Just wanted to thank everyone for their support. It's been great reading your posts.

Elkford - 110 miles from Banff

The riding has been unreal. Put in a solid 12 hours of riding yesterday, about 60 miles to Elk Pass. That section was more technical than expected and I definitely felt beat up by the end of the day, but the body is feeling strong and the bike and trailer have been running well with no issues.

Unbelievably beautiful and wild country. Only two days in and I've already passed a small cub and and a big grizzly. Encountered the grizzly early this afternoon. He was just strolling down the trail ahead of me, took a quick look back at me and just slowly strutted down the trail for quite a ways. My heart was pounding and a hundred different scenarios were running through my head. He eventually headed off trail and I ended up using my air horn from a distance, then clenching my bear spray tightly I peddled as fast as my legs would carry me.

I felt like I found my rhythm today. Just spinning, listening to some good tunes, and taking everything in. Today was a lot of dirt and gravel roads with some long descents. I can't believe how well the BOB trailer handles on steep rough downhills. Although, the climbs and hike-a-bikes are rough, with all that weight. It seems like every time I stop I'm thinking... what can I get rid off to drop even a few ounces.

The plan is to head to Fernie tomorrow, taking the Fernie alternative to bypass the "grizzly highway". Then I cross the border and head down to Eureka.

The big day!!!

Super excited and a bit nervous. Just left the campground and am heading to the GDR trailhead.

Cruising around Banff

A few pics near the Banff Springs Hotel near the GDR trailhead. Headed down the trail a bit just to let my tread get a feel of the GDR and couldn't believe how wild and remote it felt. The only thing holding me back is my little ibex trailer to haul all my gear (thanks United Airlines).

Here's the weight breakdown at this point (seems a little on the heavy side, thinking I may have to donate a couple of books before I hit the trail)...

Salsa El Mariachi bike: 32 lbs
BOB Trailer: 22 lbs
BOB dry bag loaded with gear: 42lbs
Additional dry bag: (food, water, books, electronics) 23 lbs

Total weight: 119 lbs Ouch! The legs are gonna feel that on those long climbs over the passes.

Just landed in Banff!

After delayed flights and delayed/lost baggage I finally made it to Banff. It looks like I'll be hanging out in Banff for the next day or two before I hit the trail waiting for my BOB trailer that missed the flight to Calgary and is somehow sitting in Chicago right now. The plan is to build up my bike up, tweak things a bit, sort through my gear, and go explore the area. Banff is just unreal. The mountains out here look so massive and untamed. Can't wait to get on my bike and head into the wild.

Also wanted to give a shout out to Matt at Art Doyle's Spokes and Pedals in Hudson Wisconsin for the last minute work on my bike. The bike made it here without a scratch and is working great!

Just thought I would post a list of useful iPhone apps that I will be taking with me for the Great Divide Route...

GPS Kit - packed with features, intuitive simple to use interface, cache any high resolution topo map at no cost to use when off the grid, easily download waypoints and routes (loaded the entire GDR in a few seconds - via a GPX file attached to an email).  Basically this has everything you would want in a GPS unit.
Map My Tour - I'll be using this to outline my route in real time, a great place to drop messages and pics to friends and family.  Check out the link in the upper right corner of the blog.
High Def Radar - unbelievably accurate way to track storm cells before they hit, this has saved me many time while out riding

Real Wind - an app that I usually use when sailing, displays wind speed and direction anywhere on the globe

Lightning Finder - tracks all lightning ground strikes in the US, lightning is one of those things that I don't mess around with, scary stuff.  Unbelievably accurate.  A few days ago a huge lightning bolt hit out in the middle of the lake next to our house and within a few seconds it was on the map and recorded the distance from me...0.1 miles!
Allstay Tent and Camp - maps out all nearby camping spots

Bike Shops of America - maps out all nearby bike shops
Hostels International - maps out all nearby hostels
Traumapedia - an ortho app that I have used in the ED to review techniques to manage dislocations etc
Uptodate - always useful, the go to source for anything medical, never leave home without it
Pocket universe 4 - an ingenious app to recognize and track just about anything in the night's sky
Photo gene 2 - photo editing app
Highlight cam - video editing app
Blogger - have to be able to post somehow while I'm out there riding

Just inventoried my gear for the Great Divide Route.  Have just about everything I need.  Still need to pick up a Garmin GPS with topo 24k maps to cover at least Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado.  With my track record for getting lost I think this will be indispensable.  Less than 4 weeks until I hit the trail!