Why does the Wamsutter route give an advantage (assuming no highway construction)?

Just noticed that Marshal has an unofficial list of riders over 50 on his blog:
http://bikedrifting.blogspot.com/2015/05/race-within-race.html

Marshal has an unofficial list of MALE riders over 50. Shout out to the other 50+ riders:

The awesome Carolyn McClintock, 54, Sobo ITT.
The fantastic Lisa Downing, 54, Nobo ITT, now in tourist mode but still fantastic.
The super Rosemary Lee, 51, Nobo ITT, now in tourist mode but still super.
The wonderful Tracy Burge, 54, Sobo ITT.

Way to go, 50+!

Excellent first week wrap-up, with pictures:
http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/2015-tour-divide-half-way-mark.html
(Hope someone didn't post that already and I missed it.)

The two previous women winners, Jill Homer and Sara Dallman, look to be ahead of their previous paces.

Still, a thirty day Divide is no mean feat. Yay for Tiana!

19:03 is the women's record.

These riders are SO FAST! All of them are flying.

No yellows are marked as alternators, even if they have alternated. Have a look at Lisa Downing's track.

Now 30 days is ahead of 25 days

Maybe taking nine people who did about 25 days, and computing their median for each time point every 10 minutes, would give a more accurate 25 day flag.

If Lael could go through Rawlins and have it still count, how come Saul Britton couldn't?

Looks like Lisa Downing and Rosemary Lee skipped Wyoming and Idaho. Who can blame them? If you end up having to go to touring mode, might as well go right to the good parts.

Why are the 25 day flag and the 30 day flag only 25 miles apart?

Saul Britton went off course. If you look at his track, you see he didn't do the part from Steamboat Lake to Wamsutter, because he got lost. So he'd be nowhere on the leaderboard.

I run a Rohloff on my Krampus. I've never noticed the problems gringo mentions, about inertia, and I don't understand why inertia would tend to stop a rider instead of keeping the rider going forward. Moreover, the weight on the back of my bike is more me, and my gear, than my hub.

I run a Jones loop bar. I have plenty of room for the shifter, a Garmin, my harness, my light, my USB port button, a computer and a map holder. I've been riding for decades, and I found I got used to the Rohloff shifting in about, oh, 30 seconds. I love that I can shift while I'm stopped, especially when I'm starting up on a hill.

The main issue for me, for the Rohloff, is that it's a nightmare to remove and install the rear wheel. But that's because I also have a belt drive.

I'll be starting the GDMBR in a couple of weeks. I'm far, far from a racer-- what the leaders do in a day is what I'll be doing in about a week-- but I'm finding the Rohloff works for me. Racers have a lot of concerns I don't have, though, so I can't say how a Rohloff would work for them.

I'm glad that the riders are being responsible, and leaving good feelings behind them, unlike the Oregon Outback fiasco, where some jerks trashed campsites and a barn a kind man had opened up for them in the rain, and now the "organized" ride is no more.

http://www.oregonbikepacking.com/the-death-of-the-oregon-outback/

Wow, 66 yo Jim Trumpey is back on course. He went to Whitefish on the highway, but came back to near Eureka and is back on the route.

Ooh, lead change for the women. Alice Drobna and Bethany Dunne have both passed Lael Wilson.

Poor Chad Edge. He got really, really lost up in Canada.

I didn't mean a backhanded compliment. I meant a straight-up compliment. I think it's great that we have a competitive pack of women. It can only be good for women's racing to have women pushing each other. Plus it's fun for us to watch.

The second two are in Helena now; the first two have gotten through.