“The 2,700-mile Western Wildlands Route (WWR, formerly known as the Wild West Route) offers bikepackers a non-technical riding experience through the vast expanses of wild and public lands in the Intermountain West. Nearly 70% of the route is on public lands - 18 National Forests, 6 National Parks and Monuments, and 4 areas with Bureau of Land Management National Conservation Lands designation.”, according to Bikepacking Roots.
Totals: This route took us 12 days, 8 hours, 40 minutes, and 9 seconds of cycling time to cover 4312 km (2679 miles), including 47660 m (156372 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 15 km/h (9 mph), reaching a maximum speed of 63 km/h (39 mph) on Saturday, June 1, 2024. During cycling, there was a minimum temperature of 0 °C (32 °F) on Thursday, May 30, 2024, and a maximum temperature of 50 °C (122 °F) on Friday, June 7, 2024.
Today we rode from Tuscon to Sierra Vista. The weather was beautiful, a blue sky throughout the day. All roads were paved roads, some with busy traffic some quit.
Riding statistics: on Thursday, May 9, 2024, day 9 on the route, it took 11:27h (07:52h moving time), between 7:33 and 7:24, to cover 131 km (81 miles), including 1209 m (3967 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 17.0 km/h (10.6 mph), while reaching a maximum speed of 50 km/h (31.1 mph). During this ride the average temperature was 29 °C (84 °F) with a minimum of 22 °C (72 °F) and a maximum of 37 °C (99 °F).
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Traveling to Tucson, Arizona, United States
Today is the first day of the entire trip. Traveling from home all the way to Tuscon, Arizona. A long day so that we can start our cycling trip tomorrow!
This morning I’ve set my alarm clock at 7am. Of course I was already awake, as I usually already am. I had all the time to get up and prepare. For our convenience, we already put the bike box on the car’s roof yesterday evening. Around 8.15 we (Karin, Stijn, and myself) were all ready to leave.
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Arranging our flights
After my bike companion Fons and myself decided that we should go for it, it was time to start arranging the more formal things. For example plane tickets.
For my previous trip to cycle the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, I asked for help from a travel agency to arrange my ticket. My reason for that is that I could also ask for their help when I required a reschedule for the trip back home. So, this time I got again in contact with the same travel agency and explained them my new plans. Unfortunately, they immediately informed me that they will not arrange any airline tickets anymore that includes a bike. They had to disappoint some customers in the last two years and therefore decided to stop offering that. Seems like the airlines are making it more difficult these days. Bummer!
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Bike & Gear changes
I have started the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route with only 3 days / 2 nights of bikepacking experience. And that was mainly for testing some bags, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and the tent I bought. I based my decision on reading a lot of experiences from others and thinking about what might work for me. Nevertheless, I am still happy with the decision in bike & gear I made. I had no issues during my ride and would not mind using the same setup again. However, I am making some changes compared to the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route setup. Mainly because of convenience and luxury.
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Another bike adventure?!?
Short answer: yes.
Before riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, I already wondered how I would be thinking about these kind of adventures after my return. Would it be a ’never again’, or would it somehow attract me to do something similar again? Although I was really looking forward to riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, I had no clue how much I would like it.
Already a couple of minutes after arriving at Antelope Wells at the end of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route I was regretting that the adventure had come to an end. I immediately envisioned how it would be if we could continue riding. Normal life called, and the both of us had to get back home. After my return people already started to ask about any future plans. I already had a route that I found attractive, but I kept it to myself for a while. Eventually that little seed started growing and I somehow wanted to assess the feasibility of a new adventure. I do realize that we had no real issues during our Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. So, for any new adventure there is a chance for more bad weather, more mechanical issues, more physical issues, etc. We’ve even seen it with others on our previous ride.
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What is the Western Wildlands Route?
“The 2,700-mile Western Wildlands Route (WWR, formerly known as the Wild West Route) offers bikepackers a non-technical riding experience through the vast expanses of wild and public lands in the Intermountain West. Nearly 70% of the route is on public lands, including 18 National Forests, 6 National Parks and Monuments, and 4 areas with Bureau of Land Management National Conservation Lands designation. Riders will experience the incredibly remote mountains of western Montana and central Idaho, the desolate beauty of southern Idaho’s Snake River Plain, endless vistas from Utah’s high plateaus at 10,000 feet elevation, the canyon country of Navajo Nation and Grand Canyon region, and the towering Sky Islands and low Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona.
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