Quitting our lives to go ride bikes

by Richelle Olsen, She Science Ambassador

So in case you haven’t heard...we have plans...BIG plans!  Heres the gist...

 In July 2015, Shane and I will...

·         Quit our jobs

·         Rent out our house

·         Sell Herb the X-Trail

·         Sell as much of our stuff as we can, and put the rest into storage

·         And jump on a plane with our bikes, on a 1 way ticket to Vancouver, Canada!

What happens when we arrive in Vancouver?

Then we start the BIG one... 

• We jump on a bus to Whistler to spend 2 weeks exploring the MTB park and surrounds with our good mate Vaughan, playing on our bikes.
• Then we wave farewell to Vaughano, and cycle our loaded bikes the 900kms from Whistler to Banff, probably via Kamloops, on the road.  Probably making friends with bears.  Probably hurting cause its the longest either of us have ridden ever!

 

The famous Great Divide MTB Route, the long distance bicycle touring route from Banff in Canada, to Antelope Wells on the border of the USA and Mexico. 

• 2745 miles (4418 km) long.  
• Following the Continental Divide as closely as practicable and crossing it 30 times
• Through Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.
• About 90% of the GDMBR is on unpaved roads and trails and requires basic off-pavement riding skills to complete. The unpaved portions of the route range from high quality dirt or gravel roads to a few short sections of unmaintained trails which may not be possible for most people to ride at all. 
  
• Over 200,000 feet (60,960 meters) of elevation gain and loss (thats like climbing Everest nearly 7 times) 
  

Heres the trail profile in feet and miles. The highest point is around 3,600m above sea level.

How long is it gonna take?

Well we will try to follow the guide book suggestion of 70 days in the saddle, averaging around 60-70kms a day (with some way longer ones thrown in).  But by the time we take a rest day once a week or so, and take a few stop-offs for some hiking and running in Glacier NP, Yellowstone NP and others, well the whole trip will take much longer.  Our biggest issue will be crossing Colorado before the mountain passes get snowed in....not sure how much fun that would be!!  So in short, we have no idea...3-4 months maybe?

Will we ride the whole way?

Shane definitely will.  I'm planning on riding most of it, but I am a little realistic in my abilities, so there may be one or 2 sections of 350+kms of no services, or some insane mammoth hills that I make the call to ride the road around, or jump on a bus to meet Shane in a few days time.  In an ideal world this wont be needed, but I know my limits, so will play it by ear.  Shane on the other hand has no limits.....

Where will we stay?

The plan is to camp 80-90% of the trip, mostly to keep costs down, though 1 night a week in a motel to freshen up ourselves and our gear is definitely on the agenda, where we can find one.

How remote will we be?

We pass through probably 3-4 big towns, and quite a few towns with just 1 general store.  Theres a few stretches of 3-5 days with no services at all, so we will have to carry plenty of food for those sections.  In fact the last 5 days has nothing except a town called Pie Town, with one shop...one guess as to what it sells!!!???

What will we eat?

Anything we can get our hands on!  Mostly 2 minute noodles, pasta, rice, tinned tuna, diner food and jerky really!  Mostly stuff we can buy from service stations!   I will quickly learn to not be fussy, and eat whatever we can get a hold of!

What riding experience do we have?  

Well Shane has ridden 12 ans 24hr enduro races a few times, and has run over 600kms non stop.  And me, well I commute 40kms to work once or twice a week on a river path, and I ride my mountain bike with my mates once a week or so....  So as you can see we are both super experienced......aren’t we??!!!    Oh I forgot, we did a 4 day bikepacking trip around Mt Buller last month to test out our gear, our legs and our bums....remarkably we passed all 3, albeit rather slowly!!  Nothing like a baptism of fire when we arrive, right??!!

Will something eat us while we camp in the wild?

Most likely, yes!  Bears are our number one predator.  We are expecting to see plenty of black bears, and hopefully no grizzlys!  Theres a number of precautions we need to take, including hanging food from trees at night, carrying pepper spray and blowing a whistle all day every day whilst riding through bear country.  Shane’s working on the theory that he doesn’t need to be fast, he just needs to be faster than me!  He’s also determined that the book about our adventures isn’t worth writing unless I lose a limb to a bear, and he rescues me......I love his loving concern for me!!! 

Then theres rattlesnakes, wolves, mountain lions and prairie dogs.......all out to get us.  ‘Cept maybe not prarie dogs, those little dudes are so so cute, like mini-meerkats!  But hey we are from Australia, we should be used to being bottom of the food chain shouldn’t we??  

What happens once we hit Mexico?

Tequila baby!!  Haha!  Shane has promised that if I make the length of the GDMBR I can lay on a beach somewhere with a sombrero and some guacamole.  Then, depending on the health of our budget, and whether we are still talking to each other (and if I still have all my limbs!), the plan is to keep heading south on the bikes.  As far as we can get.  With the ultimate dream of Patagonia....mmm Patagonia...but who knows!  Lets see where the road takes us!

But Why?

Ahhh the million dollar question!  But we have an amazing house, a nice car, Shane has his own business and I have a well paid contract job.  And its not like we are lacking adventure, with every second weekend we are off doing something fun in the bush, and then theres The Ultra Life trips which have meant 4 trips to NZ in the past 12 months!

Yes we do already have an amazing life, but ultimately, like many of us, we are simply working to pay the bills.  And we have itchy feet.  Both of us separately spent 4+ years in our 20’s travelling the world, and thats not something you forget easily.  Plus Melbourne traffic sucks big time...arrggghhh traffic!  And given we are not having kids, well, the question should be Why Not?!!

What are we taking?

Check our our Gear List

How are we feeling about the trip with 70 days to go??

He Says - Shanes thoughts as our departure date fast approaches!

She Says - and here's Richelle's thoughts with only 8 weeks till departure

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