Fernie

We are having some lunch in Fernie so I have taken the opportunity to make the most of the free internet service offered by the local library.

It has taken us about 4 days to get here on a mixture of tracks, gravel/washboard roads, and highway. We did our first divide crossing on Tuesday (Elk Pass 6,400 feet). We have seen elk, deer, moose, eagles and about a trillion gophers. No bears as yet though 2 cyclists cycling the same route about a fortnight ago were unfortunate enough to have 5 bear 'events' between Banff and Sparwood. Having been reliably informed that bear bells don't really work for cyclists, our chosen deterrent is to shout 'hello Mr Bear' at random intervals when travelling through forest areas. The fact that we haven't had a single bear event suggests that it works. We have a large can of bear spray to play with if it does not.

We are currently spending up to about 7 hrs a day riding though we did have a shorter day yesterday. Some of the areas we have ridden through have been stunning. We are all well and happy. If there is one thing that is bothering us it is the mosquitos - though I am pleased to report that Hywel's head appears to be their main target.

We are aiming to camp at Elko tonight (about 25miles south of here) before leaving Canada and arriving in the US in the morning. I don't think there is going to be any internet facility before Whitefish (possibly 4-5 days riding) but will do my best to post something there.

It was good to read ur comments!

Are we nearly there yet?

a second poll..

how many days will it take for the other two to get tired of Cennydd saying "Day 3 on the Great Divide Ride" in that Geordie voice off Big Brother?

Looking hot!

Quick update

We have arrived safely with all our kit intact. Just thought we'd take a moment to thank the following for their help:


1. Mark for 5am coffee and driving the van back from Gatwick

2. Alyth for mega ginger cake which is still keeping us going...

3. Tom - the Zoom airlines ground crew guy who got us to the front of the queue at Gatwick and annoyed the whole terminal in the process. Winner : )

4. Hywel's friend Euan for being completely random (though no help whatsoever) at Gatwick departure lounge ?

5. Martin and Sheila who have looked after us brilliantly since we landed.



We start riding in the morning...

Banff - aka Cloverfield

Nothing a decent panel beater couldn't fix...

Perhaps in some kind of attempt to get out of riding for the next 2 months, Hywel managed to get himself involved in a little car crash at about 11pm last night. He is currently entertaining the night shift at Morriston Hospital in Swansea. He was enthusiastically talking rubbish when I left him there a little earlier, so I think he is going to be just fine. Hywel was a front seat passenger in the white car.

now THIS is a bike.

What can I saythat the picture doesn't. Well it's white, it's made of metul, the tyres of ruba, it's NOT going to break, if in the extremely unlikely event that it does, I have have the technology, I can rebuild it, faster and stronger than before. Oh and it's called an 'inbred' and has a little picture of a buck toothed, dungarees clad hick on the seat tube, Hmmmm.

One for the bike geeks (you know who you are)....

I'm riding a Moots hardtail with a Rohloff (internal hub gear). The frame is made from titanium which helps bring the bike weight down to about 26lbs. The panniers, tent and other equipment almost doubles the overall weight to 50lbs. This will increase further once food and water is added. I guess it sounds a lot, but when I was a kid Halfords used to sell a bike known as an 'Apollo Blizzard' that weighed about 40lbs so it's not that bad really.

The fork is a Magura Durin. This is something of a wildcard as there is very little prospect of being able to get spare parts for it in North America. When I ordered it this didn't bother me too much because Magura is a German company, and German stuff is typically bombproof (except maybe for Dresden in WW2 which most definitely wasn't). The problem is that the lowers have already had to be replaced because of a crack in the casting. I am hoping that some positive thinking will help keep the fork in one piece. If this doesn't work and it fails completely, I will push it to the nearest bike shop and replace it with a Fox Float.

The only things I now have left to do is decide on the 'spokey dokey' colour combination for my wheels (I don't want to go triggering some poor American's epilepsy), and find some space on my bars to install my hi-tech bear deterrent:

Early tests on a small dog were disappointing in that the noise wound her up. I'm hoping bears display a different response.

Would anyone like to weed my front patio for me?

I'm travelling with who !!??

Who's the old guy on the shopping bike?

Hywel rides his bike!

Hywel went on a training ride today. Nice shirt.

Weekend pics: