A Canadian wanting to head south.

[thesonofhans]

Soooo I live in Vancouver B.C. and was planning on leaving rain city for the month of November and heading somewhere warm and dry.  The plan was to catch a train south to Californa and ramble around on the bike for 2-3 weeks.  I have a Velo Orange piolet with 2.8" tires (and a secondary wheelset with 2.35") but my riding partner has a Straggler with 44mm tires (I believe).  He does have a fat bike so maybe I can convince him to bring that.... 

....If not,I am guessing the Stagecoach 400 would be too hairy for him, so it might look like I'll be riding with my 2.35" tires and doing some mellower terrain.  Any route suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Also, anyone have any experience on the Baja Divide?  Really interested in doing that

Thanks!

[dgjessee]

There's enough sand in Stagecoach that anything less than 2.2 tires will be pretty unpleasant. You could probably route around those spots but overall I don't think a CX bike like the Straggler will be much fun. I don't think anyone on here has any experience with Baja Divide yet since it's not completely released and the first full through ride is this January. There's a lot of good replies from the creators on their website: www.bajadivide.com. But even they suggest 2.4" tires minimum.

Have you thought about the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands? I don't know a ton about the trail conditions that time of year, but from a temperature perspective it should be awesome. And definitely a polar opposite of BC terrain.