Iohan Gueorguiev
Great Divide
Montrose, CO- Road NN17 175 miles
I spent few days in Montrose staying with Tony and Amanda whom I met last winter. While waiting for the new WTB tires, I got a chance to spend large amounts of time in the library, eat an entire cheesecake, visit nearly all the fast food joints in town and nearly get lost in the Walmart.Out of Telluride, I headed up the switchbacks of Black Bear Pass. About 2 hours of pushing and an hour in granny gear took me to about 12,000ft, where I set up camp. The descent was amazing, coming down I came across 30 vehicles (mostly jeeps), all of which were super excited to see a cyclist. Another descent via Million Dollar Hwy took me to Silverton where I join the Colorado Trail.
By 3pm I was at the top of another pass and finally on some singletrack. I caught up with two cyclists and we all pushed our bikes up to the first ridge. After few 400ft hills it did not look like the trail is going any lower so I set up at a gulley. The moment the sun leaves the horizon temperatures plummet down. With all these detours and my 40F sleeping bag, this is a bad time to be here.
"I thought you were a moose."
I was riding down through some particularly rocky bushes to come around a corner and see a hunter with a handgun pointed my way...
After a crazy 5500ft descent to Lake City I ordered a 16" pizza which turned out to be pretty big. We use centimeters in Canada... but it lasted me for lunch, dinner, breakfast and lunch the next day when I finally join the GDMBR. It’s all smooth sailing from here down to Mexico, maybe with few sections of the CDT on the way.
- IMAGES OF THE ROAD -
Iohan Gueorguiev
Gear List
- My Ride -
- My Blackburn Gear -
- BIKE SPECS -
- • FRAME-NINER SIR 9 CHROMO, 142MM X 12MM THRU AXLE
- • FORK-NINER SIR 9 RIGID, 853 (9MM QR) OR CARBON RDO (15MM AXLE)
- • FRONT WHEEL-SRAM ROAM 50 29
- • REAR WHEEL- SRAM ROAM 50 29
- • FRONT TIRE-WTB WOLVERINE 29
- • REAR TIRE- WTB WOLVERINE 29
- • INNER TUBES-WTB INNERTUBE PRESTA 29
- • SEALANT-WTB TCS SEALANT 500mL
- • CRANK SET-SRAM XX1 175MM
- • CHAINWHEELS-SRAM XX1 CNC-X-SYNC DRICT MOUNT, SEVERAL SIZES
- • BOTTOM BRACKET-SRAM GPX 73MM
- • CHAIN-SRAM PC-XX1
- • REAR DERAILLEUR -SRAM-XX1 X-HORIZON
- • REAR DER SHIFTER-SRAM XX1 TRIGGER SHIFTER
- • CASSETTE-SRAM XG-1199 10-42T
- • STEM-TRUVATIV STYLO T40 STEM SEVERAL SIZES
- • HANDLEBARS-TRUVATIV STYLO T40 RISER 700MM WIDE, 15MM RISE
- • TAPE / GRIPS- WTB TECH TRAIL CLAMP ON
- • SADDLE-WTB VOLT TEAM, 142MM WIDE
- • SEAT POST-TRUVATIV STYLO T40 SEATPOST 27.2MM DIA, 400MM LENGTH
- • FRONT BRAKE-SRAM GUIDE RSC POST MOUNT, 160MM ROTOR, >1,000MM HOSE
- • REAR BRAKE-SRAM GUIDE RSC POST MOUNT, 160MM ROTOR, >1,800MM HOSE
- • BRAKE LEVERS-SRAM GUIDE RSC
- • BRAKE HOUSING / CBL-SRAM
- •
Iohan Gueorguiev
- FROM: Ontario, Canada
- DOB: 1999-11-30
- OCCUPATION: Adventurer
- What was the genesis moment or inspiration for the upcoming adventure? After starting the GDMBR in mid-October and having to hop out in December at Colorado, I always wondered if I would ever get a second chance. Later I learned of the first bike ride of the Continental Divide Trail and also wondered, how cool that would be. During a rather cold January in Utah I heard about the Blackburn Ranger program, connected the bits and pieces and there was only one logical choice: apply to be on the team and bikepack the CDT.
- Have your traveled by bike in the past? In 2013 I crashed down a hill on my road bike which left me with a broken collar bone, two broken hands and a 3 month recovery period. To make it through I thought of biking from Vancouver to Ontario. So I did it, then Toronto to Halifax in winter. I was hooked, in 2014 I took time off school and set off to bike from the Arctic Ocean to British Columbia. And then, Alaska to Argentina. I've made it as far as Mexico and am looking forward to riding the CDT and continuing down south as part of the Blackburn team.
- What is your goal for the route? I have few ideas, most importantly: have fun, stop and smell the flowers (oh yeah - it won't be winter so there actually will be flowers), find out more about the CDT trail hiking community, do as much as CDT as possible, find time to ride the Colorado trail and spend some time in Moab, Utah. I'll also be filming on the way (nothing fancy) and continuing the "SEE THE WORLD" series on which follow my bike trip south. Video is such a great way to try and share the wild and unpredictable story of the open road!
- What do you hope to get out of this journey? One always has some expectations with trips like these but the moment you set a wheel on the dirt it all changes. I want to see how bikepacking compares to fully loaded touring and see if it's something I can adopt and continue doing for the rest of my around-the-world bike trip. Aside from that - create memories, make new friends and meet old ones, explore and get lost in the Rockies.
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What's in my bag?
Buff, Gopro, Alaska License plate,Turtle (which I had on my first bike trip, and ever since)
