Two Mates, Two Bikes, & 2800 Miles to Mexico : Day 35

Trip Overview

This blog will follow two totally inexperienced bikepackers, Geoff and Cam, and their journey from Banff to Mexico via the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. The route follows the Continental Divide, exposing riders to high altitude, diverse wildlife, and solitude. To learn more about the route, check this out. Randy will be the official bookie so get in touch with him if you'd like to place a wager on how far we will actually make it.

In the mean time, you can track our progress here thanks to our SPOT device.

This will be a site where we will try our best to post some pictures and stories along the way. Happy reading!

Sunday 17 August 2014

Day 35 - Frisco to a Stable...

The Frisco/Silverthorne/Breckenridge area is a tourist hot spot for a reason. The three towns are nestled in among giant fourteen thousand foot mountains with prime skiing. We decided to spend the morning in Breckenridge to enjoy the sites and eat some good pizza. We took off in the early afternoon for a monster of a climb - the highest divide crossing of the entire trip. The climb over Boreas Pass (11,482 ft) lasted a solid 15 miles. We were generous with our break taking but finally summited the pass. We were absolutely gassed.... Cam may have taken a nap on top.

We descended into a town called Como where we had planned to spend the night. Unfortunately this turned out to be a ghost town with no services at all. We had to make a decision - go off route on a busy highway for 15 miles or continue on the route and camp wherever we saw appropriate. We decided to continue biking blindly into the Colorado landscape. Near sundown we approached an old deserted recreational area. We saw that there were empty stables that provided a nice shelter from the rain Colorado promised to provide. We set up shop there and hoped to God the cows weren't going to return for a visit.

The climb out of Breckinridge, CO.

The Collegiate Range!

Boreas Pass - a perfect spot for a catnap.

Valley views

The stable

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Geoff Gerhardt

Growing up in New Brunswick, Geoff’s passion for adventure and the outdoors was firmly planted in the forests and bays of the Saint John River Vally. Over his life Geoff continued to seek adventure, sometimes close to home and sometimes farther afield. From the waves and beaches of the Outerbanks in North Carolina to the mountains of Honduras, he has continued to seek adventure, through life guarding, paddling, hiking and riding. Although biking has always been a passion from the road to the trail, this will be Geoff’s first multi-day trip.
Apart from sports and the outdoors, Geoff enjoys countless hours of Coen brother’s films and the odd Tarantino flick. Craft beers and greasy diner breakfasts are other driving forces in Geoff’s life.

Cameron Wade

Cam just finished studying Physics and playing sports at Acadia and was most recently a professional prison door installer with his friend, Scott. He likes to spend his spare time at pubs, playing QWOP, or watching countless hours of riveting TV with his sister, Grace.

After the trip, Cam will be heading off to Europe to begin his master's in Mathematics. He figures now is a great time to take off an adventure to finally eat authentic tacos and learn a thing or two about himself.

Cam also finds it difficult to write in third person and will miss his nannies.