More help from my friends.

As we reach the one-week-to departure date, the support has continued to come in!

Rebecca at Eastern Mountain Sports has continued to go way beyond the call of duty and provide us with lots of essentials and some treats for our trip. She has helped us get in contact with the right people that have been just as psyched about the trip as we are. We cannot thank her enough for all the help she has provided us!

Recently, while riding up at the Kingdom Trails in Vermont, I tried a new electrolyte replacement tablet that I really liked. Its a new product called Nuun (pronounced noon) and I felt it really helped prevent me from cramping up on a 6+ hour ride. I raced up every hill we encountered (I cannot say Nuun directly helped with that) and felt no cramping or fatigue (Nuun definitely had a hand in that!). So far I have tried the Lemon Lime and Tri-Berry flavors and have enjoyed them both. All I do is fill up my bottle with water, pop one in and BAM its all mixed and ready to drink in a couple of minutes. I have a few friends that use it hiking and enjoy the sensation of not being sore when they get back to the car. The best part is, there is no sugar so you don't get that bell curve rush of energy and it doesn't pollute your Camelbak. Thank to Jack and Tim at Nuun for helping us on our quest to stay hydrated on the 2700 mile journey!



I also want to thank all my friends and family that have come in with stories and wishes of luck. My friends at Eastern Mountain Sports that have been so understanding when I take a long weekend to ride or when I show up to work in my spandex. The support has been awesome and now the time is getting near to journey into the wilderness!

Getting Ready!

Well its been a couple of days since the last post and wanted to keep everyone updated with what is going on. All the things that I have been ordering have been starting to trickle in (hope it all gets here by the 4th!) and one piece that we were all really excited about was the Sierra Designs Origami 4. It is a four person shelter that is fully waterproof and seemed like the perfect solution for when the weather isn't cooperating. Here is a picture of it all set up!

Its about 6 feet tall in the center and will allow us to play cards, fix bikes, and cook food while avoiding the elements!

Also is pictured is Nat and his bike. It will be getting a total makeover this week as well as a 3+ foot extension known as "BOB". He also just got clipless pedals so lets hope he can learn how to use them quick!

Well the tickets have been purchased, the hostel is booked, dehydrated chickenish bits are waiting to be packed into smaller bags, and we have been riding as much as we can. Hopefully we are ready!

A little about the trip

Since I haven't posted many details about the trip yet, I figure now would be a good time. This summer Doug W, Jen W, Nat M, and myself will be riding the Continental Divide by mountain bike with trailers. We don't follow the same trail the hikers do but we never stray more then 50 miles from it. Here is a photo showing the path we will follow:














Our trip will begin on June 5th when we fly out of Manchester airport in NH and land in Calgary International Airport in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We will shuttle to Banff with our bikes and trailers and spend a couple of days there before heading off. The trail is approximately 2,700 miles and around 200,000 feet of climbing. Here is a picture of what our bikes will look like with the trailers.










We are planning on spending most of the summer out there and returning sometime in August. We will be passing through some of the most spectacular sites the country has to offer and guaranteed we will be taking lots of photos. I will be updating the blog every chance I get so please feel free to check back often!!!

Huge thanks

Well we are mostly paying for the trip by ourselves, we have had some very generous people donate some gear to us and wanted to give them thanks.

One of our biggest sponsors so far has been Eastern Mountain Sports. They have worked with us for the past couple of months and we wanted to give them a huge shout out. The gear they got for us will help us as we meander down the Divide. Huge thank you to Rebecca and the rest of the camping team for making that happen. They went way above the call of duty and came to us with everything from food to stoves to sleeping bags!!! Two things we are looking forward to using are the Jetboil PCS and the Katadyn Vario waterfilter. We also wanted to thank Emma, Margaret, Dan and Sandra for getting us some of the latest and greatest in waterproof, breathable garments.

Some other folks that have helped us to get ready for the trip have been Colin at Mion and Mike with Katadyn and Bridgedale. These guys have worked hard to get us some more goodies to take on the trip.

If you are interested in sponsoring us or just want to leave us note, please feel free to do so. The days are really ticking by fast now and the four of us are getting excited for our June 5th departure date!

Just getting my place holder up for what will be quite an adventure this summer!