It has been a long time since I have done a longer extended adventure, and just as long that I have not been writing about the adventure. It’s not that I haven’t been active, it’s that life happened, and then covid happened, and well I let this end slide. In between I have been teaching bicycle mechanics beginners classes, learning about bike-packing and building custom bikes. That and the fact the I work 1.5 jobs life has just been too busy.

Well, it is time to get back to adventure in a longer journey and talking about it in a more specific way. So about my 2023 adventures I will be spending 10 days in the Rocky mountains of Alberta cycling the Canadian extension of the ‘Tour Divide’ from Jasper down to Banff on the back mountain roads and trails. There will be a lot of hill climbing loaded down and a lot of alone time. I will be joining some friends from Colorado for the journey but the stress of carrying 10 days worth of dehydrated meals especially breakfasts and dinners had made packing choices be far more deliberate. Also the reality that there will be no cell coverage and little internet for 10 days is both intimidating and liberating.

I have been musing for a while on what Bike-packing looks like and have taught a couple classes on it now and heard feedback from others on what it looks like for them and what they are seeking. So, I thought I would use this 2023 journey as a way to start looking at what Bike-packing and solitude is for me as well as to make this a how to for those seeking to know more about what it entails.

My one long term retirement goal is to do the Iditarod Trail ride in Alaska. That is the ultimate in self sufficiency and solitude for me because it also involve cold, potential frostbite and possible calamity. That is my idea of a retirement!

My bicycle was built this past winter with just this kind of trip in mind. From ordering the frame (adventure bicycle new style) the Pipedream Cycles ALICE to each and every component looking at a long-term bicycle built for years in the future. You know your priorities are correct when the bicycle on the car you are taking is 6X the value of the vehicle it is on.

I will write more about my bike in the next instalment. The adventure begins, I leave in about three hours in a vehicle that has 650,000 kilometres on it but one that has been across this nation so many times now. The time begins now, let’s pack the car!