European divide preamble: What am I getting myself in for?
When I stumbled across The European Divide trail on instagram three years ago I was blown away by the ambition of the project that Andy had embarked on. At that time the route was still in its formative stages. Over the course of the next year or so I was occasionally treated to a glimpse of some forest double track or a twisting alpine meadow. The excitement only grew and when the full route was finally released last year it jumped straight onto the top of my list.
After staring yearnfully at the Komoot files for the route it seemed clear that Andy had created something special and immensely valuable to the community. It seemed like it was Europe's answer to the GDMR. The route covers 7600km from Kirkenes in north Norway to Cabo San Vincente in Portugal, crossing 8 countries in the process. From what I can tell it covers every type of terrain with about 2/3rds of it off road. Naturally, I started thinking “Just how fast could it be done” This idea wormed its way deeper and deeper into my head until I eventually decided that I would give it a crack and committed to it last October.
My logic on setting a goal time was questionable. In reality I knew that I had a window of around 40 days between finishing teaching for the summer and my brother getting married. With some time on either side I set myself 35 days as the goal. I figured that its about 1.7 times the length of the Tour Divide so 2.5 times the FKT wouldn't be an unreasonable goal. Only time will tell if I am overestimating my ability but that’s part of the magic of trying something new.
As the months passed and I got closer to the date of departure, my prep ramped up considerably. I was feeling fairly fit but after a rough HT550 I took a few weeks off the bike and focussed on the mental prep, hoping that I would ride into fitness once I started. So I started trawling through the route on Komoot and marked down key resupply locations and big climbs. If anything this will function as a way of setting micro-goals. Just focussing on arriving at the next town is much easier than constantly reminding myself that I have another month of hard riding.
The beauty of self sufficient bikepacking is that you leave with your bike and bags loaded up and have everything you need to reach your destination barring some resupply along the way. Naturally, that leads to a lot of planning needed to make sure that your bike and kit is up to scratch. The video below outlines some of my key choices.
The bike:
Frame: Mason InSearchOf size L
Wheels: HUNT Search Dynamo 29
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra/XT di2 mix 36t chainring, 11-46 cassette
Bars: Ritchey venturemax carbon 46cm
Saddle: Specialized Phenom mimic
Tyres: Vittoria Mezcal 29x2.6
Bags: Straighcut Designs
Profile designs aerobars
Toolkit:
Muc-off hydrodynamic lube
Small square of microfibre towel
2X inner tubes
Patch kit
Stans dart tool + plugs
Sewing kit
Super glue
Fibrefix spare spoke
Mini pliers
Topeak multitool
60ml Stans race sealant
Spare brake pads
Spare mech hanger
Mattress patch kit
Cuben fibre tape
Mini pump.
Spare tubeless valve
Clothing:
Dhb aeron ultra jersey
Dhb aeron ulrea shorts
Dhb polartech sleeveless baselayer
Dhb aeron arm warmers
Dhb rain defence leg warmers
Dhb equinox softshell
Dhb trail waterproof jacket
Dhb aeron mitts
Dhb aeron polartech gloves
Dhb packable gilet
Dhb buff
Dhb aeron run tights
Dhb merino socks
Hunt cycling cap
Arcteryx Cerium LT down jacket
Rab merino cap
Oakley Flightjacket with photochromic lenses
Kask protone helmet.
Quoc gran tourer II shoes
Sleeping:
Outdoor research Helium bivvy
Sea to Summit Spark SP1 sleeping bag
Rab silk liner
Thermarest neoair Uberlight
Sea to summit Aeros pillow
Electricals:
Garmin inreach mini 2
2X Garmin edge 530
iPhone 10 pro
2X Anker 20000mAh battery pack
Sinewave reactor usb charger
Exposure Revo front light
Exposure TraceR rear light
Assorted cables
Di2 Charger
Gopro + batteries and SD cards
Petzl tikka core + spare batteries
Misc:
BRS stove with 600ml pot
Mosquito spray
Suncream
Toothbrush + paste
Ibuprofen
6X firepot dehydrated meals
16X Rawvelo bars
Sea to Summit packable rucksack
Titanium long handled spoon
Passport
Bank Cards
Cash
Some of this gear probably isn't going to make it all the way to Portugal, The plan is to send a package back home with some of the extra warm kit but i think that ill play it by ear.
You can follow along the follow my challenge page by going onto the event tracking tab of the site or using this URL
https://angus-young.co.uk/event-tracking
Any questions stick them below, I can’t promise that I’ll get round to answering the em for a while as I’m currently sat in a Finnish airport so apologies if there are even more typos than usual!