2007 Great Divide Race

This article in Outdoor Magazine on the 2007 Great Divide Race, via midway bike blog, was a fantastic read. A handful of riders race 2.500 miles from the Canadian border in Roosville, Montana across the official Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, through the halfway point at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, finishing in Antelope Wells, New Mexico at the Mexican Border. The writer is one of 11 riders out of 25 that finished the race. The writing is compelling and the story is wonderful, and god damn does it make me want to ride a 29″ touring/mountain bike… somewhere. Anywhere. Everywhere.

I throw my sunshade in the dirt just north of the Colorado line. Crossing state lines proves the biggest boost to morale, and tomorrow I’ll be in Colorado. A buck antelope wakes me before dawn, kicking and snorting as if I’m a threat to his buckhood, so I gather my possibles and ride south. It gets hot fast, and I run out of water on the dusty climb up County Road 38. I know I can’t make it all the way to Steamboat with no water. But then, a mirage. A sign on an old schoolhouse reads COFFEE.

I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole into Wonderland. Kirsten, a tattooed kindergarten teacher from Northern California, makes me my very own pot of good coffee and feeds me mushroom quesadillas and chocolate cake. While I eat, she smokes American Spirits and checks the GDR progress on her laptop. “Matt Lee was here a few days ago. He ate breakfast but wouldn’t even take an orange with him.” I feel ridiculous attempting to explain to her that oranges are heavy.

2008 WAGBRAD

The very first WAGBRAD (Washcycle’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Around DC), a 47 mile counterclockwise ride around the perimeter of DC, takes off from Jones Point Light House in Alexandria, VA at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 23. Sounds like fun, and the weather’s been perfect for a nice long ride. Wonder how long it would take haulin’ 80 lbs. of toddler on a 50 lb. bike?

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