Canada’s Great Divide Mountain Bike Route a ‘complete washout’

If you are planning to start your Great Divide Mountain Bike Route ride in Canada, the Adventure Cycling Association has a suggestion: Don’t do it.

Adventure Cycling recommends avoiding Canadian bike route

The 253-mile stretch from Banff, Alberta, to Roosville, Montana, is devastated by extraordinary flooding and flood damage, the association warns.

Carla Majernik, Routes and Mapping Director of Adventure Cycling, said:

“We understand that this is an unusual warning, but in all my years at Adventure Cycling, I have never seen such a complete washout of a route. We are receiving many reports of washed-out bridges, destroyed roads, and fast-moving rivers and creeks, which could compromise a cyclist’s safety.

“In our judgment, there are also no viable alternatives to the route. It would be much wiser for people to wait until 2014 to ride the Canadian section.”

The entire Great Divide Mountain Bike Route stretches for 2,700 miles from Banff, Alberta, to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. It is just one of  two dozen bicycle routes created by Adventure Cycling, although most are road routes.

Other than two working forest fires that affect the bike route in New Mexico, the remaining 2,500 miles in the United States are passable. Adventure Cycling just recommends launching any Great Divide bike tour south of the Canadian border.

Although most of the Adventure Cycling staff is located in Missoula, Montana, they have thousands of members who are on the road everyday traveling near and far by bicycle.

When they stumble across problems — anything from forest fires to washed out bridges to local road detours — they contact the Adventure Cycling Association forum. Check the “Great Divide Route – Canada – Flooding” posts for more information about the mess in Canada.

If you’re venturing West, Adventure Cycling also has an updated map from the Incident Information System that shows working forest fires.