Hit the Road

The Great Divide

2768 miles from Banff, Canada to the Mexican border in New Mexico. This is the longest off-road cycle trail in the world.

The Great Divide, from Banff to New Mexico

Biking Bad: cycling in New Mexico

After crossing Indiana Pass the route continues through the mountains over La Magna pass before turning off toward the Mexican Border and Crucas Basin Wilderness. The guide notes warn that that the route after this point becomes impassable when wet. We have learnt over the past 2000 miles that when the notes say something is…

Indiana pass and the last Gatorade

Alternative titles included “Indiana pass and the riders of the lost park”, “Indiana pass and the pedal of doom” and “Indiana pass and the kingdom of the tired legs”. Okay, the last one needs some work, but I had four hours and 4000ft of climb this morning to think of good set of titles. Let…

Gentlemen of the road, Salida stopover

We stopped for a day off in the lovely Colorado town of Salida. It was surprising to see all the shops and businesses draped in Union flags when we arrived. I assumed they had heard we were coming and decided to make a bit of effort for us. But it turns out that it’s for…

Climbing out of Brekenridge, Co

When we looked at the map this morning we were a little worried by the 2000ft climb out of Brekenridge Colorado over just 10 miles. But when it came to it, the grade wasn’t too bad and the views more than made up for the uphill slog. From the beautiful ski resort town the road…

Great Divide ride log

Day 1 – Banff to Spray Lake (17.9 mi) Day 2 – Spray Lake to Canyon Campground (38.68 mi) Day 3 – Canyon Campground to Elkford (54.91 mi) Day 4 – Elkford to Sparwood (22.82 mi) Day 5 – Sparwood to Fernie (19.34 mi) Day 6 – Day off in Fernie Day 7 – Fernie…

Wyoming: wide, windy and warm

This section between Pinedale and Rawlins takes us through the Great Basin of Wyoming. The route opens out in to spectacular wide desert land with no services apart from the odd ghost town. Luckily for us, the wind was on our backs helping to push us along. We passed wild horses and camped amongst wild…

The Teton spur

After an enthusiastic recommendation from a cyclist we met in Yellowstone (roryrides.com) we took another small diversion in to the Grand Tetons national park. The 20 mile or so trip off the route is well worth it for the beautiful camping spot at Jenny Lake and the amazing ride toward these mountains which seem to…

Three states and two divide crossings in one day

I’d like to say it was a feat of endurance but it’s actually just a freak of geography that allowed us to ride from Montana in to Idaho for 20 miles then back in to Montana before crossing in to Wyoming. We finish the the day camping on the rim of the super-volcano that is…

Riding out of Butte, MT

A traditional cornish pasty from Butte.