So, I started trawling through the route on Komoot and marked down key resupply locations and big climbs. 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. Only time will tell if I’m overestimating my ability, but that’s part of the magic of trying something new.Īs the months passed and I got closer to the date of departure, my prep ramped up considerably. 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. With some time on either side, I set myself 35 days as the goal. In reality, I knew that I had a window of around 40 days between finishing teaching for the summer and my brother getting married. My logic for setting a goal time was questionable. Naturally, I started wondering, “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. From what I can tell, it covers every type of terrain with about two-thirds of it off-road. The route covers 7,600 kilometres from Kirkenes in Norway to Cabo San Vincente in Portugal, crossing eight countries in the process. It seemed like it was Europe’s answer to the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR).
MAPTILER CRACK FULL
The excitement only grew, and when the full route was finally released last year, it jumped straight onto the top of my list.Īfter staring yearnfully at the komoot files for the route, it seemed clear that Andy had created something special and immensely valuable to the community. Over the course of the next year or so, I was occasionally treated to a glimpse of some forest doubletrack or a twisting alpine meadow. At that time, the route was still in its formative stages.
Words and photos by Angus Young ( 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.