Today’s plan was for 60 miles to Whitefish but I missed the turning & ended up in the surreal “village” of Polebridge. Set miles from anywhere the place had bar, mercantile, restaurant & camping – &, surprisingly, lots of customers!

Bryan Lynn & his wife helped me back to the turning – many thanks! They have promised me encouraging words as I head south. Needing to find Dan, I stopped & asked the next pickup – the driver promptly said, reassuringly yes, I almost ran him over 1 mile up!

My detour, plus the 35C, the climbs obsession to reach Whitefish Bike Retreat led us totally off piste & wild camping 20m from a railway line. 200 carriage trains passing by every 30 mins throughout the night. I slept like a baby!

A very slow start to the day. Dan was a little tired from his epic ride & we took a little time to tweak his set up for a more comfortable ride.

Out in the sticks, we rode past a sign pointing off to Dave’s Antiques – Open Today 10-4. Curiosity drew us down a remote track to Dave + younger brother, Steve. We found Dave to be the real deal – old time trapper come antiques hoarder with items from as far afield as UK. Most intriguing for us were his stories of trapping in Flathead & Glacier NP. Here trapping bear, polecat, beaver, wolverines & shooting coyote, & more. His trophies as far back as a boy of 15 yrs cover his impressive hand-built cabin. He is one of the last of the men who built Montana – what a privilege to have met him.

Sadly, onward & up over a high pass to Tuchuck CG. Late & near dark, we set up camp. With no gas for the stove, Dan lit a fire & managed spaghetti & pesto – living the dream!

Outside my tent around 2am, above my head was the most amazing sight – a sky crammed full of stars & galaxies, all different sizes & brightnesses. Looking closer I could even pick out satellites speeding along in different orbits.

Before leaving, Ken came by to check on me. He told me a little about the lake – draws its water from Elk River though no streams or rivers enter or leave it. It’s teaming with many types of fish, & is home to a large population of turtles which bask en mass at the waterside each year to lay their eggs. Must be quite a spectacle. He directed me to the Saturday Farmers Market at the old school house & here, I discovered, is where the community connects – starting with the CAN $8 big breakfast, then shop & hang out.

Anne came by and next thing l was being introduced to more locals than you could shake a stick at! All had stories from way back – early deaths when logging, crude surgery following gun shot wounds, but all about the strength of community – and that I can confirm is still very much alive!

I crossed the border into USA without event & on to a motel to wait for Dan. It was a little bit like the war film, One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing & true to form, after all hope had gone, a message came telling me he’d reached the Roosville boarder.

Today being my birthday, I woke to many online best wishes plus coffee in bed, card & gift – courtesy of Dan.

After, focused on preparing Dan for the Flathead Alternate – a challenging, remote 2-3 day ride.

Having waved Dan off, I turned to set off myself to find my Garmin (GPS) was frozen. Several attempts later it went to factory reset. – all routes were now lost! Again & again I’ve suffered the pain of poor quality on my Edge 1030. If anyone has £500+ & thinks buying one is a good idea – don’t waste your money!!!

Taking the quickest route to Fernie, Gear Hub (Elek Wenzlawe) helped me upload my lost routes. This is a brilliant shop with great cycle community attitude! Something greatly lacking at Straight Line Cycles – totally unhelpful – they just said no, without explanation.

Nessa, is the lady with the STOP sign on Cokato Road, south of Fernie. She kept me waiting for over 30mins whilst heavy machinery built up the road following last November’s floods – not from the Elk River but the many small streams that drop from the high mountains – & did not spare the expensive houses. Having tried living in Fernie, Sparwood is Nessa’s chosen home – real community there she tells me. I can see her point of view.

My destination for tonight was to be Elkco. 4 years ago, 2 brothers had, for the previous 30 yrs, run the gas station, shop, motel, camp site & pretty much everything else in town. They had moved on & now was far less welcoming. 8m on & I hit Baynes Lake.

Here I got lucky when Ken & Joanne kindly agreed to let me camp in their garden – most idilic spot looking out to the lake. Soon after a chair was provided to enjoy the sunset in comfort – after all it was my birthday!!

Most of m morning was spent working whilst Dan fine tuned his bike. For days I’d been banging on about the amazing breakfasts at Racecourse Gas Station aka ESSO so couldn’t leave town without allowing Dan the opportunity.

COVID had forced owner, Mark, to make a changes , Jenifer, the lovely young lady who had served my campfire skillet had left to work for one of the mining companies, the restaurant was self service but the food & welcoming remained as good as ever.

Our ride continued down the ever widening Elk Valley to Sparwood passing too many stunning views to absorb.

No rain last night so tents dry & packed , powdered egg omelettes & tortillas breakfast & early start

My memory of Elk Pass 4 yrs ago haunt me. This time much better prepared. A little bit of bike dragging up the serious slopes but we hit the Pass early, around 11 am. I get the impression BC & AB don’t get on. Both provinces have tracks up to the Pass but there’s a huge earth mound between them!

Once past the summit we got our rewards – fast downhills, more stunning valley & mountain views & a bear sighting. After 54 mile we ended with beer, a Chinese dinner & motel in Elkford. Good Day!

Last nights’ dose of Anti inflammatories + cold medication had worked magic! I woke refreshed & mobile & ready to go. The scenery throughout the 36 mile ride was epic – huge mountainous landscapes & wide green valleys did not disappoint- the gravel ground, less so.

At Canyon CG we paid our iCAN $ 31

For that we have our very own picnic table, 2m2 of earth to plant your tents & the use of a 10m deep pit. Good business!

I must be mad! I’d come here with a troubling left knee that had kept me unfit. And, if honest to myself, has not improved. Flying over, I’ve acquired a cold that put me in the sack for 39 hrs flat, before getting up to ride into the Canadian High Rockies in 33 C heat laden down with supplies & water.

By the time we reached Spray Lake, I was done!

Why do it? Many reasons – my love of this kind of adventure, my refusal to accept Im no longer able, and, most importantly, not to let Dan down. After all this ride is his, me backing out would have scuppered his chances. Once he is comfortable riding & sleeping in the wild, I’ll have done my part.

Back in the saddle again!

To mark nephew, Dan’s, 40 year milestone, he asked if I would join him on the Great Divide. Soon to become a responsible parent, it may be his last chance of selfish freedom – I had to say yes!

With his personal trailer and 30 years my junior, I foresee him having many long waits at the top of climbs or maybe preparing a nice meal ready for my late arrival into camp!!?? (Wishful thinking maybe??!!)

We fly out on 29 July with a planned start date of 1 August 2022.

As always, a few further tweaks to the setup in pursuit of perfection! – Out is the 600g Nordisk Loften tunnel tent (designed to drip condensation on your feet!); In is a 1000g Samaya Assaut Ultra with lots more room and hopefully drier nights. Also swapped my Bedrock Seat Pack (400g) for a Revolate Nano Pannier and rack (1200g) – heavier but lower centre of gravity and ease of access. Lots of great reviews!!

Thanks to Shona & Ritch from Keep Pedalling, Northern Quarter, Manchester; Paul and his team at Swinnerton Cycles, Fenton, SOT for all their help and patience!

I have always been something of an adventurer having traveled far and wide over a number of years and have been a keen cyclist – off and on – for much of that time.

It was with the thought of my retirement looming that I decided I needed to have an epic adventure to look forward to and so the thoughts of cycling the Great Divide began to percolate,

I wasn’t certain that I was actually fit enough for it or that my knees or hips would hold up, but I was determined to give it a go!!

Here followed months and months of research – which bike, what clothing, which bag, what food should I take??  This was in itself an epic task – of which my wife got extremely fed up !!!

The culmination of my efforts was packing my biking worldly possessions in a huge cardboard box and flying out to the USA at the end of July 2018.  The rest, as they say, is history and to be found within my 2018 The Great Divide blog.

It’s now 2019 and another retirement date has come and gone, but the urge to repeat the Divide Experience hasn’t gone away, so here I am, planning my next epic off road adventure – The Wild West Route.  Flights are booked, the bike’s been serviced, just the packing to do (a lot less equipment than last time!!!!)