Days 37 to 45: Cuba to Antelope Wells
Writing this post feels radically different from writing the rest of the series. I'm home in Boulder in clean clothes, sitting on a comfortable chair inside my warm apartment. Noises from outside and the faint hum of my refrigerator steal my attention away. Well, the trip is over. I rode the entire Great Divide all the way to the Mexican border! After seven weeks, 45 days of riding, 2,860 miles and 200,700 feet of climbing, we made it to Mexico. Out of …
Days 29 to 36: Southern Colorado to Northern New Mexico
The morning in Hartsel was cold. We saw frost in a few places and bundled up before we left our tents. Despite the cold we were ready to ride to Salida on a route that was mostly downhill. As we rode through the morning the gravel road slowly climbed into aspen forests again. At the top of the climb I waited to collect my crew, then we descended into Salida. The descent was fast and twisty. We took a twisty route through town as well - nobody was sure why. Even on an easy day we all wa…
Days 20 to 29: the Great Basin to South Park, Colorado
We left Grand Teton National Park on Wednesday the 7th and headed south, deeper into Wyoming. I was glad my legs felt rested and ready for the short 54-mile ride into Pinedale. As we left Jackson Lake and the Tetons, we stopped often to relish our last views of their beauty. The smoke that was hiding the peaks had mostly cleared so we had our best view of them so far. We rode down the highway for many miles until we reached a small lake where we turned east. The road became gravel and st…
Days 11-19: Out of Montana
After two entire weeks in the state of Montana, we've finally crossed through Idaho and into Wyoming. I'm currently lying in a cabin at Coulter's Bay in Teton National Park at the end of a rest day. The past week has been a big departure from the weeks before. Leaving Condon we continued south to Seeley Lake on some of the most beautiful trails I've ever ridden. The day started out foggy. After an hour or so the sun climbed into the sky it shone through the…
Days 4-10: Sparwood to Condon
It's been six days since my last post and we've made it into the USA! We've been riding in Montana for the past several days after crossing the border north of Eureka. Canada was great but I felt a great wave of excitement and happiness crossing into the US. In Montana we quickly noticed more advertising and different stores and restaurants. In some ways Canada feels more civilized than the US. On our last day in Canada we rode some fun singletrack thro…