During the summer of 2010, I was asked to document an off-road ride from Canada to Mexico called the Continental Divide Ride. Put on by Rawhyde Adventures, along on this ride was Pieter de Waal, then head honcho of BMW Motorrad (motorcycles) North America – basically the big cheese of BMW motorcycles in North America. I joined the group in Montana and we followed a mostly off-road route south along the spine of the Rocky Mountains. At night we would camp under the stars, high up in the Rocky Mountains. During the day we would blast along dirt roads, rough jeep trails, and even abandoned railroad tracks, taking in the incredible scenery and enjoying the camaraderie.
Of course, as the official photographer for this trek, I wasn’t able to enjoy the view as much as most, since I was typically blasting past the 25 riders in front of me so that I would get to a good vantage point, shoot photos and video, jump on my bike and then eat everyone’s dust while passing them once again. At night when we arrived at the campsite, I had to set up my tent like everyone else, but while they kicked back and enjoyed the evening I was still working taking pictures, backing up memory cards, charging batteries, and cleaning my cameras. I was usually the last into my sleeping bag at night and first out the next morning so I could capture camp as it got ready to leave.
Continental Divide Ride 2010 – Images by James Pratt
The story ran in Adventure Rider Magazine and made for a really fun, informative layout.
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