Cordillera Volume 6

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Thanks Chris! Another couple that I should have mentioned for that list but forgot to (if you can squeeze them in):

John Metcalfe's Dividing the Great http://www.amazon.com/Dividing-Great-John-Metcalfe/dp/1478249331 (Kindle version will link you to photos of his adventure including his loaded steed Corsair.)

Kent Peterson's The Way of the Mountain Turtle http://kentsbike.blogspot.ca/2005/12/way-of-mountain-turtle.html is another good 'un and it's free to boot. Keep in mind that a mere decade ago, Kent was one of only SEVEN starters in the race. In a later go at the TD, the "turtle" discovered that bears and cougars aren't the only things with fangs of steel: http://kentsbike.blogspot.ca/2010/06/this-is-not-staged-photo.html . What isn't mentioned in that report is the effect fatigue has on a rider's ability to safely navigate hazards enroute.

Although both of those guys portray themselves as sloth-like/turtle-like, Metcalfe also wrote Mountain Bike Fitness Training and Kent has a long history of racing and riding long distances. I'd hardly categorize them as slackers!

Lastly, as a 30 year anniversary tribute to the Moes who pioneered the route, a link to the two 1985 Bicycle Rider articles would be fitting: http://tourdivide.org/GDMBR_origin .

Thanks! More work but good additions, especially the Moe story. Does anyone else have further suggestions before I do another revision?

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Hi,

Since I somehow managed to miss a few books I think it would be good to get a list of blogs/online articles which I'll include as an Annex to Volume 7.

Would be grateful if you would circulate the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-Y_CAxrccLkZ8zy1zI8myzSd95Er1YZWdlbWkcbt4eo/viewform?usp=send_form

I'll also put a post up on this. Can someone please let me know if there are any problems with the form - I'm a Google Forms novice!

Regards,

Chris

[dp]

Got my hard copy last week. Big thanks to all contributors, and to Chris for pulling it all together. What a tremendous resource.

-dp

[ABfolder]

...I think it would be good to get a list of blogs/online articles which I'll include as an Annex to Volume 7.

Good idea. I was thinking of mentioning that as something that might be useful for the 2015 edition. Maybe open it up to YouTube as well since Jay P did a very nice "The Day After ITT" rundown on his bike contents for all to see (literally, airing his dirty laundry). I'd link that video but it appears to have since vanished?! But there's plenty more where that came from (200+ TD vids) including Crazy Larry in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzW5LxOyCwQ&index=3&list=UURgza_xszexDlJ4zqPdMcDw . Maybe a "Best of the Bunch" selection?? Or year specific to that volume, 2014 as example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb3g-Tktos4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_WIbe1JqT8 (Alice) + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v9f-hl4QL8 (Tanner) + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsoeFs8ZwcY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfC1x7scA6s (Jefe and his bike detail) etc??

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Good idea. I was thinking of mentioning that as something that might be useful for the 2015 edition. Maybe open it up to YouTube as well since Jay P did a very nice "The Day After ITT" rundown on his bike contents for all to see (literally, airing his dirty laundry). I'd link that video but it appears to have since vanished?! But there's plenty more where that came from (200+ TD vids) including Crazy Larry in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzW5LxOyCwQ&index=3&list=UURgza_xszexDlJ4zqPdMcDw . Maybe a "Best of the Bunch" selection?? Or year specific to that volume, 2014 as example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb3g-Tktos4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_WIbe1JqT8 (Alice) + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v9f-hl4QL8 (Tanner) + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsoeFs8ZwcY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfC1x7scA6s (Jefe and his bike detail) etc??

How about being willing to take this on and give us a 'best video' list which we'll include?

[ABfolder]

Heck, yeah, I could do that for the cause. In fact, I even dredged up that elusive Jay P inventory video (hiding in his blog): http://jaypetervary.blogspot.ca/ . First-time TD riders and others get your notepads out ...

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Thanks! Will be great. You should set up a Google Form like I've done for the links. Will make life easier for you.

[ScottM]

Lastly, as a 30 year anniversary tribute to the Moes who pioneered the route, a link to the two 1985 Bicycle Rider articles would be fitting: http://tourdivide.org/GDMBR_origin .

Wow, I had not heard of the Moe's trip, even though it's on the TD website!  I can't believe Matthew didn't mention it to me.

Their ride seems more like a CDT precursor trip than a GDMBR one.  They hit a lot of CDT towns that are not on the ACA route, and seemed to have ventured along some of the burlier sections of the actual divide -- like some of the MT/ID border.

Thanks very much for mentioning that post on td.org.  I may have to track those guys down.  1985 -- incredible.

[ScottM]

Nevermind, they are the guys who owned the bikes that Kurt Refsnider found on Baffin island.  Sadly, they are no longer with us.

http://krefs.blogspot.com/2010/12/coincidental-divide.html

Much respect to the Moes.  I guess they had hiked the "CDT" (what little existed of it) previous to the bike expedition, so they knew a lot about what sections to attempt and not attempt.

Apparently a previous version of the Corillera featured Mark Jenkin's story on the Moes, too.

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Hi,

This is really interesting. Anyone interested in writing something as the afterward for next year's Cordillera on the Moes?

C.

[ABfolder]

Wow, I had not heard of the Moe's trip, even though it's on the TD website!
 1985 -- incredible.

Actually 1984...but their write-up was in 1985. So if copycat pioneering "bikepackers" were following in their tire tracks, the earliest they would have ventured out was 1985. 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of that first Great Divide trip. 2015 will be the 30th anniversary of the Moe's Bicycle Rider articles and the matching anniversary of the earliest possible copycat trips. Even though they were Diamond Back men, I have a 1985 Miyata Terra Runner waiting in the wings for next year.  A commemorative ride on my steed -- appropriately named HOSS (Heavy Old Sturdy Steel) -- might be in order if the stars align properly. :-)

[ScottM]

It's interesting that they don't refer to what they are doing as riding the CDT -- they are just riding the divide.  According to the "coincidental divide" piece, they hiked the "CDT" with maybe only 100 miles designated as such, before the bike trip.  Yet they refer to the bike ride as simply riding the divide.  I am guessing the CDT had lots of XC travel back then, which they knowingly skipped on roads, but that's just pure speculation.  Wish I could ask them...

It could be argued they were doing as much of the CDT as could have been done at the time, certainly a more CDT-like trip than what the GDMBR has ever been.

And it took 30 years before anyone (unknowingly) did a 'copycat' trip.  Very cool that we were riding and following in their footsteps on the 30th anniversary.

[ABfolder]

And it took 30 years before anyone (unknowingly) did a 'copycat' trip.

There are quite a few humble adventurers who sally forth and leave no record behind them. It's quite possible that some early bikepackers read those articles by the Moes and headed out the door immediately in 1985 or the following years to duplicate what they'd done on the Divide -- or even some of what they'd done. The ACA formalized the route and the racing crowd moved in later. The pioneers were explorers, not racers.

How many bikepacking folks would remember the Moes today if they hadn't written those two articles (in a somewhat obscure magazine that went belly up only a couple of years later)? They left a record of their passing but many don't. That applies to the GDMBR/Tour Divide even today.

[ScottM]

Yes, thank-you, I realize that it's quite possible others have ridden the divide and not talked about it.

I know of one person who claimed to have ridden an early divide route, with some help of Mike McCoy, before the GDMBR was ever published.  He came to an early edition of my AZT race.  There's no record of his trip, though.

These things do have a way of getting around.  The bike community is not so large, and few people would take on such a massive endeavor and tell absolutely no one about it.

I would love to learn more about their trip, somehow.  I think Matthew may attempt to track down the first half of their article again, as some people involved in "Bicycle Rider" may be more reachable thanks to the rise of social media (his sentiment).

[ABfolder]

Matthew Lee should try contacting the Moe family directly -- perhaps starting with Kevin Moe, Mike's youngest son (as mentioned in the comments section of Kurt Refsnider's blog http://krefs.blogspot.ca/2010/12/coincidental-divide.html ). I wouldn't be surprised if a 1984 Great Divide trip journal, marked maps and stack of Kodachrome slides were sitting in a box gathering dust somewhere. Kurt likely has Kevin's contact info because he was offering to ship a recovered ice axe to him.

[ScottM]

Great idea. That would be very cool to see a journal from the trip. I will see what I can dig up. Maybe a cordillera article or transcription will come from it, who knows.

Firsts are funny since you can never really be sure. You can just make a claim and see if anyone disputes it.

Thanks for the posts and ideas.

[ABfolder]

You're welcome. And here's another idea for next year's TD: Dedicate the 2015 Tour Divide to the pioneering Moe brothers on the 30th anniversary of the publishing of their 1985 Great Divide articles. Those two intrepid adventurers are the ones who really kicked the whole thing off. Everyone who tours or races the Great Divide should know who they were and their contribution to the route's eventual establishment.

[ScottM]

You're welcome. And here's another idea for next year's TD: Dedicate the 2015 Tour Divide to the pioneering Moe brothers on the 30th anniversary of the publishing of their 1985 Great Divide articles. Those two intrepid adventurers are the ones who really kicked the whole thing off. Everyone who tours or races the Great Divide should know who they were and their contribution to the route's eventual establishment.

I'd be all for it, though IMO it would have been better done this year.  Better late than never.

I really wish I could understand their intent and routing better.  Would they be pleased to be considered the fathers of a dirt road route that you can pull a bob trailer on?  The most rideable dirt road near the divide?  Or were they trying to ride what would eventually become the CDT, with virtually no one, or very few, following in their footsteps?

I'm sure they'd be all in favor of anyone riding the divide, by any route or means (as am I), but their original intent is not that clear, to me, at least.

[ABfolder]

Well, based on the photos and info in the articles -- especially West Is West -- they didn't seem averse to using gravel roads where appropriate.