June 8: Corbin, near buildings. Possibly indoors, I can't tell. - I slept in a derelict shed, Ollie in his tent.
June 9: Camped at Tuchuck USFS Campground east of Whitefish Divide. - I slept in the concrete outhouse, Ollie in his tent.
June 10: Holland Lake Lodge (can't tell if it's camping next to Lodge or in a room). - We shared a cabin, our first reward for the Eureka break.
June 11: Helena Best Western Motel (as per phone-in). - BW.
June 12: At Grasshopper Inn near Polaris (can't tell if it's camping next to Lodge or in a room). - Shared a room in the Inn.
June 13: Sawtell Mountain Resort near Island Park (can't tell if it's camping next to Lodge or in a room). - Camped beside the resort.
June 14: Lava Mountain Lodge (on highway, east of Brooks Lake / Togwatee Pass) (can't tell if it's camping next to Lodge or in a room). - Got a room at the Lava Mountain Lodge. Left bikes outside, mud frozen solid, well below zero that morning.
June 15: Atlantic City (probably slept on the lawn next to the bar and cafe/shop). - Camped on the spot of the old teepee.
June 16: Rough camp next to road ~8 miles north of Aspen Alley. - Correct.
June 17: Rough camp next to road ~2 miles before Kremmling. - Correct.
June 18: Salida Motel (as per phone-in). - Aspen Leaf Lodge.
June 19: Rough camp next to road ~2 miles south of Del Norte. - Near the end of the pavement on Indiana Pass.
June 20: Rough camp next to road near Canon Plaza, ~5 miles north of Vallecitos. - Camped near the snack shack before El Rito.
June 21: Pueblo Pintado Gas Station area, probably slept in the parking lot or behind a building. - Slept under the roof of a community mailbox.
June 22: Rough camp on side of road ~43 miles south of Pie Town (without Craig) - Best Western in Grants for me.
June 23: Rough camp on side of road ~15 miles north of Separ (without Craig) - Rough camp about 8 miles past the Beaverhead work station

I think that's right. It kind of all blends together. Looks like six nights indoors for me. Way more than I anticipated. Ollie would have been five. Roughly 1/3. Partly due to the crappy weather in the beginning.

Awesome rides to all the finishers. Keep grinding to all still out there. You're all my heroes. Eszter is a monster. Kurt and Caroline, I can't imagine hauling the tandem through the CDT. Katherine kicks ass. Kurt and Garrett are formidable racers and fine gentlemen. Sad that Adam Jensen, Erik Lobeck and Phillip Fogg had to drop. Best wishes to Ryan Correy and my roommate in Banff, Steven Martine and of course everyones emotional favorite David Nice for safe and speedy finishes. Cjell, I loved our golden spoke moment, too hilarious, I've got lots of water if you still need some!! Ollie and I may have suffered permanent hearing loss! Ollie Whalley, super rider, even better person, very deserving champion.
Craig Stappler

Hey everyone. I'm in Tucson. Off to Fairwheel bikes for some boxing up, flight back to Calgary at 6pm. I'll post a bit longer account when I get home. It's very humbling to be followed so intently on these pages. It's too bad the tracker didn't work the whole last day. I thought I failed to turn it on properly in the morning in my hast to get away without Kurt and Garrett seeing me. Now that it seems to have worked until Silver City, I'm at a loss. All I can say is I tried to leave it all out there and ride hard for the finish. I'm thrilled for Ollie. We crossed paths at the top of the climb out of Silver city. He on his way to rest, me with a few more hard hours ahead. I saw a red car with a bike rack crest the hill and slow as someone inside noticed me. I instantly knew, Ollie! The car stopped, Ollie jumped out, I swerved across the highway and met him in a fully embraced huge, still clipped in. Shared some congratulations for a few minutes, he ribbed me about, " no more saddle time for him", and I went on to finish my own adventure. Congrats Ollie! Thanks everyone.
Craig Stappler.

Ollie and I just had lunch in Pinedale. Winds look awesomely favorable for the next bit. Brooks lake road was partly mud. Yesterday my legs left the building after the rail trail. I detoured to the Timberline golf course. Had two cheeseburgers, fries, three chocolate bars, a coke, watched Anderson Cooper on tv and had a nap. Ollie got caught in a highway closure, due to a head on accident. I was pleasantly surprised to see his bike outside the Buffalo Valley cafe. He was glad to see me too, seems he missed me. We climb and descend virtually identically, we're no dumbies, staying together has MANY advantages. Dream team reunited.
Craig.

Thanks Joe, we all love mtb cast, especially those listening from home.

Achilles tendinitis keep me out of the mass start last year. From what I've learned it is primarily caused by tight calf muscles. In physio I started a regime of heel drops, on a step to strengthen the tendon and calf stretching, to take tension off of the tendon. I'll do three sets per leg until failure, followed by stretching the calf by dropping your heel. I do these following each ride. If you start now, this should protect you from any achilles issues on the divide. Pushing cleats back helps, my are full back. It only takes a couple hours before this new position actually feels better and I believe it's in vogue in the pro road peloton.

Ride to the divide? I live in cow town (Calgary). Last year I offered to ride with racers out to Banff. I have several routes on divide like roads, not the main highway. It's a beautiful ride and a nice shakedown. Last year a couple guys took me up on the offer. I think it would work best to stay in Calgary one night, then ride out. I was thinking Wednesday the 6th but earlier could be possible. Let me know.

Hey everyone. I'm humbled by all of the attention. I pulled out the night before last just before Pinedale. I've been struggling with what I think is a partially torn quad right above the left knee. Self induced from getting to excited and climbing to hard. The last few days I would try and take time to recover but by the second half of each day it was painful and every peddle stroke was tedious. At the end I was reduced to walking the final pitches on a bone dry Union pass. I wasn't having fun anymore, it's funny how your mind can work against you as soon as you start to have problems. At that point I decided to pull out. I loved the course, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the climbs and trail like quality of the roads in Montana. I keep looking around thinking, this is spectacular, how come I haven't seen this view in a picture before? Maybe the Divide has too many spectacular vistas to ever completely capture. Thank you Erik for the start date, I'm sorry we didn't get to meet up. The conditions I faced were fast and definitely an advantage. I had one half hour rain storm outside Butte and perfect ground conditions throughout. A minor heat wave in Montana would be the only none ideal element. I would like to congratulate JP on his ride to this point, I'm confident he'll break the record. Thanks to all those who have gone before and been so generous with posting their setups. I've certainly borrowed. Divide racing is hard, everyone who has finished one of these is amazing. Matt you are mind boggling and the hard men from this spring, wow!
Craig Stappler.

It looks as though Craig's spot is not working because it shows that he has not moved for over 16 hours. This is not correct as he was at the post office at 11:30. Does anyone know how to tell him that it is not working?

Craig spent the night at the Angler Inn. Got there at 1am. He may also have been looking for a place to buy more tape for the achilles.

I just arrived in Banff. Getting ready for a 6am start tomorrow morning. Beautiful day, at least 25 degrees, celcius that is.
Craig.

August 25, I think we decided 6am.

So far I think it's myself and Erik, With Jay P. chasing a day behind? We would love to see more faces in Banff.

We are now getting the serious riders through, a montage of Photo's I am going to call Beauty and the Beasts.

Thank you to the ComoDepot and BrushMountain for the pics and taking such good care of the riders. It is nice to see my friend Tori stopped for a beer, at 11:30 in the morning mind you. Thanks also to all of the great TD supporters, the Outdoorsman, Orange peel, Absolute bikes, sorry I know I am missing some. As a fan and future racer, it's amazing, the spirit of all those out there that make this ride so special.

Dave that sucks! I've been following your situation, it's horrible to have a bike go missing, especially one that has so much thought and customization. I hope it shows up soon. If it doesn't work out, it would be great to have you join us in Banff in august.

Are those Woodchippers that Tori is using?

Yes, those are woodchippers. Interesting note, due to extenuating circumstances the bike she's riding, a salsa fargo, was built up just four days before the race.

I'm in.
Craig.

Hey Erik. Interesting idea. I lost my grand depart due to injury. I plan to do the route sometime this summer. I would love to have someone to race with. I even wondered about showing up and crashing your ITT date...I wouldn't want to set a precedent with a grand depart that rivals the original date. Are you going to race the CTR this year?
Craig.

Best wishes to all the starters in Banff and Antelope Wells this year. No matter what anyone says, you're all the real deal just for making it this far. I unfortunately have been writing checks that my achilles tendon can't cash. I am out for now. I hope the snow through elk pass isn't too severe.

Elk pass trailhead to hydroline.

More.

Tour Divide course. Startline up to hydroline and elk pass trail. I started 8:30 saturday night. Water levels are extreme but there are bridges over everything. Camped at mile 27.5. Then, the next morning and after the first corner, snow. The section between canyon dam and mt. shark trailhead took about 2-3 hours longer than dry conditions. Dry dirt, snow, dirt, snow. Patches were anything between 10 meters and 1000. Sometimes posting-holing up to two feet. By the time I reached mt shark trailhead, my feet were utterly frozen. Most of the snow has been sheltered by trees, I was surprised to find it so low. I would wear some type of waterproof footwear for day one, or possibly bring snowshoes that are quick to take on and off. I imagine there are similar sections in Montana?
Elk Pass. As stated, the snow started just after the trailhead. I was off the bike pretty much straight away. Elk pass trail is a major xc ski trail and even as it melts, it still has a packed quality. I only would sink two or three inches and made it to the hydroline in 20 minutes, pushing a fully loaded bike. At the top the hydroline is snow free, just about clear of mud. There's an avoidance that drops the trail right, off the hydroline down to fox creek and then regains the powerline. This is also full of snow, it seems to have the same packed quality as the climb from the trail head, It's only few hundred meters at most, descend then climb. I had to turn around part way down, needing to ride back to Calgary. The hydroline looked to be partly clear on the other side. With some luck you might be riding all the way to elk pass. That's all I know. Sorry I can't give a more complete report.