My brother, Jon, gets the 2010 Tour Divide Achievement Award for the Fewest (2) and Most Uneventful Call-Ins. 

He's obviously much better in print. Guess I'll have to wait for the written accounts.

 

Congrats on the finish, everyone!

I went back through my pictures of my very short tour this year and found this one of all of us including Dave before the start ...

Can you help put some faces with names ... I've figured out a number of who's who from various sources, but a listing L-R, front row/back row might be nice if someone knows the gang.

Thanks!

P.S. Good ride, MTN Turtle! The bike gave out before you did.

Absolutely devastating news. Words fail me. Prayers for Dave's family and friends ...

Thoughts and prayers go out to Dave and family ...

The Mountain Turtle gets the award for best use of the word "scosche" in a Tour Divide call-in ...

Read Kent's blog about his recent endo over a barbed wire cattle crossing ... Seems the mountain turtle went airborne and landed on his shell -- glad to report he and bike are fine. Just another day on the Great Divide ...

Couldn't wait to post these. Muchas gracias to Todd Ison for his photos from Island Park!

Here's Jon Billman on his Siren 29er SS ...







Note: As of this morning, Jon had crossed into Wyoming and according to Todd's report, was feeling pretty upbeat and was in good spirits.

Apparently, Matt also got some outside assistance from a guy name Jared ...

Hey, teamfaeth ... Just learned today that the Billmans have distant relatives (cousins on our dad's side) whose last name was Faeth. They lived in Ft. Madison,  Iowa. Interesting.

Give Pete an attaboy for me when you get him home.

Thanks for the additional images.

This one shows my brother's brief lead over Matt Lee. 

  Aidan Harding is having a great ride! He's up near the front of the race on his singlespeed. The rest of the SS riders look to be pretty close together.
   Go, go, go!
   bruce.b

Unfortunately, single-speeder Pete Faeth has called it quits in Polaris. Read about the bike cop's quest from his local paper. Neat story. Hope he's not too down.

Looks like the remaining three SSers are Harding (who is booking it), Billman (who better call in soon, maybe from Lima hopefully) and the always upbeat Mountain Turtle.

Couple more guys dropped in Lincoln: Huston and Santacroce. Bummer.

Pete Faeth says riders battled snow and hail on trail from Helena to Butte.

Also, you've gotta listen to Stephen Huddle's call in from Butte. He's in a good mood.

I think I smell a Subway endorsement for Matthew Lee in the future ... Fresh Feet!

Speaking of single-speeds ... here's an article from Oklahoma Living Magazine by Jon Billman about a Pan-Oklahoma trek he took 2 years ago. I drove his butt out to the tip of the panhandle, where OK meets Colorado and NM and he rode back east 651 miles to the Arkansas border in about a week's time.

http://www.ok-living.coop/media/July08.pdf

I think this quote sums up some of the appeal of SS bikes:
"... exactly what I wanted: an aluminum, single-speed, rigid mountain bike with fat tires and pincher brakes for the price of two pair of high-tech running shoes. Why a single-speed—one gear—33 teeth on the chain ring and 18 on the rear cog? Simplicity. Asceticism, maybe."

Jon Billman is running
a 32 X 18 his original choice. 
White Industry Crank and rear sprocket with a Sram Single Speed chain

It was a last minute build as at 11am Thursday morning it was pieces.
One frame box, one wheel box and a big Ol suit case of parts.

Should make for a good story.  He is riding great go get em' Jon!

Great info, kucebags. Thanks! He was sweating it out waiting on the Siren frame to arrive last week. Had to actually take a later flight to Canada last Wednesday because of it. I take it you helped with the build in Banff?

Now that his SPOT is up and running, it looks like he's near the rear of a line of about 11 riders between Butte and Helena. Anyone got a report on trail quality/weather conditions there now?

Not sure if this has been posted before ... but I was googling around and found a link that some of you might find interesting.

It's an interactive google map with photos from a motorcycle tour: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=100392622704147085322.0004747e3335b1e452e36&ll=40.84706,-101.425781&spn=25.671162,47.636719&z=5

You can zoom in and click for photos of specific areas. Kind of cool for us flatlanders to see the terrain between Helena and Basin, for instance.

Wow. Kent Peterson is one chronically happy mountain turtle. I mean that as a compliment. While everyone is slogging through the soup, he's as chipper as can be, raving about the accommodations (no matter how spartan) and the majestic wonder of the mountains. Love it.

 

His call-ins remind of the Brits from a few years back -- everything, no matter how rough, was simply "brilliant" ...

Not sure what size SS setup my bro started out running (maybe one of you gear-heads can tell by the photo) ... but I know it wasn't his ideal choice, as his bike/frame came together at the last minute.

He had planned to switch it out at the Glacier Cyclery in Whitefish, though.

If anyone at the Outdoorsman or other bike shop in the area is reading this ... and you happen to run into Jon Billman, tell him to get his SPOT working or turned on. His family would appreciate it. It's been off since Lincoln (site of his last call-in). 


Also, thanks to everyone for all the various info coming in. Following this thing is addictive and we need our frequent fixes.
 

Here's a shot of Jon Billman's ride (taken by his wife at the start in Banff). It's a Siren "John Henry" 29er SS, with Stan's NoTubes.

I'm sure this is the cleanest both rider and bike will look for awhile ...