The Fun Begins !!!!

  Ok, this event is totally consuming, the first thing I had to decide, what year was I going to shoot for. This event could easily take two years to prepare for. After going through a number of reasons why, I decided it has to be 2013. At this point I had 12 months. The 2012 mass start race had just started and it was all I was thinking about.
  Once I decided that 2013 was the year to do this thing, I had to start gear searching. This is no easy task as there is a ton of stuff to not only check out but everyone has an idea about what is best. I also don't have an endless supply of money to throw down. It starts with the bike which I got out of the way first, my choice was a hardtail 29er, Trek Superfly (Thanks again to my sponsor West Point Cycles they made this part easy). The next big task were bags, I began by looking at pics of past riders of cross country and bike packing events. There really seemed to be a common thread when it came to this area. The company I decided to go with was Revelate Designs out of Alaska. Everything I read about there product was it's quality and just great people to deal with if you have a problem. All the bags that I have on my bike are from them.

  After returning from our trip down south all I wanted to do was get out and test bike,bags and rider on an over night trip. I had always wanted to ride the Kettle Valley trail. This trail is an old railway route through the mountains of British Columbia. The section I would pick is the Carmi Subdivision, which runs from Midway to Penticton, BC totalling 215 kms. I originally wanted to cover the full distance in one day, riding out one day staying over night and then back on the same route the next day.  I had to adjust my mileage because of the time of year I was heading out. My plan, 180 kms per day starting in Penticton/Naramata area.

  The Tour Divide route I have been told has a lot of wash board on it and because the Kettle valley is used by off road vehicles I was hoping it would have this in common ( Ok who in there right mind hopes for wash board). I Started out on a Saturday morning at 8:30 it was a good climb from the lake where I started to the trail head I wanted. At this point I was already questioning my motivation behind not only this two day ride but the Divide. It was the  first time I had ridden the bike packed and although I have done some small road touring this is a different animal.  One hour in I stopped to check out the view and take in the morning.

  Once I had saw the view and gathered my thoughts I new this was what I wanted to do ( I can't tell you how many times in last 5 months I have tried to get this challenge out of my mind and talk myself out of it). I rode for 171 Kms that day with the last 100 hardly seeing anyone but a couple of coyotes and  campers. The trail had everything I was looking for, there was the wash board (once I found that I was wishing I hadn't ). It also had the challenges of finding food ( which is another common thing I hear about on the Divide from past riders). I rolled in to a small town Beaverdell after 140 kms craving something other then my energy bars. I had only eaten a bagel and a couple of pieces of fruit for lunch. A small country store was all I could find, I wanted a Coke and salty chips. After satisfying my craving, I looked at the time and realized I better check out dinner options. The choices made me laugh, I found a prepackaged sub, more chips and 4 pepperoni sticks(I could not stomach the whole sub, but lucky for me you can't mess up chips and pepperoni ). Laying in my tent that night after what was a great day of riding on the trail for 9 1/2 hrs. I was satisfied with my first real training day.

   Waking up to minus 2 on Sunday morning it took me until 10:30 to warm up on the bike. The sun was shining but when your riding through the trees in a valley it takes awhile for it to heat up. I made it back to my truck just after 6:00 pm greeted by friends, lucky for me they had Thanksgiving dinner waiting (thanks Betty and Alan for your hospitality). My two day adventure was a good start and the bike and bags work well. I have some small adjustments to make in my set up but for the most part I think I'm headed in the right direction.  Let the fun begin!!!

               Video on trail :      https://vimeo.com/51407991