Without question, the most challenging mental battle I've ever fought. And I couldn't be prouder to have won.

One pedal stroke into my first ever solo adventure, and I was already down to my final spare tube. Perfect. Only 1,400 miles to Boulder!

An entire summer has passed since I last sat down at the computer to organize my thoughts. Why? I’ve been more or less living out of a car or on a bicycle for the past three months.

After the Overland crew here in Williamstown threw together a relatively spur of the moment bikepacking overnighter to the top of the highest peak in the state, I feel I need to document these 48 hours of pure joy.

This endeavor would be, by far, each of our longest rides, and the ride with the most climbing - 131 miles, and over 10,500 ft of total climbing. We’d figure out the return leg of our journey later...flying, at least a little bit, by the seat of our pants seemed to be our M.O.

One Saturday morning in late October, my phone dinged to alert me to a new email. It was from a “BikeReg.com,” and the subject line read “Registration Confirmation.” Huh?

I loosened my vice-like grip on my handlebars and finally looked up to take in our surroundings. By golly, I was blown away.

…you may have noticed that I have not mentioned how we’d get up into Canada from Montana. This is because we had no plan.

Welp, it had to happen at some point.