Old Man Gravel

One thing I learned, I definitely need to eat more calories although I don't know how I really would be able to.

Weighing myself this morning, I lost 5 lb on the ride, going from 124 to 119 lb despite eating like a pig in Banff before I started, during the ride, and in Jackson before I went home. That means a possible 10 to 15 lb weight loss if I had finished the whole ride.

If I do attempt this again, I will have to figure out some way to get more calories in.

It's good to be back home after a few days of mountain biking in Jackson. I am going to decompress and contemplate the journey for a few days and then try to summarize it all.

I will say that I am seriously considering another attempt, probably in 2024. Just call me a ma*****st.

At Bubba's BBQ restaurant for breakfast. Holy cow, I think that's enough food for three breakfasts.

A few photos from yesterday's ride to Jackson. What was quite striking was how low Jackson Lake is.

I arrived in Jackson this afternoon. Just to remind me that mother nature is the boss, the last half of today's ride was into a stiff headwind.

The journey from Banff to Jackson was 1042 mi, not including the mountain biking in Banff and Whitefish. Total elevation gain was 63,671 ft. With the bypasses of the two mountain sections, I did about a hundred miles less than had I then the whole route to Colter Bay.

Including the mountain biking I did in Banff and Whitefish, I have written 1202 mi and climbed 75,462 ft since I arrived in Banff on June 3rd.

This is by far the most I have ridden and climbed in a single month, more than doubling my biggest month. A typical month is usually between 300 to 400 mi.

I have definitely lost weight on this ride despite eating large amounts of high calorie food. It was hard to keep up with the number of calories I needed so I can understand why the top riders doing 150 plus miles a day look like skin and bones when they finish.

I will post some photos a little bit later as I need to do laundry and then go eat. I will also post a summary of the experience once I've had some time to process everything.

Today was a short day, 35 mi with quite a bit of climbing. My legs were feeling somewhat dead and I knew I would not make it all the way to Jackson so when I reached Flag Ranch, I decided to stop for the night.

Tomorrow will be 60 mi of pavement through Grand Teton National Park to Jackson where I have a hotel room reserved through Tuesday night. I've already talked to a bike shop recommended to me and they put me on the schedule to box my bike on Wednesday. I'll stop in either tomorrow or Tuesday morning to discuss shipping options with them. I'm hoping to fly home on Wednesday and need to start looking at flight options. But first I will be enjoying some of the single track around Jackson during my days there.

Here are the few photos I took today.

Good morning from the Squirrel Creek Elk Ranch.

Photos from today's ride.

So I did 86 miles today and am currently camping at the Squirrel Creek Elk ranch near the Idaho Wyoming border. Only 90 mi left to Jackson and my feelings are very conflicted at the moment.

I am very much looking forward to getting home next week, but at the same time I will be sad to not be out riding this amazing route for longer. If I had any doubts about going home, today's ride helped convince me that that is the right call. Not only do I miss Kay and the cats, I'm dealing with two saddle sores that are steadily getting more uncomfortable as I ride, especially when climbing.

It has been an amazing journey, both the good and the bad. There have been many times I have cussed at the wind, rain, mud, and snow further north. There have been many times I have just been in awe of the beauty around me.

Today I saw a bull moose on the trail about 20 mi before I was done. That was quite cool. While it would be very unlikely that I will attempt this again next year, I am giving serious consideration to two years from now. I have learned many things that I will likely do differently if I do attempt the tour divide again.

If I was more than halfway done, I doubt I would be calling it quits. At this point. I still have about 350 mi to make it to the halfway point, which would likely be 4 to 5 more days, in addition to still needing to complete the last half of the ride. At this point, the desire to be home definitely exceeds my desire to finish the ride.

I have met some amazing people on this journey, learned things about myself that I am still processing, and know that I could physically finish the race if that desire and motivation was still there.

I arrived in Sawtelle, Idaho and am eating Subway at the moment. It was 35 mi through Red Rock Pass, crossing the Continental Divide. It was a beautiful ride with little wind and stunning scenery.

I am only 140 mi from Jackson. I'm going to try to do 50 miles more today and stop at the Squirrel Creek Elk Lodge, otherwise I will camp somewhere before. Tomorrow, I will enter Wyoming and ride either Colter Bay for the night or ride all the way to Jackson.

Here's a picture of myself, Shawn Cheshire and team at the Montana/ Idaho state line and Continental Divide. That is her support vehicle on the other side of the cattle guard.

Good morning from the Red Hawk Lodge. Time to hit the road.

Some photos from today. I did not stop to take many as the scenery was pretty consistent and my focus was getting through the wind.

I am currently at the Red hawk Lodge after doing 60 mi from Dell. Today was on a gravel road that had a significant number of rocks, as well as ruts from the recent rain. Winds were 15 to 25 miles an hour and, when they were a tailwind, were fantastic. Unfortunately, the road changed direction multiple times so it was frequently a nasty headwind or crosswind. The riding was in a very large open valley so there was no protection from the trees. I was quite happy to see the sign for the lodge .

At initially planned on riding farther and camping, likely at the upper Red Rock lakes Campground. I came upon Shawn Cheshire's team about a mile south of Dell after leaving this morning. Shawn is the blind cyclist attempting the route.

Her team consists of Michael driving the support vehicle. He works with a non-profit in Phoenix that supports veterans. There is Scott and Jesse who are her guides. One will ride it in front with a speaker strapped to the bike, playing out loud music to help her follow her front guide. The other guide will ride behind her, calling out scenery and obstacles. The final part of the team is Shawn, of course, who is not on a tandem and rides solo, following her guides. She lives in Flagstaff and is a veteran who lost her sight after her service when she was in an accident, suffering a neurologic injury that left her blind.

I stopped to chat for a few minutes, knowing she was from Flagstaff. Before I started off again, they told me they would be staying at the Red hawk Lodge and if I wanted to stay there we could chat more this evening. Today was really rough on her because of the ruts in the road as well as the wind making it very hard to hear the music. She has to be one of the most inspirational people that I have heard of, let alone met.

I'm currently 175 mi from Jackson, Wyoming. I could likely do this in 2 days, weather dependent, as there is not a lot of climbing. More likely I will take 2 days to Coulter Bay, camp there, and do the last 35 mi to Jackson on the morning of the 2nd.

It's hard to believe that my journey is close to an end. While I am excited to get home and see Kay and the cats, there is a definitely a little bit of a melancholy feeling knowing that it is almost over.

Pretty soon it will be time to start planning my next attempt (maybe).

Good morning from Dell, Montana. My next resupply point will be in Sawtelle, Idaho which is approximately 95 mi from where I'm at now. I think it is very unlikely that I will do the whole segment in a day so I resupplied with enough food for an overnighter. The winds are expected to be 15 to 25 miles an hour today, with stronger gusts possible. They are coming from the West/ Southwest and I am riding East so I should have a good tailwind to push me along. Maybe I will make it to Sawtelle in one day.

I have approximately 245 mi left before arriving at Jackson, Wyoming where my journey will end. By the time I get home I will have been away for roughly 6 weeks, give or take some days. This is the longest that I will have been away from home since backpacking in Europe before going to medical school.

While I am having a fantastic journey, I am looking forward to getting home and back to Kay and the kitties.

Some photos from today's ride to Dell, including the badger I saw.

Photos from yesterday's ride, including the cemetery at Bannock State Park.

Some photos from my ride two days ago. That was from Beaverhead Campground, through Wise River, camping at Pine Creek Campground south of Wise River. This included a climb and descent down Fleecer Ridge and my punctured tire. After Wise River, there was 51 mi of pavement before getting back on dirt yesterday.

I am currently in Dell, Montana in a cabin I rented for the night waiting for some clothes to finish washing and my frozen lasagna to be done.

Dell is about a mile off route and 7 mi before Lima. I came to Dell because there are a few more options with lodging as well as a better stocked store then leave my. Although it was only 40 mi, I had already decided last night that I would be stopping at Dell as I needed to wash clothes as well as restock for the next leg. My clothes are quite ripe at the moment.

I am glad I made that decision as some afternoon storms rolled in and the 40 mi were quite hard due to the wind. The landscape was pretty amazing, but the majority of the ride was into a very strong headwind, with winds of 15 to 25 miles an hour.

Yesterday, I rode from Pine Creek Campground, south of Wise River, through Bannock State Park where I stopped and checked out their cemetery but did not go into the ghost town. After riding down from Bannock, I stopped in the town of Grant, hoping to get a late lunch at their cafe. Unfortunately, the cafe is no longer open for breakfast or lunch, due to a lack of staff. They open for dinner at 5:00 p.m. and I arrived there just a little before 3:00 p.m.

It was quite a warm day and Amy, who was running the place while the owner is in Ukraine, let me in out of the heat and said I can refill the water and hang out inside as long as I want. She sold me a Gatorade and gave me a banana. Luckily, I had restocked at Ma Barnes Country Store so that I would have enough food to camp. I had bought a package of tortillas, two packs of pre-made tuna, salad, and some sticks of cheese so that both provided my lunch at Grant and dinner at camp.

I camped approximately 15 to 20 mi past Grant, doing a total of 68 mi for the day. Today, to start the day, I had an 8-mile climb over a mountain pass, then 4 to 5 mi of up and down, and finally a descent down to I-15 and Dell.

The problem was the wind. The wind was blowing roughly from the east, blowing up the valley I was to descend. It then hit the pass, and blew down the valley I was climbing. That 8 Mile climb seemed to take forever as I was constantly fighting a headwind, and the gradient kicked up significantly the last mile. After summiting the pass, the headwind was an issue even descending. At times the wind was very strong, making me work hard to even go downhill. This was exacerbated when I would go into the narrow canyons in between valleys.

I am in an area where ranching is quite prominent, and the landscape I rode through today was amazing. I rode up a large open valley with grass and shrubs. I descended through an extremely large open valley, exiting the valley through a very narrow canyon for 2 to 3 mi. That canyon led to another valley, another canyon, and then another valley before the last canyon that got me out of the mountains. Each of the valleys were open grass and shrubland.

I'm glad I got out when I did, as afternoon monsoons then hit with rain, lightning, and thunder over the mountains. I started getting rained on right before hitting Dell, and within 10 minutes of going into the market to rent a cabin, the skies opened up and the deluge started. It lasted about 20 minutes and then was sunny for an hour or so. A second storm then passed through with a second deluge.

The day was still a good day with the scenery, despite the wind. A badger for only the second time in the wild which made it even a better day.

Photos from yesterday.

I am currently in Wise River eating lunch. So, the mosquitoes this trip have not been too bad but here they are horrific. Luckily picaridin works quite well but I did get quite a few bites before I was able to get the repellent on me. I'm here quite a bit later than I had hoped. I had the late start as I mentioned before as well as putting a big hole in my tire on the descent down Fleecer Ridge requiring I spend about an hour to repair it at the side of the trail before being able to continue on. At least I didn't have to throw a tube in.

Bannock State Park is about 51 mi, all pavement so I should be able to make it today assuming the wind is not too bad or is a strong tailwind to help push me along.

Yesterday was a tough day. I did 76 mi with over 6,000 ft. of climbing to Beaverhead Campground, getting there right around 9:00 p.m. Dinner was the other half of my footlong sub from Subway in Butte as well as two leftover pieces of pizza that I've been carrying all the way from Helena. I camped about halfway up the climb to fleecer ridge and I'm currently on that climb .

I got a late start because the temperature was down to 30° last night and I had a ton of condensation I needed to dry out before packing my tent and down quilt. Not sure how far I'll get today but I'm trying to go to bannock State Park which is about 75 mi.

I'll post photos from yesterday when I get a chance later on.

Just finished breakfast and am going to head out. First stop is Butte to resupply. 37 mi and one easy mountain pass to reach Butte and then 51 mi to Wise River with Fleecer Ridge in between. The descent is extremely steep and difficult on a loaded bike so I don't know how long it will take me. I more likely will be camping at some point before Wise River but the day is much less windy so we'll see.

Here are some photos from yesterday's ride. I did not take very many because this segment was not the most scenic and the wind was quite bad.

I woke up at 3:00 a.m. this morning, couldn't get back to sleep, and then realized I hadn't updated everyone.

Yesterday was a shorter day. When I left Helena, my plan was to ride to Basin, Montana for lunch and then continue on towards Butte, which is 75 mi from Helena. I knew making it all the way to Butte would be difficult because of the amount of climbing but thought I would camp out part way.

The climbing in between Helena and Basin was more difficult and took longer than I expected. I arrived in Basin in the late afternoon after fighting a headwind up the majority of the climbing. As if climbs aren't hard enough without adding a headwind. When I arrived in Basin, the wind was gusting up to 25 mi an hour as well as a forecast low temperature of 35°. At that point I decided to stay in Basin and try to get lodging, as I knew if I proceeded to Butte, I would be camping at higher elevation and colder temperatures.

Basin has very limited resources. There is a bar and a cafe which was quite good but no hotel. You can stay in the community center, which is a big open room where you just put down your mat and sleeping bag/quilt which is where I should have stayed. There were a couple of other people in the community center and I snore, so I chose to try and find housing. Housing. There are people here who rent units out and I rented a "cabin" for the night that turned out to be a large mobile home with two 2 bedroom apartment-like setups.

The place is the definition of a dump. The linoleum in front of the furnaces discolored. There is a piece of fiberboard underneath a rug on the floor in the kitchen, which I don't know if it covers a hole in the floor or not. The carpet is stained and it looks like there has been water damage from a leaking roof. This is quite literally the worst place I have ever paid to stay in in my life. Oh well, live and learn. I should have stayed at the community center and in the future will either camp out or double check the lodging before I pay.

Yesterday, I did 41 mi with 5200 ft of climbing. It involved a 3 and 1/2 mi rocky technical section that included a fair amount of hike a bike. This morning I'm going to go to Butte, which is 37 mi away, to resupply. The section to Butte will be much easier than yesterday. From Butte, it is 51 mi to Wise River and includes a climb abd descent over fleece ridge. which is the next resupply point. I will try to get as close to Wise River as I can with a plan to camp tonight.

I forgot about posting photos from yesterday.

I am currently sitting in the 10 Mile Creek brewery in Helena having a beer with a late lunch from the hopper two doors down. The beer is called the grass. It is a lemongrass ginger beer which is perfect on the warm day they are having here. The food is bao bun tacos and is quite tasty. I am currently waiting for the bike shop to call me that my bike is done.

I have a room booked for the night and am excited to get headed forward tomorrow. I need to look at the mileage and where resupply points are versus where I am likely to get to so I can appropriately resupply with food if needed.

When I took the bike into Great Divide cyclery they told me that they charge a $20 premium fee to tour riders since they put the bike in front of everyone else to get it done as soon as possible. I told them that I would gladly play double that for them to get it done so I can get on the trail tomorrow. They thanked me for being so understanding and said that a lot of people are not as understanding. We proceeded to have a conversation about "what the hell is wrong with people these days."

Today was an amazing day. It was not a far or long day. I only did 40 miles but I felt completely rejuvenated both mentally and physically after my stay at the llama ranch. It's hard to really explain how such a simple thing as an amazing display of generosity can make such a huge difference. That, coupled with the seven of us staying the night cooking a communal dinner with red wine, really help reset myself mentally as well as physically. I woke up with a headache because I admit to having a little too much wine, but otherwise was in a great frame of mind and quite good physically. It is like night and day, when I look at how I felt yesterday to today.

Here's to moving forward tomorrow.

Holy crap, what a screaming descent. I know I hit at least 39 mi an hour because I saw it. I'll have to see what my max was when I saved the ride .

I am having too much fun, it should be illegal

At the summit of priest Pass with both passes done now. They were definitely easier than I had expected. Now I have a 15 mi descent to Helena and a bike shop. What a great day!

Good morning. Getting ready to have some breakfast and then head out to Helena. It's about 40 mi with two mountain passes that are quite steep, steeper than the one I did yesterday so there may be a bit of a hike a bike today.

In Helena, the first stop will be great divide cyclery to have my bottom bracket looked at. I don't know whether I will be able to go farther or not today, it depends on what's going on with the bottom bracket and how long it takes the bike shop to service it? If that is all it needs. My current plan is to head to Butte and reassess, but my overall goal is to make it to Moran, Wyoming and then turn off route south to Jackson where I will plan to head home. That is roughly 500 to 600 more miles but, who knows, maybe I hit that point and decide to keep going.