The Complete Test
One of the most often asked questions I get about my plans to ride the Tour Divide again this year is, “Who is riding it with you?”, or just as often, “Are you really riding it alone???”
When I answer that I am indeed riding “Solo” (More on the quotes later), I get a lot of shocked looks, and a bunch of variations of “Are you sure that’s smart??”, “Does that scare you?”, etc.
Mostly, my answers to the follow-on questions most often fall along the lines of, “That’s the rules of the race!!!”, and “You have to just be smart, and think.”.
Now, that’s a pretty trite answer to a fairly daunting question, more definitively asked perhaps, “Isn’t it dangerous taking a trip like that, alone in a very remote place?”. (OK, enough quotations!!)
Let’s look at what is being asked in terms of where we are as a people living our lives.
We live in perhaps the MOST comfortable and SAFEST time in our nation’s history, and perhaps in the history of the world. As Americans, the biggest threats to our lives are as follows (for 2021, as compiled by the CDC):
Heart disease: 695,547
Cancer: 605,213
COVID-19: 416,893
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 224,935
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 162,890
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 142,342
Alzheimer’s disease: 119,399
Diabetes: 103,294
Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis: 56,585
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 54,358
If you seriously look at it, we are in many ways our own worst enemy, not by doing things, though one could see the Tour Divide in the Accidents category, but by our inaction. We generally die because of two things we don’t do. We don’t eat well and don’t exercise enough. We are, as a society, soft and lazy.
As I prepare for this years Tour Divide, I have found a new passion, reading historical accounts of Westward migration in the Americas. Doing so has given me a profound respect for the hearty, intrepid, tough, and sometimes foolish folks that attempted to make the journey from places like Independence Missouri to the West Coast, usually California or Oregon. Now it just so happens that the Tour Divide actually goes straight through a VERY well know and important stop on this journey, South Pass, Wyoming on the Oregon Trail. Ray and I stopped at South Pass and read the historical marker at a rest area as we traveled the TD in 2021. But it is only now that I truly appreciate the historical significance of this small rise in the trail that marks an easy passage over the Continental Divide of the United States.
One of the most notorious stories about settlers crossing through or near South Pass is that of the Donner Party. For those that don’t know, the Donner Party was a group of folks seeking new lives in California or Oregon. Starting as the last wagon train heading West in May of 1846, it took them about 6 months in wagons pulled mostly by oxen, to reach the Sierra Nevada mountains. There they were stopped by heavy snow, missing the crossing of the mountains by 1 day, as other parties before them had made it. That one day delay cost them 6 months and even more in human toll. I won’t go into all the details, but suffice to say that only 45 of their original party of 81 survived the trip to reach California. The remainder either died or were killed by their own party (though records are unclear whether the number killed by their own was 2, 3, or 4). Ultimately, the reason the Donner Party is famous is that in order to survive one of the most brutally cold winters in the Sierra Nevada Range on record, they resorted to cannibalism. Not just once, but many times, and in multiple locations as they tried over and over to cross the final mountain pass into California. The survivors ultimately made it through the winter in a couple small cabins, tents, or just blankets/animal skins as shelters. What they didn’t have was GPS navigation, Satellite locators, down sleeping bags, ultralight tents, canister stoves, high tech clothing, grocery stores, and many other things that we have to make our outdoor adventures safe and comfortable.
Now there is absolutely no doubt that there are many risks associated with racing a bike from Banff, Canada to Mexico. Some are the same as the Donner Party faced: hunger, exhaustion, and wild animals in the form of grizzlies, cougars, and Moose. We also must contend with freezing weather, mountain passes, and desert heat, just to name a few. But today, all these risks are managed and understood. Preparation for TD is essential to not only finishing, but in many ways to making it out of the event unscathed, either physically or mentally.
We as “Modern” people have, in my opinion, become extremely soft and unaware of what it really takes to survive without modern conveniences such as electricity, water on command, heat, air conditioning, gas and electric ranges, refrigerators, and indoor plumbing, again, just to name a few. Few folks can actually be comfortable in the wilderness (or at least as close to the wilderness as we can get). Hell, many of us think of a loss of cell coverage as dangerous! We have become so accustomed to living in a safety net, that the most dangerous thing we do is drive through a city without GPS navigation!
As I alluded to earlier, I was asked on social media recently if I had found someone to ride with yet. My answer was “Not looking for anyone. Had a blast riding with Ray Raymond Johnson last year and wouldn’t change a thing. That said, it is a self-supported race, and that’s exactly how I’m approaching it. I’m sure it’ll be more stressful, more frightening, and lonelier, but that’s also the complete test I’m looking for.”
That answer was not intended to be a wise crack. It is truly how I think about a lot of things. Maybe it’s a personality defect, but I rarely take the easiest path in anything. Just ask my parents about my college career!! 😉 I always seek the challenging and difficult. I’ve said for years that nothing easy to get is worth anything.
I sincerely like to do really difficult things. I may not always succeed, but I love the challenge. My Italian grandfather Mike Cunico may have summed me up best by the nickname he had for me, “Testa Dura”, or hard head!
I’m stubborn and I’m looking for that complete test, and I have every intention to pass it.
Ride On!!!
Shane
