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This book is very informative and well researched. The author provides a very thorough guide to riding the Continental Divide Trail. Only downside, the maps, which are sketchy at best. Author suggests buying detailed maps from his sponsoring organization.
I will write a new review when I actually get this book. it does NOT ship in 7-14 days.mine has been backordered a month already.
I rode this trail in the summer of 2006, from Banff to Mexico. I found this book very helpful in planning my daily rides. It briefly described potential camping spots, designated and undesignated, water sources, and trail conditions. To conserve weight while on the trail, I tore out the pages as I completed them.It is definitely well worth the money to buy for planning and for using on the trail.This book does not include any info on the Canada portion.With some help from this book I only needed 40 days to plan everything.Note: This was my first bicycle tour and I did it solo, self supported.Cheers.
Michael McCoy's Cycling the Great Divide: From Canada to Mexico on America's Premier Long Distance Mountain Bike Route is an essential item for those who are planning to bicycle or hike all of the Adventure Cycling route. There was many an evening when (because the sun set early) I was glad I had this book on hand.The material in this book also complements the Adventure Cycling maps. Though I am directionally challenged, I did not miss a single turn, not even in New Mexico, where many of the roads and trail heads are unmarked.Sightseeing, points-of-interest, and photos have been included.
Uneven terrain, adverse weather conditions, and a lack of water and essential services are often the norm. For instance, if he hadn't mentioned that the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad passes through southern New Mexico, I would have missed it. As McCoy notes in his well-written and informative introduction, this isn't an easy trek.
I was often glad of this -- as I remarked to some onlookers, if McCoy hadn't pointed these things out to me, my trip would have been more of a slog than it was. As I found, having the book on hand better enabled me to plan ahead. For instance, my discovering that the climb over Indiana Pass would be long and difficult prompted me to begin my cycling day early, which in retrospect was fortuitious in that had I dilly-dallied, I would would have been caught in a late-afternoon snow-storm.One the book's many strengths is that it includes a much-needed daily route synopsis.
The historical information is also a plus in that it will appeal to both tenters and armchair readers. In retrospect, my trip was without incident, in part because I had both on hand.
Just expect everything to be a little harder than he makes it sound, and then you wont feel angry because it is not as easy as he makes it out to be. This is an awesome route - Mike McCoy and the gang did a great job of researching it. If you are riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, you MUST have this book. I think he must have either rode it without being fully loaded, or he is a very strong man. One comment on the writing though -- when he uses the word 'steep', he means 'extremely steep', and when he says 'extremely steep', he means 'don't even try to ride your bike up this with a fully loaded bike'. A 'respectable climb' is really a lung-buster. Anyhow, if you ride the Great Divide, you will have fun. I guarantee it.
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