As of this writing I am over half way through my ride. I have completed approximately 1500 miles of the route and have about 1200 remaining. (Length remaining is highly depended on fires in New Mexico at this point) This week we put the grizzly bears in the rear view mirror. My brother joined me on his motorcycle for the last big Grizz day through the wind rivers bear recovery area. We figured out that I burned around 5,000 calories and he burned 1.5 gallons of gas incase you are ever pondering how much energy is in gallon of gas.
Disclaimer
I am slightly malnourished and exhausted so please pardon any typos, unclear ramblings, partial thoughts and grammar / spelling errors.
Day in the life
We have had many people ask what it is like to be living out of a van for the last 30 days. So here is a snap shot of a day in the life of our summer on the divide. It turns out that just like life at home van life begins to take on a routine.
Ben wakes up drinks a pint of water and takes vitamins
Ben makes coffee in Jet boil (Brittney affectionately refers to Ben as her barista)
Ben eats breakfast and gets ready for the day
Brittney helps gather up food for Ben’s ride.
Take pre-ride photo
Ben heads off biking on the route
Brittney feeds the kids breakfast and hangs out in camp
Paisley and Bryar feed Sage (one does morning and the other night)
Pack up camp (leave no trace)
Kids do summer school activity workbooks while Brittney drives
Brittney heads out to our first meeting spot. (at some point in the day she loses or does not have cell service and has a panic attack about reading paper maps but amazingly pulls it off every day)
Most days around 1pm Brittney and girls meet up with Ben and exchange stories from morning, eat quick lunch.
Ben heads out for the rest of the days ride.
Girls head toward ending spot for the night and listen to their book on tape (they are on book 6 of the Whatever After Series)
Brittney and girls find a park, historic site, hike, river or lake and play for couple hours.
Brittney and the girls set camp A.K.A park on a level spot.
Ben arrives from the days ride.
Ben does recovery routine (stretch, compression pants, recovery drink, lots of water)
Everyone tells stories from the day as Brittney cooks dinner
Eat dinner and clean up dishes
Journal our favorite or most memorable parts of the day together
Ben and Brittney review maps for the next day and calculate milage and times for the next days ride while the kids run wild with Sage.
Make up the beds in the Van
Play games till bed time
Read a chapter of our book as a family (Currently reading the Way of the Warrior Kid)
Pass out exhausted!
Riding the WY Great Basin
We traded bear country for the Wyoming wind and heat. This week we crossed the Great Divide Basin which is a very infamous stretch of the route considered the emptiest, driest long stretches of the ride, about 140 miles in total. I have watched many videos of people trying to cross the basin with miserable headwinds of 50+ miles per hour or driving afternoon rain that turns the road into a muddy gumbo that grinds bikes to a halt. As a result I was concerned about this section and made sure to ask everyone I ran into riding north how the basin was. I picked up intel that with a headwind my rate of travel might slow to 2-4 miles per hour, that the heat in the afternoon was quite intense, and the wind seemed to start around 10am each day and build till evening. So as we approached the basin I continued to strategize our approach. We met up in the historic ghost town of South Pass late afternoon Tuesday and locked the kids in the prison while Brittney and I drank cold sarsaparilla from the gift shop.
After exploring the town and with the sugar high from the sarsaparilla I decided to ride another 15 miles to the first stream in the basin, and then leave early before light the next day to try and beat the wind and the heat. That night after dinner we studied the maps and formulated a plan
I would get up at 4am and head out in the dark with my lights, given the potential variables I may encounter we came up with Plan A, B, and C. Plan A ride to camping spot planned for the night approximately 67 miles. Plan B, ride to end of the dirt and meet at old abandoned highway approximately 80miles. Plan C, meet at the main highway into Rawlins Wyoming approximately 106miles away. At noon I was to call Brittney on the Sat. phone and call the play as to where we should meet.
As I headed out into the basin in the dark I could not help but think how ironic it was that such a peaceful place could be so vicious in the afternoons. The riding was easy, the temp was perfect and the route finding was quite easy. I pedaled along and at dawn the desert came alive with animal activity, badgers, prairie dogs, wild horses, and pronghorn danced around the desert.
By noon I had already made it 67 miles to Plan A, I called Brittney and told her to meet at Plan B and I started riding. By this point a slight wind had picked up and the temp was getting a bit toasty. I beat Brittney to point B and by this point I had already made up my mind I was going to finish the entire basin today. I ran into Brittney about 16 miles from the highway, refueled with water (I was out) and told her I would meet her at the highway and I pedaled the rest of the ride. We were fortunate to have good weather but our tactic of having a strategy to combat the elements had paid off and I finished the remaining 106 miles of mountain biking across the basin in a single day. This allowed me to have a couple of very light days the rest of the week heading into Steamboat a big win.
Grandma Mary joined to hang with the girls for a two days after Rawlins. The kids loved doing crafts and the scavenger hunts with her.
Rest days
Brittney has decided we need to rebrand rest days as “prep days” because rest implies, we hang out and rest. Prep days do allow my legs to recover because I am not riding but our chore list on “prep days” is pretty long.
· Laundry
· Groceries for the week
· Make rice cakes
· Check urgent e-mails/ VM’s
· Pay bills
· Clean van
· Review maps and routes
· Write this here digital communication
· Pack up van for the next week
· Pass out exhausted!
This week we decided to try and do some of those items during the week during our journey so we could hang out with our friends the Andrews when we arrived in Steamboat. This worked pretty well. We got into steamboat early Saturday went to farmers market and the pool with the kids, stopped by the bike shop and picked up some parts, then went to the Rodeo one of our favorite family summer activities. The kids even participated in the half time calf scramble (they try to remove a ribbon from a calf, first person gets the prize)
This week was a great reminder that chance favors the prepared. A small amount of forethought and planning can lead to better than anticipated outcomes for all!
Be awesome,
Ben
P. S. This week the speed bumps on the trail became more deadly as we exchanged bear scat for Rattle snakes.
