My Dream.......

  This Ride, the Tour Divide, is my dream for the last year and half but I did not accomplish this alone. I am sitting in a motel room in Revelstoke reflecting on who helped me get here. I first and foremost have to thank my wife for all the support and love she has shown me this year. I am not the greatest help around the house at the best of times but this past year with all the training this has been nonexistent. My wife not only did all this without complaining but then had to listen to my constant talk about the ride all the time being my biggest supporter. Then there are my kids, they have been very supportive of the time I needed to train and continue telling me how proud they are of me which only makes me want to accomplish this event even more. It is extremely hard to be away this long from them as I have never done anything like this before. The positive side to this is they understand that you can always go for your dreams and with support you can do anything.
   I have a couple of friends that I want to mention as with out them I probably would have talked myself out of this event more then once. Matthew is someone that not only rode with me during some training rides but helped with my computer stuff. Matthew also shared my excitement when I would talk about the logic's of the ride, he was the person I could bounce ideas off and get ideas on what would work best. The other person I need to thank is Kristen, she is someone that I met doing the Ride2Survive and quickly became friends. I have only known Kristen for a short time but know we will always be friends. There are people that can make you feel like you can do anything in life and she has quickly become one of these people in my life. She is always there to listen and gives me great advice. I am also fortunate to have a lot more people that have given me support to accomplish my goal. I have read some past riders say that the friends and family that supported them believed in them more then they believed in themselves.  I now know what they are talking about.
  I can't write about support without mentioning West Point Cycles.  Tim, Sara and the staff at West Point Cycles have been great about prepping the bike for the ride and removed a major worry from the ride. I hope I can bring back a full ride for them.
  In the end, this is My Dream but could never be accomplished without many supporters. Thanks Again everyone. 

Final Prep.

  The final prep. for the ride. Training had been going good but I needed to get away for one last over night trip. I headed up to the interior on the May long weekend to ride out of Kelowna. I started out of Kelowna first thing Saturday morning heading up towards the KVR  (Kettle Valley Railway). I rode up a forest service road on the east side of Myra canyon I would be travelling through the canyon toward Rock creek. When I arrived at the trail ready to head toward the first trestles of 16 or 17 I would have to cross I see a sign that says trail heading toward Rock creek closed Trestle # 3 damaged and impassable. The first thing that came to thought was I am going to pay for not checking the web site before leaving for the trail. The only thing to do was head down the forest service road I just spent 45 min. climbing and head farther east to re-climb the next forest service road. This road would bring me to the trail on the other side of the canyon. As I was climbing the mountain for the second time that morning two guys pulled up beside me in there car and started chatting as I rode. This took my mind off the second climb and was great meeting them so at the top in the parking lot we exchanged business cards and I went on my way. The weather wasn't the best as it was drizzling and a bit cold but I came across a couple riding along the trail and began talking and found out they were camping along the trail. As I was travelling faster then them they offered there camp site to take a break if I wanted. It was raining when I arrived at the camp ground and used there space under their awning to have my lunch and change my socks. The weather that weekend didn't cooperate but the ride gave me a chance to get out for an over night covering 330 kms and I met some really great people.
   With the last major training ride complete and only 3 weeks until the ride starts it was time to take the bike in for its final overhaul. I was having the bike completely rebuilt and checked over. West Point Cycles ( my sponsor bike shop) did an amazing job replacing everything I wanted and making some get choices on parts. The one problem that showed up on the two day ride was the front bag started to wear a hole in the front of the head tube. This was a bit unnerving as I am riding a carbon frame. I had to modify the bag as to protect the frame which seems to be working. With the bike running good and ready to go it was time to work on the GPS track and maps. This is where having a good friend that knows computers comes in. My friend Matthew has made this part of my prep. easy. We have spent several hours getting the right maps and overlaying the track. This in combination with the maps should make navigating the route easy, I hope.
   At this time there is under two weeks until the big day and I am second guessing my training and prep. but also reminding myself, if you don't try, you don't succeed.

  Keeping the climbing legs up with a ride to the top Grouse Mountain on the back road.