Continental Divide Ride

You could try running Sam Corrado's SOR (Shadow of the Rockies) northbound - it starts 20 miles east of El Paso and goes to the SW corner of Wyoming.

I did CDR south bound followed by SOR north bound in '09 - heck of a ride!

They are pretty close in difficuly, although SOR goes over some slightly tougher passes - Tin Cup NW of Salida CO comes to mind.

Sam's route can be found on his website - www.transamtrail.com

Cheers!

Here you go
BigDogs CDR gps file

As far as a route back South---you could do the Mex/Can route I did last year---it's a lot harder in places---and is of course at least as long. There are many places a big bike won't make it. Don't let the easy scenic photos fool you on that ride. That whole story and ride is on my website HERE.

Any one can always e-mail for the CDR gps file.
But I'm leaving to Alaska in a few days and will be gone a couple months
and won't have cell or internet service probably.

BigDog

That's sounds great. Thanks for the info. Maybe I'll do SOR southbound since it uses Tin Cup. Friend has a cabin in St Elmo I could stop in for a visit labor day weekend.

Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge. This sounds like a great ride, too. I will send you an email.

For those of you who have completed this CDT route I wondered if you could give me insight on what type of bike would work best. This trip will be my first adventure trip and I am in the market for the bike I will use. Keeping in mind that I've got a fair amount of miles to cover from Texas to New Mexico before I hit the trail head. I consider myself an experienced rider as I have about 28 years under my belt. My number one concern is function and practicality not cost. These are the bikes that are on my list: bmw 800gs, triumph tiger 800xc, ktm 690, klr 650, street legal crf 450x or a street legal wr 450f. Of course I understand the more dirt bike specific ones will need a few more things to get them ready. Any bikes that are different than the ones I've mentioned that I should consider please let me know. First thing the wife said this morning was, "so are we going to go find you a bike today for your trip." She's a keeper for sure!

Honestly, I did not find the CDT very difficult as an experienced rider. I have done it form NM to Canada. My brother and i did it on 2 f800GSs. He is much less experienced and the bikes worked flawlessly for both of us. There were 2 spots in tMT that were a bit challenging, but very doable. I will say that the ride back on interstate was much nicer on the BMW than it would have been on a more off-road set-up bike.

You can see the set-up we had.

What about the SOR trail that Northern Traveler mentions? May hit that on my way back.

Hi Mark,
My brother and I plan on riding your Mex/Can from north to south in mid July as a return for CDT. You mentioned there are places the big bikes will not make it. Could you please tell me what sections so I can create bypasses or bail out routes? We will both be riding 950 Adventures.
Thanks,
Richard

The task you are asking me is overwhelming--It's impossible for me to remember every inch of a 29 day ride all the way across the US. We went downs hundreds of roads--with hundreds of obstacles---and thousands of places to get lost---hundreds of turn options and it all changes with time and weather. You can't ride the Idaho section till mid July till the snow melts. The Idaho part is the tour of Idaho-----the creator of that ride recommends a plated dirt bike----he's right. Very few people have finished the Tour Of Idaho--all because they never listen to the creators words.

I have a 950 and if that's all I had to ride the entire route as I rode it------I'd stay home.

Mark

Ahh an inmate from texas! I'm from houston and plan on riding this around august. Been trying to mess with the Bigdog gps coordinates on my garmin nuvi and not sure of where to start at.

Thanks for the advice. Have a great time in Alaska.

We will be taking a very similar route in july. I don't have any advice right now but I will post stuff here if I find anything out. Also, I will be posting tracks up as we complete the ride.

I rode an 01 klr650 on the CDT and there were only one or two sections that were tough. This ride was my first real off road type ride but years of riding and reading what to expect helped. It's very doable, the KLR is a bit on the heavy side IMO. The Lava Mtn bypass didsn't show up on my GPSso that area had me sweating a lot but I did it. Get the bicycle club maps as they have tremendous detail. Use the fly over feature on Googl Earth also and you can see exactly what the terrain will be like, what any water crossings are, etc. We rode the trail from central CO S one year, and then N the next year. Rode pavement to get back to the start point.

Head for Clayton NM and catch the SOR north to the TAT that will take you toward Salida, CO. On the way south ride the CDT all the way to the border, hop across to El Paso then do the SOR north to Clayton. It makes a nice loop out of southern CO and NM.

Maybe we can meet up. I'm attempting this by myself because don't know anyone who adventure rides. What bike are you using and are you riding to the trailhead or trailering your bike?

That sounds like good advice. Do you think the 800gs would be harder or similar or easier on this trail than the klr?

Im riding with another friend of mines who has a bmw f650gs and I'm riding a klx 250s. We are planning on just riding west to NM.

Not very familiar with the 800GS but it's bigger than the KLR I think. Much of the route you could drive a car on, but much of it no way. The steep rough legs are few but they are there. While I hear of some riding the route solo I wouldn't. Plan your daily stops, you gotta get down for gas. And if you break down or get hurt what will you do? We saw maybe 6 bicyclists, and maybe 4 motorcyclists the whole trip. Plan too to be able to spend the night in the mountain, just in case the weather turns to crap on you, injury, etc. Not talking the full blown camp set up, just something to get you thru the nite if you had to.

I'm riding and camping the whole way. No hotels. It's hard core I know but it's something I really want to attempt.

I'll be doing this ride solo the first two weeks of August. I'm also coming from Texas and plan on hitting the trail in Pie Town, or maybe further south. I did the NM portion solo last year on my 1150GSA and that was just too much bike. This time I'll be on the 800GS. I also plan to camp the whole way. Riding solo is a risk but for me the solitude is worth it. Best of luck!