Hi all,
I would like to hear your thoughts on the possibility on doing part of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) on our tandems with kids, especially the suitability of our bikes to drive on the rough terrain of the route. The plan would be to do it in one of the next few years.
My wife and I have done cycling holidays for about 20 years now, the last 4 trips with our kids, who are now 4 and 6 years old. Before we had kids we cycled in Europe, Asia and Australia. With kids, we cycled from our home in the Netherlands to Paris (750 km), from Nantes to Biarritz (900 km), to Prague (1300 km) and we just return from our latest trip from home to Berlin via the German coast (1400km). We ride Hase Pino tandems where the kids sit in a recumbent seat in the front. They can paddle along if they want to. We do between 50-110km per day. Ideally we liked to do 60-80km on the average terrain to Berlin, which was about 30-40% off-road.
I attached a picture of the Hase Pino bikes we use.
The last trip to Berlin had a lot of off-road tracks: coarse and fine gravel, cobblestones, concrete slabs even a few kilometers of loose sand. We really enjoyed the off-road parts which reinvigorated my interest in one day doing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route with our kids on our Pino bikes.
There are obviously a lot of practical challenges, the biggest challenge might be food and the rough surface - depending on how rough it actually is. The front wheel of the Pino bike is 20", the rear wheel is 26". The front wheel is suspended, but the stroke is limited and it is quite stiff. Driving big cobblestones or very rough gravel / rock roads is quite strenuous.
So my question #1 is: how bumpy is it the GDMBR? Are the gravel roads mostly fine gravel? Or is it more rock roads where you're thrown around all the time? Are there parts of the GDMBR where it is better and parts where it is worse? The current plan is to start in Banff and do about 900-1200km, at 40-60km per day.
Question #2 is on food: what do people eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the more remote stretches? Can you buy porridge and milk powder in the shops underway? Flour to make pancakes? What's for dinner?
If you have any other suggestions about riding the GDMBR with kids, please let me know.
Thanks!
Bas