YORKTON — Ray Bailey was in Banff a number of years ago just as the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) Tour Divide was starting — and that got him thinking.
The “race” is an annual self-supported event. The race clock runs 24 hours a day, and riders are allowed no outside support other than access to public facilities such as stores, motels and bike shops.
The GDMBR was “developed and mapped in 1997 by the Adventure Cycling Association, is approximately 2,700 miles (roughly 4,400 kilometres) long and is considered by many to be the birthplace of bikepacking as a sport. The route follows the Continental Divide and is 90 per cent off-pavement using high-quality dirt roads, gravel roads, trails and a few short sections of unmaintained tracks. Bikepacking the GDMBR requires only intermediate off-road mountain biking skills, but it is a painstaking test of endurance based on the sheer scale of the route, with over 200,000 feet (60,960 meters) of elevation gain and loss,” notes bikepacking.com.
Bailey was intrigued — so much so he put biking the trail on his bucket list.
This summer he checked that box.
“I was hoping to take 30 days. It ended up taking 41,” Bailey told Yorkton This Week in a recent interview.
By comparison, in this year’s race a competitor from Switzerland shaved two days off the record, completing the route in 11 days, 13 hours.
“He did 300 miles one day before he slept. It took me a week,” said Bailey with a grin.
A challenge worth the effort
So why at age 55 did Bailey take on the challenge?
“I don’t have a good answer to that,” he said again with a smile.
Bailey said it goes back to that day in Banff in 2016.
“We saw them getting ready for the start (of the race),” he recalled, adding he was just evolving into his passion for biking.
“Thanks to cross country skiing I got more and more into cycling,” he said.
That interest fed into his desire.
“I thought it would be something to see all of that country,” he said, adding the trail goes through parts of Alberta and B.C., then swings south through five American states before ending at the U.S./Mexico border in Antelope Wells, N.M.
“Highlights include the Flathead Valley in Alberta, Grand Teton National Park, the Great Divide Basin in Wyoming, South Park, Boreas Pass in Colorado, Polvadera Mesa, and the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico. Colorado’s Indiana Pass, at 11,910 feet (3630 meters), is the highest point on the route. Throughout the route riders encounter wild river valleys, remote mountain wilderness, open grasslands, high desert, and towards the southern end of the route, an amazing span through the Chihuahuan Desert,” again notes bikepacking.com.
While not officially in the race, Bailey started his trek at the same time as this year’s competitors.
“I wanted other people on the trail,” he said, adding meeting people was a big part of the trek, being able to camp together and spend time together on the trail.
While many nights were spent in a tent, Bailey said he did “get to a hotel every few days,” noting that access to a shower was a trail treat.
Endurance on two wheels
In terms of terrain, Bailey said the trail was quite varied.
“Roughly 70 per cent of the route is composed of county, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management dirt and gravel roads. The remainder is made of unpaved four-wheel drive tracks and single tracks (five per cent), and paved roads (25 per cent),” details the-great-divide.com.
At points Bailey said he had to get off his mountain bike and push through portions of the trail.
Obviously, the trek was a challenge.
“On the first day I was like ‘what did you get yourself into,’” admitted Bailey. “You just keep hoping it will get easier.”
In time, it did get easier, and when it was hard Bailey relied on a Saskatchewan reality to stay the course.
“My experience in cross country skiing — if you can cross country ski in the winter on the Prairies it’s made you tough. You have some resilience for the low times.”
In the end, Bailey said he is glad he took on the adventure.
“It exceeded my expectation. It was everything I expected and more. Just to spend that much time in the wilderness,” he said. “It was something I’d never experience in my life.”
Bailey said travel on a bicycle really is special in his mind.
“It’s a nice way to travel, to really soak up the scenery,” he said.
While he may not take on a ride quite so long again, Bailey said more bike adventures are in the works — adding he and “the lifelong friends I met on the trail” are already planning another adventure together.
