A dirty little bike touring blog. Mostly about bikepacking and rigid single speeds. By Montana Miller
Tour Divide
Last post on the Divide for a while, then I'll stop smacking on this dead horse meat. These are things I screwed up, that cost me time in the race. Knees The first day, it was snaining, cold, and I was wearing shell pants without any insulation. I was about ten minutes late for the … Continue reading Tour Divide: 5, Mistakes
I loved this route, and I hated racing it. It isn't a technical ride. There's almost no singletrack. But it is does go through the mountains, and it's best on a mountain bike. I guess whether that makes it count as mountain biking is debatable. The good stuff Even though the weather in Canada was … Continue reading Tour Divide: Part 4, The Route
Part 1 Part 2 Pack list I did another post about this right after I got back in July, but it was kind of half-assed and disorganized. Anyway, real techy bike geek stuff follows: Electronics Some people use GPS, and for style reasons, others don't. My opinion- it doesn't make much sense to race without one. … Continue reading Tour Divide: Part 3, Gear
Continued from yesterday. Part 1 Cost I saved about two grand for the race including travel costs, and it wasn’t enough. But after graduating, moving to Colorado, and barely making rent all winter, it was the best I could scrape together. Just one area where my friends and family deserve a huge amount of credit. … Continue reading Tour Divide: Part 2, Cost and Food
I've mentioned this before, but damn, what a hard race. It's not that it's technically difficult- if you can ride down a bike path you've pretty much got the necessary handling skills dialed in. It's just so long. 2750 miles is a long way by any standard of travel, and it's a really really long … Continue reading Some More Thoughts on the Tour Divide: Part 1
Also on the Dirt Rag I haven't been able to sleep- every night I wake up, thinking that I still have more miles to ride to the border. "No, Colleen already picked you up, it's over," I tell myself. Then the sun comes up and my legs are rubbery. Tour Divide was monstrously hard. I … Continue reading Tour Divide
"Adventure is a mark of incompetence." - Vilhjalmur Stefansson After being breifly detained and seached for the devil's lettuce at the border (again), Colleen and I made it to Banff last night. Tomorrow morning I'll start the long ride to Mexico.A bunch of my family and friends, as well as Wilderness Voyageurs and Aloha Mountain Cyclery … Continue reading Tour Divide 2014: the start
The stuff. When it's all laid out, it doesn't look like much for a few weeks of living off the bike. But when I'm pushing it up a moutain road, it feels like a ton. All the bags were made by Lane and Monty at Oveja Negra in Leadville. I'm testing them for the Dirt … Continue reading Great Divide Pack List
A little less than two months out from Tour Divide. I'm starting to feel pretty good about the race.Since leaving Pennsylvania, I've been on my bike a lot. An hour commute in the morning, an hour and a half mountain bike ride at lunch, and an hour commute home. And on days off, a long … Continue reading Two Months Out
Sweep, back flush the espresso machine, mop, last dishes, count the drawer. Lock the door to the café by six. Grocery store with Colleen. "How much food do you need to take?" "I think around 4000 calories'll get me to Moab." Reese's King Size Easter Eggs are two for $3. Can't beat that- I grab … Continue reading Kokpelli’s Trail
Dirt Cruise 