Time to kick this off. Who is already planning and preparing?

Just looked at the map and noticed a couple of ITTers out there. Looked up Tom and saw his age. Awesome job Tom👍
http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide19i.php?name=Tom_Seipp

Adventure of a lifetime at such a young age! So fantastic!

"The scenery is wonderful but the trail angels on the way proved to be just as inspiring. A pair of motorcyclists insisted that I take a litre of water about 20 miles out of Wamsutter, just to make sure I was alright. Chuck Snodgrass and his wife in Island Park picked me up, gave me dinner and a nice room in their house with no expectation of anything- he said 'just so I can give back a bit' and dropped me off the next day early exactly where I'd left the route (Chuck had offered this to all racers on the FB page so I had his number on my phone). Right at the turn off of the pavement to Grant, MT was a box with power bars and Gatorade, marked 'Tour Divide'...  I had a bad shift cable in Wamsutter and a passerby gave me a small screwdriver that I needed to clear the frays out of the hardware on the Rolhoff... So many people that simply cheered as I passed by (especially other cyclists not on the route themselves). I found myself very moved by the things people do to be kind to strangers."

This is so true.  After decades of touring and bike packing I am still amazed at the kindness extended by strangers.  I try to give back by being a Warmshowers host.  I drive through Pie Town fairly often on my way to my off the grid place in New Mexico.  I always stop for pie and when I pay the bill I pay for a piece of pie and ice cream for the next cyclist who comes though.  It is just fun knowing you put a smile on some tired cyclist's face. 

I also stop and offer water to touring cyclists.  Living in the desert means planning around water and that often means just bringing enough to get by, often not enough.  When some stranger comes out of nowhere and hands you a gallon of water it is a total unplanned luxury, you can wantonly drink at will.  It is a little thing to the stranger but it is a big deal to the cyclist, something they remember for years.

We all at times complain that there isn't enough kindness in the world but all of us can correct that one little bit at a time.

Beautiful! Thanks for all that you do!

Its tempting!  ...

The scenery is wonderful but the trail angels on the way proved to be just as inspiring. A pair of motorcyclists insisted that I take a litre of water about 20 miles out of Wamsutter, just to make sure I was alright. Chuck Snodgrass and his wife in Island Park picked me up, gave me dinner and a nice room in their house with no expectation of anything- he said 'just so I can give back a bit' and dropped me off the next day early exactly where I'd left the route (Chuck had offered this to all racers on the FB page so I had his number on my phone). Right at the turn off of the pavement to Grant, MT was a box with power bars and Gatorade, marked 'Tour Divide'...  I had a bad shift cable in Wamsutter and a passerby gave me a small screwdriver that I needed to clear the frays out of the hardware on the Rolhoff... So many people that simply cheered as I passed by (especially other cyclists not on the route themselves). I found myself very moved by the things people do to be kind to strangers.

Thank you for sharing - I couldn't agree more! From the amazing gift of generosity extended by complete strangers to the heartfelt concern expressed by those who find us beat down and tired, the goodness of the human spirit is displayed by the kindness of these Trail Angels. It renews our hope and lifts our spirit!

Thanks for posting. I love reading through the start list and seeing where everyone is from and what their goals are. Such a wide variety! Lots of international riders-as always. Hats off to them. Major effort to get here and compete. Most of them do well too. A few familiar names: Hal Russel at age 70!! Marty Johnson at 64.  And past winner Josh Kato -with no time goal, right. And on the women's side TD cheerleader Bonnie Gagnon at 29 days-good luck Bonnie! Alexandra Houchin at 17 days-a serious goal. For the men 23yr old Dylan Gonda is shooting for 16 days which is the lowest listed. These two are veterans so they know what they signed up for.
Mother nature bats last so goals are goals. Thinking this could go down as an epic year given the heavy winter over basically the entire route. Cant wait for the GD!

Thank you!! Sorry for the delay - just saw your kind post!

I know what you mean! I was out of time by the time I got to Brush Mountain else I'd have continued with you down the route! Welcome back to humidity here in Minnesota... and already I'm missing the Divide...

.
Another go, next year for you?

Congrats Bonnie! Lung damage, torn ligaments in her back and I don't know what else (but Grant does). Perseverance!

Thank you so much! It was a pleasure and honor to race.
My ailments are too many to list but each is overcome by the passion to live fully.

#TD19 - Hal Russell called in with a finish call! Huge congrats on your 6th TD finish, Hal!


http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/td19/

So very inspiring! It was an honor to share the course with Hal this year. He is amazing!

Any latest word on the Alberta Canada fires? 
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/04/world/alberta-wildfires-evacuations/index.html
Smoke was so bad from it a week ago Montana was bathed in it.

Good question. We had smoke haze here in Minnesota as well.

This is late coming, for sure, but the GPX file is up in the usual place:

http://topofusion.com/divide/gps.php

The only change is in the Swan Valley which is a ~30 mile reroute for logging.  It adds 3 miles to the route.

Tracker is up, as mentioned already -- registration soon, I hope!  It's going to be a good one -- can't wait to get this party started.

Any anticipation of more reroutes in light of the snow pack etc. at this juncture? 
Fingers crossed for no fires this year.

This is late coming, for sure, but the GPX file is up in the usual place:

http://topofusion.com/divide/gps.php

The only change is in the Swan Valley which is a ~30 mile reroute for logging.  It adds 3 miles to the route.

Tracker is up, as mentioned already -- registration soon, I hope!  It's going to be a good one -- can't wait to get this party started.

Thank you!!

Salsa Cycles just announced that the top caps will get us 2 free pies! Double the motivation to get to Pie Town.
https://twitter.com/salsacycles/status/1137026596148252672?s=19

Awesome, now we just need the link to register our devices!

Yes! Refreshing my email hourly!

Trackleaders is up.

http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide19

So, so good to see!

Well this should make everyone a little anxious!

https://twitter.com/KyleTWN/status/1137061892495556609

Always exciting down to the last minute! Thanks for sharing. Weather reports looking great in Banff, with a 30% off the traditional rain for the start.

Stay tuned if I have no takers for Wed I will move my plans around for Thursday.

Will do!

This is probably last minute for most of the riders but I am offering a ride from Calgary to Banff on Wednesday June 12th.  I can take up to 4 riders and bikes so long as they are not boxed(bikes not riders lol).  Hit me up if you are interested.  Good luck everyone.

That's so kind of you! Thanks for doing this. I arrive Thursday unfortunately.

There are already SOBO riders on the route! So the trail is already blazed to my understanding.

Oh cool! I know of a NOBO but wasn't aware of a SOBO.
Really hoping trackleaders will be up soon!

Well, yes it should. That has me a bit nervous as I'm planning an ITT.

Excited for you to blaze the trail for us! NOBO or SOBO?

Seems to all be on FaceBook. It sux though as there seems to be no chronological order to it so it is hard to find anything.
Going back over previous year's prep threads is a great way to glean information as most of it is still relevant. About the only advantage to FB might be snow updates as that is where people can post photos/info easily and quickly. You have to find them of course.....

Anyway, good luck to everyone racing this year. Wishing I was going to be out there again...but sort of not.  It WILL be a life changing experience, especially if you manage to finish.

I'm happy to find info here. Love the older threads too.
The snow will be a contender this year, it seems. Can't wait to find out first hand.