Hi everyone

Well it has been a while since I did a bike tour.  So it’s off to Baja California for 20 days of riding in the desert.  Baja Divide.  I plan to do the first section from Tecate to Vincente Guerrero.  If I have time, I may do part of section II as well.

I got a new bike this year, a Salsa Fargo 29er and just put on 3.0” tires, the largest it can take, which will make handling a lot better in the soft sand.  I’m a little nervous about riding off road in the desert, but other than one section, I will not be more than a day from another town.  I’m also going light weight by using a bike packing set up – no rack or panniers for this trip, so total weight, bike and gear before food and water is around 60 pounds (27 kgs).  For one section I will have to carry 6 litres of water.  I plan to put 2 litre water bottles on each of the front Anything Cages and the rest in traditional bike water bottle holders. Here’s a photo of the bike setup:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll be posting photos on flickr and using my SpotMessenger tracker.  You can check here for location:

https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0TcAZu93bpoBqzqGb3dME3SEb39QnApMA.

Photos here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmcgqajQ.

Later this year I plan to do the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route – Great Divide Mountain Bike Route | Adventure Cycling Route Network | Adventure Cycling Association.  I figure it will take about 4 months to do it.  This year it will start in Jasper, instead of Banff.  The ride along the Icefields Parkway is supposed to be spectacular.  I would love to have some of you join me for all or part of the tour.  The Canadian section is beautiful and not too challenging.  The whole route is basically on dirt, but not technically difficult, just long and lots of climbing.  I’ll send out more info later, once I have decided on a departure date.  http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/great-divide-mountain-bike-route-gdmbr/