Planning to cycle part of the Continental Divide

On By Rick McIn best bike rides, cycling, travelLeave a comment

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.

Here’s the Lael Wilcox documentary that got me started planning this trip.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

related – Lael Wilcox Is the Best. Why Does Anyone Else Bother?

If heading back to Calgary, I’ll likely take this return route.

(via Adventure Blog)

Stone Cold by C.J. Box

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

#14 in the series. It’s a good one.

Everything about the man is a mystery: the massive ranch in the remote Black Hills of Wyoming that nobody ever visits, the women who live with him, the secret philanthropies, the private airstrip, the sudden disappearances.

And especially the persistent rumors that the man’s wealth comes from killing people.

… There are two other men living up at that ranch. One is a stone-cold killer who takes an instant dislike to Joe.

The other is new—but Joe knows him all too well.

The first man doesn’t frighten Joe. The second is another story entirely.

CJBox.net

Joe Pickett – season 1

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

Hooked on the book series by C.J. Box, I felt obliged to try the TV adaptation.

83% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Successful enough to be renewed for a second season.

Michael Dorman is well cast as Joe Pickett.

I was surprised to see “outlaw falconer” Nate Romanowski as a Black man. Nate’s personality is a little different in the TV adaptation, as well.

In the book Nate’s a lean, tall, angular predator — with a blonde ponytail.

He’s everyone’s favourite character.

For me the show is a bit slow. The pace of the books is more engaging.

And there are too many flashbacks, for me typically a sign of weak storytelling.

But the TV show is well done. I do recommend it for fans of the Joe Pickett books.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This TV series is on Paramount+.

I was able to watch it via Apple TV free for a week. Then cancelled my subscription.

The Fourth Sacrifice by Peter May

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Peter May is a terrific writer and I wanted to enjoy his China Thrillers series.

But both his two lead characters — Chinese detective Li Yan, and Dr Margaret Campbell, pathologist from Chicago — are simply annoying.

In fact, I didn’t finish book #1.

I did finish #2, The Fourth Sacrifice, but I doubt I will continue.

A new character, an archeologist TV star, kept me interested in this one. I did enjoy the parts that involved the trove of Xian with its famous army of terracotta warriors.

Overall … not recommended.

NEW book by Michèle Allaire-Rowan

On By Rick McIn books, friends2 Comments

My friend Michèle has had an interesting life.

Born in France, she’s spent a lot of time in England, Germany, Ireland and Canada.

A professional translator, she’s studied the language and culture everywhere she’s been. Also FOOD.

Now she’s written and recorded part 1 of her story. I recommend the audio version as Michèle reads it herself.

Crossing Borders and Cultural Divides is set in Europe in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, a time when it became easier to cross European borders and settle in another country.

It is based on my life growing up in a French village, then working in England, and finally discovering Germany. Numerous details and characters allow the listener to understand the difficulties of learning a language and appreciate another culture enough to be able “to feel at home” in another country.

Tradition, wine, and oysters?

Rock ’n’ roll, tea, and fish and chips?

Or politics, beer, and sausages?

… Can she follow her heart for the English language and embrace an outlandish culture in Britain?

Or can she simply follow her adventurous streak and check out the intense culture, which is prevalent in Germany?

Can she take roots in a foreign environment?

Will she ever be able to bridge the cultural divides?

The book jumps forward and backward in time, starting with her first flight as a 15-year-old. To Beatlemania England. Her British pen friend there was already on the Pill, recently introduced.

You can buy the book on Amazon.

A few years younger than Michèle, I was touring Europe with friends in an orange Volkswagen van in 1976 while she was motoring around the continent with a boyfriend.

The book ends abruptly in 1976. I want more. Happily, Michèle is already working on a second volume.

Video Edits Inspired by a Song

On By Rick McIn music, videoLeave a comment

Machine Gun Kelly — play this when I’m gone — inspired Jake Frew’s 2020 pandemic video.

Jake Frew is a master video creator. Right now he’s on a road trip to meet and collaborate with other video editors he admires.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I loved a song by Girl in Red, the indie pop music project of Norwegian singer-songwriter Marie Ulven Ringheim. The music dictated everything I put into this fan video.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Breaking Point by C.J. Box

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Book #13 in the Joe Pickett series.

Joe Pickett always liked Butch Roberson—a hardworking local business-owner whose daughter is friends with his own. Little does he know that when Butch says he is heading into the mountains to scout elk, he is actually going on the run.

Two EPA employees have been murdered, and all signs point to Butch as the killer.

Soon, Joe hears of the land Butch and his wife had bought to retire on—until they are told the EPA declared it a wetland—and the penalties they charged Butch until the family was torn apart by debt.

Finally, it seems, the man just cracked.

cjBox.net

Beetle Kills and Forest Fires 😕

On By Rick McIn cycling, ethics, health & fitnessLeave a comment

Mountain Pine Beetles are native to the forests of western North America from Mexico to central British Columbia.  …

As of May 2013, the Pine Beetle is aggressively devastating forests in all 19 US-American western states and Canada …

These insects are thriving as average temperatures increase. Dead and dying trees make good fuel for fires.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Luck and Judgement by Peter Grainger

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

When a worker goes missing from a North Sea gas platform, DC Smith is flown out to decide if it was an accident, a suicide, or … MURDER.

Like the first two books in this series, I find DC Smith very appealing. Smart. Passionate. A superb detective.

I enjoyed his efforts at trying to pass the annual physical so as not to be turfed out of the Force for old age.

But like the first two books in this series, an interesting premise is developed too slowly for my liking.

AND is DC Smith so consistently incompetent with the many interesting women who seem to throw themselves in his path?

Listen to Elon

On By Rick McIn climate change, economics, ethics, Facebook, GOP USA, government, internet, product complaints, Twitter1 Comment

I’m often critical of Elon Musk. Turned off by his egomania.

Disappointed in his juvenile comments from the bully pulpit of Twitter. One of the richest and most powerful men in the world attacking and mocking people who are unable to fight back.

I’m disappointed that a guy who claims he doesn’t care about money is so reluctant to pay more in taxes though his businesses have received billions of dollars in tax subsidies.

That said, I admire almost everything else. His work ethic. His companies, especially Boring and Starlink.

Elon Musk does much more good for the world than bad. He’s scientific and well aware of the risks of climate change. He calls for a carbon tax. Musk endorsed Andrew Yang and expressed support for his proposed universal basic income.

Though the headlines shout that Elon is a “free speech absolutist”, Musk himself says Twitter must abide by the laws of each nation. I doubt much will change in terms of Twitter policy in Canada or the USA.

In fact, I’m guessing Twitter will be better for me with Musk as owner.

Warren had me watch this recent interview. Elon defends his life and ethics quite well.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.