I was inspired by Lael Wilcox to pencil in a date on my personal calendar:

Friday, June 10th, 2022 at 8AM – Banff, Alberta

That’s the start of the 2022 Tour Divide Mountain Bike Race.

UPDATE. I had to cancel this adventure for 2022. Hopefully I can reschedule it for 2023.

It’s free. No registration. No commitment in advance. I could show up … or not.

I’d dreamed of lining up with Lael and watching her for about 45 seconds as she pedalled out of sight. 😀 Sadly Lael is not racing 2022. She’s in Europe this summer, instead.

The Tour Divide roughly follows the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) is the most recognized and important off-pavement cycling route in the United States, if not the world.

The route crisscrosses the Continental Divide from north to south starting in Banff, Alberta, Canada and finishing at the US/Mexico border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico.

I don’t have time, bike or talent to do the whole thing. But I’m hoping to ride the start down into Montana. Then divert over to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho where I broke down on my 2019 Great American Rail-Trail bikepacking adventure. Dave Adlard had to rescue me. 😀

MIGHT do some hiking in Montana. Then head for the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes.

UPDATE: In 2019 an alternative further west was announced:

Western Wildlands Route (formerly Wild West)

This adventure is the flagship achievement of Bikepacking Roots, a not-for-profit advocacy group founded by Kurt Refsnider and Kaitlyn Boyle in 2017.

It’s less technical and easier for touring bikes than the Divide — so I may divert on to the Western Wildlands starting at Eureka, Montana. I’ll see how I’m feeling at the time. 😀

Blue line to the west is the Western Wildlands Route

Likely I’ll end up making a loop of the two routes, returning to Calgary via Eureka.

For navigation I’ll likely be using the paid FarOut app (formerly Guthook) as it’s the most popular for both Divide and Wild West. But I hope to have backup maps, as well.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.