new blog

My new site is located at www.pushingthepedals.com. Find out about my new adventures there!

Silver City, NM

I'm in Silver City, just a stones throw from the mexican border with my new riding buddy Scott. I spent 3 days in Pie Town waiting for a phantom package that never arrived, and had an awesome time with Nita at the Toaster House, and Kathy at the PIE-O-NEER cafe. The plan from here is to ride to the border town of Columbus, NM instead of going to Antelope Wells. I'm flying home from El Paso next Monday, and I think I'll be glad to be home. Ben finished his ride a week ago, and his website is up, with lots of pictures.

http://web.me.com/ben_barbante/GDR_2008/Welcome.html

Abiquiu, New Mexico

Yesterday I rode about 80 miles on a paved alternate route to Abiquiu, since my cateye computer only working intermittently and I didn't want to risk getting totally lost. I'm going to stay here in town today and try to get it sorted out before heading to Cuba. From there I can take another paved alternate route to Grants, NM that will cut a day off the route. I've been doing fine overall, and the nighttime temps are a comfortable 40 degrees or so compared to the 20's up at 10,000 ft. The scenery has been beautiful recently, I've been following the peaking aspens south. There are three new rolls of film that have been uploaded on to the flickr page that is linked on the right side of the page.

I had a great time in Salida, where I stayed at the Simple lodge and hostel, and did some fishing. I also had breakfast and did some fishing at J.M. and Sally's place (Thanks for everything!). I'm expecting to get to Antelope Wells in about 2 weeks from now if all goes as planned.

It's been a long time

I'm at the town of Mack's Inn about to head out, and I wanted to give a quick update on my progress. Two days ago Ben and I crossed over into Idaho from Montana through a small flurry of snow as we crossed the continental divide over the border. We took a rest day here yesterday and floated down the Henry's Fork of the Snake river in a canoe and I tried to catch some fish but didn't :( In any case it was a great stop, and I feel good to continue. We should be crossing over into Wyoming tomorrow, and I'm really excited to see the Tetons. I've updated the link to my dad's flickr page which has my current pictures posted. I'll be mailing a couple of rolls of film home very soon, so the page should be updated in no time. I killed a gopher a couple of days ago, which was crawling around under my tent at about 1:30 am. I smacked the tent floor with my pillow, and dug out a little carcass in the morning. There'll be a picture of that coming soon.

So anyway, bye for now and leave me comments if you want.

Lincoln, Montana

I just pulled into Lincoln, Montana with my new riding buddy Ben after climbing over Huckleberry Pass at 5994' right through a thunderstorm. We're staying at an RV park here with showers and a $7 biker special. I really need a shower after none for the last 4 or so days. Yesterday I went fishing on the Blackfoot river and caught a 14" brown trout, 14" rainbow trout, and an 11" cutthroat trout. We didn't ride yesterday, just hung out and rested and fished. We'll be in Helena in about 3 days, which is a big city by Montana standards, with about 25,000 people. I sent home film yesterday, so pics should be posted up here soon from the first part of the tour. I'll write again when I can.

Somewhere in Montana

I'm going to be sending some rolls of film home to be posted up here soon, but for now I'm in Montana at the "town" of Condon waiting for a package to arrive here. I had a bear encounter on my first day out of Banff, but other than that everything has gone relatively well. I'm at the local library, and can't stay long, but I'll try to post again soon. Until then, Hi to everybody that I've met so far, and everybody back home! 500 miles down, 2300 to go!

Great Divide Mountain Bike Route

I've been really terrible about updating this blog, but it's mine and so I guess that's okay. Here are some photos from some recent overnights. I'm flying out of SFO on July 29th to Calgary for my Great Divide tour. I'm giving up my apartment and planning for about 3 months including rest days and fishing days over the 2700 or so miles from Banff to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. I have all the equipment for the tour, and now I'm just nailing down the bike setup. I'll be riding a 60cm prototype Rivendell Bombadil with 50mm Schwalbe Marathon XR tires and a brand new wheelset with Phil Wood touring hubs and Mavic A719 rims. I'll be weighing everything this week, and I'm hoping for a dry pack weight of under 40 pounds.



The G Dog setting up camp in front of an apocalyptic backdrop of smoke and an orange sun

Yours truly with my new Hilleberg Kaitum on a solo overnight

Vaughn wishes he had brought a tent instead of just a leaky air pad and sleeping bag

Keven and Scott at Keven's 30th birthday party. Keven makes a mean cappucino

The gang setting up camp