From there I’d most like to head back up to the Dolomites. On to Switzerland. And north to Arctic Norway to start the LONG ride I had planned for last summer. CANCELLED when SAS Airlines failed to deliver my bike.
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. 😀
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.
Blood Road, according to director Nicholas Schrunk, “set out to document an epic cycling expedition as well as Rebecca’s personal journey to visit the crash site [of her father], but we ended up uncovering something much deeper.
It’s a story about the scars, both physical and emotional, that war leaves on families, countries, and cultures, and how they still exist today.
EuroVelo 6 (EV6), named the “Rivers Route”, is a long-distance cycling route that runs along 3,653 km (2,270 mi) some of Europe’s major rivers, including much of the Loire, some of the Saône, a short section of the upper Rhine and almost the entire length of Europe’s second longest river, the Danube — from the Atlantic coast of France to the city of Constanța on the Black Sea.
The EV6 traverses ten countries …
Lauren Pears went for a 3 month solo bike ride across Europe last summer – from London to Istanbul – whereby she used the EuroVelo 6 – Atlantic-Black Sea for most of the way. …
Canada’s Great Trail app is better, but still sucks
I love the free maps.me app … but it’s lacking in North America as not many people use it here. It steered me wrong a number of times.
Google maps offline is not much help as it only shows automobile routes.
a British cyclist recommended the free ridewithgps app. I’ll try it next.
Canada’s Great Trail (formerly called the Trans Canada Trail) was better than I expected. B.C. includes many of the best sections.
I hiked less than anticipated
Sweet Creek Falls, Idaho
I had too much weight on the back. Next time I’ll use saddlebags mounted in front and (possibly) mid-frame
bikes need a lot of maintenance. And I’m the worst at bicycle maintenance. En route I fixed one flat. Had 4 broken spokes. Visited 4 bike shops. Had both tires upgraded.
Dave had his guys replace the chain and some other hardware. That helped immensely.
I started in Nanaimo wanting to get to Lake Cowichan as quickly as possible.
Lake Cowichan is the western terminus of the Great Trail.
Lake Cowichan to Victoria on the Cowichan Valley Trail
2. Islands to Port Townsend WA
After visiting friends in Victoria, I took the most direct route to visit friends in Port Townsend via the American San Juan Islands.
3. Port Townsend WA to Rattlesnake Lake WA
To avoid some highway miles, Doug & Diana delivered me to the Bainbridge ferry. I cycled the Burke-Gilman rail to trail and others connected to get to the fantastic Iron Horse Trail out of Rattlesnake Lake.
4. Rattlesnake Lake WA to Tekoa WA on the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail
5. Eastern Washington
Just past Ellensburg I was forced off the semi-official GART on to secondary highways and alternative trails that took me through Spokane.
I found this section of GART to be too soft and sandy for my tires. Also it was too disconnected.
I finally stopped at Plummer, Idaho. Dave Adlard picked me up. We dropped the bike at a shop for repair as I’d broken 3 spokes the previous evening. And then took an indulgent 8 days off in Couer d’Alene.
6. North to Castlegar
Dave and Jeni rode with me away from the Adlard log cabin in Athol. We headed towards Sandpoint on back roads and I later rejoined the route shown in the map below. Dave had suggested I cross the border close to pretty Metaline Falls.
6. Castlegar to Hope
For decades I’d wanted to ride the Kettle Valley Rail (KVR) Trail and the Columbia & Western Rail Trail. It’s totally wonderful. And obviously one of the great cycling routes of the world.
Hope to Vancouver and on to Parksville on the Island was problematic. There is no excellent route yet available. Cyclists I met took a number of different roads.
Psychologically finished at Hope, I managed a series of rides, buses, trains and ferries to cover the 240km in about 36 hours without sleeping.
In the middle of the night — HOPE B.C. — I was awoken by rain.
Jumped out of the tent to put the fly which I’ve rarely used over the past month. The weather has been terrific.
It rained hard. The first hard rain of the month.
I packed up quickly in the morning when it let up briefly. But was soaked by the time I got to Tim Hortons and, later, McDonalds.
By about 9:30am the skies looked threatening … but I set out anyway with the vague dream of reaching Vancouver Island same day.
It looked unlikely as — shockingly — all these left coast Vancouver suburb cities have yet to organize a connected non-motorized trail through the big sleazy.
Least bad option was starting west on Laugheed Highway 7.
This was a big letdown after the Kettle Valley rail trail. 😕
Some of the bridges are quite dangerous for cyclists, as well.
Happily, the Golden Ears bridge (opened 2009) is a dream. It has bike-pedestrian protected lanes on each side.
On arrival in Langley I asked a bus driver the best public transit with bike to downtown Vancouver. That led to an intercity bus with bike rack. Cycling 6.5 km. The Sky Train. Ferry to Londsdale Quay. And two more local buses to Horseshoe Bay.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
And I made it to Horseshoe Bay in time for the 10:40pm last ferry. The last of the day.
Should I cross. Or wildcamp on the mainland?
I decided to take the ferry. It was 12:20am on arrival in Nanaimo.
Deciding not to wild camp, I decided to stay up all night in Tim Hortons and ride the final 30km or so at dawn.
Oops. Seems I ALSO accidentally turned off the Relive app after only 65km. The day was actually at least twice as long.
My navigation skills are poor. But in this case the confusion was mostly due to missing roads on the Maps.me app.
There was nobody to ask.
Also, there are very few road direction signs in this remote area.
Merde.
Another problem. One of my saddle bags broke. Luckily I’m a mechanical genius and quickly hacked a fix.
On the bright side I did see a LOT of wildlife this day. Fox. Coyote. Skunk. Marmot. My 5th bear.
Fewer cyclists cover this section. Some trail is in rough shape. Some rockslides never cleared.
The Great Trail gets complicated when it reaches the Coquihala highway.
All the cyclists I spoke with took the highway when they couldn’t find the trail. As I did.
The Coquihala wasn’t as bad as I feared. And as I was cycling downhill, my average speed was probably 30km / hour.
Happily, whomever added these white painted arrows did a good job. These pointed the best route.
One excellent section of the Great Trail required sliding the bike under these barriers.
There was some superb scenery on the way to Hope.
A British cyclist reminded me how lucky we were to have the chance to cycle in paradise.
Wondering about the time all day, I was happy to reach the Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park before it closed at dark. Fantastic. And I’d never been before.
In the Coquihalla Gorge – the river cut a 300 foot deep channel of solid granite. A straight line of tunnels were built through it which are known now as the Othello Tunnels. …
This park highlights the Kettle Valley Railway grade that passes through the canyon and 5 tunnels which were built in 1914.
I wild camped close the very end of the 450 km Kettle Valley rail trail on the outskirts of Hope.
Rick McCharles 