Watching Lindsay Shepard and Lael Wilcox killing it at French Divide ... Lael is about to meet Lindsay

Two awesome riders !

Congratulations to Alexandera Houchin ... first female finisher this year, great to see her dot bouncing at Antelope Wells !

Alexandra got through the Carson before it closed and is closing on Cuba .. Cool to watch her progress. 

Plan to ride this year NOBO, 69.5 yrs. female. hoping to see Hal as he comes south.

Awesome ! 

Rick Ashton was 70 when he finished last year at 30d 6hr.  Hal Russell is next, and he's done it 3 times.

Yeah, some fingers hurt, and it took a few weeks for the soreness in a couple of toes and my butt to dissipate, but what's the alternative ?  you get out there and you put yourself to the test ... some of us finish and some ride parts, but all end up doing something that is pretty much head and shoulders above normal exertion, and I think it's good for the spirit, for your mental health. My mind's eye drifts back to the Basin, to New Mexico, to those piles of grizzly poop in Canada when I was by myself ... it's a time when I was truly alive ... I remember everything about that ride. I may not be able to tell you what I did last month, but I remember that ride. Seems like a net positive.

Thanks for the finishers photos, Jeff -- glad to see Gary made it in!

Anyone notice anything strange about the AB dot (Ashley Benns)?

Seems to have ridden back north to Silver City. Rumors of a yo-yo-yo. Dude !

Without much fanfare, previous Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson rode the TD this year. He was listed as an alienator finisher but he claimed foul for some reason. In any case, thats a politician I can stand behind.

He done good.

Don't know why he's claiming foul though .. he did miss part of the course ( from Moran Junction past Turpin Meadow lodge up to Tog Lodge ) ...  he also went down Tog Pass to Lava Mtn Lodge, figured it out, went back uphill and down Brooks Lake Road like he was supposed to ... that's a piece lots of folks have had trouble with in the past, gave rise to a lot of complaining a couple of years ago.  One of the gals missed the Gold Dust piece, figured it out, got a ride back to redo it and she got alternated. Rules are hard.

But you know, he did good, at 60 something he rode 2700 plus miles, self supported, in a lot of funky weather, something no other presidential, or congressional candidate has ever done. Kudos !

Watching Evan Lee get close to Elkford on his NOBO a couple of hours ago, and suddenly he's showing as Finished ...  looks like something wrong with the Trackleaders finish threshold going north.

Nice work Evan !

There's nine riders on the pavement right now, between downtown Silver City and the Separ Rd turnoff ... rolling for the Border.

~ And now for something completely different ~

Alexandera Houchin (ITT) looks like she made it to Eureka, hit the hardware store, rode a mile out of town, came back to the hardware store, and is now at the muni park in town. She was on fire the first two days. Bike issues? Anyone have intel?

Glen

Hope things are well. She cruised through Canada !  Is there even a bike repair anything in Eureka

Alexandera Houchin set out from Banff on an ITT yesterday, it looks like she's making pretty good time - might be one to watch.

I liked her video she made of her ride in '15   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFSFo_vVPQ

Quick question:  Is there anybody left racing for the Nobo's other than Evan Lee?  Looks like the Mike's Grosso and Jolly have ended at Pinedale 3 days ago.

Evan is the last one standing.   Mike J and Mike G dropped a few days ago in Pinedale ( separate issues ), Nick and Jason way south in Colorado and Larry and I were out right off the bat. Hard year for NOBO ... next year !   Give him a good welcome !

Am pretty amazed at how clean the route is .. going northbound, we get to see what's been dropped by the southbound riders from at least Wyoming all the way up to Banff and it's next to nothing ( unless they drop Bud Light blue cans ! ). 

Hey Ferg, thanks for the response. I am wondering more specifically about navigating and how often racers make a wrong turn, that sort of thing. Thanks again, Todd

The wrong turns happen when your GPS is off ( you "think" you know everything ahead and wanted to save battery ), or you had zoomed out to get an idea of "where the hell am I in relation the the rest of the world" and then you forgot to zoom back in .. so, you follow a track that looks like the obvious main road and end up in some rancher's front yard.  And here's a rule for you .... if the paved road goes downhill and you are zooming along and you see a dirt road on the left or right ... that sucker is your course.

The other thing is Track Up and North Up ... ( selectable under Setup -> Map -> Orientation )  makes a difference ... play with it and understand the difference.

Hi Everyone...
I'm a TD Rookie and getting v excited/scared.  Im racing to raise money for Love Hope Strength Foundation having done Route 66 and N to South NZ for them.
Just thought I'd introduce myself :-)  Ive done a short You Tube Video as a letter of intent lol (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sqa4gF0jTY&t=89s) I'm going to do a I.T.T about 1 1/2 weeks after the GD aiming for sub 25 days! EEEKKK

Few quick questions to throw out there... When is the GPX route likely to be available and from where?  And wildcamping/bivvying in Bear Country... is it that scary or totally inadvisable (I am buying bear spray!) finally I have an older style SPOT GPS messenger and am having trouble adding tracking to it... does anyone else have this type of SPOT and any ideas?
 that's about all for now - sure there will be far more questions in the next few months!
Hope to see some of you on the road next year!

Well, the GPS track will be at:    http://topofusion.com/divide/gps.php    Get it now, load it into your GPS and see if it's all there ( the complete route, not just part of it )

Lots of people wildcamp in Bear Country. Others wouldn't do it under any circumstances.  There are restrooms along the route that some folks use, and a couple of cabins in Canada, between Banff and the Border that are handy.

Don't know about that SPOT, sure others will chime in.  Also a good resource is a Facebook group called   Tour Divide Racers page ... there's a pinned post at the top that has a lot of navigation stuff, letter of intent, signing up on Chris's site, trackleaders, etc, etc.

Have a great ride.

I'm just 47 and would love to participate in the TD, but was diagnosed with cancer for the 2nd time in October (first time was thyroid cancer in August 2013).  I'm going in for surgery this coming Monday and they're going to cut a small tumor from my neck.

If I can have clean scans for a couple of years again, I'm going to see if my wife will let me ride at least a small portion of the route when I turn 50.

If you can go now, GO, GO, GO!!!!!

I want to wish you the absolute best in beating it. 

Thanks MikeI for the SC400 suggestion.  Have you ridden this course?  Do you think I would be screwed in the sand with 2.1 tires?

I had trouble with 2.2 tires ( but I am not a very good bike handler ) ... I probably should have let some air out of my tires instead of running the full pressure. The sand in Anza Borrego is not typical of anything on the Divide, but all of the rest of the route is. Checkout Marshall Bird's blog at:

http://bikedrifting.blogspot.com/2015/03/2015-stagecoach-400.html

or mine ( for somebody who did it really, really slow:)

http://mikesrideforcleanair.blogspot.com/2015/04/stagecoach-400-sands-of-anza-borrego.html

And I would second what some of the others said about it being cold in the desert in January .. but there was a bit of frost on the Divide in Sargents, CO one night and cold enough I had every piece of clothing on when I camped north of Wamsutter one night, so bring your warmy stuff.

Any recommendations on good places for a weekend of winter training?  Someplace where one could get 100-150 miles a day of roads similar to what is 'typical' of the TD course and warm enough for Camping in January - March?  Someplace relatively close to a major airport?

Thanks

Jason
Chicago

One warmup ride for TD is Stagecoach 400 ... they'll start on March 10 this year and do the route in reverse direction, it's in Calif, starts in Idyllwild and goes to San Diego and back .. mtns, desert, singletrack, bikepaths, sand, rocky, hot, w possibility of rain.

Tucson or Phoenix are good points also .. from Tucson, you can do a few hundred miles on singletrack on the Arizona Trail, or take dirt roads into the mountains and easily get a good strong weekend in, with a plus of starting and finishing at the airport if you wanted to.