My Tour Divide 2016 (Yeah, I know what a slacker...)

Oh man, the Tour Divide. What a ride, a dream come true, taking part in the legend and all that. I had great plans to write up my experiences and a couple of technical cock-ups put paid to a detailed account. 12 months on I still have my notes here sat gathering dust so I'll commit them to a blog, they'll be disjointed but what the heck.

T-7 Friday 3rd June 2016
Flew West-Jet into Calgary, the original plane was grounded so I arrived via stand-ins Omni, could have put me onto a Dakota with a folding chair and I'd have been happy. I'm off to Canada baby! :)

Airport to Motel transfer

It was to be the last flight for my trusty Salsa Fargo cardboard box as I dumped it without ceremony in a Calgary Motel dumpster. Popped into MEC to buy bearspray and endured the obligatory training and signed the waiver. Can't remember if it was to say that I wouldn't spray humans with it or I wouldn't sue if I got eaten by a bear.

Bears weigh heavy on my mind as I pop into Tim Horton's for a coffee and snack...a bear claw.

A bear claw, to feed my body and my paranoia

T-6 Saturday 4th June 2016
Ah, a 5.30 am start and time to put the bike together and breakfast at 7am. Iced water in my bottles and off we go up the 1A towards Banff.
Leaving Calgary is a right faff, the bike paths don't follow the 1A so I say sod it and join the freeway and hug the shoulder. It's now Smokey Bears I expect to run into as surely I shouldn't be riding my bike up here....

Road's calmed down a bit

To relieve the boredom of the freeway I divert into the the Glenbow Lake park and crucnch some gravel to Cochrane via Glen Eagles (Yes, with it's own golf course). The Garmin craps out in Cochrane after I've ridden about 26 miles, Lord no, please don't let this be the theme for the next three weeks!

Stopped at one of the oldest churches in Canada for a bit of shade and to take a few snaps. Getting a real Little House on the Prairie vibe.

It's 80 miles from Calgary to Banff and the emptiness of Canada is soon driven home, past Cochrane I find one Gas Station to buy snacks before arriving in Canmore. It's also a quick lesson in North American cuisine, bigger is better and there's no such thing as too much of a good thing.

90% Mystery meat sandwich

I decided that Canmore would be my base before the TD kick-off, if for no other reason that it was waaaay cheaper than staying in Banff. I find myself a reasonably cheap cabin to lodge in and enjoy the strolls into town playing gopher spotting.

As common as pigeons on a UK high street

Everyone loves ice cream

As suggested by Gabes I seek out some Poutine. Chips, gravy, cheese and bacon, what's not to like?!

T-5 Sunday 5th June 2016

Starbucks has become my Canmore eatery of choice. The staff seem baffled by my request for a pain au chocolat and insist it's a chocolate croissant. Whatev's, the wifi is much better here than in McDonalds.

Poutine from Wendy's-very authentic I expect

T-4 6th June 2016

I move from downtown Canmore into Harvie Heights, even by cabin standards it's rustic. Still it's got a big TV and a variety of terrible TV channels to keep me amused.

As the weather looked good I decided that I ought to hit some gentle trails, enough to be fun but not so much that I break myself or the bike before the Grand Depart.

The ride up to Goat Creek was dusty as hell, I ask a chap for directions and it turns out he's from Halesworth, crazy huh. We ride into Banff together and I tell him about how Suffolk has evolved since he emigrated.

T-3/T-2 7th and 8th June 2016
Mainly mooched about town and enjoyed the river walk in Canmore.

So goodbye Canmore, next stop Banff and TD butterflies!

Tour Divide Kit List- One for the obsessives

With just a day or two to go before I fly out to Canada here's a quick kit list of what I'm taking:

Bike:
Frame: Charge Cooker Ti 29er
Fork: Superstar Carbon Monocoque
Front Wheel: SP-PD8X dynamo hub and Velocity Blunt SS rim
Rear Wheel: DT-Swiss 350 hub and Velocity Blunt SS rim
Tyres: Continental X-King Protection 29 x 2.4" tyres set up tubeless
QRs: Salsa F&R
Chainset: Raceface Ride with Absolute Black 36T Oval N/W ring
Bottom Bracket: Uberbike Ceramic HTII
Pedals: Lifeline SPD
Chain: KMC X-11SL Goldie Lookin' Chain
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XT M8000 GS
Cassette: Shimano XT M8000 11-42 11spd
Headset: Lifeline Integrated
Stem: Thomson 90mm 4X
Handlebars: Jones Loop bars 710mm
Brakes: Shimano XT M785
Brake Pads: Superstar Sintered
Grips: Ergon GS-1
Bar tape: Deda Carbon in Black
Cables: Shimano XT with Transfil sealed cable kit
Seatpost: Thomson 27.2 410mm
Seat: Charge Knife Ti
Front light: Exposure Revo
Rear Light: Exposure Red-Eye

Handlebar Luggage:
Wildcat Gear Tomcat Jones bar pouch
Sinewave Revolution Dynamo-USB Charger
Duracell 1150mAH buffer battery
iHarbort 5000mAH buffer battery
Various micro/mini USB cables as necessary

Revelate Designs Sweetroll
Alpkit Numo Mattress
Alpkit Cloud Cover Down Quilt
Six Moons Designs Wild Oasis Tarp Tent
Tyvek Floor for above
SOL Emergency Bivi

Revelate Pocket
ACA Tour Divide Maps
Cue Cards
Pinarello Softshell hat
Specialized Wiretap Body Geometry Gel gloves
Gore Bikewear Windstopper Headband
Other stuff TBC probably food/warm gloves/etc.

Alpkit Stem Cells x 2
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Smartphone
Oakley Jawbone Sunglasses
Other stuff TBC, probably beef jerky

Revelate Designs Gastank
TBC, probably sweets

Revelate Designs Jerry Can
Garmin Dakota 20
Alpkit Viper Headtorch
Spare Batteries
Blinky rear light

Revelate Designs Viscacha
Sleep Kit:
Finisterre Merino Baselayer Top
Finisterre Merino Baselayer Bottoms
Finisterre Merino Boxers

Riding Kit:
DHB ASV Merino socks
Planet X Thicky Merino Socks
Sessions Goretex Mitts
Kalas Hangar111-C6 SS Racing Jersey x2
Kalas Hangar111-C6 Racing Gilet
DHB ASV Bib Shorts
Rapha Brevet Bib Shorts
Rapha UV Arm Screens
Castelli UV Leg Screens
Giro Terraduro HV Shoes (Not in Viscacha)
Giro Foray Helmet (Also not in Viscacha)

Wet Weather Kit:
Montane Trailblazer jacket
Gore Bikewear Powertrail shorts
DHB Aeron Rain defence leg warmers
Gore Bikewear Goretex Socks

Cold weather Kit
Polaris windproof fleece gloves
Karrimor Down Jacket
Uniqlo Down Gilet

Revelate Designs Moonlander (!) Frame bag
Side pocket:
Easton Carbon Pole
Alpkit Y Beam pegs

Top pocket:
Wash kit (Soap, Toothbrush & paste, hand gel, baby wipes)
Medical kit (Chamois cream, plasters, Sudocrem, Vitamin I, Antacids, Immodium, Water purification tablets)
Lezyne Micro Floor Drive HV Pump
Retractable Cable lock x 2

Bottom Pocket:
Innertubes x 2
Lifeline Dry Chain Lube & Rag
Tool Roll (Topeak Mini 20 Multi-tool, Lezyne patch kit, Tyre levers, zip-ties, gorilla tape)
Superstar Sintered Pads x 4 pairs

Water carrying kit
Free Parable Gorilla Clips x 3 (Under Downtube and one on each fork leg)
Free Parable Gorilla Cage under downtube
Elite Custom Cages x 2 (One on each fork leg)
Wingnut Hyper 2.5 w. 2 litre Camelback bladder
Mountain Warehouse collapsable 500ml bottle x 2
High 5 750ml bottle
Travel Tap 800ml bottle with integrated filter

Electronics
Aforementioned Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Smartphone 32gb w. 128gb SD Storage
Garmin Edge 810
Garmin ANT HRM
Garmin Dakota 20
Spot Gen 3 GPS Tracking device
Halfords 5 function cycle computer
Energizer Lithium Batteries where appropriate

Clothes on a one-way trip to Banff
Levi's Engineered Jeans (Yes, really)
Poloshirt
Least favourite socks and boxers
Tired old All-Star low tops

Bear Deterrents
Gruffalo Mascot

Tour Divide 2016 The point of no return......

Oh boy. It's the 20th May and in little over a couple of weeks, I'll be nervously lining up outside the YWCA in Banff ready to ride the Tour Divide. This weekend will see the final go at cramming everything in the bike luggage and then experimenting with re-cramming it all in a large cardboard box.
I'll arrive in Calgary a few day days before the start and take a few days to acclimatise and find somewhere to buy some bear spray.
I've just registered with Trackleaders so my progress can be followed, nothing like knowing everyone is watching to provide a bit of impetus to pedal on!

Tour Divide 2016 Part 1

Don't push too far your dreams are china in your hand, don't wish too hard because they may come true..."
I'd heard about the Tour Divide through the Bear Bones Bikepacking forum, and in particular a documentary called Ride The Divide. I've loved all my visits to the USA so the idea of riding 2750 miles was fascinating. At the time the longest trip I had undertaken was a two day over nighter with a maximum of about 80 miles covered in a day off-road. The idea that doing double that distance every day for three weeks seemed nothing short of impossible. But as my riding began to progress, covering a hundred miles was no longer that big a deal, and finishing a couple of 24hr events showed me that the carriage doesn't have to turn into a pumpkin at midnight! The idea of riding the divide was planted....

By pure chance I ended up riding with a couple of guys on the BB200 who planned to ride the TD. Their enthusiasm proved infectious so I realised it was time to start the ball rolling. I won't go into details but after a false start work joined wife in giving me me the go-ahead!

Fitting training in around the stumbling blocks of everyday life has been tricky but I'm doing my best to commute by bike every day and follow a trainerroad plan. It's almost made using a turbo enjoyable....almost.

Bikewise I've made a few changes to the Cooker Ti to suit long days in the saddle. The SIDs have been removed in favour of carbon rigids, I feel that the risk of failure of something complicated combined with the fact I'll (hopefully) do 2750 miles without servicing meant that one way or another they'd only be fit for the bin at the other end. To bring back a bit of cushioning I'll be running Continental X-King 2.4 protections.

The Thomson carbon Flats and 70mm stem have made way for a pair of Jones Loop Bars and a 90mm Thomson to compensate for the 45° sweep. I usually favour ESI silicone grips but I'm going to use some Ergon GS-1 as comfort will take precedence over control.

I've been running three Stan's Crest wheelsets on my 29er, each with tyres for different conditions but lately every ride seems to have led to a spoke failure or a nasty "twang" neither of which are confidence inspiring for a near 3000 mile outing. I spoke to Paul at PT Cycles and asked his advice on a new wheelset specially for the divide. We decided on Velocity Blunt SS rims paired with a Rear DT 350 and an SP PD8X dynamo hub for the front. The Blunts have little weight penalty over the Stan's crests but the 30mm width (and Paul's wheel wizardry) make for a stiffer wheel that better supports the 2.4" tyres. The dynamo hub will take away any concerns about powering my lights and combined with a Cycle2Charge my smartphone and Garmin Edge can remain topped up.

Normally I rely on my trusty Exposure Six pack Mk2, even the low setting provides enough light for technical rides at a decent pace. The downside being that while 24 hours (36 on newer models) is a great burn time, the resulting charge time is also about 24 hours, I could see myself having to spend inordinate time in roadside diners keeping the Sixpack charged. Lights with disposable batteries would mean a race to the shops to get fresh ones at considerable expense and flying to the states to ride your bike is already feeling a bit environmentally iffy. Exposure of course make the Revo dynamo light, with 800 lumens it matches my Six-pack on the setting I'd be using. As long as I'm rolling at about 10mph I'll have all the light I need front and rear (with the additional Red Eye). A Revo and SP hub combined weigh about the same as normal hub and Six-Pack so there isn't really any downside.

The Cooker saw my first attempt at doing 1x10 properly. By that I mean a proper Single chainset, narrow wide ring and clutch mech, as opposed to using a middle ring by itself, a plastic chain device and living with a bouncy normal mech. I have to say I'm a total convert. For the TD I'll be changing from an Absolute Black narrow/wide Oval 34t to a 36t and moving over to XT M8000 11 speed. This allows me to run an 11-42 without need to use an expander/16t sprocket/and RAD cage. All items I felt would be in short supply on route if needed. Sticking to stock 10 speed would probably made getting spare parts easier than for 11 speed but then that would have meant running a 36/36 granny and that feels a bit like it might be hard work!

To be continued....