The other day Alaine and I went out for a training ride with fully loaded panniers. Because we were looking for elevation we took a route that went up Galbraith Mountain. The mountain is famous locally for its mountain bike community built trails which, depending on the trail, can include man-made technical elevated ramps, bridges, crazy jumps or just about anything that'll blow your hair and put a smile on your face. Most of the trails are accessed by a vining network of logging roads stretching out from the main gravel road to the top. It was this main road that we rode up to the top. At about a thousand feet in two and a half miles, the road up Galby is a good, albeit short, representative of several sections along the Great Divide.
We didn't see anyone on the way up but we did run into a number of people heading up once we had turned around at the top (we stuck with taking the predictable road down instead of the crazy trails). Everyone seemed to do a double take or shake their head when they saw us, including our friend Mark whom we ran into about halfway down. He best explained the looks we were getting:
"When I saw you guys my first thought was, 'I've never seen touring bikes before on Galbraith, EVER.' My next thought was, 'That is the DUMBEST thing I've seen.' Finally I thought, 'Wow! They are hardcore! They are DOING IT!'
--ph
Grand Depart: 66 Days!
