On a trip of this nature you’re bound to meet a some unique characters as well as people who go out of their way to help you out or show tremendous generosity. We’d like to give a shout out to those people here. Meeting people like this is what makes a journey like this so much fun.

Bryan MacDonald: It isn’t easy to get to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Without the assistance of Bryan’s Out ‘n’ Back Trails shuttle service our only alternative would have been a three or four day bike ride from El Paso. He schooled us up quickly on survival in the New Mexican desert. If you’re planning to do the GDMBR we highly recommend using Bryan’s services.

Geno and Kurt: These friendly guys from Tuscon were in Silver City for the Blues Festival and camped out next to us. They gave us the lowdown on the American Southwest, entertained us with some great stories and helped us out whether it was looking for the puncture in my sleeping mat or taking all the heavy gear we were offloading. We enjoyed the Blues Festival with these guys and couldn’t have had better people in the campsite next door, even with Geno’s snoring!

Clyde at the Beaverhead Workstation: He helped us out by throwing a few MREs our way after we miscalculated how long until we’d be in a town with a grocery store again. Those MREs came in handy on a couple of nights and they tasted pretty good too.

Matt and Steve: Two riders we met just outside of Cuba, New Mexico. They’ve been section biking the GDMBR over the past five years and plan to finish it this summer. They were the first riders we met on the route and they shared a lot of good information about places to camp and where to get water. Guys, we hope the rest of your ride went smoothly and the info we passed on was as useful as what you passed on to us.

Dede at the Abiquiu Inn: When she heard we needed to get to Santa Fe for a replacement bike part she offered the use of her Rav4 with no questions asked. Had Willy not been able to get a new cassette we might not have even made it into Colorado. While he made the trip in Santa Fe I was able to make myself at home in the corner of the cafe where it isn’t uncommon to see movie stars in town. The cast starring in the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series was due to stay at the Abiquiu Inn the week after we were there and a few other famous people consider the cafe their local spot for a good coffee.

Joe, Clara and Stella: When we arrived in Horca, Colorado, having finished all but our emergency supplies only to find the one restaurant and store in town was closed for three days we were pretty despondent. Joe and Clara invited us back to their RV for some of the tastiest cheese omelets. The topped it off the next morning with a repeat performance where Clara served up some tasty sausage patties and biscuit sandwiches. It was great to crawl out of our tent and sit on a couch and have a conversation. Joe and Clara have to be two of the friendliest people we’ve met — and even little Stella was warming up to us by the time we pedaled on . Thanks for feeding two famished bikers and an evening of entertaining stories!

Mike and Kim: Took great care of us while we were laid up in Del Norte. Their cafe has delicious meals (cooked up by Kim’s brother and served by one of her daughters). Their little apartment was a perfect place for us to recover. When they saw how sick we were and heard about our ride they did everything they could to get us back on the road as soon as possible.

Absolute Bikes:The whole crew at Absolute Bikes took great care of us while we were in town. They squeezed a tune up into their busy schedule, helped us get the lay of the town and find a place to stay. It is a great shop. If you’re ever in Salida looking to ride this is the only place you need to stop. A special shout out goes out to Shawn, the owner of Absolute Bikes for storing our gear for the month while we were back in Chicago.

Scot and Tracy: Scot’s the mechanic at Absolute Bikes. But he went above and beyond his bike shop wrenching duty for us. He came out to meet us for a drink and gave us all kinds of info about Salida, the local riding, the Divide Riders and more. When we got back in town he and his fiance Tracy put us up for a night. The next day was Scot’s day off but he still took the time to shuttle us up to the start of the Monarch Crest Trail. It is people like Scot and Tracy which makes Salida a place we both want to visit again. (Unfortunately we didn’t think to get a picture with Tracy the night we were there. Sorry Tracy!)

Doc Miller: When Willy broke his arm we weren’t sure if the town of Salida even had a medical facility let alone the quality of care he would receive. It was a very lucky break that Willy ended up with Dr. Pat Miller in the ER. Dr. Miller understood our situation and laid all the options out for Willy. When we decided it was best to take three weeks off to let the arm recuperate Dr. Miller even gave us a ride back to Denver so we could catch our flights. Serentripitdy struck again when it turned out Doc Miller was heading back to Salida the same day we flew back to Denver. So when we were ready to hit the trail again Doc picked us up at the airport and shuttled us back to Salida where we picked up the bikes and thus avoided having to figure out the logistics of buses, rental cars, shuttle or puddle jumper flights.

Steve Hoffman: I knew Steve from my days when I was adventure racing every weekend around the Midwest. We had raced together but when he moved to Boulder a few years ago we kind of lost touch. It was a pleasant surprise to see Steve at the volunteer booth of adventure race in Frisco where we were stopping to see some friends who were racing. When we found out every room in Frisco was rented out and there weren’t any campgrounds nearby Steve came to our rescue by offering to share his hotel room so we had a place to crash.

Bill Gamber: As Willy and I planned for the ride one of the critical tasks was finding a tent. Big Agnes had a tent on their website but it wasn’t yet released so I sent an email asking if there was anyway we could get our hands on one a few weeks early. Bill replied he could hook us up and innocuously ended his email saying to stop by when we got to Steamboat Springs and he had a shower at the office we could use and would share the best places to get a beer and Mexican food. We took him up on that offer and ended up camping in the front yard of the Big Agnes offices for two days. Bill is an incredibly nice and generous guy and he really took care of us while we were in town.

However, Bill also gets the honor of a double shout out. After Willy’s frame broke I called every car rental place in a 100 mile radius only to find everything was rented. Not knowing what to do I headed back to the Big Agnes remembering Bill had offered to let us use the Big Agnes SUV while we were in town. The company cars were already gone for the weekend so Bill let me use his personal car to drive back and fetch Willy and the gear. He offered to let us stay in the apartment above the garage at his house which would have been perfect had we not been able to get the bike fixed and were forced to wait for a new part from Gary Fisher. Many people helped us out on the trip but Bill was amongst the most giving and trusting. Not only did he help keep us on track but Bill is an very interesting and fun guy to be around He got so much more than he bargained for when he said to stop by in a simple email exchange. Meeting Bill and everyone else at Big Agnes is a big reason Steamboat Springs was one of our favorite towns on the whole route.

Derek and Rich at Steamboat Ski & Bike Kare: We fully expected to be delayed a week or more waiting for a replacement part when Willy’s frame broke. Luckily Derek at Steamboat Ski & Bike Kare had the exact same bike and is a nice guy. He had Rich swap out the part from his personal bike and filed the warranty return as if it were his bike in order to get us back on the trail as quickly as possible. If we had to choose to be marooned while waiting for a spare part Steamboat Springs would not have been a bad place (as opposed to say, almost anywhere in New Mexico). However, with two cool guys like Derek and Rich disaster was averted and we were riding again in no time and set back less than a day.

Dave and Jo-An Martin: If you’re a biker riding the Trans Am or the GDMBR then you miss out if you don’t stop by Dave and Jo-An’s Aspen Meadows Bike Hostel. If you’re a biker from Chicago and even after the All-Start break the Cubs find themselves in first place there is no better place to be. Not only did Dave and Jo-An let us sleep on cots in their garage but Jo-An made a fantastic dinner and breakfast and when Dave found out we were Northsiders he made sure we got our fill of Cubs baseball on ESPN. Had we been from Milwaukee or St. Louis and known nothing about baseball we still would have had a great time staying at their place and listening as they shared stories about the various bikers who have stayed with them over the years.

Jim and Connie: Meeting Jim and Connie at the Whiskey Grove Campground made for one of the more enjoyable evenings in camp on the trip. Of course it is hard not to have an enjoyable evening when it starts with someone offering to share a beer. But it got better when Connie dished up a fresh salad. Both Jim and Connie were very interested in learning more about our trip but they also were willing to share with us their knowledge of the area. And I’m not sure there are many people who could claim to know Wyoming, Idaho and Western Montana the way they do. They’ve traveled the area extensively over the years and armed us with enough information so others might mistake us for locals.

Lynne and Kevin: From the very beginning of the trip the big question was to ride North or ride South. A large factor in choosing to finish in Canada and was the opportunity to meet up with our friend Lynne who lives in Calgary (and not just so we could report to everyone back in Chicago about this mysterious Kevin character). Lynne borrowed a truck big enough to fit all of our gear, met us in Lake Louise and shuttled us back to her and Kevin’s house in Calgary. We had a great time hanging out with Lynne and Kevin and I still don’t think they realize how nice it was for us to stay in a real home as opposed to a hotel or in our tent. While we were excited to return home, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Calgary because we got to spend it with Lynne and Kevin. The only regret is we were having so much fun we forgot to get a picture with Kevin so we can prove he really exists!