I firmly believe it is good for one's mental heath to do really difficult things a few times a year. Even if you have to call it a day/weekend early. Syd and Macky, you take my advice to an extreme on a monthly basis. Hahaha and congratulations!
Syd/Macky, if the weather became any more adverse, and it might have been: "... as the battle with the elements intensifies, our spirits and energy reserve are dwindling. Only three sour gummy bears left, a single potato, and worst of all, the potty wet wipes have frozen harder than glacier blue ice! Seriously, even Elsa couldn't crack one of these frozen death wipes free!!" 😜👍‼️ Keep doing what you do 👍‼️
watching from the great white North at 45 degrees N latitude, and a forecast of 6" of snow in the hills nearby. Reactions: timestamp 6:30 - "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglay" (Robbie Burns). 10:11 - this feels like home. 13:40 - yup, gotta take it seriously. 17:35 - hurray for that sunrise experience. 20:42 - that view is the payback for the hard work. 29:25 - Looks like the lake is well named - hopewell. 31:30 - A difficult good call beats an easy bad call every time. It looks like a success to me - everybody arrived in one piece, after a serious ride with cold, dark, terrain, navigation, wind, and a few meters of altitude. Well done! PS: The helmet lights this time were (sorry) brilliant! PPS: Three cheers for the support team!
Looked like a quality adventure ride. Everyone need to respect the elements in the high country in any season, but even more so in Fall and Spring when you can get caught out easily. When Bo said it was almost exactly like a scenario he covered in wilderness survival class, I was thinking how little you guys had. So glad you all made it with no fuss.
Perhaps return to Hopewell and finish the second half when the weather is better. Then, knowing the whole route, return again another day and repeat your original plan. Absolutely beautiful.
Good call. Unless you're equipped to handle both the cold and the dark, any issue with either and this video would not have happened. At least in this context. Redemption. Always something to look forward to . . .
I'll just note that while some of this may seem overly dramatic as we sit here at our computers watching the video, there are hikers that die in the White Mountains of Vermont in July from exposure. A level of real danger exists in this adventure that we can't appreciate from our homes..
For sure go back and finish the second half! There are some great sections of trail south of Hopewell. I bikepacked it in the beginning of September and it was only in the 50s during the day and 30s at night. You guys made the right call to bail.
great video. love the preparation scenes and predictions. don’t know how you lasted at the beginning without bar mitts for your hands. the winter riding gear promo is informative, taking a look at those shimano shoes.
Yeaaaa!! Bo is back! I love how consistent your content drops. Always during my quiet time, so I don't have interruptions. Kool adventure guys. Glad to see Macky repairing nicely. Ok...gonna rewatch before bedtime. Gnight yall🌌😴
Great video. My kinda adventure. It looked miserable at times. haha Huge respect for bailing out when you did. I think it was the right decision. Atb Dave
I've almost been caught out on long rides under prepared and it got real scary real fast. I always pack a headlamp, an extra battery pack, and a lighter now for long rides just in case lol
This one was funny but painful to watch...cuz i do not like the cold weather at all. Still, the view it kinda twist you mind in saying that it worth it... somehow i'm not convinced if i even gonna try this type of adventure in my hole life...😂 As always you guys are amazing and was a big joy to see you riding. ☺️
That was an excellent adventure! Makes me want to get out there. If you ever find your way back to Michigan, you could get a great route through the wilderness of the Upper Peninsula. Grabbing a route from The Crusher (Enhanced Gravel) would be a good starting place.
Awesome scenery guys not much worse in my eyes anyway when your trail is super over grown and has heaps of trees down really kills your av spd i love doing rides like this and knowing when to bail is all just part of it look forward to your next one , thumbs up from down under 😁😁👏👍✌
Wow! If you really wanted to cold weather adventure ride, a Canadian perspective on the right gear and preparation might have taken away some of the "pissed off" & miscalculation situations. Hopefully it was a good learning experience that doesn't discourage from future outings. Come to Ontario in Jan - Feb, well take you on some chilly fat bike adventures. Stress less, ride more. Stay safe!
Glad that you made the correct decision. You had a taste of adventure racing, but with the option to stop. Just imagine doing the navigation with a map and compass.
What a great adventure. Thank you for yet another excellent video. You mentioned that you need to calculate risks differntly on trips like this where there is no cell coverage. Have you considered bringing a satellite based communication device? They are not cheap, but if something goes awry they provide a way to summon help, or provide an update to worried family.
"This is almost exactly a scenario we studied in class" - Yeah, that's not really something you want to hear, but there is some comfort in knowing that someone knows what to do in the situation ;)
High altitude stuff is so unpredictable. I think the downed trees really hurt you. The added time and energy used had to really stack up. I know how much it sucks bailing on a plan but from my seat it looked like a good decision
My type/style of riding. Would join you any time without hesitation :) Was the correct decision to call it a day at the middle of the route, no questions asked.
Great video! Makes me want to get back into MTB riding now that my second hip replacement is healing. What size tires were you running Macky? They look pretty wide.
I loved it!! You planned your way out of a cold situation and it worked out and your adventure taught you a little lesson. lol The views were spectacular and the content enjoyable and bonus you didn't die....YAY! Slowing down from racing must be agonizing but it also gave you a good work out. :)
So you didn't make the whole thing. Big deal. You three still did fantastic. I'm pretty sure I would have turned back at the half hour mark. Just to go as far as you went in those conditions just shows extreme dedication to the sport you love. Keep Rollin 👍👊🎉
Smart call to bail until better conditions. I would take the Cumbres Toltec RR ride 😂 Seriously though I love riding through aspen groves and gasping for air that isn't there! From Ruidoso✌️
So much love for you guys (coming from the UK)...and the "fixes" channel too. Absolutely absorbing watching the Trans Madeira - very inspiring and I'm inspired with my Nukeproof Giga 👍🏻 Question - what cycle computer are you using Macky?
Love adventure rides, the newness of the trails and challenges ahead. More please! Btw ..took me a good 5secs of wondering why there was a 💩 on the screen, before I realised it was covering Bo @ss !! 🤣🤣
Great video. Very tough ride. Even if the weather had warmed up, not knowing how much reserve you had with the lights made stopping the right call. Do you 2 use something like a Spot tracker on rides like this?
What an adventure. There were a lot of down trees five years or so ago when we did it south of Cumbres. It would be nice to get some chainsaws out there and clear it out. It needs some TLC.
So I'm just wondering what tires did you run on a ride like this? It looked like all hard surfaces you were riding on,what tire pressure diid youu run? I'm guessing nothing helped where the trails were icy.
id love to do that trail on my dirt bike......you guys should get some and do that here next year.......Honda CRF250F's would work.....i think you could get 2 of them for under 10K......they have electric start too
Sometimes dumb ideas are the best ideas. You can’t really say you had an adventure if you didn’t get into (and hopefully out of) a bit of a sticky situation. That being said, your goal was about triple what I would consider an adventure
Smart move to call it quits. I'm a little surprised you didn't mention having bear spray or emergency contact via a Garmin inReach or similar. Stoked to be moving to Pagosa Springs in the not too distant future, and we haven't had a chance to ride the CDT, so awesome to see conditions. Beau, I hope all of your poop plans worked out. Ain't nobody got time to ride with a turtle head. 🤣
@@sydandmacky Fair. I guess I err on the side of caution in case I come around a corner and startle one. Definitely glad there aren't any grizzlies in Colorado. I've only had a run in once with a black bear when I was riding in Truckee, and he didn't give even one single shit about us being close by. 🐻
Yeah, they're general as scared of us as we are of them so we just try to make enough noise around blind corners to let them know we're there (works well for humans on the trail too 🤣)
That section of the CDT wasn't in the CTR i did but as I'm thinking of looking for a plot of land around Abiquiu NM. I'll be checking this one out a few more times : ) PS OK I'll just assume the Abiquiu to there side looks just about like the uphill U rode. Maybe think southern NM or AZ for the next offseason adventure.
10,000' and snowing.............I might do that another day. But feet, and socks. My feet have issues, I get heated socks off ebay for 35 bucks, they are magic. Run for over 8 hours, and spare batteries are easy to carry.
Wow, your map at 5:53 really through me off! It was so confusing to me to look at a map showing Colorado and New Mexico in an apparent east/west orientation, which isn't how they are on Earth. It took me a while to realize you had tilted the map 90 degrees and your path is actually north/south (more or less). It was making my brain hurt. Also, you guys were basically starting right on the Colorado/New Mexico border, apparently. I couldn't find a Cumbres, CO proper on Google Maps. But there are a lot of Cumbres named locations on Colorado HWY 17. I also do not understand how people can eat potatoes by themselves. I'm thinking their potatoes were at least cooked at one point? I love potatoes, but I need to have them with cheese and some kind of condiment.
Macky, do you only carry one epi pen? I have always (both from my Dr and emergency medical classes) been told to carry 2 in case of a failure with one.
Yeah, just 1, but the more important thing is the Benadryl because that's what actually stops the reaction and I carry 4 tabs of that (and take 2 immediately if I get stung). Then if I need to I can use the EpiPen and take the other 2 tabs.
I wonder if that would've been better as an overnight bikepacking trip, though I wouldn't envy trying to sleep in an ultralight setup in below freezing nighttime temps.
I lived in Colorado for a year, and I got snowed on every month I was there except July. Then I came back and visited in July and got snowed on. I guess it's a Colorado thing.
