Tour Divide Day 1

Day 1- Banff to Sparwood, 145 miles 16 hours

Day one was cray fun. I had been in Banff for a few days prior to the race. I basically hung out at Starbucks and watched old reruns of TV shows online, whatever I could do to keep myself away from my bike and all that nervous energy up at the Banff Y hostel. I went to breakfast at Mcdonald's with some other racers. Man, that was the first of many a greasy meal!

I rode back up to the start and it was like a who's who of endurance biking. I saw most of my favorite riders, even Aidan Harding! (More on that sneaky fella later...)

Here is a picture of Mike Dion from Ride the Divide!

I learned they were shooting film for another sweet movie, The Path.

Crazy Larry, an infamous Divide character, announced he was going to lead the group out. And just like that we were off! It was really interesting riding out in such a huge group of mountain bikers loaded down with tons of gear, food, and water.

As the peloton made its way down the bike path to the official start of the trail I heard some guy making wise cracks about the Canadian Forest Service. I looked over and it was none other than Kurt Refsnider! I was just super stoked at this point. I had worked so hard just to be where I was and overcome so much that I was nearly in tears thinking about it all.

This would not be the last time that I was in tears.

The scenery was stunning all day long. It really reminded me of riding back home in Alaska. I think I had a level of comfort all day long that lots of other people didn't. After a few brief conversations I figured out that I had trained a lot more than most people ( Few people had even done a multi-day ride..... WHAT?!) and I had organized my gear WAY more (Lots of riders in the group hadn't even decided what to take with them until the morning of the race.... WHAT?!).

As the race progressed I was steadily passed by many riders, I actually don't think I ever even passed a moving rider the entire race. The reality of my injury and the toll that it took on my speed was obvious. I walked many climbs that other riders just whipped right up. However, I also realized that I was trained to ride long hours without stopping while others were stopping frequently and for long periods of time. This would play out to my benefit over the weeks to come.

I rode with a few other riders into the first little shop at about 60 miles and then I was quickly off, passing about 15 riders that were laying out on the grass for a break and eating. I continued on through the rolling hills of the Canadian Rockies (Hahahahaha, I said 'rolling hills'!) for sometime until I came to Elkford. I hit up the gas station for some food but only enough to make it to Sparwood, I would later regret this decision a bit.

Just out of Elkford there is a HUGE paved climb that sapped the life out of me. I'm not sure what it was about the climb that got to me, other than the fact that I wasn't expecting it. I recovered from the climb on the nice rocky descent towards Sparwood as the sun set.

Once it got dark and I hit the pavement, I started to get COLD. I didn't want to stop because I wanted to make Sparwood so I just pushed on through my chattering teeth. As I made it to town, about midnight, I quickly realized that all the stores were going to be closed. I even flagged down a local who laughed when I asked if anything was open. In retrospect I should have grabbed a bit more food in Sparwood so I could have a good dinner in the trees past Sparwood.

Without food and the fact I was shivering like crazy I decided to pop into the hotel and get a room. The hotel kitchen was closed but I did find a vending machine.... Mmmmmmmm nothing satisfies like sour gummy worms, doritos, and cornnuts.

I washed my shorts, gloves, and socks in the sink, cleaned up the bike, and hit the sack about 1 am. As I dozed off to sleep I was still excited and ready to go, I guess that's why it was still easy to set my alarm for 4:45!

Overall it was a great day on the divide. My kit was working out very well and I felt rewarded for all the work that I had put into it.

Ah but the adventure was still begining, many glorious hard days to come......

Look at that sweet kit on the Niner. It looks like it only weighs about 30 pounds because it does only weight about 30 pounds! A post about my bikepacking setup is coming.....