Hacking the CDT, north to south, August 2013

EDIT: currently three sidecars "IN", two sidecars "maybe", who else wants to join up? Solo bikes as well as sidecars welcome.

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Me and Kirby are gonna try hacking the CDT, north to south, this summer. The plan is to attend the Bigfoot Rendezvous

(here)

July 26-28 at the Toad Rock Campground (here), Kootenay Lake, British Columbia (here), then launch from there.


Ride right on up to Banff through Revelstoke, then start following Cannonshot's .gpx route
(here) all the way to Mexico.


That means we'll leave Banff on July 30. No timetable after Day 1. No target end date.

We're OK with going it alone, but wanted to post up in case there are some other inmates who might want to jump on board. If you're anything like me, right around this time of year you're trying to figger out your riding schedule for the summer, so that's why I'm posting this thread up now.

Me and The Kirbs--61-year old rider with moderately OK driving skills. WUMPA is my rig and Kirby is my navigator. Pic of both below. Some guys I ride with think I'm pretty good and others call me a novice. Truth is somewhere in between. Experienced backcountry camper. Kirbs is 4-years old, pretty well-behaved, his most annoying behavior is being too frickin friendly with total strangers. Coincidentally, that's my most annoying behavior too.


I don't smoke or do drugs, but I'm OK with both. Booze is my thing.

You--Competent and confident but not a hotrodder. Me and the Kirbs don't usually do more than 200 mile days unless there's pavement involved. Hacks welcome of course but solo bikes are OK too--just don't expect me to haul your shit for you. We might share some gear (tents, cookgear) but I'm loaded down heavy enough as it is. If you're a Ural guy, this is mostly a dirt ride so I don't see a problem with you not having a top end. If yer on a hard-charging dual sport, my rig can't go where you go.

The Ride--I like to keep expenses down so camping mostly, maybe 1 night in 5 in a motel. Breakfast and dinner over the cookstove, with store-bought lunches. I like to be on the bike by 8am but for every morning I get out of camp by 7am there's another when I get out by 9am. I'm not a wrench, but wouldn't mind at all if you got that know-how. I'm not into making detailed ride plans but if you're into that kind of thing I'm OK with that as long as you're flexible.

Rules--just like going to dinner at the in-laws. No religion. No politics.

PM me if you think you're interested. We can trade PM's or talk on the phone to see if we're simpatico.

Keep me in the loop. I'd be intested if the group is not to large. My view is - it's about the ride, not sitting around waiting for everyone to saddle up!

Jim Hyde makes this run; but WOW he charges almost the National Debt!

Please post more info.

I too am wanting to do the CDR but trying to working out logistics without ending up one end of the CDR and then having to ride back to the other end to fetch my truck.

Would something like this work for you? North-to-south or south-to-north works for me.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=857490

Would I get to learn the Secret Handshake ?????

Bob--

I saw your thread the other day and thought about it. But, part of the plan for me anyway, is not to be under any time-related pressure. I want to be able to do this trip averaging as many miles per day as we average, instead of having some target date when we got to be someplace. I'm retired, so I figger I can reward myself with this kind of luxury timetable. I realize of course that it doesn't work for everybody.

If you decide to ride south to north, possibly one of the other guys I ride with might be able to work something out with you by kissing me off halfway through Colorado if I'm riding too slow, and speed ahead to grab your truck in New Mexico and drive it back to Canada with his bike on the trailer.

Another possibility is if you ride north to south, and one of the guys with me is driving a sidecar rig from Canada. Your riding buddies could head back to Texas while you wait for us in New Mexico. Then you hop into the Canadian sidecar and sit while he chauffeurs you back to Banff.

Anyways, we're still 5 months away. Lotsa time for you to get something figgered out.

No.

But I might teach it to Justin.

Are you thinkin you might want to try doin this? It's only 1200 miles from MN to the Bigfoot Rendezvous. That's about the same as a nice weekend ride for us Westerners!

Would be cool to have two 1150 hacks riding together.

Drone, I understand that you have no schedule, but do you have a rough guess as to how long your trip might last. Another option would be for me to have my rig shipped up north and then join you for the southward trip.

I too am retired, but my kitchen pass may have an expiration date.

+1

Cannonshot did a great job with the route!

Just the thought of traveling with one of my pooches in such a great place has me thinking somewhat seriously about hacks for the first time.

Good luck and take a TON of photos!!

That's a good question. I'm not even sure what the total mileage is but let's say it's about 2600 miles. If we do 100 miles a day, that's 26 days. If we do 300 miles a day, that's 9 days. Actual will probably be somewhere in the middle of that range. But also might depend a bit on side trips, sight-seeing, that sort of thing. I might need to read some more CDR ride reports to see how long it's taking most people to run it from end-to-end but I'm guessing two weeks.

I'd be happy to take delivery of your bike and hold it for you. Could then pick you up at Sea-Tac airport (about 20 miles north of me).

I was thinking it was beyond my abilities but would be a good place to follow someone and learn things, so yes it seems like a good idea for me to get out of the river valley and go someplace.I think your cautious nature would be instructive, plus I love the PNW even though I haven't been in awhile.DB

Hello Drone. I was glad to see your post as I'm building a dual sport outfit and I would love to have it finished in time to join you. 1 to 3 hundred miles a day sounds great. I like to explore and enjoy the ride when Im on a trip, not just dash to the end .Hopefully this will work out. Jim

Alright then--get to work! But . . . better to finish it AND thoroughly road test it before setting out on what would be about a 4000-mile round trip from Berthoud!

When traveling on the cheap, I've used couchsurfing.org and airbnb.com to avoid motels, but traveling with Kirby makes that a little harder, and it still costs money. As AdventureRiders, we have the ADV Tent Space List (here) which would really be kind of ideal for this trip.

I've just discovered that I can use GPS Visualizer to import Cannonshot's .gpx file into a Google Map (here), then also import the Tent Space List, so that I can see where the route goes close to somebody's place on the list. If you want to try this, just paste Cannonshot's .gpx file into the File #1 upload box, then paste - http://ridetoeat.com/artents.kmz - into the URL of Static Data box, then click on Draw the Map. You can even click on an inmate's pushpin to go right to their post.

Realizing that a lot of FF's are gonna be gone riding during August, still it would be cool to be able to camp out at somebody's house and use their indoor plumbing. Hella cheaper than a motel (even if we share rooms.)

I totally missed this post! The man himself! Thanks, Cannonshot!

My usual pattern is to upload my pics to Photobucket and make the whole album public even if I only post a few of the pics to ADV. Then anybody can browse my uploaded pics and either grab them if they want them, or grab the URL to post the pic elsewhere. I have a Photobucket "Pro" account, so bandwith is not something I'm worried about.

Hola Drone and all Hackers/ettes..

Permit me to add a few more of my CDT collections which were supposed to be on my Hack bucket list... ahem..!!!! Happy reading.

1) http://www.bigdogadventures.com/CD.htm
1a) http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=603076&highlight=cannonshot

2) http://www.twotaildog.com/Motorcycling_the_Great_Divide/00Intro/Great_Divide_Intro.htm

3) http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=363677&highlight=sirby

4) http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=493140&highlight=solo+loving

5) http://www.bestrestproducts.com/t-adventures.aspx
(A bit on Mike Paul's sidecar adventures and BestRests vendor stuff...some CDR info.)

These are all on 2 wheeled motorcycles sans sidecar..but all's relative?


Do the CDT for me!

Have long since sold my beloved 1200GS/DMC sidecar to a man called Duncan :huh and am now traveling in our 2002 VW Eurovan Camper.


Cheers Amigos and the best of luck..

What ! There is no adventure in testing something before a trip

So true. My bad!

Excuse my hijack...Maybe I have no right in making suggestions as I have a bike/sidecar no mo" BUT....??!!

Me thinks that a trail start should be from the South(Antelope Wells, NM) instead of/from the North(Rooseville, Mt-or even Banff, Canada.

Reason:

Depending on season ?. I assume it's going to be the summer months and the snow caps have melted in the higher altitudes of the Rockies that you will cross.

Get over with the heat; by the time you made it to Colorado it's mostly uphill (higher elevaltion) and cooler. As for you- Drone... you'll be perfectly inclined to ride North then head West across Canada and home to Washington...cooler all the way home!

From North to South you'll be descending into the heat...of the Desert then again go through the Desert heading NW to Washington..pretty taxing in the summer months?

cheers...

Depending on season ?. I assume it's going to be the summer months and the snow caps have melted in the higher altitudes of the Rockies that you will cross.

Get over with the heat; by the time you made it to Colorado it's mostly uphill (higher elevaltion) and cooler. As for you- Drone... you'll be perfectly inclined to ride North then head West across Canada and home to Washington...cooler all the way home!

From North to South you'll be descending into the heat...of the Desert then again go through the Desert heading NW to Washington..pretty taxing in the summer months?

Very good point!