Hello

This first post is an experiment with Blogger as a platform to talk about my trip this summer. I’m writing from my office at home, on my iPhone, to test the mobile experience. Here’s my bike, getting ready:

I’m riding my Surly Pugsley, which I’ve converted to a 29+ bike  It’s heavy and slow but will carry whatever. It’s reliable and proven.

Here’s my planned (for now) route:

I’ve waffled quite a bit on the route — initially I’d planned to ride from here in Boulder, down to Pueblo, then take Adventure Cycling’s Western Express route to Escalante, where I’d pick up the Western Wildlands bikepacking route. 

That involved too much pavement, I decided, so then started thinking about starting in Grand Junction and getting on the Kokopelli Trail to Moab, then riding from Moab up via Green River to the Western Express route on Skyline Drive. However, Kokopelli on a fully loaded bike is realistically beyond what I’d be comfortable with right now given my fitness.

Then I thought: I could rent a car and drive to Flagstaff, AZ and start my ride on the Western Wildlands route there. This would have worked really well, I think, but the Navajo Nation is closed to visitors because of COVID, and there’s not a reasonable alternative to the 100 miles or so of the route that passes through their land.

So I started thinking about the Great Divide, a route that I’ve returned to again and again. Initially I’d dismissed it because of snow — if I start riding the last week of May, most passes in Colorado will be unrideable because of snowpack. But nothing says I have to leave on a particular date or from a particular place. 

I realized I could rent a car and drive to Santa Fe, and get a few days of moderate road riding before getting on the Great Divide Route in Grants, NM. Happily I have not ridden the section of the trail from Grants north to Cuba — I detoured around it in 2017 because of rain.

So the plan is to hang out here in Boulder for a couple of weeks, riding and prepping and maybe doing some short trips, then drive to Santa Fe around June 4.

More updates here as necessary! I was a little worried about shuffling my plans around last minute, but the important thing is that my goal — a multi-thousand mile bike tour before my 50th birthday — hasn’t changed.