Trip Overview

This blog will follow two totally inexperienced bikepackers, Geoff and Cam, and their journey from Banff to Mexico via the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. The route follows the Continental Divide, exposing riders to high altitude, diverse wildlife, and solitude. To learn more about the route, check this out. Randy will be the official bookie so get in touch with him if you'd like to place a wager on how far we will actually make it.

In the mean time, you can track our progress here thanks to our SPOT device.

This will be a site where we will try our best to post some pictures and stories along the way. Happy reading!

Tuesday 8 July 2014

Day 10 - Seely Lake to Reservoir Lake

We got off to a late start today as we decided to take a warm shower, hit the laundromat, and do minor repairs on our paniers. We started pedaling just after noon and headed to the town of Ovando for lupper.  We were told by Tom Arnone to hit up a spot named Trixies - named after a local call girl who was murdered long ago. Their special is apparently a dry porkchop on dry bread with no condiments or nothin'.  We forewent that idea and stopped instead at a local spot where a nice lady serenaded us and others on the deck.  The town apparently has a population of 50, and a dog population of over 100.  
 
We listened to the lady sing and play as we ate with two couples.  One of these couples, Lauren and Melanie were from San Diego and are doing as much of the route as possible over the next month.  They were an awesome duo and offered us a room at their spot if ever we decide to head there.  The other was two men from San Fran, who made us feel terrible about ourselves.  These middle aged men were riding about 150km a day...
 
Today we also learned what Geoff will be doing for a career.  He has an innate gift of Horse Whispering.  As we approached our climb for the day we rode through fields of horses.  We stopped and Geoff nayed many a time.  The horses promptly reacted and came running.  Here is a picture play by play:
 
 
 







After saying our farewells, we climbed the mountain to camp at reservoir lake.  Here we met an awesome family from western France.  The father, Christophe, has been doing research in Vancouver for the past five months and they wanted to end their time here with an adventure.  They chose to do the Montana leg of the route over the next week or so.  They offered their spot to Cam if ever he finds himself in France in the ensuing years.  He'll likely take them up on it... Wine and bikes seem like a nice fit.
Reservoir Lake

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