Jo and Scott take on the Great Divide Route

Tucson, Arizona

2009-10-13T18:01:00.002+13:00

We had a broken nights sleep at the border. One of the border control staff lives there with his 23 dogs. Yep you read it correctly and I didn't type it incorrectly, 23 dogs!
They had barked for a while when we arrived and not long after getting into bed one came over to growl at us. But at some stage in the night a pack of Coyotes must have come close and the ensuing bark-a-thon was just so loud that it was funny. Eventually the coyotes must have moved on and the night was silent. Cool experience.
We got up and went to the border to have the obligatory photos etc. The staff at the border are the friendliest American border control staff in the world. They even cooked us breakfast as we waited to see if we could catch the Shuttle. This is the quietest crossing in the States with an average of about 5 crossings per day!! They get bored we reckon??
At about 9.30am a Shuttle arrived that passes through Tucson on the way to Phoenix.
Thankfully they had room for three smelly cyclists and their bikes.
We are now in Tucson in a motel relaxing.
We will post some more photos tomorrow.

DAY 65 - Long day to FINISH!!

2009-10-13T17:35:00.002+13:00

We all enjoyed a good nights sleep and woke to a beautiful morning.
In theory we had a shorter day today before the final push to the border tomorrow.
It was about another 5km of gravel then we had pavement all the way to Mexico, the terrain was also pretty much flat so we made good time. There was a gentle climb to out final Continental Divide crossing.
We stopped at Hachita for lunch and to again fill up our water bottles/containers. It was pretty hot and, surprise surprise, quite dry in the desert!! The road from here was long and straight. I think we rode for about 10km without a bend in the road. Long, mind and bum numbing!
We reached our day's goal destination at about 3pm. We all decided to push on as far as possible that day making the last day, tomorrow, as short as possible. It was hot and was getting tough as it seemed to be never ending straight roads. With 32kms to go we stopped as Scott was hanging out for a coffee. It was great to have a break, but getting going again was hard.
We decided that we would do another 10km and see how we felt then. At this point we decided to cook dinner, then either do the final push or set up camp.
After some real food rather than muesli or energy bars, we all felt a little better and made the decision to knock the bugger off today!
Our final 20kms went by in a flash, apart from stopping twice to check out two beautiful Rattle Snakes basking in the last of the days sun.
We arrived at the Mexican border at dusk. The border crossing was well and truly shut (only open 8am-4pm). No photos just a warm sense of achievement, congratulations all round and a cup of Spiced Apple drink to celebrate.
Three years in the dreaming. We had done it. What a blast!

DISTANCE: 114.9km
AVERAGE: 17.4km
RIDE TIME: 6.35hrs
ASCEND: 250mtrs

DAY 64 - Silver City to near Separ

2009-10-13T17:17:00.003+13:00

We went out for breakfast before hitting the road.
The ride today was paved for the first 30km before turning off onto a dirt road which up-dulated for the next 10kms where we crossed, then rode along, the Continental Divide for a while.
We ended up stopping for lunch at the nights designated campsite so decided to push onto Separ at 82kms.
Separ as it turns out is nothing more than a truck/car stop on the side of a really busy Interstate highway.
The gentleman behind the counter had stepped out of the movie Deliverance to serve us!!! Every second tooth was missing and the remaining ones were a lovely shade of brown!!!! The shop was full of crap souvenirs and an awesome supply of fireworks. Fireworks which are illegal to set off in this county, but not in the county 5 miles away, weird place!
After enjoying a cold beverage and topping up our water we pushed on for another 5km or so to find a place place in the desert to sleep.
It had been a hot day and we were all quite tired so had an early night.

DISTANCE: 93.2km
AVERAGE: 17kph
RIDE TIME: 5.28hrs
ASCEND: 520mtrs

DAY 63 - Another rest day

2009-10-13T17:10:00.002+13:00

We got up and enjoyed a shared breakfast before saying a final good bye to Alan, Charlie and Dave.
We realsied we had done nearly half of our ride with Alan, so we were sad to say bye!!
The three of us headed back to Silver City after stopping at the Gila Visitor Centre for a little shopping.
We did catch up with Barrett and Divide on the way out. Again we gave them a little food and water. We think that Divide is going to be Barrett's new dog for good which is cool.
When we got back to Silver City we found a motel closer to town then dropped the car off.
The rest of the day was spent chilling out, food shopping etc.
Back on the road tomorrow with only three days to the border.

DAY 62 - Gila Cliff Dwellings

2009-10-13T16:47:00.002+13:00

Yesterday we organised a hire car so we could head about 45miles out of Silver City to see the Gila (Hee-la) Cliff Dwellings.
We went out for breakfast before stopping on the way back to the motel to pick up the car. The car wasn't ready so we went back and did the final pack up and waited for a call to say the car was ready.
After picking the car up we stopped into the supermarket before heading into the hills. We planned to spend the night up at Gila camping.
Jo acted as Mum, as Scott drove, and made our lunch as we wound our way. On the way we passed a guy walking with a dog who didn't want to get off the road. We stopped to say hi and found out that "Barrett" was walking the Continental Divide Scenic Trail (the walking equivalent of out ride). The dog had been following him for about the past 100miles!! He had named him "Divide" and they had really bonded. We gave them some water and a little food. Barrett was a really nice guy who had no idea about dogs. He was a really innocent, almost naive bloke. We left them hoping we might see them again tomorrow on our way back to Silver City.
We eventually arrived at the Cliff Dwellings and pretty much went straight up and did the walk around them. They are really amazing and it was great to have Chris along for the ride to act as guide and personal interpreter!
After we had finished our wander around we went and bought home made ice cream which was super yummy.
We set up camp and enjoyed an awesome meal of freshly made Burritos (actually using fresh food!!) washed down with a couple of beers.
After dinner we had a worrying few moments when a skunk decided to come and have a "sniff" around. Luckily it didn't spray but the odour lingered long after he had moved on. Very cute, but really stinky!!
We were just about ready to hit the hay when Alan, Charlie and Dave turned up. Alan had finished his ride earlier today and they had driven about 4 or 5 hours to catch up with us in Gila. That was super cool to see them and to hear about the last section of the ride.
We eventually hit the sack after much laughing and story telling.

DAY 61 - REST DAY - Silver City

2009-10-07T15:55:00.006+13:00

Happy Birthday Nadine - although it is only the 6th here today.

Neither of us slept well last night - woke at 6am & watched cable till 7:30am when we got up to get ready for our final breakfast with Alan as he was heading out this morning.
After saying our goodbyes to Alan & waving him off we did what we do best in towns - go shopping!
The Walmart here is massive & just down from the hotel so that kept us entertained for a few hours.
After lunch we biked into the actual town center & had a poke around.
We have decided to take another day off tomorrow as we are well ahead of our schedule & we do not need to be in Tuson till the 14th latest & we only have 3 days riding left to get to the boarder.
So we have managed to hire a car which we pick up tomorrow & we (along with Chris) are going to head up to the Gila National Forest to see the Cave Dwellings which are apparently fascinating.

DAY 60 - Silver City here we come

2009-10-07T15:38:00.005+13:00

The day started with a 4.5km steep climb - not time to warm up the legs so it was brutal at 1st.
After another 10km of steep ups & downs we encountered an even bumpier & steeper descent into Rocky canyon, this was but far the roughest section of the route we have ridden so far. But would have been awesome downhill on a full suspension unloaded.
Unfortunately what goes down on this route ALWAYS goes back up!! lucky the extremely steep climb out was not as bad as the down hill we had just experienced.
From the top we dropped to another continental divide crossing & had then had a nice rolling descent for 20km down to a town called Mimbres where we were heading for a late lunch, we only just managed to get into the only cafe for lunch as they closed at 2pm & we arrived at 1:30 - Phew.
After a belly full of burgers & fries ( the great USA staple diet) we knew we had another 40km to get to Silver City & a couple of days off.
The road out of Mimbres was cruel especially with a belly full! We had 15km of hills ahead arriving at the sealed part of the day at a HUGE mine - Incredible!
Once again the wind was not in our favour.
We all decided that this is due to out discussion several night ago about Gods belly button & now we are being punished with daily strong gusty head winds!
We now have a packed on with the 4 of us - not to discuss belly buttons or god again...
We limped very slowly into Silver City which was on a 4 lane, very busy highway, with very big rolling hills the entire way to town.
Allan's friends Charlie & Dave have arrived also to escort Alan to the boarder & then give him a ride back to California.
We all checked into the 1st motel we found heading into town & enjoyed hot showers!
Went out for dinner & a few quiets - sleep!
Rest day tomorrow - lovely!

DISTANCE: 90.27km
AVERAGE: 14.4km
RIDE TIME: 6.13hrs
ASCEND: 1235mtrs

DAY 59 - Bumpy day into the Black Canyon

2009-10-07T15:17:00.009+13:00

Woke today to pea soup fog after a really good nights sleep for everyone.
We knew today was going to be a big day so we headed off as early as we could.
The elevation profile for today had alot of climbing involved so we got mentally prepared, it actually started very easily as we headed to the Beaverhead work center where we knew there should be water - water is very few & far at the moment being in the desert state.
Upon arriving at the work center not only did we find water but a coke vending machine also - cold cokes all round.
When we arrived there was somebody already there filling water container on the back of his truck - his name was Keith & he was from Texas, & is a hunting guide who lives for 3mths of the year in the area, helping people hunt.
We decided to have a an early lunch & get the tents dried as the day was now now sunny & hot - not to mention windy again!
Back on the road we headed for our nights designated campsite - Back Canyon.
The next 40km were the hilly ones & combined with the head winds we limped into camp late , tired & hungry.
One of the hardest & saddest things about today's ride was that there was potentially nice down hill sections also but the road going down was so rutted with wash boards & loose gravel - you could not just coast & enjoy the view, you actually had to concentrate while it felt like your bike was about to fall apart.
Once again during the afternoon we meet some trail angles along the way who actually passed us all going up one of the hills, they must have felt sorry for us as they stopped gave us food & even cold beer.
The campsite tonight had a lovely fresh steam running next to it so we had enough water to heat & sponge bath with tonight - 1st wash in 3 days, it was nice not to have sticky legs in the sleeping bag for a change.
Tonight we all enjoyed a early night as we were all quite tired, so we just ate dinner & went to bed!

DISTANCE: 73.02km
AVERAGE: 14.3km
RIDE TIME: 5.06hrs
ASCEND: 925mtrs

DAY 58 - The Elk Bugle's

2009-10-07T15:03:00.005+13:00

After saying our good byes today to our new friends Travis & Ryan we headed out..
Bruce left early today as there is a call for rain & even maybe snow for the next few days so he & Sue wanted to get a big day in as Sue was worried about driving her car along the roads if they got really muddy.
The 1st 10km was a really nice downhill (such a good start to the day) then we had a really nice gravel road for the next 40km which we managed to do by 12pm.
With only 20km left in the day we had a nice leisurely lunch in the sun before heading into the 2nd half of the day.
We had 2 divide crossings after lunch but the climbs were hardly worth mentioning & then we had a lovely downhill.
When we got to our designated campsite for the night it was only 2pm so we decided we would carry on for another 10km (+ another divide crossing) as we are in National Forest & you are allowed to free camp anywhere in National forests over here, plus another 10km today means 10km less tomorrow which we all thought was a good idea since today riding was so pleasent.
Chris was having having trouble with his sore knee so we found a nice wee spot just off the road & chilled out for the rest of the afternoon.
When we arrived at camp we could hear the bugle of Elk - thinkiing it was probably just hunters up in the hill behind us - but it continued for the next few hoursgetting louder so we went investigating & found a herd of elk resting amoung some trees 200mtrs from camp - that was very cool indeed, although they ran off as soon as they got smell of us.
The burgling lasted most of the night & even the coyotes came close to camp at 1 stage.
We were camped close to a water hole so we think they were heading for a drink.
This campsite turned out to be 1 of our favouriteson the trip as we were in the middle of nowhere.
Scott is now becoming quite the campfire expert & we had a really good campfire & just sat around till very late (8:30pm) chatting about life & watching the full moon rise up into the sky.

DISTANCE: 81.39km
AVERAGE: 18.1km
RIDE TIME: 4.29hrs
ASCEND: 525mtrs

DAY 57 - Leaving the comfort of Pie Town

2009-10-07T14:52:00.005+13:00

This morning we all decided a cooked breakfast would be just the ticket - so we all made our way down to the cafe at the bottom of the hill this time, for breakfast as it opened at 8am.
After breakkie we said good bye to Pie Town which felt sad as we all have come to love it here - the town had a incredible welcoming feeling - like you did not want to leave - just stay & eat pie all day long…
We had a short days riding today 48km so we took our time had a leisurely lunch & arrived at the campsite about 3pm.
Just chilled out & relaxed for the rest of the afternoon listening to Scott & Chris talk complete BS!
Just after dinner about 7pm we saw 2 cycle tourist with bob trailers come down the road - so we called them over - gave them a welcoming beer (Sue had carried the beers for us today in the car) & let them go set up camp.
It turns out that we had 2 ‘MTV’ X-Games superstars in our midst, Travis & Ryan from a show called ‘Nitro Circus’ which is a motorbike stunt show http://nitrocircus.com/ . Travis also races monster trucks & is currently placed 1st on the Amercian Rally circuit as he drives rally cars for Subaru.
These boys started the trip on the 1st Sept & have made it this far already! They are riding huge days (not completely following the actual GDMBR) but we were all extremely impressed. Travis even took 4 days out in Steamboat springs to drive the next stage of the rally!
To put into perspective how long there days are, they had ridden from Grants to tonight’s campsite in a day, (also stopping for pie) this has taken us ‘touring cyclist’ 3 days to complete!(194km if they followed the route as we did?)
Oh & did I mention these boys have been fully kitted out by Giant - bikes, clothing - the works
Anyway we got them to do a short video for us which we will post (C4 coffee - you will love the shout out they gave you…)

DISTANCE: 47.93km
AVERAGE: 13.7km
RIDE TIME: 3.28hrs
ASCEND: 555mtrs

DAY 56 - PIE TOWN - YUM

2009-10-07T12:19:00.005+13:00

The wind finally subsided at 4.30am, very broken sleep last night as the wind was gusting so hard it felt like the tent was about to lift off at any minute with us inside it!
Today we have just 1 thing on our minds & that was PIE! Pie Town was at the end of today’s ride & we all could not wait!
We had 70km of riding to get there so we started out as early as we could as we did not know if the wind of yesterday would pick up again & the book & route map both stated if you wanted pie the cafes’ were only open limited hours so we knew we needed to be there by 4pm at the latest.
The 1st 20km of today’s ride was slightly downhill so we made exceptional time, then we turned off that road & headed on a 52km stretch of road to Pie Town, the wind had picked up & was quite cold today but it was on our sides the whole day so we managed to reach Pie Town by 2:30pm.
Pie Town is a very small town of only 60 residents & the only 2 shops (apart from the post office) are 2 cafes 1 at the top of the hill , the other at the bottom both selling pie.
On day 1 of our ride we meet Paul the English geezer who had ridden from South to North & he told us we must visit the cafe at the top of the hill so that is exactly what we did - The Pie-o-neer Café. http://www.pie-o-neer.com/index.html
Kathy (the owner) & Megan the waitress greeted us all with open arms making us feel so welcome.
We all has 2 slices of pie each, Jo- Apple crumble then Chocolate Cream, Scott - Pecan & Oat then Coconut Cream - totally delicious!
For those of you who watch Rove on a Friday night you will be familiar with Hamish & Andy? Well apparently Hamish & Andy had just been at the Pie-o-neer 2 weeks earlier as apparently they are doing a USA road trip TV show.
Now another strange & wonderful part to Pie Town was the Toaster House.
The Toaster house is a 4 brm log cabin that a couple who now live just out of pie town, have opened up for hikers & bikers to stay in - free of charge.
It has beds , hot showers, washing machine, wood stove & even chickens living out the back? And as you could imagine a lot of interesting ‘nick - knaks’ that people had left during there stay.
We all stayed the night here & the hot showers were a blessing after 2 days in dusty winds.
Megan (the waitress) came around after dinner with some fresh baked cookies & to see how we all were getting on & bought her guitar & sung us some song which was really cool.

DISTANCE: 73.39km
AVERAGE: 17.3kmkm
RIDE TIME: 4.13hrs
ASCEND: 475mtrs

DAY 55 - Grants to CDT Trailhead

2009-10-03T03:39:00.002+13:00

Ok so after 2 days of head winds we were all hoping for a nice riding day heading out of town.
While having our free Continental breakfast at the campground the weather channel was on the TV & they gave us a strong wind warning for the area - SW - just the direction we were heading - perfect!
After saying our good byes to Kathy, Abie & Lincoln the dog we headed out of town & started a very nice gradual climb up Zuni Canyon, seeing lots of Tarantula spiders on the road - it is mating season for the spiders so the boys are out & about trying to find themselves a lady friend to mate with, trying not to get themselves run over by cars….
About 15mins into the ride the wind came up & boy did it blow - for the next 70km to the campground we were biking into incredibly strong gusty head winds, the roads were very sandy & dusty & the wind was kicking up dust storms right into our faces, it was not pleasant riding at all! At 1 stage during the day a tree managed to blow over onto the track right in front of Jo which gave her an incredible fright.
We were covered in dust from head to toe, every nook & cranny had dust & every time you bit your teeth together you could just feel grit grinding against your teeth!
The last 2km of the day ride to the designated campsite we turned & managed to get a tail wind & we did not need to pedal the entire 2km - that was great.
Sue & Bruce were already at the campsite & had a cold beer waiting for us on arrival which was much appreciated.
We camped at a trailhead for the night & the wind kept blowing just constantly blowing dust storms up & making it extremely hard to cook tea & not to mention eating it!
We all retired early as it had been a very long hard day,
I hope tomorrow is nicer to us… PIE TOWN HERE WE COME….

DISTANCE: km
AVERAGE: km
RIDE TIME: hrs
ASCEND: mtrs

DAY 54 - Grants Rest Day

2009-10-03T03:38:00.001+13:00

Rest day today in Grants, the morning started with us going out for breakfast to Denny’s with Kathy & Abie & then a visit to Wal-Mart for some grocery shopping.
After arriving back at the campground we did some chores for the next few hours… laundry/ trying to fit all the food we just bought into panniers etc..
It was so incredibly hot at our campsite with no shade that we put up our tarp over out picnic table & Scott watch recorded 36’cin the shade!!
About 2pm we were finally hungry for lunch so we decided instead of visiting Mc D’s (which was closest to the campground we would try to be just a little bit healthier & headed into Grants to find the Subway - this happened to be at the complete opposite of town!
After filling up on Subway we headed over to visit Alan @ the Holiday Inn where he was staying which just happened to be opposite Subway to see how his day off was going & to make dinner plans.
We all meet at the Badlands Diner for the famous (actually just won the state award) #5 Millie Burger - Green Chilli Cheese Burger - delicious.

DAY 53 - ?? Pass to Grants

2009-10-03T03:36:00.001+13:00

We will all hoping for a nice cruisy day into Grants today, but at 4.25am the wind arrived - bugger!
By the time we left the campsite it was a very gusty head wind that we started with & continued with for the entire day!
The riding today was very similar as yesterday riding past Indian Reservations not to mention the odd Coal & Uranium Mine thrown for good measure- scenery wise it was about a 5/10.
Have we mentioned the Res dogs?? They live in unfenced yards & LOVE to chase cyclist!!! (kind of wishing we had rabies shots now??)
Did I also mention how half of these dogs are skin & bone, completely starved & look so incredibly sad.
We had 1 incident when we stopped to meet Bruce & a small dog came over to us & just sat - she had not long had pups & was completely skin & bone - if you had a dog that looked like this in NZ you would most definitely be charged with Cruelty.
She was the sweetest wee thing - which we all gave lots of cuddles & even some food (Cheese & Tortillas)
Jo’s heart was broken having to ride off & leave her on the side of the road, if Jo could have taken her with us she would be coming home to NZ for sure.
It appears animals in New Mexico are not considered ‘pets’ & are not cared for as they should be & after talking to people in Grants this is just the way it is down here….. Heart breaking to see.
We stopped for lunch 50km into the days ride & the next 50km to Grants was long & slow - long straight roads & grueling head winds, we did however manage to find a pub on the side of the road about 25km out of Grants which we managed to get a cold drink of coke - nice.
Once we hit Grants moods were dark in the most of the group - we had all just had enough of being bullied by head winds & wanted to get to our accommodation.
However we saw a Dairy Queen on the road into town & all stopped there for ice cream sundaes & banana splits which definitely lifted the mood of the group.
Once in town we all went our separate ways to our nights accommodation as we were camping & most others were going to stay in Hotels.
We all agreed to meet in town for a much deserved beer & dinner later on.
At the campsite we meet another cyclist called Kathy & her husband Abie, Kathy is riding the Great Divide also with Abie supporting her.
They had meet Bruce & Sue earlier on the road & also joined us for dinner.
Kathy & Abie are travelling in there RV with there beautiful Golden retriever called Lincoln & not to forget there cat who is also on the family holiday..
Kathy & Abie are living Scotts dream, they take turns at support each other on extended hiking trips - 1 of them will be doing the hike while the other is driving the RV further on & waiting for them.
They have both completed the Application trail & the PCT Trail.
This year is Kath’s turn to do something so she chose to ride the Great Divide - even though she had hardly ridden a bike - amazing achievement!
Next year Abie & a friend are undertaking the contenential divide scenic trail.

DISTANCE: 96.8km
AVERAGE: 16.1km
RIDE TIME: 6hrs
ASCEND: 570mtrs

DAY 52 - Cuba to ?? Pass

2009-10-03T03:32:00.002+13:00

After a good night sleep in the motel Scott got up at 6:15 to bike to the Laundromat to get the washing done… apparently nobody wants to do washing on a Sat night so the Laundromat closed at 7pm & we did not get into our Motel till after 6pm - but they opened at 6am on a Sunday (go figure?) & apparently there was already people there at 6:15 am doing laundry?
After another Mc Donald’s feast for breakfast we headed out of town. (our 3rd McD’s meal in 12 hrs!!)
For the next 2 days we have to take the Alternative route as the actual route is now on private land & cyclist are not allowed through so the next 2 days are all sealed road - to make it to Grants we needed to do 2x 100km days - easy you would think being all sealed?
After leaving town we had a nice semi downhill rolling road & we managed to get 45km in before morning tea, we have been riding through Indian Reservations along the road - these are not all Tepee’s & campfires - more like very unloved /uncared for houses &/ or trailers old cars & junk lying everywhere & lots of rubbish just thrown into paddocks & down banks, not very exciting riding.
We stopped at a small gas station in the middle of no where for a colds drinks break as the day was very hot, after just finishing our drinks we noticed another tour cyclist coming down the road - it turned out to be Chris & guy that Alan had meet earlier on the trip, so after the official meet & greet we all decided to ride along together when a car pulled up & a lady (Sue) jumped out asking of we were riding the Great Divide as her husband is also doing it & was about 4 miles back down the road, so we waited for him (Bruce) to arrive - did the whole meet & greet thing again - the boys all checked out each others bikes etc… etc… what boys do?
Sue & Bruce are from Montana & Sue has driven down to support Bruce on the final leg of the ride.
By the time we all headed off down the road together it was close to lunch so we stopped again not long after for a lunch break, by this stage the wind was starting up the next 4 hours we spent talking with our new acquaintances fighting the growing head wind , the road was long & straight & the day was very hot.
After 96km we topped a small saddle which had potential good camp spots off the road - out of view so we decided to call it a day & camp here tonight.
Bruce & Sue continued on to Grants for the night & the 4 left spent a great night perched up on a high point looking down into a canyon & onto the valley that was ahead for tomorrows ride.
The night was very warm & the wind had dropped away completely so we all decided it was a night to sleep out under the stars, which we did successfully without being eaten by any dangerous animals.
Chris bought out the worsted in Scott & they 2 of them talked smack all night - even from the comfort of our sleeping bags - topic’s ranged from the plight of the Navajo, to weather god actually has a belly button to Claus our long lost German cyclist from back at the start - Chris rode with him for a few days also.
Saw our 1st Tarantula spider on the road today - very cute - not very big - but very cute & hairy.

DISTANCE: 97.4km
AVERAGE: 17.1km
RIDE TIME: 5.41hrs
ASCEND: 660mtrs

Jo and Alan

2009-09-28T01:56:00.000+13:00

Ghost Ranch

2009-09-28T01:53:00.001+13:00

Echo Ampitheatre and 3000 down

2009-09-28T01:51:00.000+13:00

Billboard for the train trip and the mountains we crossed on it, enjoying the ride and our cold start!

2009-09-28T01:47:00.001+13:00

DAY 51 - Going to Cuba

2009-09-27T16:58:00.002+13:00

We found out today that Ghost Ranch, where we camped last night, was the location for a couple of movies, City Slickers and parts of Indiana Jones (latest i think?) That's cool. It was also where Georgia O'Keeffe (American artist, famous for provocative flower paintings??) had a home and spent a lot of time painting.
We left earlyish as we had a big day planned, about 100km.
All pavement today so we thought it would be a relatively quick day, wrong! We ended up doing lots of "rollers" and climbed over 1000m. Was nice and warm though and the scenery was quite nice. The few little "towns" we went through were, shall we say, a little run down and a bit depressing. having said that everyone is super friendly and wave constantly when driving past.
We are definitely in a new State now. Not only has the landscape changed but also the faces that we are seeing. It is very Hispanic here with lots of Mexican" looking" people and constant Spanish town and feature names etc. Very Catholic too with little shrines to the Virgin Mary and plenty of Churches.
Tonight we are in Cuba, not the country, but a small town. We got in late and found that they do not have a campground so we are in a cheap motel.
The other day riding into Del Norte we had our minds on Subway, today it was McDonalds!! It wasn't such a surprise today though as we had been told there was one in town and that is what got us craving McD's. There chips really are the best thing at the end of a long hot day!!!
Off into an area without internet access for the next couple of days.
Hope everyone is well? Please post comments as it is always great to hear from people :-)

DISTANCE: 100.1km
AVERAGE: 17.4km
RIDE TIME: 5.55hrs
ASCEND: 1075mtrs

Indiana Pass highest point of the ride....and one of the coldest!

2009-09-27T16:53:00.000+13:00

Pass on the way to meeting the......... Sideways Crew

2009-09-27T16:48:00.003+13:00

TeePees in Sargents and the top of Marshall Pass

2009-09-27T16:45:00.000+13:00

Echo Ampitheatre

2009-09-26T15:14:00.002+12:00

DAY 50 - Echos and Ghosts

2009-09-26T14:51:00.003+12:00

It was nice to not wake up to a frozen tent this morning!!
After getting organised we hit the road for a leisurely 80km road ride towards Abiquiu Dam.
We are now in New Mexico, supposedly our last state. We are currently looking at changing the finish point so we are closer to Tuscon, Arizona which is where we fly out to LA from. We think we will leave the GDMBR at Silver City and head more Southwest to a boarder town Douglas in Arizona.
Anyway, I digress, back to today. We are travelling by paved road today to get back on route. it is amazing how much quicker you can ride on sealed road.
Not long after leaving town we spotted paddocks full of Prairie Dogs. Cute little gofer type mammals. We stopped and took a couple of photos and carried on.
About ten minutes after lunch we passed a farmer riding around on his quad bike with a rifle shooting the cute little Prairie Dogs!!!! Apparently farmers don't think they are so cute??
We stopped on our way to check out Echo Amphitheatre. This is a huge natural rock ampitheatre on the side of the road. We went in not really knowing what to expect. We are definitely in New Mexico now. The rocks are very sheer and really colourful. We had fun calling out and listening to the echos.
We are at a place called Ghost Ranch tonight which is a pretty cool spot surrounded by awesome red cliffs and rocks.
Off to a town called Cuba tomorrow.
Catch up soon, S and J

DISTANCE: 79.9km
AVERAGE: 20.1km
RIDE TIME: 3.58hrs
ASCEND:510mtrs

DAY 49 - Cumbres and Toltec scenic railroad

2009-09-26T14:36:00.002+12:00

We awoke this morning to our heaviest frost yet. It had rained most of the night so when we tried to get out of the tent we had a little trouble. The zip was frozen. In fact the moisture on the inside of the inner tent froze too, brrrrrrr! Lucky we both have good sleeping bags.
As we only had a short ride into the town on Antinito we missed breakie and got away quickly. It was a very chilly 20minute ride and by the time we arrived Scott was in a touch of pain with frozen fingers.
After a pancake breakfast we headed to the TRAIN!!! We had decided to take a steam train from Antinito, Colorado to Charma, New Mexico as we had heard good things about it and it was a cool thing to do on a rest day.
It was awesome. It wound it's way through some amazing country, above a couple of beautiful canyons and past beautiful Fall colours.
We all had a great day taking lots of photos and videos. We were quizzed constantly by interested people about our trip.
As you may have noticed in the first video, the weather changed at lunchtime but the snow just made it more pretty.
We found an interesting Motel in Charma for the night which was good as our tent was absolutely soaked from the thawing of the ice!!! The room was like a laundry with two tents drying.
We went to a very nice restaurant/saloon for dinner and then spent the night watching the Weather Channel!!

Especially for Mark Todd and John Atkinson, enjoy

2009-09-26T14:26:00.003+12:00

This is a section of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, America's highest and longest!!!

2009-09-26T13:43:00.002+12:00

DAY 48 - Change of plans #2

2009-09-24T13:23:00.003+12:00

Thought we would open the tent to snow on the ground today - but no, just a very hard frost!!
While we were cooking breakfast snow flakes again started falling but did not settle.
We headed out of camp about 9am & started straight into a 6km climb to Stunner pass, at the top the sun was out & the sky was blue, but the day was still very cold.
We headed down to a town called Platoro where we stopped at the shop for some morning tea, got chatting to the owners there & they showed us photo's of the snow they get during the winter - incredible! Snow up past the gutters of the buildings.
After leaving town we headed on for another 37km to the next town of Horca, we stopped here for a drink, we had decided to head to Charma for the night.
Back in Del Norte while flicking through a magazine we found out there is a Steam train that runs from Antonito to Charma which we all said would be a fun thing to do, so while having our drinks in Horca we decided instead of riding to Charma we would ride to Antonito (same distance as to Charma) & have a rest day tomorrow while riding the Steam train to Charma.
So we managed to book our spots on the train & we headed to the closest RV park to Antonito which is were we are tonight.
Tomorrow we ride.... toot toot

DISTANCE: 76.7km
AVERAGE: 17.7kph
RIDE TIME: 4.18.20hrs
ASCEND: 465m

DAY 47 - The Big Day

2009-09-24T13:01:00.004+12:00

We were slow leaving De Norte this morning as we could see a dusting of snow on the hills above town so we decided to wait till 8am to call the Forest Service to see if we could get an update on how much snow had fallen in the hills - they did not help - the guy on the phone was just like "yeh... looking out the window here there is a bit of snow on the hills" - NOT helpful!!
We decided to just go for it anyway, as this was our biggest pass of the Great Divide Route & we all felt we would be disappointed if we did not at least try.
The going was slow for the 18km leading to the 20km climb. The actual climb up to the pass - the weather had again clouded over & about 3/4 of the way up there was snow settled on the side of the road, all the puddles were frozen & snowflakes were falling.
The wind was chilling - one of those really cold winds that just cut right through you.
We stopped for a short while at the top - the snowflakes were still falling.
We rugged up for a small descent and passed a huge mine - one of the biggest in the USA that has badly contaminated all the streams & rivers in the area & they are now spending lots of $$ trying to clean it up.
The day was getting colder & colder & we finally arrived into camp about 6pm.
Our hands & feet were freezing, so we got a campfire going & stood around drinking hot chocolates.
There was only 1 other RV in the entire campsite & the people arrived back just after we arrived.
The lady, Sharon, came over to say hi & we had a chat - they were from Arkansas & they had been there for 2 weeks as her husband is a bow hunter (uses Bow & arrow to hunt) & it is the season to bow hunt Elk at the moment.
About 10mins after she left she arrived again - obviously feeling sorry for us being so cold she invited us over to there RV to warm up & have some dinner...ahhhhh perfect!
We could not turn down an offer like that so we pitched the tents, spruced ourselves up a little & headed over.
We had lovely sandwhiches with fresh fillings - home smoked pork, avocado, tomatoes (home grown), lettuce, cheese, pickles - lovely!!
After dinner the sweets came out - biscuits, chocolate bars...yum! we were very spoilt.
Had a early night as we were all very tired from our big day of climbing & crawled into our tents just as the snow started falling again....

DISTANCE: 69.4km
AVERAGE: 12.1kph
RIDE TIME: 5.44hrs
ASCEND: 1570m

DAY 46 - Dreaming of Subway

2009-09-24T12:43:00.004+12:00

Woke this morning to a very wet & now frozen tent.
We knew we had a very short riding day - mainly downhill to Del Norte so we were not in to much of a hurry to leave. Also the very cold temperature made it hard to leave!
Del Norte had a population of 1,900 people so we decided there must be a Subway & that is where we were heading for lunch!!
After about 20km of downhill riding through yet another amazing canyon we hit a gravel road all the way to Del Norte.
The wind had picked up & we had a very strong wind for the last 5km into town.
Hooray - the town did have Subway so we ordered a foot long each, chips, drink & a cookie - delicious.
We then booked ourselves into the local RV park, showered & did some laundry.
The weather was very windy & we had been warned that there was a cold front coming through & snow is expected.
About 4:30pm hunger pains hit us again so we headed into town to a cafe for a 'snack' & to have a discussion as to what we will do if we can't ride Indiana pass tomorrow. (Indiana Pass being our highest pass at nearly 12,000 ft)
After leaving the cafe we headed to the supermarket - the wind was getting very cold & the temperature had dropped to about 5'c.
After leaving the supermarket the weather was bitter - the wind felt like there was definitely snow close by so we decided to check with the only motel in town to see if we could get a deal on a room, it turns out we could, so we booked in - went back to the campsite, packed up & made a bee line to the motel (even got our $$ back from the RV park!)

DISTANCE: 53km
AVERAGE: 16.9kph
RIDE TIME: 3.11hrs
ASCEND: 105m

DAY 45 - New company

2009-09-24T12:17:00.005+12:00

After a good night sleep - helped I am sure by the beers we had the night before - we headed off down the road after our extended good byes to the Sideways Crew.
Jerry's wife Debbie, who is also a very keen cyclist, decided to ride with us for a couple hours while Jerry packed up camp & he picked her up further down the road.
It was nice to have another person ride with us - even if it was only for a couple hours.
We headed downhill for a while - nice way to start the day - but the mornings are getting cold so it can be rather chilly!
We then started riding up into a really nice canyon - the scenery here in Colorado is beautiful - hugs rock cliffs & gulches everywhere.
We had another pass crossing ahead today (10166ft), at the top we only had a 7km downhill to the campsite for the night - we arrived at the campsite to find the water pump broken & the site just not being very inspiring to us as the weather was changing & the black clouds were rolling in - we knew another campsite was about 6km downhill so we decided to push on.
We arrived & the campsite was much nicer so we were all plsed we had made the extra 6km trip.
Just as we were setting up our tents the wind picked up & the rain came down so we all huddled in the foyer of the restroom for about 20mins waiting for a break in the rain.
We finally got one & we dashed out & finished putting the tents up & managed to cook some tea.
Scott & Alan went gathering fire wood as we decided a fire would be great as it was quite cold.
The fire was lit & just as it got going well the wind picked up again & the rain came down... so we called it an early night & into the tents we dashed - it was only 8pm - nice!

DISTANCE: 58.7km
AVERAGE: 16.3kph
RIDE TIME: 3.36hrs
ASCEND: 755m

DAY 44 - Getting Sideways

2009-09-24T11:40:00.003+12:00

Even though the stretcher beds in the tee pee were extremely dodgy & we had the resident mice running around the tee pee we all had a very cosy sleep.
We woke to find very thick fog outside.
Our packing up & getting away was a little slow as the fire in the tee pee keep calling us back in..
We headed away about 8:30 just as the fog was lifting, the 1st 20km of the ride today was on sealed road - down hill so we made nice time.
We turned off onto a country road & started 'up'-dulating for the next 20ish kms stopping for lunch on the side of the road with a view into a lovely canyon, from there we keep on truckin' for another 22kms before starting our climb of 11kms up Cochetopa pass (another Continental divide crossing @ 10,067ft) after reaching the top we were all sitting in the sun dreaming about how nice a cold drink would be right now, beer, coke, chocolate milk - anything?
We pushed on another 3km to the nights designated campsite & being a Sat night we were hoping there would be room for us as we were thinking the campsite would be full of hunters.
We pulled into the camp to be greeted by Jerry & the 1st words that came out of Jerry's mouth were .........."hey I have a beer for you" Oh my god - our preys of a cold drink had been answered.
It turns out that Jerry was part of the 'Sideways crew' & group of friends that met in college & have been camping together the 3rd Sept of each year since then - this was there 25th year!
They all welcomed us with open arms & even invited us to there 'pot-luck' Saturday night dinner (could this get any better?) yes - we also got desert!!
After a fabulous dinner of fresh salads, meat, Hot dishes & of course desert, we all sat around the campfire listening to stories & having lots of laughs.
Huge thanks to Jerry & all the other sideways crew for making us feel so welcome, giving us beer & feeding us.
Your generosity is a highlight for us on this trip & it will be a memory we will always remember & will tell everyone when we get back..

DISTANCE: 78.8km
AVERAGE: 15.6km
RIDE TIME: 5.02hrs
ASCEND: 925mtrs

2009-09-19T13:06:00.002+12:00

Hi from an interesting little "town", Sargents.
Today we left Salida with a 36km climb ahead of us! As it turns out the climb was pretty easy as it was on another old railroad. The ride up to Marshall Pass was beautiful as we wound our way through Aspen and Pine trees.
We reached the top of the pass (3305m) after about 4hours and headed down towards dark clouds. After stopping several times along the way to take photos and videos our weather "luck' ran out, it started to rain, then hail. It had cooled down loads and we all put on vests, then wind jackets, then waterproofs!
We pushed on past the books recommended campsite to the town of Sargents.
As we pulled in Scott noticed some Teepee's so we have booked ourselves into a teepee for the night! It comes complete with a gas fire and fairy lights, oh so authentic!!
For tonight Scott is to be known as Chief Grey-fox
We are riding with Alan which is a real pleasure.
Catch up in a couple of days.

DAY 42 - Rest Day - Salida Colorado

2009-09-18T15:33:00.002+12:00

Hi everyone,
Well we did decide to have a rest day today as we had been riding for the last 6 days & it looks like we have 4 pretty big days ahead.
Caught up with Alan last night for dinner at funky little restaurant called Amica's (wood fired pizza & Micro Brewery)
We managed to convince Alan to take another day off & we are all going to ride together again for a while which will be nice.
Day started with a sleep in to 8:30 - longest sleep in yet.
We mucked around in the morning chatting to others in the campsite while cooking breakfast, people seem so fascinated with us & what we are doing.
We had to laugh today as 1 of the RV's near us opened the door & a lady came out with a cat on a lead (trust me the cat did not look impressed) she then tied the cat to the picnic table for about 20mins of 'outdoor fresh air' I guess.
Then later we saw the same lady walking her 2 dogs + the cat around the campground! so funny (the dogs were the same size as the cat)

After some supermarket shopping we packed up the tent & headed to the Day's Inn hotel as we decided we would shout ourselves a hotel for the night.
Alan is staying there also so we thought we can get organised & away together tomorrow.
After lunch we headed to down town Salida to check out the shops which were really cool & quirky.
Good vibes from this town - lots of bikes everywhere & the people are really friendly.

Spending the evening chilling out in the room & getting organised for tomorrow, flicking through the 50 cable channels we have available - but still we can't find anything to watch!!
bye

DAY 41 - The day of the Badger

2009-09-17T10:43:00.006+12:00

We decide to get up & away earlier today as we wanted to get to Salida as early as we could to get laundry done.
Now that the days are getting cooler & shorter it is very hard for us to get to camp & do hand washing & get it dried so we now need to rely on towns & laundry's
We started along the road & the 1st 20km was again deserted nothingness!! must say it was really quite boring scenic riding - not even cows to look at!
But guess what we did see - a Badger!! just off the side of the road it wondered than sat by its badger hole & let us stop & take photo's of it - it did not seem too bothered about us - very exciting as we have been wanting to see a Badger but they are night creatures generally.
They are quite big - maybe the size of a medium sized dog. (stand by for photo's to come...)
About 30km in we stopped for lunch (10:30am) as we knew we had a 12km hill climb ahead so though we would fuel up before tackling that as we did not know what it was going entail.
When we reached the top of the watershed divide, 50km into the days ride we were faced with a awesome 18km downhill to the town of Salida.
We are now in Salida sitting in the Laundromat waiting for our washing to get done.
After we have done here we are going to go & find our new friend Alan who is also back on the Route, do some supermarket shopping as we have 4 days between descent towns ahead so need to stock up on food to get us through, maybe have some dinner & a beer.
It looks like we have 4 days of quite solid riding ahead including our highest pass Indiana Pass & we have been riding for the past 6 days so we are currently deciding if we should have a rest day here in Salida tomorrow.

DISTANCE: 77.6km
AVERAGE: 17.4km
RIDE TIME: 4.24hrs
ASCEND: 705mtrs

For those who are interested here is a typical days eating for us...
Breakfast:
Porrage with Dried Cranberries
Hot drink

Pre Morning Tea (10km into day):
2x Muesli Bars each or 1x Powerbar

Morning Tea:
Bagel with Nutella (or Peanut Butter - Scott)

Lunch:
Bagel with Cheese slices & Pepperoni x2 each
Piece of fruit (if been in town day before)

End of ride snack:
Muesli Bars or Powerbars
Or if we are lucky & end up in a town, Potato Chips & Chocolate milk or soda of some kind.
If we are really lucky burger & fries..

Dinner:
If we are cooking- Pasta & Sauce , or a Rice Risotto with Tortillas.
If in a town we usually dine out - burger & fries again

After Dinner Snack:
M& M's or skittles while reading our books.

Heathly diet or what!!!! just hope we don't carry on eating like this when we get home!
Could be hard habit to break!

DAY 40 - Into the eye of the storm

2009-09-17T10:17:00.004+12:00

After leaving the comforts of our plush hotel room in Breckenridge we headed out about 9:30am.
We had our 2nd highest divide crossing today Boreas Pass 3,500mtrs, although the climb was about 15km long we had a very gentle grade of climb as the road we were on used to be an old railway track back at the start of the century so the going was good, saw another red fox on the way up - it was obviously used to seeing people as it just wondered down the road in front of Jo & she even managed to stop & get a photo of it.
After a really nice downhill from the top of Boreas pass we came to a town called Como which we decided to stop for lunch as it had a shop & we could not pass up a cold drink to go with our bagels, but unfortunately the shop had a 'Back at 2pm' sign on the door (maybe they had gone home to watch some Oprah?) so we just had to eat our bagels & drink our water instead.
After leaving Como we started biking into huge open fields - these had been old ranches that somebody had vision of becoming lifestyle subdivisions but they never eventuated into anything - just lots of lovely named roads, they had even created playgrounds & baseball diamonds in the middle of nowhere that were now all over grown - seemed a little eerie!!
Afternoon thunderstorms have been forecasted for the next week & as we were riding along the black clouds started rolling in & then the thunder & lightening started - that was quite a show in front of us - but we were riding right into it so it did start to get a little too close for comfort.
They take Lightening strikes very seriously over here especially when you are high up in the hills, alot of trail heads even have posters informing people of what to do if in a thunderstorm!
Lucky for us we managed to ride around the edge of the storm that was in front of us & just got caught in a down pour from the edge of it.
We arrived in a town called Hastel which showed on the maps & guide book that there was actually no camping spots in town - so after talking to the nice man at the service station we decided we would just carry on down the road & find a spot on the side of the road (out of view) for the night - which we did successfully , just as we got the tent up the rain came down - more thunder & lightening all around us , this continued most of the night.

DISTANCE: 84km
AVERAGE: 16.8km
RIDE TIME: 4.59hrs
ASCEND: 720mtrs

Still looking for food!

2009-09-16T02:51:00.002+12:00

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake and Patrick and his friend BoB

2009-09-16T02:48:00.001+12:00

Lunch, sunset at Kremmling, Breckenridge and Aspens

2009-09-16T02:42:00.001+12:00

2009-09-16T02:41:00.000+12:00

Lynx Pass campground fun with Alan

2009-09-16T02:37:00.001+12:00

The Salt Lake Citty Crew

2009-09-16T02:33:00.001+12:00

Back for more

2009-09-16T02:26:00.003+12:00

DAY 39 - Damn those Squirrels

2009-09-15T16:01:00.001+12:00

I must say as nice as the forest campsite we stay in are with all the tress etc… it was nice today to wake in a campsite that you get direct morning sun into the campsite.
Usually our campsites are surrounded by very tall trees & it takes a long time for the sun to get through, making the morning quite cold.
On our bikes we have bento boxes - these are small nylon box with a mesh lid that is velcroed to the top tube of the bike that we carry our muesli bars / lip balm etc..
Usually every night we make sure these are empty as we don’t want to encourage wildlife, but last night we forgot & as Scott was packing his bike this morning he noticed the mesh top of the Bento box had been gnawed & a muesli bar had been opened & slightly nibbled in his box….mmmmmm
As he looked at it the guilty party arrived to finish what he had started a Squirrel… so cute yet so naughty!!
We watched as he managed to drag the muesli bar out of the bento box & make off with it into the trees!!
5 mins later he was back… trying again for another right in front of us - these creatures are so cheeky!
We videoed him for a while jumping from 1 bike to the other trying his best to get more food!
He finally gave up when he smelt our food panniers sitting on the ground & just started climbing all over these trying his best to get in…we will be sure to post the video next time we have spare time to download this.
We decided to only head to Breckenridge today as we both wanted an easy day & to have a look around town, so we had a 26km easy ride on a bike path the entire way which was very pleasant riding.
We did not make it all the way to town before our stomach’s started demanding more food so we stopped at a trailhead which as we found out is also a very popular mtn biking start point. Just as we were making our lunch a truck pulled up & 2 guys got out as they were heading out for a ride, 1 of the guys pulled out a slab of Red Bull energy drinks & offered us some …godsend!
We have found on this ride we are not shy of taking food or drinks or offers of any kind from strangers if they will favour us…so the Red Bulls went down a treat..
After arriving in Breckenridge we needed somewhere to camp for the night so what would you normally do ? Go to the info centre & ask for some information- Right??
Well this is what we did, but the 2 ladies there were frustratingly helpful - NOT
It just got all a bit too hard so we ended up asking for a cheap Hotel for the night - they knew of one ‘The Lodge & Spa’ telling us it was just up the road on Boreas Pass (where we are heading tomorrow) after us trying to explain over & over we wanted to be close to town they assured us that it was located close enough & on a free shuttle route so we booked.
It turned out to be quite a climb to the ‘The Lodge & Spa’ about 5km climbing out of town…!
We managed to get booked in & the lady on the reception must of felt sorry for us so she upgraded our room to have a view of the town & ski fields - our room is very plush & has rustic ski feel to it .
We spent the afternoon looking around town & had a early dinner before heading back to our hotel for some R & R.
Tomorrow we finish riding up Boreas Pass - our 2nd highest contentinal divide crossing 11'400ish ft

DISTANCE: 41km
AVERAGE: 14.6km
RIDE TIME: 2.49hrs
ASCEND: 420mtrs

DAY 38 - Damn those 'Coons

2009-09-15T15:59:00.001+12:00

After a night of strong winds & rain on the tent we awoke to a lovely sunny day - not a cloud in the sky.
We set off knowing we had a 90ish km day ahead but from all accounts it looked like it was a reasonably easy ride today with just a 7km climb up Ute pass.
We stopped for morning tea at Williams Folk Reservoir then continued another 25km to a lovely campsite by a river for lunch, after lunch we tackled the 7km climb which was actually quite a nice steady grade so that was a nice surprise for us.
We had a 10km downhill on the other side to meet the Highway #9 then unfortunately we turned into a headwind & slight uphill for the 20km ride to Silverthorne which made the going just that little tougher, just as we were getting tired.
Silverthorne was quite a surprise for us - it appears it is the home to the Outlet factory stores even a Pearl Izumi store (which Jo bought new glove as hers have fallen to bits)
After checking out a few other outlet stores we headed out of town to the designated campsite only to find Mc Donald’s on our route - so we had to stop for a quick refuel of Cheese burgers, fries, chocolate sundae‘s & Cokes
We finally reached the campsite about 6:30pm which was a lovely site but the Dillon Reservoir.
We cooked tea but thanks to our Mc D’s entree we could not actually finish it!
After cleaning up from cooking & getting all the panniers put away in the vestibule of the tent we went for a short walk to register our site , upon returning Jo hopped into the tent to find that the panniers seem to have fallen against the inner tent wall so she unzipped the door & found there was a missing food pannier, after asking Scott what he had done with it , Scott went investigating to find a cheeky Racoon dragging it off into the bushes….What The!!!
He managed to convince the Racoon to leave it & we put it back in the vestibule.
About 30mins later we were quietly sitting in the tent reading our books to hear a very loud sniffing outside of the tent - we figured it was the friendly (hungry) campsite Racoon back so we clapped our hands & made some noise - but to no avail - it was after the food for sure .
Scott unzipped the tent door to come face to face with the cheeky Racoon, it took off & we took off after it trying to get a look at it… typical kiwi’s
We then got busy hanging our food panniers & placing rocks around the edge of the tent to try & discourage the Racoon from entering the tent again, we figured a Racoon caught under the vestibule of the tent & not being able to get out would not be good for the Racoon or the tent!
As we were finishing our handy work it started to rain so we did not hear from our new Racoon friend again.

DISTANCE: 95kmkm
AVERAGE: 15.5km
RIDE TIME: 6.07hrs
ASCEND: 1170mtrs

DAY 37 - The mighty Colorado river

2009-09-13T13:57:00.003+12:00

After a great nights sleep we headed away - saying good bye to Alan as we has decided to leave the route for a few days to head to a place called Leadville to try & bag a 14er(for those who are not up with outdoor lingo he is going to go hike up a 14oooft mountain!).
Hope to catch up again with Alan later on the Route.
The morning was quite chilly 4'c when we headed off, the mornings are definitely getting cooler here as Fall approaches & the nights are getting darker earlier, when we arrived it was not dark till nearly 10pm now it is well dark by 8 - boo!
We had an undulating 1st 15km to start the day, passing by many hunters campsites along the way, one in particular had a young guy sitting out the front who spoke to both of us as we went by & neither of us had any idea what he actually said - but just agreed - ha
He then caught up to us on his ATV about 30mins later & stopped for a chat - eek, we still do not really know what we chatted about as neither of us could understand him properly, we are sure it was english he was speaking - just a small town banjo english!!
Today the guide book told us we had 1 of the biggest downhills on the route descending 2000 feet in just a few miles & they weren't wrong, that was a nice way to finish the morning stopping in a small place called Radium, a picnic area on the Colorado river.
Just before the descent we
After lunch we had a lovely scenic 3km steepish climb followed by another climb of 6km to Whiteshed divide, although the climbing was quite steady the scenery was great - going up through a canyon.
This part of the Colorado river must be an extremely popular white water kayaking & rafting spot as nearly every car that passed up has either boats or rafts on there roofs or trailers.
After reaching the top we then has a nice descent for 10km to a town called Kremmling.

We have parked ourselves up for the night at an RV park & showered which felt great as the last 2 days have been very dusty & we felt caked in dust!
One thing we have observed when we have been staying in RV parks is how lazy people are... we have seen people drive there cars from there RV's to the toilets & tonight we watched a lady drive her car from her RV to the laundry to check on her washing - it is unbelievable!! this RV park we are in tonight only has 45 sites so it is not very big!!
It makes you feel that all you try to do to save the planet you might as well not bother when people can't even walk 100mtrs to get somewhere!

DISTANCE: 69.9km
RIDE TIME: 4.58hrs
AVERAGE: 14km
ASCEND: 1085mtrs

DAY 36 - Easier than expected - Like that!!

2009-09-13T13:15:00.003+12:00

After leaving Steamboat Springs with very fully tummies (thanks to the complementary breakfast) we headed off down the road, the 1st 25km were nice undulating relativity flat sealed road through farm land, obviously a very popular road cycling route as we were passed by many road cyclist.
We hit gravel & were riding by a beautiful river when we both mentioned to each other that we bet our new friend Alan won't be able to resist stopping for a fishing somewhere along here & just around the next corner there was his bike & trailer parked up against a tree & Alan was in the river fishing.
Unfortunately for him the fish were not biting so he decided to carry on with us for another 6km to a lovely dammed lake where we found a nice spot by the lake side in the sun to eat lunch together.
The guide book told us that we had a steady 6.5km climb ahead followed by another 12km climb to reach Lynx pass & the campground we were planning on stopping at for the night. The 6.5km climb was surprising gradual & passed without any issues, we then had a stunning 10km ride through beautiful trees & farmland, we crossed a stream & the 12km climb started but to our surprise it was not exactly the climb we had expected, 9km felt relatively flat with only a 3km steady climb to the top of the pass so the day was surprising easier than we had though.
We arrived at the campsite & it was quite full of hunters apparently it is Elk hunting season at the moment but you are only allowed to shoot them with musket loading guns? & it costs $US450 dollars for a permit to hunt if you are not a Colorado resident - That is alot of $$ to try & shoot something & no guarantees that you will!
So nearly everyone in the campsite but us was dressed in full head to toe camo outfits (they sure do love their Camo outfits over here) driving around & around the campsite on their 4 wheeled ATV's (it seems these are a must have also to go on the back of your Dodge Ram Truck or Ford F350)
Alan arrived 15mins after we had got there & decided to camp with us for the night so we all just chilled out for the evening around the great campfire that was built by Scott & Alan.

DISTANCE: 63.7km
AVERAGE: 14.8km
RIDE TIME: 4.17hrs
ASCEND: 900mtrs

Dany & Elmar: Thanks for the email, plsed to hear you have been out on the road bikes - D keep it up it will become easier - promise.
You will also be plsed to hear we have Nutella back in our food pannier - phew!

Doris & Darryn: Thanks for your email - sounds like you guys had a great time in Melbourne.
will be sure to mail some more postcards your way for the new cork board...

Link to a map of the route - FINALLY

2009-09-11T16:59:00.001+12:00

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=112695328976832403070.00044e41240731118e654&ll=41.376809,-110.654297&spn=23.04538,37.353516&z=4&source=embed
Now this is of the US portion only and is taking from Simon Kennett's blog. The dates at the side are cut offs for the race. Nothing to do with us!!!

Some links to people and things we like

2009-09-11T16:29:00.004+12:00

Our new friend Alan's Blog
http://www.xcountrybike.com/tgd_blog.html

New Belgium Beer - brewers of Fat Tire, yummy
http://www.newbelgium.com/

Jo wants one of these:
http://www.nirve.com/womens.asp?cat=cruiser&cid=543.1
Cruisers are everywhere. They are uber cool. Don't be surprised if we are seen zipping around ChCh on one of these this summer.
There's even a magazine all about them
http://kickstandmag.com/

Us, Patrick, Ben and Alan & Patrick and Ben

2009-09-11T16:26:00.002+12:00

Thunder Storm, Vrooom, Huckleberry & Morning Mist

2009-09-11T16:17:00.003+12:00

Photos in the Tetons

2009-09-11T16:03:00.001+12:00

The boys riding in the Aspens

2009-09-11T15:39:00.002+12:00

DAY 35 - Rest day and some observations

2009-09-11T15:08:00.002+12:00

Mmmmm, a bed, nice. Continental complimentary breakfast, nice...
Rest day. that's what we did, after checking out the bike and outdoor shops in town!

Some random observations

Wildlife spotted so far from biggest to smallest
Buffalo/Bison (what's the difference between a Buffalo and a Bison Dominic??) too many to count
Moose x 7
Elk x 10+
Grizzly Bears x 3
Black Bears x 2
Deer-White Tail x loads
- Mule x 6
- Pronhorn x 1
Wolves x 2
Coyote x 1
Red Fox x 1
Badger Holes minus actual Badgers x lots
Squirrels x millions
Chipmunks x millions
Rattle snake x 1
Little snakes (gofer I think) x several, most of them VERY dead
Birds - Bald Eagles x a few
- Golden Eagle x 2
- Osprey x 5
- Hawks x oodles
- Crows x too many
- USA Magpie x loads
- Western Mountain Bluebirds (big blue budgie lookalikes!)
- Blue Heron x 3
- Hummingbirds x 3

Lots more we can't think of now.

Americans are super friendly.

We like Fat Tire Amber Ale is our beer of choice.

Burgers and fries are seem to be the staple food. They are really yummy.

Flags are very important here.

Jackson is cooler than Steamboat.

There is good Espresso here, you just need to be told where. Salt lake City is winning so far.

You REALLY don't have to where a motorcycle helmet when riding.

The movie Roadhogs seems to be based on truth.

There is more to Salt Lake City than Mormons. Drinking IS allowed. The mountains really are right there. trios is an awesome restaurant.

It was possible to borrow 125% of a home loan. Yep that's the cost of the house PLUS another 25%. This is one of the reasons for the economic crisis here and around the world.

Energy bagels from Safeways ROCK.

Whole Foods supermarket is still of favourite.

McDonalds don't do Caramel Sundaes???

Enough for now as we are sure you are bored.

DAY 35 - An easier day

2009-09-11T14:50:00.003+12:00

We had a sleep in this morning, nice.
Everyone was a little slow except Alan who still managed to get up early and do a spot of fishing, with no luck so no trout for breakie.
We hit the road about 10.15am and went straight to a small shop for a cold drink and to call a bike shop in Steamboat Springs to book our faithful steads in for some TLC. The shop looked like it was about to close down as it's selection of everything was pitiful!
We road a nice gravel road section for about 20km to get to a small village (well, a shop and a school) called Clark where we stopped for lunch. Yummy Quesadillas. Just as we finished our lunch Alan pulled in. We left him there having some lunch too as we rode onto Steamboat Springs.
Beautiful ride for a lot of the way next to a lovely river.
We arrived into town and decided after talking to a very helpful girl at the Information center that we would get a motel. We booked in and as always seems to happen, our panniers exploded.
A few chores done after a fantastic shower.
We had organised to meet the others and went out for pizza and beer. This might be the last we see of the boys as they are hanging around in Steamboat for a few days as they are shipping in their girlies for a weekend of fun ;-)
Hit the sack very early and crashed.

DISTANCE: 55.7km
AVERAGE: 18.5km
RIDE TIME: 3hrs
ASCEND: 300mtrs

DAY 34 - Tough day at the office

2009-09-11T14:15:00.003+12:00

After a great nights sleep, waking through the night to hear the Coyotes, and twice to the sound of rain which came to nothing, we got up earlyish. Packed and ready to go by 8.15am, possibly a new record, we left the others to start on another big day. Little did we realise at that time how big the day would be.
It took us nearly two hours to reach the campground we were supposed to get to the night before so we were extremely relieved that we had stopped early. The road was not too bad but it continued to climb. That along with yesterdays wind would have really finished us all off I think.
The other three caught us after a wee while and we all rode loosely together throughout the rest of the day. Some getting ahead at times or stopping to fish at others.
We had all decided to push on to Steamboat Lake for the night, stopping at Columbine near the end of the day for a cold drink.
We stopped and took photos and videos at one stage through a great stand of Aspen trees which was beautiful. Then we stopped at a ranger station to fill water bottles before enjoying a great downhill run of about 20km. This was all paved and fantastic riding!! We stopped at the next turn and enjoyed lunch.
The next 50km turned into a test of attrition! After the first 10kms of "up"-dulating we started to climb, and climb and you guessed it, climb.
Jo and I were lucky enough to see a Red Fox before we started the climbing so know that we were not hallucinating about seeing it.
The climb was mostly steady but with plenty of steep sections to really break you.
EVERYONE was suffering and dreaming of a cold beverage at Columbine.
I won't go one about the climb, just be sure it was tough. Much tougher than expected.
Jo and I were bringing up the rear at this stage and when we arrived at Columbine we both had a feeling that the shop might be shut, and shut it was. Some choice words were heard. Luckily the others had been seen about to break the door down by a couple, Shelia and Doug and old dog "Happy", who kindly offered water and a bit of food. What a pair of champions.
The mood change in everybody after that show of kindness and a bit of cool water and food was amazing.
We all cruised the final 7km of the day to the campsite at Steamboat Lake. What a relief! It was late, about 7.30pm when we arrived and there was no shop to be seen. After we had been there a few minutes a couple wandered by and asked about our trip etc. and told us where the shop was. They left and we decided that there would be an "unloaded" mission for beers. No longer had that decision been made when the couple came back and offered to take someone to the store in there truck. Hallelujah!!
The Louisiana boys were gone in a flash and arrived back with snacks, cokes and BEER!!!
A great night was had telling stories, sharing food ideas, enjoying a fire and introducing everyone to Salmonella Dub, Tiki, Minuit and Flight of the Conchords.
Sleep came very easily when we finally hit the hay at about 11pm!!!!!
BTW, Columbine is not the famous Columbine although it was close to being a crime scene today.

DISTANCE: 100.2km
AVERAGE: 14.8km
RIDE TIME: 6.45hrs
ASCEND: 1445mtrs

DAY 33 Freakin' Wind

2009-09-11T13:47:00.004+12:00

Well got away reasonable early after a night which was punctuated with trains and car noise ALL night. The trains all blew their horns as they got close to, entered in to and then left the town of Rawlins, we do not know why, there was no one there! Rawlins was a rather large disappointment and we where happy to leave.
As we headed out of town it was already warm and starting to get windy. We saw another cyclist a wee way ahead so catching them became our (Scott's!!) goal. It took a while but catch him we did. It turned out to be Alan, a GDMBR rider from California who we had heard about from his brother, Anthony, at Red Rock Lake about a week or so ago. Turns out he was travelling with Patrick (Louisiana lad), although he had left Rawlins a little earlier than P. We chatted, before all heading off into the wind. We rode together chatting until Scott saw a big snake on the road so stopped to make sure Jo didn't miss (run over) it. Turns out it was a Western Diamondback Rattle snake, cool :-). By far the biggest snake we had seen.
We finally caught back up with Alan when he stopped for lunch and while we ate, Patrick turned up too. Great to see him again and to tell our different tales.
We pushed on after lunch leaving the pavement and starting uphill on gravel. The wind was still blowing and making life a bit miserable.
After climbing for quite a while we dropped down and as we started the next climb we noticed another cyclist in the distance. As we closed in we realised it was Ben (the other Louisiana lad). It was great to catch up with him also.
Everyone was suffering and running low on water. I stopped at the next stream and filtered some water. Both Jo and I had just about had enough for the day but we still had another 20km to get to the nights suggested stop. We caught up with the others where Alan was filtering water and discussed the possibility of stopping near by for the night. It seems everyone was sick of the wind and we soon found a spot to pitch our tents and relax.
Apart from being visited by a herd of cows, the evening passed without incident, although the night was filled with the call of Coyotes, which we found really exciting and cool.
We enjoyed hearing each others stories and company.
A hard day to get back into it after a couple of days off the bike.

DISTANCE: 70.3km
AVERAGE: 13.5km
RIDE TIME: 5.12hrs
ASCEND: 910mtrs

Random shots

2009-09-07T14:24:00.005+12:00

Above the beautiful Warm River

Nice Tan lines!

Cowboys!!

Camping out under Big Skys in Montana with The BOYS from Louisia

Another Pass, another State

Couple more Yellowstone

2009-09-07T14:17:00.002+12:00

That's us at Yellowstone Falls

This is Yellowstone Falls, also called the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone or something!

Yellowstone

2009-09-07T14:13:00.002+12:00

Bannock State Park - The ghost town

2009-09-07T13:58:00.004+12:00

The gallows in the background above

Long Straight road to Bannock below

Church above
Saloon Below

Change of Plans...

2009-09-07T03:11:00.002+12:00

Managed to catch the shuttle & get into Jackson. We got the jobs done we needed to do & contacted Dominic - a friend of Scott's that lives in Salt Lake City.
After contacting Dominic we went about trying to organise a one way car rental from Jackson to SLC. After a bit of time on the Internet we managed to organise one & we were having a holiday in our holiday.
The rest of the day was spent checking out the cool town of Jackson - Jo spending $$.
Headed back to campground for evening.
Up the next morning to ride to Jackson Airport to collect car.

We have spent the last couple of days hanging out in Salt Lake City with Dominic , Michelle & their 2 beautiful dogs Ella & Izzy.
Jo was in dog heaven - getting all the dog love she could.
Heading off today - Sunday to rejoin the route @ Rawlins.

Next update will be in about 4 days from Steamboat Springs - Colorado

DAY 27 - Suprisinly short

2009-09-07T03:03:00.002+12:00

Up & away early today as we knew we had a climb to start with but as mentioned yesterday the climb was our easiest yet! as we had to get a lift in a pilot truck as they were doing road works up & over the hill.
We arrived in Colter Bay by 10am, we had though about the possibility of catching a shuttle to Jackson as this is the biggest town close to the Route that we would see for a while & had a couple of jobs that needed sorted.
So we went to the information center & enquired about shuttle services, it turned out there was one available for guests staying at the campground here so we went to enquire about that.
Long story short - the shuttle left early & we missed it by minutes & a very dark cloud descended over Scott!!
The day ended up being spent going for a lovely walk & enjoying the Teton Mountain Range view.
Out for dinner that night we decided to try the shuttle catching again in the morning.

DISTANCE: 30.7km
RIDE TIME: 1.49hrs
AVERAGE: 16.8km
ASCEND: 330mtrs

DAY 26 - Another day another state - Wyoming

2009-09-07T02:43:00.003+12:00

Awaking during the night to a thunder & lightening storm we finally awoke to heavy rain on the tent once again.
We were slow emerging from the tent as the thought of riding in rain was not inspiring us..
Scott got up to see if there was any otter action in the stream - nope! we had been told that a family of otters lived across the river & that they were most active in the morning. (maybe the rain was keeping them in bed too?)
We started out on sealed road for 15km heading straight into blackness! The view of the Tetons was not visible this morning.
As we headed into Idaho we had been climbing on a gravel road for sometime gradually, we stopped for lunch at the boarder of Idaho & Wyoming.
After lunch we had a bit more climbing to do before descending for the final 20km into Flagg Ranch.
Flagg Ranch is a massive lodge that sits in between both Yellowstone & Teton National Parks, they didn't seem too keen on having smelly cyclist enquiring about camping! we were sent to the campground quite quickly as we did not seem to fit the image.
The campground was our most expensive yet $27USD ouch..
We did however get free showers which were lovely.
If on;y we knew with all the road works that was happening ahead & that we would have gotten a ride in the pilot truck up the hill we would have continued to the next cheaper campground about 25km away!

DISTANCE: 76.52km
RIDE TIME: 5.06hrs
AVERAGE: 14.9km
ASCEND: 890mtrs

DAY 25 - Rail Trail

2009-08-31T11:41:00.002+12:00

Well after saying goodbye to our new family we headed off.
Another flat day riding was ahead, but what we have discovered is that even if the book & maps say flat - it does not always mean easy riding....
We traveled for 50km along an old rail track which had been covered in soft volcanic sand so the riding was rather slow in places as the wheels sank & slid!
The riding was however quite nice & we are not really complaining.
We had been promised a tunnel but when we arrived it was shut & we had to go around it instead, the last 10km we followed the warm River which was absolutely stunning scenery.
We arrived at the Warm River campground where the guide book suggested spending the night & it was a really pretty setting, we need food for the next 4 days so we had to push on to a town called Ashton to again restock the panniers.
Ashton is 16km from the campground & 10km off route, but we made it to town, have done some shopping & have been sitting in a cafe eating & blogging (free WiFi - gotta love it!) .
We are about to sign off & head back to the Warm River campground for the night.

By the way we are world famous in Butte as pat who helped Scott fix his bike mentioned us in his newspaper column - even putting our blog site in for people to check out - see link?
http://mtstandard.com/articles/2009/08/26
/sports/hjjajbhehggjjd.txt

hello anyone from Butte reading this...

Mothers - Pls note we will be out of range for probably the next 4-5days so pls don't be worried if you don't hear from us in a while..
that goes for you too Brenda! :-)

Mum - don't call Brenda & be worried... ha

Hope everyone is well, Dany & Elmar - we can't get Nutella in the small towns - devastated! we have had to buy jam (Boysenberry incase you were wondering)!

Now we have some questions for people - pls see below & answer if your name appears (don't be offended if it doesn't)

SMASH: Where are you - we enjoyed your comments on the 1st few posts

ANDY & ANDREA (& Howie): How you have been enjoying the Van?? Remember it needs to be driven..

BRENDA & RICHARD: Have you made use of the Van? Have you booked your tickets to Raro yet?

DARYL & VIC: Are you alive? Would love to hear from you & the Boys.

HEATHER: Thank you for your comment, pls answer the question from yesterdays post re: Paul & Cutting?

DANY & ELMAR: Hope you have been out on the road bikes?

NICOLE & MIKE: How is everything going being shacked up in the valley together? Hope you have been for walks as recommended on my welcome letter?
How is the Millie Puss - we miss her, hope she does not love you more than she loves us?
can you start showing her a picture of us everyday so she remembers us? ha

C4 CREW: How are you? Hope you are all well?

DAVE & BETH: How is the puppy training going?
Scott has just read an interesting article about SAR dogs in Yosemite NP - We will bring it home for you to read.

ANDRE & TARA: Thanks for the Dog updates, Andre you need to come & ride this route on your motorbike - lots of people do & you would love it.

THAT-MAN-WHO CREW: Missing you all.... hope you still remember me.
Simon - thanks for the comment - how was China?
John A - How are the hints for the new pack GT going?

DORIS: Hope you are getting lots of people playing Badminton? Love to Darryn also

DISTANCE: 83.5km
RIDE TIME: 4.53hrs
AVERAGE: 17km
ASCEND: 235mtrs

DAY 24 - Rest day - Family Outing to Yellowstone Park

2009-08-31T11:19:00.000+12:00

Sleep in - ahhhh how lovely that was...

We were all ready & rearing to go on the family outing to Yellowstone by 10:30 as planned.
In the truck & off we went mum, dad & the 3 kids... ha
The park was everything we expected & more, we saw Elk, Buffalo & Wolves in the distance & dancing together (could not see Kevin Costner through the binoculars).
Ron was a great tour guide taking us to all the top spots however he was disappointed we ran out of time to go all the way to Mammoth hot springs.
We were more than happy with how much we saw & learnt with our great hosts.
Old faithful was faithful & performed for us right on time (for those who don't know what this is, it is a Geyser that blows every 40ish minutes - google it)
we were more fascinated by the 1/4mile circle of people waiting to cheer the Geyser when it blew!! classic! we were not disappointed.

On the way to Yellowstone Falls we had a traffic jam with 2 Buffalo just wondering down the middle of the road - totally unaware or just did not care of the amount of cars they were holding up (and people complain about cyclists!!) lucky for us they were going the opp direction & were kind enough to be walking on the correct side of the road , they walked passed our car so close I could have reached out the window & touched them I did not however as when entering the park you are given a special flyer warning you that Buffalo are very dangerous & do not approach - Duh! (although you can see how people do as they look so placid)
Yellowstone falls were beautiful & I can see why they are called the 'Grand Canyon' of Yellowstone.

We headed home & stopped for a family dinner at West Yellowstone town - thanks Mark again for shouting - that was very naughty of you!
Once we arrived back at the campground mum (Jean) made was Chocolate sundaes - yum!

What a great rest day we had off.
Scott in particular enjoyed questioning Ron on all sorts of topics to do with life in the US of A.
By the way Ron is a state government representative, we were left with the impression he is not Obama's #1 fan - I bet they are not friends on face book that is for sure.... ha
A huge thanks to Ron, Jean & Mark for there amazing hospitality & we would love to return the favour one day (Mark hope you in NZ 1 day soon)

DAY 23 - Good Bye Montana - Hello Idaho

2009-08-31T10:34:00.001+12:00

We knew we had a divide crossing this morning so we tried our best to get up & away early to beat the heat...
But a lovely couple who had arrived late the night before came over for a chat, the time passed very quickly talking to them about life in Montana & there time living in France that it was 11am before we hit the road, the divide crossing however was over before Jo realised it, she commented to Scott at the top "Is that it? & I hope the rest are this easy!!"
Cresting the divide we left Montana & entered Idaho.
Another 10km along the road we came across a cowboy cutting event (where they have to separate 1 cow from the herd & keep it out for an amount of time - is this what you do Paul Fleet??)
We were both so impressed with the skill of the horses as they twisted & turned blocking the cows from returning from the herd & were impressed with how the cowboys stayed on the horses!!
We pulled up & went & watched for a while feeling very out of place in our Lycra get ups whilst everyone else were in Blue jeans, Checkered shirts, Massive belt buckles, Cowboy boots & Hats..
After leaving we had another small climb before turning off the road & onto a snowmobile track which we followed for about 12km. we were both blown away by the height of the orange track markers to show where the road is when there is snow - they would have been about 12ft high!!

This track dropped us into a small service town which was about 6km from the campsite for the night so once again we stocked up with food & because it was Friday we even shouted ourselves a 'Giant' can of beer each (about 1ltr) - It amazes us that you can buy beer in service stations singly...
We ate like kings tonight with re fried bean burritos with lettuce & sour cream & our beers + we had bought a huge plastic container of strawberries for dessert (they are so cheap over here!)
Just after arriving & setting up camp at Big Spring campground we meet a guy called Mark who was there also for the weekend with his parents to do a bit of fishing.
He was a local to the area so we quizzed him as to where would be the best place to rent a car as we were thinking since we are so close to Yellowstone park it would be a shame to not go see it & we had read in other peoples blogs that they rented a car to drive around for a day or 2.
Later that arvo Mark came back to tell us that he had contacted a friend in the town we were asking about & that there was no car rentals available, but that him & his parents were heading to Yellowstone for a visit on sat & we would be welcome to ride along with them of we liked? They were off fishing & told us to have a think & come over to there campsite (there Tin Tee pee as they called it) at dusk when they are back & let them know what we wanted to do.
So we arrived just as they were lightening the campfire, we took our strawberries over (Good old kiwi's - always need to take something over to offer) meet Marks Mum & dad Ron & Jean, they made us feel so very welcome - Jean even made us banana splits using our strawberries which we ate around the campfire.
We decide we would join the family outing to Yellowstone the next day.
We did not stay late sitting around the campfire was they wanted to go fishing in the morning before we headed away on the family outing...

DISTANCE: 54.6km
AVERAGE: 17km
RIDE TIME: 3.12hours
ASCENT: 345mtrs

DAY 22 - Flat does not always mean Flat...

2009-08-31T10:17:00.000+12:00

Away from Lima we had a long flat day of riding ahead it was another lovely blue sky Montana day as we set out.
After stopping at the service station/ supermarket to fill up the food pannier we headed into the wild west (actually east) the day was described as being a long but flat day so we thought we had a day of quite
easy riding ahead, this kind of was the case but the roads traveled were quite rough alot of washboards & alot of updulating the entire day.
the sun was extremely hot & we were riding down roads completely void of tress, such a contrast to northern Montana, where all we saw were tress!
We were riding through ranch country which Jo found especially intresting as there was alot of hay making & farm work going on around us (it appears horses have been replaced by 4 wheel quads in cowboy country these days!)
The day was fairly uneventful & we make good time arriving at the campground early arvo, we had stopped on the way to the campground at the ranger station to check if there was anything we needed to know & to fill up water bottles - the rangers over here are so helpful & very informative we spent a bit of time chatting before going back out into the heat to finish the day.
The campground was next to a lake & located in a wildlife refuge (although you can still hunt??)
the campground had a lovely water spring which we took good advantage off re hydrating.
Chatted to another cycle tourist who arrived just after us but was heading back to Lima & told us we had inspired him to do it in 1 day, he had panned to do it in 2.
Apparently the ranger told us that the huge holes that were dug in the middle of the road that we had seen during the day was made from Badgers & that the chances of seeing a Badger at the campground was high - but alas we did not see any! boo.

DISTANCE: 92.2km
AVERAGE: 18.1km
RIDE TIME: 5.05hrs
ASCEND: 525mtrs

DAY 21 - What goes up must come down..

2009-08-27T14:55:00.002+12:00

Up & away early today we knew we had a morning of climbing ahead so wanted to get started before it got too hot. Said good bye to B & P as they were meeting some friends at Morrison lake & we had decided to push on to Lima (like the bean).
The climb was gradual but long finishing with a very steep 2km section.
We enjoyed lunch on top of the Medicine Lodge Big Sheep Creek Divide, before diving down the other side (saw a blue dog up there too... they are very popular here in the state apparently?)
After another flat up- dulating section of about 8km we finally got to enjoy the promised 30km downhill - what a treat that was.
We passed through the most beautiful canyon following the big sheep creek which was beautiful.
This bought us out to the final 12km stretch & wouldn't you know it - we had a head wind!
It had been very hot all day & we had both ran out of water & were extremely thirsty so as soon as we got into Lima we went straight for the cold drinks fridge at the service station & both knocked back a litre of Poweraid!
Found the campsite for the night & did laundry had a shower & headed to Lima only fine dining establishment for dinner 'Jan's Cafe' both enjoying a 'Cowboy burger & fries!
After finishing this blog entry we are going back to Jan's for some pie? oink oink.

DISTANCE: 99km
AVERAGE: 17km
RIDE TIME: 5.47
ASCEND: 825mtrs

By the way we are now on map 3 of 7 - yahoo
Not sure when we will be able to blog again - as we are only passing through very small towns in the next few days.

Well done Charlie on walking to Mr Sue's - hope you had a 'V' for me & you are recovered now!
Next time get Justine out for fresh air & exercise as well!

For those who don't realise you do not have to have a gmail account to post comments you can do it as an anonymous post & just sign it.
Keep those comments coming...they make us feel special...

bye

DAY 20 - Ghost town (s)

2009-08-27T14:37:00.002+12:00

We left with the guys this morning as we all needed to stop at the only shop around.
Stopped, and shopped!
We left B and P sorting out their budget, with the intention of catching up later.
We cruised along a paved road all the way to Bannack State Park where we stopped for lunch. Prior to lunch we called in to check out the local cemetery, as you do? The cemetery was just like you would see in a western. The last person buried there that we saw was in 1910 and we think the average age of people in the graves was mid 20's!
The actual State Park is a true ghost town which people finally left in the 60's. It was purchased by Montana State and is open for people to walk around, with most of the buildings open for you to go in. Fascinating. Most buildings were built in the 1880's, photos to follow.
After a cool (actually a freakin hot) couple of hours we headed off on the second part of our day. We had intended on stopping in a small town called Grant. However Grant was as much of a ghost town as Bannack, just scarier as there apparently were people still living there, but no motels or camping as stated in our maps and guidebook. Even the pub was shutdown.
We were going to stay with B and P again tonight but they had not caught us up, so we scratched a note for them in the gravel and hoped they would see it. Just as we were about to leave we spotted them coming so waited for them.
We rode on another 12km and found a spot to camp on public land.
Our first night of open sky's with no trees around.
We sat up latish chatting again and drinking red wine from a Nalgene plastic bottle. Very posh!
Once the stars came out, Ben got out his "glow in the dark" astrological bandanna and we tried to spot constellations without much success.
Saw some amazing shooting stars with long tails. Montana really is "Big Sky Country".

DISTANCE: 77.3KM
AVERAGE: 18.7KPH
RIDE TIME: 4.08HRS
ASCEND: 400m

DAY 19 - Short Day????

2009-08-27T14:23:00.002+12:00

We had a slower start this morning as we were having a short "easy" day today.
Well the distance was easy, but surprise surprise, there was a little climbing to be done too.
Not a lot to tell about the ride, just that the amount of climbing surprised us once again!
Our day end's destination was close to a Hot Springs which we fully intended to make use of. We got to the CG, set up then did some laundry as it was a glorious day.
We then walked up to Elkhorn Hot Springs. As we get close Ben and Patrick were riding down from sussing out the HS's. We suggested we share the campsite and they went off to set up while we went and soaked.
Imagine Hanmer Springs if you will. These are not like that at all!!! They need some love and attention, to say the least. But hey, we ain't complaining, we got in for half price as one of the pools was being cleaned and we got to listen to the subtle sounds of a water blaster. We did have the pool to ourselves though.
After leaving the pools suitable tired we hit the "restaurant" which opened at 3pm. We were there at 3.01pm and in need of food. The "chef" had told us that he was bummed to be at work has he had been enjoying crushing "pop" cans at home in the sun. Interesting fella?
As we left for camp the boys arrived to soak.
We wandered back to camp and actually had a relaxing couple of hours reading and dozing.
Cooked dinner and the boys finally arrived back after their soak and a meal. We stood around the camp fire whilst asking them all about life in Louisiana and the States in general. Great guys and a cool night of laughs.

DISTANCE: 37KM
AVERAGE: 16.1kph
RIDE TIME: 2.17hrs
ASCEND: 540m

DAY 18 - Butte - Pattengill CG

2009-08-27T14:01:00.002+12:00

After an extremely hot and busy day in Butte yesterday, we awoke this morn to the sound of light rain on the tent.
It did not come to much but threatened to all day.
We were up and away quite quickly this morning with the first 20km on sealed road. We did a fairly firm climb before hitting the dirt. At 30km we did our 6th Continental Divide crossing. The climb had been very gradual and quite enjoyable. We celebrated with lunch hiding behind a toilet to avoid the strong, cool wind.
From there we had a fairly long descent to a point where a decision was to be made.
Actually the decision had been made for us by a good intentioning advise giver in Butte. He had done the route a couple of years before on a tandem and suggested that we not do a particular section which has a bad (good for some) reputation.
So we headed off on the detour into a fairly steady, straight in ya face, head wind for 14km. After that we turned and had a great side/tail wind all the way to Wise River (town), 20km away. This section of road followed the Wise River, a beautiful river famously known for it's fly fishing, and there certainly were one or two people fishing on that river!
We stopped at the local store to get a drink and some chippies before hitting the last 16km of the day.
With 4km to go the thunder started and the heavens opened, but only for a few minutes. It was a race to the nights campsite, which we won (just).
As we pulled into the CG we noticed another couple of guys on bikes camping there also. Their names are Ben and Patrick and they hail from Louisiana. Good southern boys.
We had a quick chat then went and put our tent and tarp up, and cooked some dinner. We took our after dinner hot drinks down to have a yarn we the boys before hitting the sack.

DISTANCE: 100.4KM
AVERAGE: 16.3KPH
RIDE TIME: 6.10HRS
ASCEND: 1080M

DAY 17 - Pat and Ed ROCK

2009-08-23T16:25:00.002+12:00

Both of us struggled to get up this morning, our sleeping bags were super comfy this morning, and it was supposed be be an easy, short day. Yesterday had taken it's toll as we both felt tired.
We got away earlish and enjoyed 10km of flat gravel road before a short sharp wake up, then more flat all along an old railway bed.
We went through the first tunnel of our trip which was built in 1911. It was kinda cool, in fact as you entered it the temperature change was amazing. By the way, it was hot again!
After another couple of short but steep wee climbs we ended up on a paved road that ran parallel with an Interstate. We followed this for about 16km before joining the Interstate to cross the Continental Divide for the fifth time then zoomed downhill all the way to Butte.
On yesterdays rough and steep section Scott managed to break his helmet in half. We had both taken our lids off as it was so hot and as we were pushing rather than riding. At one stage Scot dropped his bike and the helmet was between the ground and the heavily laden bike. With no scull in it to provide support it broke!!!! Stuff, bugger, etc.
This section also finished off Scott's suspension fork (Matt Tait if you are reading this you will not be surprised) finally died. It had been slowly happening but this section finished it off - not just Jo and Scott.
So this is quite a problem as it is an old school fork using older measurements and rim brakes rather than disc which are the standard now. The other problem is that today is Saturday. First bike shop we stopped at (owned and run by Levi Leipheimer's brother) could not help but suggested anther shop. On our way there we found the only campground in town (and our most expensive yet), booked in, put up tent and dumped gear. Onto the next shop. He also could not help us BUT he phoned a customer who apparently collects bike bits, and does some home wrenching.
While we waited for the customer to turn up we went downstairs in the bikeshop to their Coffee Roastery!!!!! Had a great chat with Ed's wife who is the roaster. Very interesting stuff.
Pat turned up with a bucket full of forks but none were really that suitable so we followed him home where we found a fork that would work. Pat is the MAN. We had the new fork on in no time (well, kind of in no time) while his friend and his son, and Pat's wife and daughter entertained Jo!!!
Pat would not let me pay for the fork or even buy him beer. We have however organised a little something for him as a thank you.
Pat, thank you so so much for getting us out of trouble!
We finally let Pat get on with his day and we went and got food and a new helmet!
Butte is a very interesting town, so much so it is a designated Nation Historical Place. A population of about 35000, built on a rich and colourful history of mining. In fact the whole backdrop to the town is an opencast mine. Not that pretty. Apparently famous for it's Cornish Pasties, which we didn't get a chance to try but the Subway is awesome.
We had hoped to actually spend a little time checking the town out but fixing bikes got in the way, Sorry Butte!

DISTANCE: 66.6KM
RIDE TIME: 4.06HRS
AVERAGE: 16.3KPH
ASCEND: 400m

Off into the wilderness for a couple of days. Will check in when we can.

DAY 16 - The Guide book lied to us....

2009-08-23T15:47:00.002+12:00

After out lovely rest day in Helena we had a late start after eating far too much at the free breakfast.
We headed out at about 10am & it was already HOT!
The guide book had inferred that it would be a reality easy day , so much so that we had decided to do a day & a half riding.... when will we learn!
The book only mentioned a 12.8km gradual climb then a downhill which we did with ease... noticing along the way notices saying the campground was closed. We didn't stop to read the fine print until a little later when we did the notice was talking about the campground you are suppose to stay at @ the end of the day.
After the downhill hill we started to climb .. & we climbed some more & it was getting hotter in fact 40'c HOT!! (on Scott's watch), we stopped part way up to replenish our water bottles at a stream we have to filter all of our water so even that was hard work in the sun.
We had been stopped earlier by a car travelling in the opposite direction to tell us that they had just seen some Black Bears further up the road. Whilst Scott was filtering the water another car stopped to tell us that they had just spotted a baby Moose on the road about 150yards away & that mama moose would not be far away so to take care.
We pedaled on ringing our bells & calling out "Hey Bear" " Hey Moose" whilst climbing & frying.
The only wildlife we saw were several cows!!
We finally reached the nights designated camping area (the closed one). By this time we were both feeling a bit hard done by as the last 12km of solid climbing had not been mentioned in the book. So we headed into day 2 of the guide book which sounded relatively easy apart from a 4km stretch of rough & steep road. This time the book was accurate it was unrideable for the most part - extremely rocky where it was not sandy & really steep (even Scott had to push!) it took us 1 1/2hrs to cover about 5kms!!
Thankfully once we completed the climbing it really was all down hill for about 12km. This followed a really nice creek / canyon all the way to the weirdest town so far - Basin! ding -ding da ling ding (banjo's!).
We had forgotten to get cash in Helena & noticed a sign at the "Hotel" saying it had a ATM machine inside.
We went in (note, it is Friday night 6pm) & all 4 people at the bar & the Bar lady stopped turned around & stared! These goes those banjo's again if only we could hear them over the heavy rock music blaring...
As it turned out our card did not work so we left quietly & as quickly as we could hoping that the campsite accepted Visa.
Oh by the way into town - Scott's welcome to Basin was by getting his foot bitten by a Blue Heeler called Brownie (what the??) . We then stopped by a man who had just caught a little snake that was on the road. His daughter wanted to see it!!!!!!
1st off we should tell you that basin is a town where old cars go to die... & they are parked all over the main street - Incredible!
We asked a young guy for directions to the campsite his directions were as follows " head back down the main street to the big white church, turn right & you will notice a bunch of old car - Fords mainly .....blah blah blah... " Ford mainly - this cracked us up!

the campground was located at the Mary Widow Heath Mine this is a place people come to go down a old mine to enjoy the Radium gas - apparently helps pain? they also take bottles of the water to drink.
Saw some interesting people there, some Japanese ladies some Russian apparently & a group from Missouri, this last group were some type of Amish type religion, they were quite interested in what we were doing. 1 had even sleep in a tent once - before he was married - ha
Great thunder & lightening storms rolled in just as we got the tent & tarp up, we cooked/ showered & crashed whilst seeing the lightening through closed eyes - cool... it was very close!

DISTANCE: 68.9km
AVERAGE: 11.8km
RIDE TIME: 5.50hrs
ASCEND: 1520m

PUNCTURE: 1 - Scott

A few QUICK shots, click on them for larger images

2009-08-22T02:15:00.002+12:00

Seeley Lake

Lunch spot

Bear Safety

friendly neighbour

a chipmunk

DAY 15 - REST

2009-08-21T15:41:00.002+12:00

We woke this morning to our bodies self timer - not alarm clock!
We got dressed & headed for our cooked breakfast - YUM we ate as much as we could possible fit in!
On that note - it is amazing what we are eating - we are starting to think we won't be coming back skinner than we thought!! although we have both noticed our pants are much looser now than when we started.
After breakfast we walked into downtown Helena - stopping at the Museum for a look around.
Downtown was quite disappointing for us - alot of empty shops & not much to look at!
We found a very cool coffee/ confectionery/ novelty shop which Scott tried the coffee (disappointing again! but according to the girl - its the best in Helena?) we were just about to leave when we spotted the RJ's licorice for sale - so had to have some!
We then tried looking for somewhere to have lunch (yes our lives when bot riding seem to revolve searching out our next meal!)
After lunch we wondered back via the supermarket (food again!) & then just chilled out in the hotel room watching cable & resting the legs whist Scott sorted photo's & blogged.

Earlish night tonight as we are heading off again tomorrow... after another full cooked breakfast - yum!

Pls keep your comments coming as we look forward to hearing from you each time we sign in.

Hope everyone is well & the weather is improving over there.

DISTANCE: 6km walking to down town & back
AVERAGE: 4km ?
RIDE TIME: 0
ASCEND: 0

DAY 14 - Finding our Limits

2009-08-21T15:05:00.002+12:00

Up & away early today - the weather for the day was looking great - warm & sunny.
We knew today was going to be big as we were trying to do another 2 n' 1 day of riding, but we possibly underestimated just how big it was going to be.
We also underestimated just how tired we were from the day before.
Today we have not 1 ....not 2.....but 3 continental divide crossings to concour!!!
After the 1st 20kms for so we began our 1st divide crossing described on the map as being extremely steep, the 1st 6km were actually quite manageable & lulled us into a false sense of security.
The track was challenging let alone the steepness we meandered our way up (Jo - pushing at times) slowly but steady.
Around the next corner the extremely steep part kicked in, not only that but it was HOT & the track we were on was very rough with big loose rocks making it hard to get traction.
After an hour & an half toil we reached the top - Shattered but happy the worst of the day was over (or so we thought!)
From there we headed down hill on equally as rough terrain, so did not get the pleasure of the downhill reward.
After another 20km we began to climb again this time on a slightly better road & although slightly less steep the cumulative effect of yesterday & the 1st crossing starting to take effect, before the climb proper we stopped & filtered some water before heading up as the temp was approx 28'c & we did not have much shade!
This climb seemed to go on forever & only cows for company the entire way.
We passed some old mine sites & a lovely older couple picking huckleberries who we stopped to chat to ( she wanted to give us a ride to Helena - her hubby did not seem so keen!)
Finally at the top we knew we had bitten of possibly a little more than we could chew! we also knew we had a downhill ahead which we were both looking forward to - this however was a rougher track than the 1st & took alot of concentration which we were struggling with!
Crossing #3 to go this was the lowest of the 3 & in theory the easiest but as we were already chewing more than we should have been this climb nearly finished us off! We were poked & still had 25km to go to get to Helena!
After crossing divide #3 we had a nice downhill all the way into Helena - yet it seemed to take a long time to get there.
Upon arriving we realised the only campground was 8km north of town, way to far for us as it was already 6pm & we were tired & hungry, so we stopped & a laundromat (which had wireless) & booked ourselves into a hotel for the next 2 nights. this is the 1st hotel/ motel we have had since leaving Calgary.
Upon arrival we were greeted with free popcorn? & a wonderful hot shower.... bliss!
We showered & headed out to the nearest restaurant for dinner & a well deserved cold beer (or two).
Our Hotel is extremely luxurious for 2 cycle tourist from NZ - Even getting free Hot cooked breakfast - yum!
Well deserved day off tomorrow to see what Helena has to offer (not to mention a sleep in!)

DISTANCE: 105.7km
RIDE TIME: 7.37hours
AVERAGE: 13.8km
ASCEND: 1595mtrs (biggest day climbing yet!)

DAY 13 - Double the fun and a bear

2009-08-21T12:03:00.004+12:00

As mentioned in the last post we intended to do two days in one today. For those that don't know the route that we are following has a set of seven maps, including the Canadian section and a book which describes the route through the USA section only. When the route was first devised it went from the Canadian border to the Mexican border only. The Canadian section was added later and consequently the book was published before the Canadian section was added. The book has the USA section divided into 62 days. This does not allow for days off and as we have limited time, we need to get "ahead" whenever we can, today was one of these days.
So we left Seeley Lake early ready for a big day. The route started with a longish gradual climb with a nice descent and then a long flat section. We broke this up with a stop for a drink in a really cool little "town" called Orvando. The guy at the shop was super friendly and we talked for a while whilst admiring the shop's several mounted heads and furs. We chatted about our bear encounters etc.
After leaving Orvando we spent 20 minutes on a State Highway before turning off, back onto a gravel road. Not long after we turned off we were coasting down a wee hill when we came across a wee black bear crossing the road!!!! It was about 100m ahead so plenty of time to stop. We called out and it stopped in the middle of the road and looked at us. Then it trotted off to the trees at the side of the road, then up a hill stopping to watch us. I managed to get some photos this time. It was pretty exciting but knocked us back out of our complacency!!! We reckon he had just popped down to his "local" for a drink as he had crossed right by a stream.
We cruised along the flat through ranch country for another 45mins or so before stopping for lunch prior to taking on day two which began with a long steady 9km climb up Huckleberry Pass. The climb was long and hot but not too bad. (Photo below to right is looking down to where we had come from. That road is heading toward our lunch stop. A long way down!)We had seen very few people that day, but not far from the top two blokes on quad bikes past us going down. The second one just shook his head at me but gave Jo a big "you GO girl". After the pass we enjoyed a great downhill run finishing in the town of Lincoln. Lincoln has a famous son in the Unabomber, some geezer who sent a few letter bombs in the nineties. Not much in Lincoln. Stayed in the town campground. Another couple turned up on bikes so we had a chat to them. They are from near Boston and are doing a road tour around Montana.
Went and did a bit of shopping before cooking dinner and hitting the hay. Big day as it was our biggest climbing day yet!

DISTANCE: 103.7km
AVERAGE: 16.6kph
RIDE TIME: 6.15hr
ASCEND: 1255m

DAY 12 - THE SUN IS BACK

2009-08-18T15:14:00.000+12:00

We awoke to sun…..!
Happy not to be packing up in the rain we set off nice & early although it was not raining - it was very cold & both of us had cold fingers & toes.
The guide book suggested today would be quite difficult with 2 high climbs & a 7km section of extremely rough terrain.
We had completed the days 1st climb without really realising it & turned off to start the ‘steep’ climb of the day, to our surprise it was not steep at all but certainly steady… we knocked this out in record time stopping at the top for a lovely sunny lunch looking across to the mission mountains - The scenery was amazing.
The next section was to be the 7km stretch of rough terrain, this turned out to be a fun filled 7km of single track quite rough in places - but basically all ride able apart from 2 single slides - bear calling the whole way , we whopped our way down & coasted the final 12km into Seeley Lake.
Seeley lake is what we would describe as classic small town America. Nothing fancy.
The campsite was cheap with its own resident deer walking around.

Tomorrow we are hoping to do 2 days in 1 of the suggested guide book we are following(100km) & the same again the next day finishing in Helena - Montana’s state capital.

Will blog again in a of couple days.

DISTANCE: 58.6km
AVERAGE: 13.2km
RIDE TIME: 4.25hrs
ASCEND: 925mtrs

DAY 11 - RAINY DAY

2009-08-18T15:12:00.000+12:00

Again…..We awoke to rain…..!
After having to put on wet cycle clothes - yuk!, we packed up camp & headed off.
After being on the route for about 25km & knowing we had no easy accessible food for lunch (2 minute noodles don’t count when it is pouring with rain) we decided we should go off route to find a food store that was located on our map.
What a excellent decision that turned out to be - the food store was amazing - we thought it was probably only a service station that sold chips & soft drinks - but to our utter amazement it was a fully stocked ‘everything you could ever need store’ it even sold freshly baked cinnamon scrolls with icing on the top!
We stocked up on food & had a bite to eat (it is still raining…!) & headed down the road for 5km to a town called Condon which was really a town with a just a garage & diner - but at the back of the garage was showers & a laundry so we stopped there & washed all our wet & dirty clothes., and just as we arrived it was a miracle…. The sun came out - so did we not only manage to get the washing done - but we managed to get the tent & the tarp all dry as well (& sit in the sun & soak up some rays while eating ice creams) .
After the washing was done we continued down the main road (in the sun) for another 15km to the turn off to Holland Lake Lodge.
Lake Holland lodge is a ‘Semi Dude Ranch’ (what ever that is?) & is such a magic spot nestled in amongst trees, here we set up camp in the campground just next to the lodge & headed to the lodge for a well deserved beer! We enjoyed our beverages while sitting on the shores of the lake in the sun!
We enjoyed a lazy evening in the sunshine.

DISTANCE: 60.54km
AVERAGE: 16.0km
RIDE TIME: 3.48hrs
ASCEND: 710mtrs

DAY 10 - BIGFORK TO CEDAR CREEK CAMPSITE

2009-08-18T12:22:00.000+12:00

We awoke to rain…..
Headed out of town quite early (no hangovers thankfully) & to get back onto the GDMBR we had to ride along a nice wee trail out of town, this trail is a very popular walking/ running trail for the Bigfork locals.
Half way along we were stopped by a lady walking her dog & she was super interested in the journey we were taking - so much so that she wanted to call the local paper!!
She had a kiwi connection through her son & skiing , that she hosted Annaliese Coberger ..
After about 20km of riding we headed up hill - for about 10km of nice steady climbing. By the way it was still raining & we were soaked 7 not so happy! We did not imagine this ride having rain in it!

Once we hit the top & headed down the other side we both froze so we stopped & rugged up we even put on our rubber gloves.
We finally arrived at Cedar Creek Campsite without realising that we had left the route to get there? Blame it on the rain!
The campsite was very basic but next to a lovely river, we stood around in the rain deciding wither we should continue for another 30km or just set up camp in the rain - we decided to set up camp in the rain making good use of the tarp as an extension of the tent (God Bless that tarp - it is a godsend)!
After we set up we cooked, ate, cleaned up & crashed - Jo was asleep by 8pm, Scott about 9:30.
We woke during the night to hear the rain on the tent… it is a lovely noise when you are all snuggled up in your sleeping bag.

DISTANCE: 62.25km
AVERAGE:13.9km
RIDE TIME:4.29hrs
ASCEND: 915mtrs

DAY 9 - WHITEFISH TO BIGFORK

2009-08-18T12:20:00.000+12:00

After leaving the campsite about 9:30 we headed back into our local ‘Montana Coffee Traders’ for a coffee & to use there free Internet (very handy) to upload the photo’s you have hopefully all viewed now?
At 11am we headed out of town - just as we started it PERSISTED down with rain & this is what it was like for the rest of the day - Hard Rain!
The riding today was all sealed backcountry roads passing lots of ‘Ranches’ so it made for good scenery viewing, a change from being in trees all day.
After arriving at Bigfork we set up camp @ what would have been the nicest campground yet, the rain had stopped, so we did some washing quickly & decided to walk into town to check it out.
After a 5 min walk to town - you guessed it - It rained - not just any kind of rain - it Teamed down !!!! (so much for the washing we left out to dry - when will we learn!)
We checked out a few galleries as Bigfork is quite a arty town , then just gave up & headed for the nearest pub to wait out the rain.
We had just settled with our beers when we got approached by a lovely 74yr old man called Ray - he heard Scott ordering the beers & recognised the accent… this was enough for him to come on over & introduce himself - little did we know at that point the was affectionately know as ALL - DAY - RAY!
Any way he was lovely & keep us entertained for about 2 hours with his stories of his life. 3 pints later the rain was still going & we had not eaten so were starting to feel rather merry.
We were then joined by another Bigfork local called Art. Art proceeded to tell us some more stories & buy us some more beers , we were introduced to Bigforks only Samoan resident (who by the way played in the NFL), everyone was so very friendly & did not want us to leave - but to stay & listen the ‘Boot Stomppin’ band they had playing..
Scott finally bought food & we stayed at the pub till 10:30pm when we finally managed to extract ourselves. By the way it had not stopped raining so we had a very wet walk back to the camp.
Art was the local beer rep, representing Scott’s new favourite beer ‘Fat Tyre’ amber ale.
And we would like to thank Ray, Art & the only resident Samoan (sorry forgot your name?) for there fantastic hospitality..
We slept well that night!

DISTANCE: 76.2km
AVERAGE: 18.4km
RIDE TIME: 4.08hrs
ASCEND: 340mtrs

PHOTOS

2009-08-15T04:40:00.001+12:00

Hi, just uploaded a few photos to earlier posts so check them out. It is proving a bit time consuming so will probably do some seperate photo only posts.
More to follow. Gotta get going!

2009-08-15T04:38:00.000+12:00

REST DAY - Whitefish Montana

2009-08-14T10:38:00.004+12:00

Had a nice sleep in this morning. Woke to rain.
Headed to McD's for breakfast, ahh good living, American style ;-)
Caught up with Nico, chilled at Montana Coffee Traders chatting and catching up. Had a walk around town, checked out Glacier Cyclery.
Back to MCT to have late lunch and do blog.
Off to supermarket and to hopefully download some photos.
Probably won't have a chance to post again for a couple of days.

DAY 6 - Two in one

2009-08-14T10:24:00.003+12:00

Woke to the sound of rain at 6.15am so Scott jumped up and took in the clothes we had out drying on the line and put up the tarp to cook breakfast and get organised under.
After our fastest (again) pack up we hit the road at 8.10. The blokes from Florida were up but the others were still tucked up.
We made awesome time along the downhill section covering 20km in an hour. It rained the whole way but was not cold. We stopped for a couple of snacks along the way. Man you sure do get hungry just riding along.
We meet three cyclists heading the other way so had a chat to them. Turns out one of them had done the race along the route that happened in June, finished 5th equal and was now just doing a weeks tour with friends. Jo thought that was a bit freaky!!
We turned uphill not long after that and again starting riding uphill for another 20km. Again it went on and on. Eventually we got to the top at Red Meadow Lake.
This should have been our nights destination but we wanted to push on to Whitefish to have a rest day.
After the lake we headed down in the rain for 20km then an pretty flat/undulating ride into Whitefish. Even found a car wash on the way into town to wash the mud off our bikes.
Found a campsite with a laundry. Did laundry, showered, had pizza (thought Simon P was there too as his car was???) for tea and crashed!!

DISTANCE: 100.1 km
AVERAGE: 16.3 kmh
RIDE TIME: 6.08
ASCEND: 865m

Both looking forward to rest day tomorrow.

DAY 5 - Russian flower pickers

2009-08-14T10:05:00.004+12:00

So we were up and away in record time this morning, we were headed to the U S of A!! Bye bye Canada.
We got to the Boarder crossing quickly, unlike getting through immigration which seemed to take forever!
After that we headed to Eureka, a very very cool little town 16km away. We stopped there for an early lunch at the Jax cafe, a quintessential American "diner" complete with booths and all. Had a yummy burger and chips before finding the library for a quick email session.
From Eureka we had longish ride ahead up and over Whitefish divide to a campground in the middle of the forest. The first 25km were relatively flat along a gravel/dirt road before turning towards the hills. We then climbed, and climbed and climbed some more. In fact we climbed for about 25km!!! Once we finally reached the divide we thought we would have a cruisey roll down hill all the way. Nope, no such luck, it was down hill but was quite rough so we needed to concentrate and actually pedal. On our way down we meet two Russian men picking flowers, what the? They told us they made a very powerful tea to help cancer, mmmmm not sure. They also told us they were not worried about bears because they had a gun, which they showed us. Nothing like been shown a handgun in the middle of the wilderness to let you know you are living. They were very friendly and gave us good tips on the area (don't worry Betty).
When we arrived at the campsite to find three other Great Divide ride groups. Two heading our way, the other going north.
Had a laugh with one group of (seven blokes, from Florida). Chatted with the others, swapped stories then hit the hay.

DISTANCE: 85.6 km
AVERAGE: 14.1 kmh
RIDE TIME: 6.03
ASCEND: 1120m

DAY 4 - Furnie to Loon Lake

2009-08-12T07:07:00.003+12:00

Despite our best efforts of getting an early start we still did not hit the road till 8:50am (we are rising 6:30am-ish in case you were wondering).
On the ride out of Furnie we noticed there was a lot more to the town than we thought Oh well - next time?
The day started easy on a meandering gravel road through to Elko following the Elk river the whole way.
There was nothing at Elko, we pushed on to Paynes lake in the hope of a nice lake side picnic spot unfortunately this was not to be, we decided upon a spot at the entrance of someones driveway taking shelter from the burning midday sun.
We took advantage of the heat & dried out the tent & the thunder stormed soaked washing from yesterday, whilst we enjoyed out staple lunch of bagels & Nutella.
The day was getting really hot 35'c hot as we cycled on, we had a 20km paved section which included a nice descent & then a steady climb in the blistering heat with no shade & little wind to speak of.
The final 15km were on a gravel road with a stop at our 1st 'Hicksville' convience store!!! Jo was concerned about the banjo's playing. We enjoyed a nice cold 'pop' & then rode to our idyllic lake side campsite.
Set up camp & them swam in the lake to freshen up. Had a nana nap cooked tea had a wander - early night.
USA border beckons tomorrow - only 12kms away from where we are staying tonight.
Another easy day although both feeling quite weary .
The only wildlife we saw today was some friendly non threatening deer & some fish in the lake that Jo was convinced were attacking her feet!
Hopefully catching up with our friend Nico in a couple of days.

Hope all is well with everyone at home - Hows working for ya?

DISTANCE:85.8km
RIDE TIME: 5.21
AVERAGE: 17km
ASCEND:595mtrs

DAY 3 - Day of the German

2009-08-10T15:08:00.003+12:00

After a late night , but an awesome sleep we awoke to the sound of bloody noisy crows crowing & squirrels squeaking (they are quite loud) we headed off, starting the day with a healthy 4km climb. Half way up Scott spotted our days prey - THE GERMAN. We had been told by the GDMBR cycle tourist we had seen on day 1 that he was in front of us.
After the climb we headed along a nice paved road passing a huge coal mine before turning onto another gravel road which we followed for the next 25km (calling "Hey Bear" & ringing our bells the whole way).
About 5kms along the gravel road we finally caught the German. We had a quick chat, he was a man of few words (Doesn't seem to know Dany, Elmar or Doris? even through we described you? :-)
We continued to Sparwood where we stopped for lunch with our new German friend 'Clas'
We went our separate ways after lunch as he was making a phone call (maybe to find out if his parents knew D,E or D?)
The day continued for another 30km on paved road just about all down hill (although a head wind!!) to Fernie where we are are tonight.
We managed to finish the day at 2:30pm in time to do some washing, get it hung out & for today's thunder storm to roll in & soak our washing - typical.
Just back from Dinner at Boston Pizza - this is becoming our restaurant of choice when dining out, we chose the salad not the fries to go with our pizza.

DISTANCE:82.28km
AVERAGE SPEED: 17.9km
RIDE TIME: 4.36hours
ASCEND:480mtrs

DAY 2 - Day of the Bear

2009-08-10T14:37:00.002+12:00

Day 2 started out when we woke up to find out tent quite wet on the inside & we could not work out why, when we went to get out we couldn't due to the zip being frozen!
Luckily our tent has 2 doors & we managed to extract ourselves...
The day was looking beautiful Blue sky.
We headed off down a lovely gravel road, 30mins into the ride a car coming towards us when we noticed 3 bears on the side of the road stand up at the noise of the car - it was mother grizzly & her 2 grown cubs - OH MY GOD!! The car carried on as the bears ran off back towards the trees, where they stopped to watch us pass... was a very intense moment for us! we stopped further down the road to catch our breath & to try to stop shaking!!
They were very close & this incident made was realise just how close bears can be without seeing them, so from that moment on we rung our bells & called out the rest the way to the information center where we reported our sighting ( you are required to report sightings of bears) We got to speak to a lovely Park Ranger called Nick who was very helpful & gave us good advice on bear safety, we had done everything correctly.
After having a early lunch we started the 1st crossing of the Continental Divide, this was a 6km climb of epic proportions, but we managed it quite successfully & in good time.
The top of Elk pass saw us leaving Alberta & entering BC.
The descent was fun on a relatively technical single track - especially loaded, Scott has his first fall of the bike - luckily we were not going fast so he was OK.
We hit another shingle road which we followed for the next 50km, all was going quiet nicely until the thunder clouds rolled in & poured down on us, making us stop & put the tarp up to wait it out, This made the dirt road very muddy so now as well a pushing heavy loaded bikes we are also carrying a lot of mud on our bikes.
Just as we are about to arrive at our nights campsite we spotted our 4th bear of the day this time a small black bear, when we say close to our campsite we mean basically at the entrance of the campsite, he did not at all seem concerned about us & after a few minutes he crossed the road & headed into the trees. I'm sure Mama bear was not far away which made us a little uneasy.
As we rode into the campsite we saw a mother & child so we told them about our bear sighting.
We could also hear a huge party going on, great if you like heavy metal & about ten 20yr olds drinking & smoking pot...
The campsite was by a lovely lake which they were using to knee board on whilst being towed behind a massive 'Loud' 4x4.
We decided to cook dinner here whilst talking to 1 of the young lads who came over to say 'high' & we decided we would carry on into Elkford for the night about 20km away.
We arrived in Elkford very late but just in time to get our tent up before another thunderstorm hit.
made good use of the tarp & the free showers, we were both knackered as it had been 11 1/2 hours since we stared out.

DISTANCE:112.15km
AVERAGE SPEED:15.7km
RIDE TIME:7.07hours
ASCEND:830mtrs

DAY 1 - day of the moose

2009-08-10T14:12:00.004+12:00

Ok so the official ride has started....
We headed off down the Spray River trail the 1st 6km were nice undulating riding on double track.
Then the climbing started - another 13km of solid climbing ahead & we both wondered what the heck we were in for...
After 19km& 2 hours later we popped out onto a gravel road where the riding got a little easier but no less hilly.
Stopped to talk to a Cycle Tourist heading in opp direction - turns out he was on his last day of the GDBMR south to north, he gave us lots of good tips & encouragement.
After a picnic lunch we carried on & on & up & up the tracks for the next 45km were a mixture of hiking trails & gravel road.
After a days total so far of 65km we decided to stop on the side of the road for dinner as it was about 6pm & we were both starving.
Just after eating we stood up to see Moose #1 500mtrs down the road just grazing, we were so very excited to have seen a moose - we felt it made the days hardships worth while.
6km down the road we stopped to camp for the night by a very small lake (pond), just as we arrived at camp we saw Moose #2 across the side off the lake watching us.
We set up camp & just on dusk we went to clean our teeth to find another Moose about 30mtrs from our camp ( we suspect it was Moose #2 coming over to check us out).
When we returned to the tent the Moose was gone & it appeared again across the other side of the lake then all of a sudden it just walked into the water & headed straight for us....came up onto the bank about 10mtrs from us stared at us for a minute & walked off!! Was quite an interesting experience!
The scenery is beautiful - the Rockies are HUGE!!
The weather today was HOT - about 25ish degrees & no wind.
We got ourselves quite sun burnt... let the tan line begin.

DISTANCE:69.9km
AVERAGE SPEED:11.7km
RIDE TIME:5.58hours
ACCEND:1110mtrs

Photos to follow...

BANFF

2009-08-07T13:49:00.002+12:00

Start GDMBR tomorrow. Will give better update in a few days.
Over and out, S and J
No bears yet but lots of deer and a couple of beers!

DAY ONE OF CYCLING

2009-08-06T13:50:00.003+12:00

Day started out wet, and stayed that way for the next two to three hours. Slight wind, thankfully at our tail so not to bad. Man are our bikes heavy! doesn't bode well for mountains :-) We are both thinking of things we can dump already, ha ha.
We had to ride on the Trans Canada Highway all day today. It was busy (but safe Betty and Barbara) but not bad. The road was really smooth which was nice.
"Up-Dulating" all day today.
Stopped at a roadside "restaurant" at lunchtime for a drink and to us the loo. Very uninspiring. We had Nuttella on bagels for lunch, yummy.
Arrived in Canmore at about 3pm and found a campground. Campground is a bit run down, full of character shall we say. Put tent up in the first sunshine of the day and put out riding gear to dry. Once we were organised we wandered back into town. Had a wander around and as we came out of an amazing photography gallery it started to thunder and rain. So a fast walk back to the campground followed by some dinner cooked in the shelter of a tree.
Sitting enjoying a beer and using somebodies Internet connection!
Both of enjoyed our day and feel good.
Laters, S and J
PS Hopefully our posts will get more interesting soon

Wildlife seen today: 1x Bald eagle, lots of ground squirrels...very cute
Other Cycle tourists: 1x heading towards Calgary
Friendly toots & waves from motorists: 3

DISTANCE: 105.88km
AVERAGE SPEED: 19.4km
RIDE TIME: 5.27.

CALGARY

2009-08-04T12:34:00.002+12:00

Hi everyone, well we made in one piece. Flights were good. Only 1 minor hitch as we were boarding in Auckland we were told that one of our bags would not be coming with us! What the?? Apparently even empty and aired out fuel bottles are not allowed on flights.
So the long and short of it is that our bag followed on later and is in Calgary, but not with us yet!
When we arrived last night it was 30C, today it is much cooler (maybe cold) and drizzling!! Awesome thunder storm over night, pleased we were not in the tent.
We spent the day doing chores like shopping (our second favourite thing after cycling!!). MEC is still the coolest outdoor shop ever.
We have splashed out on a very little and light laptop. Not up and running yet but will be.
Nicole we hope you and Millie have finally meet and bonded and are now BFF.
Off to supermarket and for dinner now.
Catch up soon, S and J x

MADE IT.....

2009-08-02T18:58:00.002+12:00

As far as Auckland!!! All good so far.

Jo's Mum andD ad come to see us off as did Linda.

Nice.

Next update probably from Vancouver. Exciting stuff eh?

OR YESTERDAY!

2009-07-29T22:34:00.002+12:00

It's getting closer and time seems to have sped up.
Big day yesterday. Jo had her last day at Kathmandu. Sad day for her and for her colleagues. Sounds like she had a nice morning tea with nice things said about her and she is very proud of her speech!
I had a tooth removed which is always fun, not. $170 for 22mins work. I am in the wrong job.
Busy day at work for me today and for Jo doing cleaning and errands! Jo even had some real excitement in her day when she saw and reported a scrub fire where she was walking the dogs.
Another late night tonight. We have just packed our clothes to see how much each other has. NOT much considering how long we are away.
Four more sleeps!!!!

YEP FAILED ON THE POST EVERYDAY!

2009-07-27T21:16:00.002+12:00

Hi, sorry didn't quite make it yesterday.
Another busy day. Jo managed to get the carpets cleaned!! I managed to get the bikes into expedition mode! Photo's to follow :-) We even managed to get out and ride the bikes, in the sunshine, yahoo.
We went out to our friends Doris and Darryn's (kayaking on Okarito Lagoon in photo) for dinner. It was fantastic. We played the didgeridoo and sung to Darryn's lovely guitar playing. Very hippy like!
Tonight we have finally settled on a hotel for Rarotonga and booked a hotel in Calgary.
It is getting scarily close now. Jo finishes work tomorrow and I am getting a tooth taken out, oh joy!
Bye for now, S

YUMMY DINNER WITH C4 CREW

2009-07-25T23:56:00.001+12:00

Another late night post, story of our lives it seems at the moment.
Had a wonderful sunny day here today. It is so good to see the sun.
We did a hard Spin class at the gym this morning before Nicole (who is house-sitting for us) came around to check out her new place. Then it was a quick dash into town to spend more money. Home for late lunch, some work on bikes and a dog walk to the bike shop, more money spent.
Home to do more work on bikes then get ready to go out for dinner with C4 Crew. Had a great dinner at Indochine, quiet beer at the Dux and home.
Phew, doesn't actually sound that bad on here.
7 days, 17hours!!
Bye S and J

ANOTHER DAY CLOSER

2009-07-24T22:36:00.001+12:00

Just watched Slumdog Millionaire, great flick!
Well we have a very busy weekend of final preps. A few bits to purchase ans a couple of trial packing sessions.
Might even get out and ride our bikes, if we're lucky.
It is amazing how much "stuff" you need to do such a long trip. I thought we had everything, but I keep finding more that we "need"!! Ha, maybe that's actually why I like stuff like this, the gear? I think it is a boy thing.
Another late entry.
Till next time, S and J