When Lexi and I finished hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in September 2004, we knew that it was an experience that had changed our lives.  The thru-hiking lifestyle and peacefulness of a simple goal had become not only attractive, but intensely meaningful.  I’d call it a personal spiritual awakening if that phrase didn’t suggest something more traditionally religious.  One of our most difficult challenges in becoming parents in 2006 was how to achieve the benefits of epic travel while having a kid.  Sure, at some point we’d love to hike the AT as a family, and we’ve had good success on some of our medium length trips in the last several years, but the lure of the thru-something always lurked.

I first learned about the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route and the Tour Divide race four years ago.  At that time my mid-90′s vintage Rockhopper had developed a crack in the chainstay and I opted to retire towards Sculptcycle instead of tempting fate.  I knew that my friend Rick Molz had extensive bike touring experience and asked him for some advice on what replacement bike to get.  He loaned me a pile of Adventure Cycling magazines that had various articles on how to choose a touring bike.  My interest wasn’t strictly in a pure touring bike, but the magazines were really engaging.  The ACA’s routes and stories were all about long distance travel which greatly appealed to me.  The story about the Great Divide route immediately captivated me. 

I’m not sure what Lexi thought about my intense curiosity of this event.  Maybe she thought I’d like to do it sometime.  A year ago I came out and told her that my obsession with this event was not going away, that I really wanted to do it.  I know that watching me plan and prepare for this trip has been intensely difficult for her, as she is very drawn to it herself.  Perhaps not the race format, but the rest of what its all about she is 100% attracted to.  Despite the rainy weather on the Banff Airporter shuttle from the Calgary airport, the dramatic change in scenery from the plains to the Rockies made me realize exactly how amazing this is going to be, and how lucky I am to be here.  Its not just that I have the time and willingness to be here, but that my life partner is supporting my efforts.  I hope that I can repay that debt in some way.

Before my departure I did a lot of training.  3400 miles on the bike since January 1, plus a Canadian Ski Marathon, and plenty of other things too.  I also tried my best to be there for Linnaea, soon to be 4.  She will miss me in ways an adult cannot truly appreciate, and I hope that our love will not be weakened by my absence.  I hope that local friends will come to play, visit, and support Lexi and Linnaea while I’m gone, so that their time without me is happy and fulfilling.  In the meantime, I’ll remember a series of fun late spring adventures with Linnaea:

Linnaea's tree perch

Paddling to dinner on Wrightsville Reservoir

Linnaea scrambles near the top of Burnt Rock Mountain

Linnaea and Dave on the descent of Burnt Rock Mountain

The fairy sticker on my bike, now named "Fairy Go!", complete with small jewels.

Tomorrow at 9am, Fairy Go will hit the Spray Trail and seek adventure headed to Mexico.  Lexi and Linnaea, I love you both.

So, I decided to bring a tarp and a bug bivy. The tarp is pretty simple: two pieces of catenary cut silnylon with tie out reinforcements and two little 1/2″ grosgrain loops for hanging the bug bivy. Normal people would simply have bought the buy bivy from Mountain Laurel Designs, but their product claims to fit people up to 6′-4″. As I’m 6′-6″, clearly that wasn’t going to be comfy, so I looked closely at the pictures of their product and did my best to knock it off, but 6″ longer. It worked just fine.

The photos here show the two elements set up together and with some garden stakes in the backyard. It sets up fine with the bike’s front wheel at the low end, and the bike at the high end. This setup will also be fabulous for hiking on the AT or LT, since buggy shelters are common, but setting up your tent in the shelter is a major no-no.  The materials weren’t particularly expensive, and the sewing was pretty straightforward.  Of course, having sewn a more complicated tent in the past helped.  If money was no object, getting a custom sized Cuben fiber tarp from MLD, with the bivy loops in the ridge, would be expensive, but lighter by a couple of ounces.

With any luck my ride will be dry and bug-free!

Tarp
1.1 oz/yd silnylon, gray
9′-2″ long, 6′-10″ wide at head, 4′-2″ wide at foot
catenary cut ridgeline
tie points reinforced with 1.5″ grosgrain tape
Liteline Guyline
7.6 ounces

Bug Bivy
0.7 oz/yd Nanoseeum netting
1.1 oz/yd silnylon floor, black
56″ #3 YKK coil zipper at ridge
7.0 ounces

4 Titanium stakes

Bike complete with seat bag, frame bag, lunch box, and bar bag.

Carousel Design Works Escape Pod seat bag. It holds my tarp, bug bivy, and clothing.

My previous frame bag was flat and had modest capacity. This one (4.0 ounces) is tapered to 4" wide in the front and has additional velcro tab stitching reinforcement. It holds tools, water, arm and leg warmers, and raingear.

The cockpit: lunch box, Garmin Vista HCx gps stem mounted, VDO C3 computer, Ay-up lights, Ergon grips, Profile Design Carbon Stryke aeros.

Lunch box opened for a feeding.

Bar bag (3.3 ounces) with special velcro attachment for Ay-up Epic battery pack. It holds my Marmot Hydrogen sleeping bag, Thermarest Neoair medium, and Patagonia silkweight long underwear.

To round out the set, I’ll be carrying an Osprey Talon 22 pack, with a 3L Camelbak, and all the valuable stuff, like money, camera, passport, and chargers for the camera and lights.  There will be plenty of spare room in the pack so that I can carry additional water on the dry stretches, and additional food on the isolated sections.

That’s it.  No panniers or racks.  I’ve got just enough volume to carry what I think I need.  Stay tuned to see how much gets send home along the way.  With any luck I won’t be giving too many items a chauffeured bicycle trip.

Why to bring a map and compass

What to look for on a map

How to read contour lines

What is magnetic declination

The parts of the map compass

How to orient a map

How to follow a bearing

To learn more, go to the Green Mountain Club to sign up for one of my full day workshops.  In the store you can also buy one of the Brunton compasses that I prefer to use.

What is the Tour Divide?
Its a 2780 mile mountain bike race from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, on the Mexican border, following the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route created by the Adventure Cycling Association.  The start is June 11th, 9AM.  The event is coordinated via the internet.  There is no entry fee, no liability waiver, no prizes, and no support.  Its just a common time that endurance fanatics can challenge each other and themselves on the longest mountain bike route in the world.  Its a route that anyone can ride at any time, and plenty of folks tour the route each year at a more mellow pace.

What is the route like?
The route isn’t marked on the ground like a hiking trail, but there are excellent paper maps and a recently updated .gpx file for GPS navigation.  About 80% of the route is Forest Service dirt roads, which vary between excellent and lousy.  There are small amounts of singletrack or rough trail that you wouldn’t call a road, and the rest is paved.  It generally follows the Continental Divide, though because it uses roads, is lower elevation than a hiking trail.  The route crosses the Continental Divide 29 times and has a total elevation gain of over 200,000 feet.

How long will it take?
The course record is currently 17:21:10, held by multiple winner Matthew Lee, sponsored by Cannondale.  That means he rode an average of 156 miles a day.  Of last year’s 42 starters, 16 finished, so the first challenge is just to finish.  Most racers who manage to complete the route finish in under 30 days.  I am aiming at 23 days, or 120 miles a day.  Perhaps more importantly, I’m aiming to finish, preferably with some kind of maniacal grin.  …or at least not seriously injure myself.

Is there support?
No, period.  This is a purely self-supported event.  No sag wagons, no caches, no friends handing you cold drinks.  If you want it along, carry it.  Riders are welcome to buy food, motel rooms, bike parts, and gas station burritos whenever they are available.  If you get injured, break your bike, or run out of gas, you’re on your own.  No care packages.

Where will you sleep?
Much like with thru-hiking, I’ll have lightweight sleeping gear, and intend to bivy most of the time.  When weather, circumstance, or the need to literally recharge my batteries dictates, I’ll stay in a motel.  However, in my hiking experience, towns are the biggest time-suck to be had, so I’ll do my best to move through them quickly.

What kind of bike will you ride?
A Niner Air9 XL.  Its a 29 inch wheel hardtail mountain bike.  The 2.1″ wide Nano Raptor tires have a narrow bead of slick, so they roll pretty well on pavement or hardpack, yet have good flotation in soft sand or mud.  Low profile knobs on the side help with cornering.

Will you have panniers?
No.  My gear without food and water will weigh about 15 pounds, light enough and small enough volume to fit into a homemade handlebar bag, homemade frame bag, a large seat bag made by Carousel Design Works, and an Osprey Talon 22 pack.  Details here.

Can we follow along?
YES!  I’ll be carrying a SPOT personal tracker, a GPS based device similar to a personal locator beacon.  It sends out location signals on a regular basis which will be displayed and tracked on the Tour Divide Leaderboard.  Carrying a unit is not required, but most racers will have one, so that on the Leaderboard Google map, you’ll be able to see 24 hours a day where I am in the pack of racer dots.  Data for just me will be here.  You’ll be able to see where I am, how fast I’m going, and how long I am stopped.  Be prepared to find the Leaderboard quite addictive, you may just turn into a “blue dot junkie”.

When I can, I’ll also be leaving voice mail messages with news about my whereabouts and what I’m eating.  Those messages, perhaps with text transcription, will be listed in chronological order on the TD Blog.  They will probably also be available as a podcast on MTBCast.  Once we get rolling, just my call ins will be here.

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This FAQ will be updated as I have the time.  Feel free to comment on this posting to pose a question.

Terrace St
Middlesex Notch (hike-a-bike required)
Perry Hill
Cobb Hill
South Hill Road (that’s right David T, I’m invading your home turf!)
Moretown Gap
Herring Brook to Jones Brook
Crosstown Rd

I had hiked up to Middlesex Notch a couple of times in the past and knew it to be a lonely Wildlife Management Area host to a VAST (snowmobile) trail and much abused by ATVs.  Low down there is an area with a loads of blackberry bushes.  The picking in the fall is endless.  Higher in the notch there are some cool mossy outcrops.  At the height of land is a modest sized beaver pond with a VAST arrow nailed to a stump in the middle of the pond.  The beavers must have been at work more than usual, since the water was much higher than I had seen before, and our hike-a-bike began earlier than I expected.  There isn’t any doubt about where to go:  just head for the large mown lawn of an estate on the other side.

Middlesex Notch

Andrew Tripp finishes the hike a bike and reaches the mown grass of the "estate"

We quickly and quietly made our way across the lawn and down the driveway.  From Perry Hill Road we explored double track to the top of Perry Hill and the back end and highpoint of the Perry Hill mountain bike trails.  The 800′ drop on the main trail and yellow loop were slow and spastic for both of us.  My singletrack skills are, ahem, limited.  Brand new tight cleats and a road height saddle didn’t help much.  Down low on the yellow loop I did find one short stretch through a red pine grove that flowed very nicely.

Once across the Winooski we climbed Cobb Hill, which begins as an ordinary dirt road and eventually turns into a Class 4+ granny gear climb.  We paused at the Moretown Store for cold drinks: V8 juice for me.  On our way up Moretown Mountain Road we took a side trip up South Hill Road, mostly so that partner/nemesis-in-crime David Tremblay couldn’t chide me for skipping hills.  Past the top of Moretown Gap we turned onto the gooey and mosquitoey Herring Brook connector.

After the Jones Brook and Crosstown Road climbs, we bombed down Hill Street and rolled right to a packed Montpelier Farmers Market, where I talked bikes and croissants with Fleche teammate Randy George of Red Hen Baking.

Ride stats:
5:30 moving time
53 miles
6900′ elevation gain

Back when folks still used MSR Whisperlites, I always recommended that newbies get a repair kit, and before going on their first big hike, take the time to disassemble the whole thing and put it back together again.  Then, when the weather is lousy and the stove decides to crap out on you, at least you know that you’ve taken the stove apart before.  It seems like a pretty good theory to apply to a bike.

When I was done, the first test spin was rather satisfying.  My oh my do new parts run more happily than old beat up ones!  There were some annoying creaking sounds, which through pedaling trial-and-error was clearly coming from the cranks/bottom bracket area.  Luckily that annoyance was easily removed by switching out my older style Time ATAC pedals for newer ones that I had taken off to replace bushings.  One big item just got crossed off my never-shrinking Excel To Do list.

Niner Air9 XL Raw

A shiny new drivetrain!

The bike. One odd bonus item you might spot is the Adams Trail-a-bike hitch on the seatpost. Removing that will have to be a very last minute modification since the trail-a-bike is very popular!

Dave’s Tour Divide Bike
Niner Air9 Raw XL
Chris King No ThreadSet Mango
Thomson Elite Seatpost
Thomson X4 Stem
Rock Shox Reba SL  Fork
Night-Stripes Scotchlite stickers
MEC Turbo Turtle Red LED rear light

Wheels
Stans ZTR Arch Disc Rim
DT Swiss Comp spokes black with red nipples
Chris King ISO Disc Front and Rear Hub Mango
Salsa Skewers Red
Stans Yellow Rim Tape and Sealant
WTB Nano Raptor Race 29r Tire

Drivetrain
Shimano FC-M770 XT Crankset 180mm and BB
Shimano XT M770/771 9spd Chainrings – 44t and 32t
Action Tec Titanium Inner Ring-  20t with steel chainring bolts
Sram PG 990 Cassette 11-34
Sram X.9 Front Derailleur
Sram X.9 Rear Derailleur long cage
Sram PC-971 Chain
Time ATAC XS Carbon Pedals
Avid Juicy 5 hydraulic disc brakes, 185 front, 160 rear

Cockpit
Salsa Pro Moto Flat Bar 11 degree
Ergon GX-2 Magnesium Grips
Profile Designs Carbon Stryke aero bar
Sram X.7 Trigger Shifters
Gore Ride-On Fully Sealed LF Derailleur Cables
Brooks Swift Saddle Antique Brown
VDO C3 wired computer
Garmin Vista HCx GPS with stem mount

…unveiling the bags will come in a future post.

I persist and put up with the orneriness in the last few days of the Kermit Niner.  On the 23rd I rode a standard local road loop: Rt 2 east, Rt 14 north to Hardwick, Rt 15 west to Morrisville, and Rt 12 south back to Montpelier.  65 miles and a couple of moderate climbs.  A couple of years ago I’d consider it a significant weekend expedition, but now its just a refreshing jaunt.  The only notable experience on the ride was while I was patiently waiting at the intersection in Hardwick to take the left turn.  The driver of an oncoming pickup yelled at me, “bike path!”, which was rather confusing, since Hardwick is hardly a mid-sized progressive city with a helpful network of bike paths.  As far as I know, Hardwick has zero bike paths.   Its amazing that so few drivers understand that bikes have a right to use roads.

Round barn in Elmore

On the 26th the Kermit Niner took its final voyage, a familiar 45 mile dirt road meandering loop through East Montpelier, Woodbury, and Calais. As my training has progressed over this spring, its been interesting to notice the changes in how my body feels. The first has been nutritional. My previous weekend warrior endurance efforts generally felt limited by my outrageous metabolism, and my need to eat and drink huge amounts just to keep going. These days I always bring peach newtons and whatever flavor of fruit leather Linnaea grabbed at the coop, but as long as I’m regularly sucking my homebrewed electrolyte drink from my Camelbak, I just don’t need those solid snacks on rides of 3 or 4 hours or more.

The second is fitness. In the last five or six months my resting heart rate has dropped 10 beats per minute, from the low 60s to the low 50s. I don’t really care how long climbs are, since I’m generally looking for lots of climbing, and I’m increasingly comfortable shifting into a low gear and just spinning up whatever is in the way. My fitness gains may or may not be related to another improvement: my increased heat tolerance. Yeah, yeah, in north central Vermont, it doesn’t get that hot. However, I’m used to being completely wilted by the first hot (90F+) days of the season. In recent warm days I drank plenty and generally felt fine. Hooray for whatever made that happen.

On this particularly warm day I arrived at the Maple Corner Store looking for a cold something: a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich. Mmmm. A local fellow came out with a 12 pack of cheap cold beer, and tied it on to his 50s vintage motor scooter. He seemed quite intent on riding home to sit back, and not mow his lawn.  I rode home to dismantle the Kermit Niner.

Maple Corner Store, Calais

Thanks!  …I wonder if he knows Little Debbie…

Northfield Street
Hill Street
Berlin Street
Phelps Street (short but wowzers its steep!)
Wheelock Street
Gallison Hill Road
Towne Hill Road from Rt 2
Liberty Street
Main Street/County Road to Cummings
Lincoln Avenue and looping through the St. Augustine’s Cemetery
North Street to where it levels out
Gould Hill Road
Winter Street to the Tower
Terrace Street
East State Street

Some of these climbs are pretty ordinary, but Phelps Street is outrageously steep.  You’d best be in the right gear when you hit it or you simply won’t get anywhere.  Taken as a whole, it was a peculiar feeling to have almost no flat terrain where I could just cruise.  Sure, I can hammer up a small climb or two, but with this much climbing in such a modest distance, I was forced to sit down and work through each bump.  It was a tough workout, and probably excellent for technique as well.

Ride stats:
37.2 miles
5300′ elevation gain
3:10 ride time

Note that that’s like climbing App Gap from Rt 100, THREE times, in less distance, and without the valley commute.

St. Augustine's Cemetary, at the top of Lincoln Ave