In a couple of days we’re going to ride the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (or GDMBR for those who prefer an unwieldy acronym to an unwieldy name). In short, we’ll be riding from Canada to Mexico. In long, well, it’s long. Like really long. We’ll be doing about 2,500 miles up to elevations of 10 thousand feet and a total amount of climbing equivalent to going up Everest many times over. And did I mention that nearly all of it is off-road, and away from cell towers? And we’ll need to filter our own water much of the way and carry enough gear to camp and cook meals and such? And we’ll need to carry bear spray for the occasional Grizzly? And we’re old! All of us are over 50, at least one is pushing 60, and, and our gear is heavy and, geeze, the TV has lots of great stuff on, so why are we even considering this?
I’ll let other people share their own answers to that question, but for me, it’s that I was asked. That’s all it took. My brother contacts me out of the blue and says, “hey, this looks pretty cool. Do you want to do this?” And I said, “yup.” Well, it was a little more complicated than that, but not as much as you might think. He had me at “this looks pretty cool.” Thanks bro. It’s all your fault. I hope you’re happy with yourself 🙂
