Dear Friends,

Many of you will already know that I resigned from my job of 10 years in May and will be starting a new project on 31 August.  After 18 years of working in the City I now have the luxury of a brief career break ahead of throwing myself back into the fray of the financial markets at the end of the Summer.

THE RIDE

Given my time off, my long-suffering and wonderful wife Caroline has kindly agreed to let me embark on a trip I have been dreaming about for a very long time:  a mountain bike ride from Banff to Denver via the Great Divide Trail ("GDT"), billed as the longest mountain bike trail in the world.  This is almost certainly hype but it sounds cool and the fact is that 2,700 miles of trail riding, mainly along the Rocky Mountain ridgeline(s) is about as good as it gets for an offroad cycling obsessive...  The scenery will be stunning and the riding off the charts as well as tough in places...

The GDT runs from Banff in the Canadian Rockies to Antelope Wells on the US/Mexico border, a total of over 2,700 miles of which 90 per cent are offroad and a great deal run through wilderness...  I am planning to ride the first 1,600 miles of the trail, from Banff to Denver, over the next 35 days, my aim being to be back in London for shortly after our children Imogen, Edward and Skye break up for their Summer holidays.  

The maths are simple enough - 1,600 miles over 35 days i.e. a rate of 50-60 miles a day off-road and broadly following the line of the North American Continental Divide.  Total ascent over the course of the ride will be in excess of 120,000 feet i.e. around 4,000 feet per day on average or in other terms c. 3/4 of a mile of vertical ascent every day.  Given the remote nature of the terrain I will be crossing and the need to be completely self-sufficient I will be carrying approx. 80 pounds of gear including my bike.  That's over 5.5 stone if you prefer...  Add to this the fact that the Williams frame is still carrying a fair amount of Winter "reserves" (not currently being helped by the food on offer in Banff...) and you have a sloooow farm tractor rather than a Ferrari...  I am hoping to average 7-8 mph - to put that in context a decent road cyclist on a light bike with no gear will average 17-20+ mph over a long ride.  My working day will start at 0630 and I aim to be off the bike and either into a motel or setting up camp by 1700.  Leaving an hour for downtime each day that's 9.5 hours of pedalling.  If I can keep up 7-8 mph then that's a good day's work and I will stay on track as well as not having to camp rough too much...

If the distance, weight, climb and the need to get on the bike every single day were not enough, there is of course the added spice afforded by the presence of wild animals all along the trail...  I have lost track of all the different pieces of ***BEAR*** advice I have read or been given.  Different types of bear apparently require different tactics to be adopted by the human wishing to survive an encounter.  Don't ask me though.  I have no idea.  There are grizzly bears, brown bears and black bears.  All behave differently.  They are all hungry at this time of year so let's pray the salmon have arrived and are keeping them busy.  There are male bears and female bears (fair to assume those must behave differently)...  There are allegedly lots of bears in the Rockies in Alberta and there are female bears with cubs at this time of year...  These are apparently not to be trifled with.  My understanding is that if you stumble into a little bear family, you do not pass GO, do not collect 200 pounds, do not persist in the now insane idea that you want to continue riding in the same direction on the trail in question and generally make preparations for a lavish dinner where you will feature as the main course (to be consumed slowly, and over a period of some days)...

All these bear-types and the associated varying survival tactics means that there are a lot of options to juggle as you stare into the snarling, slobbering, gnashing jaws of a hungry bear, which has been driven to distraction by the jangling of your stupid little bells...  I categorically will not be able to cope with the analysis required by the, ahem, intensity of such a situation.  The GDT guidebook (which I have now lost)  suggests making plenty of noise as you ride along (people do carry bells) whilst the SAS Survival Handbook (yeh, yeh - it was a gift) somewhat bizarrely advises wilderness warriors not to "antagonise" any bears they may encounter...  This latter piece of advice is clearly somewhat disappointing I was rather looking forward to bothering some otherwise peaceable bears with a few chants of "come on if you think you're hard enough..."  Its all bluff you see.  You just have to understand bear psychology.  They are just big furry bullies...

Having analysed my options my strategy today is to consult the various outdoor goods retailers in Banff and ask them what I need.  On the basis that said outdoor goods retailers aren't predominantly gap students from Swindon called Darren (like many people in Banff currently...) then I may get some good advice.  Between them and the Alberta parks rangers I should feel slightly more clued up and probably even more worried by this evening...

Let us be clear at this point:  I have absolutely no idea if I will be able to do this.  I am neither confident nor unduly worried but I genuinely do not know if I can ride 1600 miles through the middle of nowhere without becoming lost/exhausted/despondent/eaten/consumed/mauled/really bored/really hungry...  I will however have a lot of fun trying and in the process of course am hoping to raise a lot of money for an incredibly deserving cause.

Oh, and as a side note:  if I fail, rest assured that you will know nothing of it.  Whilst holed up in some luxurious spa hotel in Vail, Aspen or Breckenridge to which I have travelled by rental car or indeed taxi, I will continue to send you emails detailing my exploits in the North American wilderness.  Know therefore that even if I suffer abject failure you will not realise and the illusion of heroic achievement will be maintained regardless...

THE KIT

For those of you who couldn't care less about bikes you may want to skip this bit...  I shall try to be brief...

Appropriately enough I will be riding a Canadian mtn bike.  The bike is a Cove Hummer, an awesome titanium machine built by Pete, Andy and the rest of the team at Geared Bikes in Chichester.  The frame is American, made by Lynskey in Tennessee and if you are into bikes it is beautiful to behold as well as very light (until you load it with gear).  Components including wheels are principally Shimano XT.  Best of all are the brakes - made by Hope in Barnoldswick, Lancashire - proper Northern brakes made of stern stuff (let's hope I don't live to regret that statement)...

As for suspension, the bike is a hardtail (i.e. no rear suspension).  Less to go wrong, lighter and the titanium frame is in any case a lot more pliant than aluminium...  Front suspension is via a Fox Talas 150mm adjustable travel fork...  Tyres are Conti Mountain King tubeless 2.2s and I am using XT SPD pedals..!

To carry my gear I have a beast of burden (BOB) Ibex trailer as well as front panniers...

THE CAUSE

Some years ago some close friends of ours had first one and then their other young daughter diagnosed with a terminal genetic condition.  Their decline was gradual over a number of years.  Henrietta died aged 10 at the end of 2006 and Alexandra died in April of this year aged 8.

A huge contributor to improving the girls' quality of life was a school in Cowplain, Hampshire, which specialises in helping children with complex medical and learning disabilities.  The school is called the Rachel Madocks School and you can understand more about its work from its website:
  www.rachelmadocks.hants.sch.uk

The Rachel Madocks School depends on charitable donations to fund a large proportion of its work and for expansion.  Its raises money for its activities via Eagle Appeal Fund (UK reg charity #1099667).  

I am planning to email a daily diary of my adventures and misadventures, whenever mobile reception allows, together with photos I take along the way.  Where reception becomes patchy you may receive batches of 2-3 days at a time.  Please email me - paul.g.williams@live.co.uk - If you would like to be added to my list and receive my daily emails.

I hope you enjoy reading about my journey.  Ideally this process will be interactive.  Thoughts, advice and abuse will all be very, very welcome..!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Paul