The Beauty of the Tour Divide
[Day 15, Mile 1424] Riding by a huge snowbank 30 miles south of Rawlins, WY, near the Sierra Madres.
Now that I’m housebound here in rain-soaked Northern California, I can resume posting about the Tour Divide, the 2,700-mile Canada-Mexico adventure of a lifetime I finished five months ago. I even brought the notepad I was scribbling on in my one-person tent under the glow of a one-LED finger light each night just so I could transcribe its daily notes while I’m on vacation.
In July and August, I mainly posted about “look at how ridiculous/difficult/nutso this race was,” so this time I thought I’d begin posting about how scenic the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route is. Here are scenery photos from the Tour Divide. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever done.
[Note February 16, 2009: Ok, when I wrote this in California over the winter holidays, it turned out I had much less time to blog than I had hoped. New goal to get caught up on Tour Divide posts is by February 28, 2009 September 2009.]
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| The start of the Tour Divide mountain bike race at the trailhead in Banff, AB. This would be the last time I would see many of the racers. | [Day 1, Mile 36] Riding with racer Kevin Hall and, briefly, Andy Buchanan (I think) on a gravel access road near Banff National Park. |
| [Day 2, Mile ~100] Riding again with Kevin Hall through the Canadian Rockies north of Elkford, British Columbia. | [Day 2, Mile ~120] Some of the best scenery of the entire race was through the Canadian Rockies. |
| [Day 2, Mile ~120] Rocky trail by a river south of Elkford, BC. | [Day 2, Mile ~145] Don't worry, I didn't break the speed limit here in Sparwood, BC. |
Due to the large number of photos, only the first 6 of 35 are shown. View all photos or play slideshow.
Alyssa said:
Wow, nice photographs! Now I feel compelled to go see the Canadian Rockies… although maybe I’ll wait until summer.
Jim Berridge said:
Felix
Wonderful stuff and thanks for sharing. It certainly looks like it was an incredible journey for you. I can only dream of doing stuff like this, but in the interim your posts are very motivating!
Good luck for 2009 and I’m looking forward to seeing what your next epic event is going to be!
Alene said:
Felix, This is the first time I’ve seen your pictures! You rode by our cabin when you went through Como. Thanks for posting these! See you back in the Fort after your Mickey Mouse and a half adventure! Alene
Fritz Knochenhauer said:
This whole adventure is so awesome. I’m an oldtimer and bike tourist who has long been an off-roader. How did you go about finding about this “race” and is there an entire map-set for the Rockies? I’m from the S.F. Peninsula, just spent a year in Evergreen, CO at 8,500′ ASL and rode everywhere. But, oh the roads and drivers suck. To offroad the entire area would be awesome. Now, I’m in Davis with dreams of crossing the country in stages…help me out with where to go for a set of maps that describe your journey…wow!