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Friday, May 30, 2025

BackBone DoubleGrande - Work In Progress

I got eight little fingers and only two thumbs
Will you leave me in peace while I get the job done
Can't you see I'm working
Oh, oh, I'm working on it
Oh, oh, I'm working on it

Working On It, Chris Rea (1989)
The BackBone Grande (blue line above) is complete.
The BackBone DoubleGrande (red line above) is deep in beta testing, but will look something like this.


I created my BackBone Grande route specifically for bikepacking the best rough roads across the State of South Dakota along the spine of the Black Hills and across the surrounding prairie. See, Introducing the BackBone Grande. By its very nature, it was a point-to-point route, like its inspiration, the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. See, Yes, Point-to-Point.

Almost immediately after publishing the BackBone Grande in January 2023, however, I began receiving requests for a return route, i.e., to create a loop from the finish at the North Dakota border to the start at the Nebraska border. But I just wanted to ride the route, not in bits and pieces over years, but as a through-ride accumulating miles, challenges, thoughts, and emotions as continuously presented. I needed a single, long through-ride to fully experience the BackBone Grande.

So, in June 2023, I rode the first through-ride of the BackBone Grande with bikepacking buddy Paul Brasby. See, BackBone Grande - The First Through-Ride. I loved it. Afterward, I tweaked a couple of stretches and later added more amazing tracks through Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. See, e.g., The Challenge of Buffalo Gap National GrasslandsEventually, I created a Page compiling all my BackBone Grande posts to help others intrigued by the possibility of such an experienceBackBone Grande Page.

Everybody loves bikepacking through Devil's Tower National Monument!

With the BackBone Grande completed in every way, I finally started to visualize a return route, what I called the "DoubleBackBone." This return route would not be limited to the State of South Dakota, so I looked westward into a sliver of Montana and chunks of Wyoming. And I decided to amp up the logistical challenges by venturing more remote than the BackBone Grande. This would not be "more of the same," but a markedly different experience not for the uninitiated.

Into the Fall of 2023 and continuing still, I have been researching possible routes by scouring digital and paper maps, reviewing reports and images of prior rides by myself and others, and, most importantly, physically scouting possibilities by Jeep and by Jones. The bikepacking options out here are an outright embarrassment of riches.

Great spot for lunch in the Bear Lodge Mountains of Wyoming.
(image by Kevin Fox)

All that takes time. For example, just to drive highways to the North Dakota border is about 3 hours one-way from Rapid City. The Nebraska border start of the BackBone Grande is a solid 2 hours one-way. Areas further west and more remote take even longer.

But the real time sink is scouting as many roads and near-roads as possible to select and connect the very best for the intended route. In Black Hills National Forest, that may be a never-ending task, with virtually unlimited mapped and unmapped tracks spider-webbing the public lands of the Black Hills. Out in the prairie, with a high percentage of land privately owned, the options of public roads and paths shrink dramatically. But it all still takes time.

Back in the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota.

So, from the Fall of 2023, throughout 2024, and now into 2025, I have continued to piece together a BackBone DoubleGrande route. Sometimes, seemingly all roads that I follow lead to nothing particularly unique or even to dead-ends. Sometimes, scouting for other routes, like the new BackBone Buffet or the next Black Hills Bounty, leads me to roads and trails that I am compelled to include on the DoubleGrande. See, e.g., Red Bird Canyon. 

As shown in the map above, the BackBone DoubleGrande generally will wind from the North Dakota border at the end of the BackBone Grande to Camp Crook, cut across the southeastern corner of Montana, and climb into northeastern Wyoming at Devil's Tower National Monument. It then climbs further into the Bear Lodge Mountains, drops into Sundance, re-enters the Black Hills zig-zagging the Wyoming/South Dakota border, traverses the western reaches of the Black Hills, and descends into grasslands leading to the Nebraska border, connecting to the start of the BackBone Grande.

Red Bird Canyon in the Southern Black Hills.

As of now, the BackBone DoubleGrande totals 446.5 miles/27,373' elevation gain. For reference, the BackBone Grande totals 421.3 miles/23,875' elevation gain. Ride those two routes as one, big, bad loop of 867.8 miles/51,248' elevation gain.

Once completed, that will be one Grande way to experience the greater Black Hills area.

But there's still work to be done. ETA of published route - January 2026.

Working On It, Chris Rea (1989).


Monday, May 26, 2025

Memorial Day 2025

If tomorrow all the things were gone, I'd worked for all my life
And I had to start again, with just my children and my wife
I'd thank my luck stars, to be living here today
Cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away.

And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you, and defend her still today
Cause there aint no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA
God Bless the USA, Lee Greenwood (1984)

God Bless The U.S.A. (Rock Version)
Lee Greenwood & Drew Jacobs (2024).

Memorial Day is a time to take stock of the present, reflect on the past, and renew our commitment to the future of America.

Today, as in the past, there are problems that must be solved and challenges that must be met. We can tackle them with our full strength and creativity only because we are free to work them out in our own way. We owe this freedom of choice and action to those men and women in uniform who have served this nation and its interests in time of need. In particular, we are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free.

I don't have to tell you how fragile this precious gift of freedom is. Every time we hear, watch, or read the news, we are reminded that liberty is a rare commodity in this world.

This Memorial Day of 1983, we honor those brave Americans who died in the service of their country. I think an ancient scholar put it well when he wrote:  "Let us now praise famous men . .  All these were honored in their generation, and were the glory of their times. Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore." As a tribute to their sacrifice, let us renew our resolve to remain strong enough to deter aggression, wise enough to preserve and protect our freedom, and thoughtful enough to promote lasting peace throughout the world.

President Ronald W. Reagan, May 26, 1983.

Thursday, May 15, 2025

The Way, The Truth, & The Life

"I stand this morning with a difficult message. I believe we are in a crisis. The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest." 
Senator Mon Mothma, Star Wars Andor, Season 2, Episode 9 (2025).

Yes, this is from a speech in a fictional movie. A science fiction movie, at that.

But the message resonates today, following years of "expert" or "consensus" or "authoritative" narratives that plainly have not aligned with what we actually see and hear and experience. Narratives that conflict with what used to be known as common sense.


Amongst all the noise of the world, I believe this to be true.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. John 14:6.

God bless you.


Saturday, May 3, 2025

Black Hills BackBone Grande - Invitation & Offer

The BackBone Grande is a unique 400 mile bikepacking route across the State of South Dakota along the spine of the Black Hills. I designed this route specifically for a Great Divide type of bikepacking experience that showcases the best of our Black Hills and surrounding prairie. For a series of posts introducing this route, including a digital map, and a series of posts of the first through-ride go to Black Hills Grande Page.

If you have any questions, ask. If you're thinking of venturing out here, let me know. I'm happy to help.

Here's an offer. Ride the BackBone Grande, any or all of it, and send me a picture and story. I'll send you a BackBone Grande sticker.

As others have noted, it doesn't say "Black Hills," or anything about bikepacking, or even cycling.

Nope. If you know, you know.

Here's the sticker.

Here's the sticker in the wild.

Even in a crowd, the BackBone Grande sticker stands out.