Last night, Marco and I attended the Tour Divide pre-race barbeque in Banff. It was a great opportunity to meet some of the riders, especially the race organiser, Matthew. He invited us to join after reading about our adventure on this site, and even gave us a SPOT tracking device. This device will allow you to track our progress throughout our ride. More details will follow - we’re still getting it all set up correctly.
This morning, we went along to see the riders set off on the trail, and it was inspirational to say the least. Possibly the most striking thing was how little equipment the racers were all taking with them. There were a few panniers in sight, but definitely no trailers as all the riders try to take as little as possible with them. This means that they rely on making it to towns to spend the night in hotels or motels, removing the need for a tent, sleeping bag, stove and fuel. You can follow the race via the Tour Divide web site.
This afternoon, Marco and I put in our first training ride together; a steady 25 miles around Calgary. Once again, I managed to fall off but escaped any serious bumps or bruises! I need to spend more time getting used to riding with the clips and of course, the backside needs a lot more training to get used to being on the saddle.
[caption id=”attachment_149” align=”alignright” width=”550”
caption=”The racers set off from Banff - we’ll be there in one week’s
time”]
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