How far is it from the easternmost level of Newfoundland to the final pebble on Key West? One bike owner needs to seek out out firsthand.
When Eddie O’Dea first considered using your complete Japanese Divide bikepacking route within the mid-2010s, he didn’t sound optimistic — regardless of, as is now clear, closely underestimating it.
“I don’t learn about racing the entire Japanese,” he instructed Singletracks. “It sounds completely brutal. I don’t know what complete mileage on that’s gonna be. It’s in all probability like 3,500 miles and 400,000 ft of climbing.”
If all the pieces goes in response to plan, he’ll quickly develop into the primary individual to seek out out the precise stats through main expertise.
O’Dea set out from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, on Aug. 1, intent on finishing the primary thru-ride of the Japanese Divide Path.
Japanese Divide Bike Route
Now estimated at 5,000-plus miles, or so long as 5,900, in response to Singletracks, O’Dea’s earlier evaluation of the path as “brutal” seems to take a look at.
The route meanders from Cape Spear, all the way in which at Newfoundland’s japanese excessive, all the way in which as far west as Montgomery, Alabama. Alongside the way in which, it negotiates all the pieces from the southern reaches of New York’s Adirondack Mountains to segments of the Appalachian Path close to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Conjecture over the extensively deliberate route first started amongst bikepacking luminaries round 2014, per Singletracks. It now exists as a posh ribbon of dust roads, pavement, and singletrack that nobody’s ever tried to experience in a single go.
Canada to Key West: ‘Japanese Divide Path’ Will Be America’s Longest Grime Bikepacking Route
That appears comprehensible; it appears punishing. Altitude seesaws backwards and forwards between zero and nearly 6,000 ft (estimates now place the overall elevation change at round 60 miles).
On high of that, we’d be shocked if O’Dea doesn’t get away with out pumping at the very least just a few strokes on or close to highways. The route strays proper alongside I-10 within the Florida Panhandle and passes proper by the city sprawl of Tallahassee.
Eddie O’Dea Does the (Different) Divide
However O’Dea’s demonstrated expertise accustoms him to the actual gnar he’s prone to encounter alongside the way in which. He’s a seasoned bikepacker who has set course information on numerous lengthy routes through the years.
That capability ought to turn out to be useful in his de facto place as the road chief on the Japanese Divide.
As an illustration, O’Dea initially instructed Singletracks he thought he’d experience 125 miles a day. That may imply he’d end the route in 40 days. However that was when he thought it was solely 5,000 miles lengthy.
Now, he says he’s projecting a 50-day end.
He did point out that he thinks the southern a part of the route will go down simpler
“As soon as I get there, it’ll be a little bit of a aid, simply because mentally I received’t must spend almost as a lot power, you realize, navigating, fascinated about the place the assets are, you realize, pulling my cellphone out to examine, ‘Which method do I’m going right here for meals’ or no matter,” he instructed Singletracks. “I can do all of it from reminiscence. All of Georgia and possibly half of Alabama.”
O’Dea on Course
Up to now, he appears slightly gradual: 1,177 miles in as of this writing, he’s on tempo for extra like 60 days than 50. Nevertheless, the route’s northern reaches haven’t confirmed pleasant.
Dwell observe O’Dea’s progress right here.
Struggling to remain on schedule for a ferry departure, he detailed one frantic passage on Instagram (warning: extraordinarily rattly first-person gravel footage).
As a part of the trouble, O’Dea goals to lift cash for the Georgia Biking Affiliation, which facilitates youth biking outreach within the state. As a board member, Singletracks reported O’Dea has raised about $18,000 for the group along with his Japanese Divide tour to date.
