What happened to Liz! So close to pulling off the win!

Word is her hub blew up -- not rollable -- walked 13 miles but eventually gave in and called for a ride.  Such bad luck for so close to the finish!

Wow, this is an extremely close women's race.  Top 4 all within striking distance.  Tonight will quite possibly decide it...

Trackleaders has been lowering productivity in offices around the world for years!

Reload the whole tracker and you'll get record dots.

Full on bluebird days here in the San Juans.  Rare for this time of year.

Sara was unable to get the rental spot.  She is heading up Tenmile Crest now.  She's not moving real fast but she is moving.

Yep, I tried to connect her with a scratching racer with one of our trackers, but it didn't work out.

I'll try again in Leadville.  Or she could purchase one and activate it on her account (or one of ours).

Looks like it may be time to dig out Neil's ITT dot.

This is a fun one to watch.  Lots of good names out there.

The Bighorns are beautiful, and burly!  I've got to give some respect to anyone that's finished this route, especially when temps are in the 90's down low.  Impressive, folks.

Lee and I had a great ride out there, great adventure.  Loved all the demanding trail through West Ten Sleep, over Bald Ridge and down to Paint Rock Creek.  Then things get really interesting as the flags (were those placed by Aaron?) direct you off the dead-end 4x4 road and into the sage.  Such a magnificent and wild canyon.

Then you're out in the desert (wow!) facing a massive climb out.  We thought that the little active dig site at the end of Paint Rock was our last water, so we filtered the creek.... only to find the fancy campground later on.  Oops -- we didn't do our route research!

We took Aaron's advice to climb lovely 2-tracks to Alkalai road.  Light tailwinds greeted us for that big climb and it was a roaster!  A nap in the high country set things right.

At the bench trail we saw the sign about trail damage and felt the heat of the sun.  We tapped out there.

The "Beef Slide" trail called to us loudly -- what a piece of country over there!  But alas the southern slopes were nowhere to be for us weak little bikepackers in the afternoon.

Shell was a welcome respite.  The store closed suddenly but not before we could pick up 4 panninis and a few supplies.  We met the only mountain bikers in Shell (Laurie and Todd) who kindly shared map info, some snacks and their backyard for camping.

I never really cooled down that night and as we got going in the morning the warmth of the sun was just too much -- we opted for the slow crawl up the highway, rejoicing as clouds greeted us in the high country.  After food at the Bear Lodge we figured out how to rejoin the route over by Sheep Creek.  A lovely night before the final little HAB set us up for barreling down the Tongue River Trail and into Dayton.  Wahoo!

It's great to see a route that is a challenge to complete -- even in tour mode.  The world needs more routes like this.  I've become more and more weak to the heat in the last few years, so my perspective is likely skewed.  I would love to come back and see more of the Bighorns in the fall.

Thanks Aaron, for everything -- and especially for getting us out into the new country.  Again, hats off to everyone that completed it!

And it's full.  I'll keep track of any drops (please let me know if you are dropping or know of any) so we can get last minute folks in if possible.

I spent the weekend within spitting distance of Spring Creek Pass and.... it rained most of the afternoons and evenings, as it tends to this time of year!

One spot left in the Grand Depart for being tracked...

Trail question....
in the beginning of section 12, the CT Databook differs from the posted route on the tracking page (http://trackleaders.com/ctr18). It's my guess that the CTR18 tracking page follows a paved road, correct? I see in the CT Databook the "bikes" prohibited sign...does that apply to the whole section? How do I read/interpret that? Is the databook info just a reference guide, while the GPX is the actual trail that needs to be followed?
(Sorry for all the questions...noobie)

Not sure exactly what the databook says but the GPX file should precisely define the route racers should take.  There are pieces of segment 12 and others that are technically open to bikes and could be ridden, but they don't make any sense for a thru-route.  I believe that's maybe what you are seeing? 

Tracking map (with a question mark on Molas->Durango) is up:

http://trackleaders.com/ctr18

39 signed up so far minus 3 ITTs = 36 of 74 available tracking registrations taken as of today.

I'm curious it the trail will open up, or what alternate might occur!  Time will tell.

Lee Blackwell and I are planning to head up to Ten Sleep and ride starting... 14th of July-ish.  Solidly in the 'sleep and smell the flowers' cat.  Well under 14 hrs per day.... maybe even dig deep and shoot for less than 7 hours of moving per day!

Excited to see some new country!  Thanks to Aaron for putting this route together.

Hey Scott,
Are you going to activate the weather layer? It's always interesting to see who's getting dumped on & who's getting lucky!!

I was wondering about Denberg too. Still bummed that Justin D's spot isn't showing, but he's at least posting vids over on the FB.

Crikey I forgot about the radar layer.  It's there now, thx for the reminder.

I've asked Justin for his SPOT login deets (yesterday, I think) so I can dig in and see what's amiss.  He tracked OK with the same setup in the AZT so it's an odd one.

Larry Shaw, the early NoBo ITT might have gotten through NM before closures, but I haven't checked his history page.  Here's hoping for some rain here in the west.

When does the touring mode rule on Trackleaders apply? Do they wait a day or two in case people have problems on the first day or are just taking their time getting into the swing of things?

I don't think we've ever gone to white dots earlier than 5-7 days into the race.  Unexpected stuff always happens.

Many people online now.

New fire (Meadow) has the Sapillo section of the CDT closed (on the TD route).

https://nmfireinfo.com/2018/06/04/gila-national-forest-meadow-fire-temporary-closure-order/

It was glorious, I needed that. ALIVE!

Long live the GLR.

Hey Scott -
Any word from Matt, is he ok?  Beginning to more wonder if he is alright rather than when will the email come out.......

Thanks.

Yep, he is fine.  We worked closely all weekend on a number of other events.  It's way overdue, but I think the links are coming soon.

Does Matthew use the email from the LOI sent via tourdivide.org? Should I have sent an email or was using the contact form on the website ok?

I haven't received any signup info yet

Yes he uses the email sent in on the LOI.  Only 6 or so people are on the tracker, so he still hasn't gotten around to sending the link out to the vast majority of people.

Any chance that the re-route is decided on soon enough to recreate the GPX before the race starts? This one looks serious enough to just go with it.

Yep, it's pretty easy to describe -- you just go the way you'd drive on the highway between Abiquiu and Cuba.  96 and 550, IIRC.  That's what we used in 2013, and I don't know of any reason it wouldn't be the same should it be needed.

Oh, this is going to be some reroute!

http://www.koat.com/article/fire-danger-prompts-santa-fe-national-forest-closure/20967986

Crikey!  I am skeptical that it'll reopen before the leaders get there.  They usually want 3 solid days of monsoon rains before they'll lift it.

IIRC 2013 had this closure/detour, which made MH's blazing time that year not quite an official record.

Thanks, Scott!  Where can we get cues?

Matthew usually does provide them for new sections like this -- if he does, look for it in an 'official' TD communique (email) from him.

2018 GPX is available.  HRT route actually makes the route 7 miles shorter but probably a wash time wise.

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

Matthew is sending out the Trackleaders signup link individually, but he expects to complete that in the next 48 hours.

Angler you definitely deserve it!! Thank YOU for all you do for the cyclists who come through your beautiful community!

Hear hear, thanks Angler and Ovando -- what an oasis for divide travelers.

Nothing new to be aware of this year that I can think of.  Should be plenty of exhausted, muddy and/or frozen masses heading your way in a couple weeks.