Two Mates, Two Bikes, & 2800 Miles to Mexico : Day 13

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!

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Day 13 - Boulder to Butte

Today was a pretty awesome day for reasons other than cycling. Heading towards Butte we were pedaling on what must have been an old railroad track. We were able to pass under a couple tunnels that were much longer than they appeared. It was a shame we didn't bring some spray paint on this leg to do a nice Geoff + Cam = forever type of tag. This ride provided a pretty painful climb uphill as the sun was pretty relentless with his shining. Once we crested the top, however, it was an amazing 3 mile downhill riding into Butte. Our odometers are now broken-ish but our best guess is that we topped 60km/h - and that was sustained for most of the downhill.

Where will it take us - Heaven or Hell?

Hell.

Who said tan (dirt) lines aren't sexy?

As we arrived in Butte, we went to a shop called 'The Outdoorsman' in search of a new throw rope for caching our gear (Cam lost the previous one of course). Unfortunately they didn't carry them, but it was a blessing we stopped in. This bike shop is kind of a staple on the divide route. Most bikers stop in and sign their book and pin their home on their map. The owner of the shop is brothers with Levi Leipheimer - a cyclist who competed on the US Postal Service team alongside Lance Armstrong. He also claimed a 3rd place finish in the 2007 Tour de France. This guy is bigtime. In addition to that, there is another jersey on display given to the owner by Alex Harris. Alex was leading the Tour Divide (race on this same route) this year until he busted both his ankles just past Butte. The owner went and picked him up in his truck and as a token of appreciation Alex left him his signed Munga jersey (one of 2 in the world I believe). After hanging out there for quite some time we decided to take off to try a Butte specialty - the Pasty (pronounced pah-steeeeee... everything is pronounced the exact opposite as our intuition points here). This is basically what the old miners used to eat... (mystery) Meat, potatoes, onions, wrapped in some sort of pastry with a Butte load of gravy.