We now have less than three weeks before the adventure of a lifetime begins. Three weeks - where has the time gone? Marco and I should arrive in Calgary in a week’s time and then the shopping for bikes and other equipment can begin. We will then have about ten days in Calgary / Banff before Ollie flies in from Scotland and we set off.

I’m still in New Zealand, hanging around in Auckland and trying to sell the van, but things are starting to happen with logistics and we are finalising more and more details almost every day.

The maps and guide book have arrived in here and I have now started to study the route in more detail. I’d thought that this would make the ride seem longer, but seeing the route on paper (over six maps)seems to have made it more achievable in my mind. Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever attempted, but now it seems slightly more possible. For those of you interested in the route, I’ve ...

Every year, a race takes place along the Great Divide route. This year, the race will be starting just one week before we begin our attempt. This means that as well as getting to watch some of the racers, we might also be able to get some expert advice on the route, gear and all kinds of other Divide-related stuff.

The organisers have put together a great website with loads of pictures and useful links - have a look here http://tourdivide.org/ and check back during the event for real time updates.

Just to let you all know, Ollie has confirmed his flights now and we have definite dates. He arrives in Calgary in the evening of June 18, so will start to ride on June 19. As he has to get back to something called work, we’ll plan to finish the ride in time for him to catch his flight back, on July 21. Marco and I don’t have this same time pressure, but we’ll do our best to get to Antelope Wells inside the month.

Frighteningly, that gives us just six weeks to finish (or start) our preparation - gulp! Keep watching for more updates…..

After months of thinking about it, I finally got some decent training done on the bike, completing the Central Otago Rail Trail twice in four days.

My plan was to ride the 150km from Clyde to Middlemarch over two days and then spend the third day riding all the way back. After all, the trail is on old railway line, so it must be fairly flat right? Well, that’s true - there is only one hill, but the problem is that it is about 75kms of gradual uphill and then 75kms of gradual downhill. On its own, that would have been OK, but a fierce headwind on the third day scuppered any chance of going the whole way back to Clyde.

In the end I only made it half way, but that took me just under 8 hours. I lost count of the number of times that the wind brought me to a complete standstill and I even ended up pushing the bike for a little way as I was using up so much energy trying to pedal into the wind.

Still, it was ...

Firstly, a welcome to anyone visiting this site for the first time. We’re still working on it, but please feel free to let us know if there is anything you’d like to see on here, and we’ll try and get it added.

It’s amazing what a couple of days in the library can achieve; from the ‘eeeeeek’ feeling I had at the start of the week, I’ve now progressed to feeling a bit more confident that we’re going to be OK. Well, OK with the planning, the actual ride itself is a different matter!

On the “Route” tab, Marco has added a list of towns that are either on our route, or close to it. Please let us know if you know anyone in these places that would be willing to help three tired bikers out with a warm shower or a place to crash for the night. We can’t give an exact schedule at the moment as none of us knows how far we will be able to ride each day. Any help at all will ...

Time is running out and we’re miles behind schedule already!

Well maybe not, but it’s about time we started to get some planning done. I hope to spend the next couple of days using the free wireless internet in Westport library getting up to date and getting some kind of a plan together. I did make a start about six weeks ago, but a lack of application and a desire to be out doing stuff has prevented me capitalising on this……

Also not helping is the disappearing handbook that Ollie put in the post to me several weeks ago. It has finally turned up in Australia and is now on it’s way to Auckland, where I hope to pick it up in a few weeks time.