On July 25, 2023, I set out by myself to ride the Great Divide. I started on the Jasper to Lake Louise Icefields Parkway, camping along the way. Then, I continued on to Banff, where I connected with the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. This is very similar to the route racers follow for the Tour Divide race.

In this first episode, I ride from Jasper to the United States border.

Why ride the Great Divide Mountain Bike route? I'd turned 50 and had just celebrated 10 years of sobriety, so I was looking to do something epic to celebrate both milestones. I'd learned about and become fascinated with the GDMBR after watching a documentary by @duzer on the trainer in 2020. When I purchased my gravel bike in 2021, I started collecting the gear I needed to do bikepacking and completed five bikepacking trips in 2022, including the Vapor Trail out of Salida, Colorado.

My bike: a fully rigid Moots Routt 45 titanium gravel bike with an Enve adventure fork. I had a SON dynamo hub in the front, connected to a Sinewave Reactor USB power outlet on my stem. I was running a Rene Hearse Fleecer Ridge (55) tire in the front and a Oracle (48) tire in the back. My bike is equipped with 4-piston Hope brakes in the front and the back. I was running a Shimano GRX groupset with a 45T chainring and 1x12 cassette. The gear ratio of 1:1 would prove to be a challenging combination, and I'd replace the front with a 38T chainring in New Mexico.

My bags: In the front I was using the Swift Zeitgeist bag. I had two stem bags from Kaiventure for my water bottles. On my top tube I had two Cedaero bags. My frame bag was a stock design from Revelate Designs. On the back I had a large (16L) Revelate Designs Spinelock seat bag.