.

Pick a good partner if you’re riding with someone else because everyone rides differently and at different speeds, and someone’s going to need to be patient. You’ll want to ride as much as you can before the Divide to get in shape, but also realize some of your conditioning will happen in the first two or three weeks of riding.

The lighter you pack, the easier each of the 2,500 miles will feel, but as Dave and I have shown, heavy bikes can make it too. Do some experimenting beforehand if you can and decide whether you’d rather go ultralight (no cook kit = a much lighter load, etc.) or if you like all your comforts packed on a sturdy steel frame like we do. We like a hot meal at the end of the day. There’s everything in between as well. The point of this paragraph is that this is a terrific and beautiful ride for many kinds of riders, and you can do it–just know yourself and what you need to do to make it happen and you’ll be glad you did.

Where to Start

First, buy the route maps from Adventure Cycling Association. They not only tell you where to turn, but also give hints on terrain, water and grocery sources on the way, a little area history, and advice on climate and alternate routes. Next, buy the book, Cycling the Great Divide by Michael McCoy. This gives much more information, including suggested riding days, what to expect each day in terms of terrain, road conditions, more back story, and possible camping spots. Be aware that it was published in 2000 so some information is a little out of date, but between the book and the maps you’ll do just fine. We made a ritual of reading about the next day’s ride during dinner so we could plan our water needs and food stops and do a little dreaming about the new sights we’d be seeing. If you are watching every ounce, you can copy the pages and get rid of them along the way while you leave the book sitting safely at home.

The best part about this ride is it’s relative lack of traffic throughout most of the route. While only a small portion is on single-track, some of the roads are so remote that you won’t see vehicles for hours on end, sometimes won’t see them for an entire day. This is the time you enjoy the difference between this bike tour and others that have been mapped out on paved roads. You can hear the birds singing or squirrels arguing, see the deer watching you as you pass, and sometimes even encounter bear or coyotes ahead on the trail. You don’t get this on paved bike tours. You’ll sleep soundly in your remote camping spots, often lulled by the sound of rivers or streams swirling endlessly past you.

It really is heaven.

 

Great Divide Pages: