The Next Great Adventure

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Today’s interval workout is different. The eyes are burning from the sweat, like always, and the quads are talking back to me  but I feel a sense of renewed purpose, excitement and pictures are flashing through my mind like a slide show from Adventure Cycling. This renewal and excitement result from a decision that I have made to make the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route my next big adventure.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/great-divide-mountain-bike-route/

Doing the GDMBR has been brewing in the recesses of my mind since meeting Steve Doreen and Chelsea Bilsbarow just outside of Rawlins, Wyoming which is a junction between TransAM and GDMBR. They were the first cyclists we met who were doing the Great Divide Route.

I took a class in August for beginner mountain bikers and learned that mountain biking is in a realm of its own and that my road biking experience was of little value in learning the basics of mountain biking. I have a lot to learn about mountain bike riding.

I was also influenced by Be Brave, Be Strong; a Journey Across the Great Divide by Jill Homer and two articles in the December / January issue of Adventure Cyclist: Summer 2012: My Great TransAM Divide Adventure by Michael McCoy who was part of the original team that mapped the Great Divide Route and RIDING INTO SPACE, A Dutchman revels in the Grand Vistas of the Great Divide Route by Auke-Bonne Van Der Weide.

It was after reading RIDING INTO SPACE that I said to myself “This will be my next big adventure. I can get excited about this challenge.” I shared my intent with a respected journalist who writes about the outdoors and he said, “I’ve done stories about people who’ve done the Continental Divide trail, but nobody who’s done the whole divide from Canada.  I’ve heard of some tough cookies who have tried and gave it up.” My response is, “You will never know until you try.” But, in my quiet moments, I admit to wondering if this is a bit too much for a 67 year old body.

Not knowing if you can live up to the challenge is part of what makes it inspirational and drives me to make the near daily trips to the gym and a yoga practice. I need the challenge to keep me going. I’ll do the GDMBR in 2015, probably from south to north.

I no longer have to wonder what I will do next. I’m excited.