Adventure Cycling Association—North America’s largest cycling membership organization—and Dirt Rag magazine invite cyclists to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) which travels the spine of the Rocky Mountain Continental Divide for 2,711 miles and stretches from Canada to Mexico.

Enter the Ride The Divide contest at this Dirt Rag web page for a chance to win a $3,500 Old Man Mountain Boomerang bike with custom racks. Second prize is a week-long guided tour on the Great Divide Route, and third prize is a Cycling the Great Divide guidebook and map set.

Speaking of guidebook, Cycling the Great Divide, a comprehensive guidebook to the GDMBR written by Adventure Cycling’s Michael “Mac” McCoy has just been updated. Adventure Cycling also offers map sections for the route, featuring turn-by-turn directions, campground locations, and the best re-supply points along the way. If you’re not bold enough to sally forth on your own, Adventure Cycling also offers guided tours on the GDMBR. Information about the tours, the guide, and map sections are available at www.adventurecycling.org.

Ultra-endurance cyclists will one again gather for the Great Divide Race—the fifth annual edition starts on June 20th in Montana and follows the GDMBR from the Canadian to Mexican borders. Last year’s winner Jay Petervary set a stunning new course record when he completed the route in a blistering time of only 15 days. Listen to the champion talk about his record-setting race in Dirt Rag TV’s video interview with Jay Petervary:


New this year is The Tour Divide which, like the Great Divide Race, is entirely self-supported with riders carrying everything they need. But this one goes up to 11, and starts a week earlier on June 13th in Banff, Alberta and includes the GDMBR’s Canadian section for an additional 221 miles of riding. Adventure Cycling is not officially involved in either race but encourages all riders of the route.To cap off the anniversary events, Adventure Cyclist‘s July 2008 issue will be devoted to inspiring stories from and practical advice for the route. Essays by Mac McCoy, the GDMBR’s principal architect, and other luminaries will look back at the route’s first decade, while Adventure Cyclist Deputy Editor Aaron Teasdale gives his account of riding the Canadian section and presents a special section, “Gear for the Great Divide.” Adventure Cyclist is the member publication of Adventure Cycling Association.

–Karl Rosengarth