Riding the Great Divide: Man Vs Nature

2 Flares Twitter 0 "> Facebook 2 Google+ 0 "> Pin It Share 0 "> StumbleUpon 0 "> Reddit 0 "> 2 Flares ×

Riding the Great Divide: Man vs Nature 

Its not every day we get to highlight the awesome projects our friends are working on, but we have a good one today. Marina and I both majored with degrees in visual journalism and couldn’t be more excited about the upcoming trip of two of our friends from school who are jumping on their bikes to conquer the Great Divide in the USA.

No its not visiting the Great Pyramids, the Taj Mahal or the Great Barrier Reef, and might actually be way cooler and more intense. We often look to the far corners of the Earth to find the most extreme and exciting adventures we can find, but these two have found one of the most badass and challenging biking routes to accomplish this summer, and we cannot wait to tag along.

We had a chance to speak with them recently to hear about the details of their journey and why you should make sure to tag along as well. Check out their great Kickstarter video below and hear what they have to say about the journey of a lifetime they are about to embark on come August.

Lat34: Who are you?Brett and Matt are photographers and adventure seekers currently living in Washington, DC. They met at Brooks Institute of Photography 8 years ago and have been good friends ever since. Brett currently works at US News and World Report as a photo editor and photographer while Matt does freelance photography, works at a bike shop and races bikes at an elite level on the weekends.Lat34: Tell us about the GDMBRR?The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route is epic. It is the longest continuous mountain bike route traveling almost 2,800 miles down the continental divide along the spine of the rockies from Banff, Canada to the Mexico border at Antelope Wells, New Mexico. It is over 90% off-road and crosses the continental divide 30 times! There are numerous passes that will will have to ride over, the highest, Indiana Pass, tops out at 11,910 feet. We will gain nearly 200,000ft of elevation by the time we are done with the ride. The route travels through two provinces in Canada and five states.Lat34: Why are you doing the ride?We are doing to the ride not only to challenge ourselves and our passion for travel, but to create this documentary photo project that will tell the story of the route and show the beauty of the regions we pass through. Traveling by bike is by far one of the best ways to experience the adventure of traveling as you really take in the sites, smells, and landscape.Lat34: What about food, water, shelter?We are riding the divide fully self-supported. We will carry our own food, water, tent, sleeping bags, cooking supplies and other necessary gear and resupply at the towns we pass through.  Logistical issues can get a bit complicated on the GDMBR with reliable food and water sources over 100 miles apart in some sections. With maps and cue sheets we are hoping to make that part a bit less complicated.Lat34: How long will the ride take?We are planning on completing the ride in under 6 weeks averaging about 60-75 miles per day.Lat34: Why the Great Divide?We have been talking about epic bike rides since we met 8 years ago. We had pipe dreams of riding from Alaska to Argentina. But the logistics behind that are tremendous. We then came across the GDMBR and it caught both of our interests. The thought of dirt roads, remote wilderness, mountains, deserts and the sense of adventure that it captures, we decided we had to do it. So we did a little more research, bought our bikes and are now making it happen.Lat34: Why Kickstarter?Kickstarter is a great platform to get the word out to friends, family and those who are interested in what we are doing. The main focus of the ride, besides the adventure itself, is to create a body of work that truly captures the beauty and struggle of the route. The donations directly fund the journey and the products that we are making.Lat34: What type of gear are you using? (Bikes, Storage, Cameras?)We are both riding Surly Ogres equipped with generator hubs, disc brakes, and racks. We chose these bikes because they are dependable steel framed mountain bikes that has everything we need to carry our gear.We both shoot with Canon 5d MII Camears and between us both are bringing a 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 135mm lenses.Lat34: how are you gonna charge your gear?The front wheel of the bike have a dynamo hub. As the wheel turns, it generates power to a device that has a USB docking port. So as we ride, we will be charging our gear too!Lat34: Will I be able to see your progress?Yes! We will have a GPS Tracking device that pings our most current location onto a webpage. Once we have that running anyone will be able to check in and track our progress.