This looks awesome, definitely interested in racing (or at least riding it).  My personal preference would be late-August, but that's merely because the the beginning and middle of the summer are already packed.

Another good question: how do we get some early season races in CA?  The coast is ridable all year round, and the past two Januarys have been clear, blue skies almost the entire month.

The Enduros are mighty fine, but I wouldn't mind getting my multiday, Grand Depart whistle wet while half of the continent is buried in snow.

I don't think Matt's the one to dole out the bar info, maybe I'm wrong.  

I happened to down a few while on route though...

I have fond memories of getting a pre-race beer at First & Last Chance Bar at the Port of Roosville prior to it becoming trendy to line up in Canada.  Dave Nice would always get a Guinness.  Me?  Corona, with a cheap shot of tequila to chase, as I wanted to taste the fine spirits of the country I was pedaling towards.

People rarely now stop in there for anything more than some water and to fumble around with the payphone so they can announce to the world they made it past the border.  However, if it looks like you're not going to make it to Eureka before the town goes to sleep, or you would like to partake in a lost Divide ritual, I must suggest stopping into the First & Last Chance.  Not only does the smoke-filled bar have plenty of beer, they also have frozen pizza that you can snack on while having a go at some video poker.

Really, I cannot think of a better way to be welcomed to the good ol' U.S. of A.

I predict a lot of people will ride their bikes.

I'm not making a final decision until April, but as of right now, I'm intending on rolling out of Banff.

Been talking for a while how it would be great to start from AW.  Banff has always seemed like more of a "destination" to me, plus I just think it would be cool to meet the riders going the other direction.  12:00 pm would be a perfect start time.  I'm game!

This point gets brought up every year, but to summarize: AW has no significant services/food and doesn't make for an accommodating pre-race venue.  By the time you get to the end, all you'll want to do is go home and not spend a lot of time in your terminal city.  The opinion held by many is that Banff is a much nicer place to spend a few days before the race than AW.   That said, the s->n start is still attractive, especially if you have started from Banff but never made it to AW. (guaranteed new trail).

I'm curious, to what degree do those who have ridden the TD coming from lower elevations notice the air? I just moved away from Boulder after 4 years and when there, I found I only really started to feel the elevation at 9K'+. A local brevet organizer advertised a ride that started outside of Boulder (~5400') and headed into Kansas as lowlander-friendly. Now that I'm hooked on the TD and have to start planning for it, I'm wondering whether I need to plan in several weeks at altitude first!

Elevation isn't really a problem starting the Tour Divide.  Every year I started, I came from sea level and only had a few days at the start to get acclimated.  That said, Banff is only at 4,800' and the Divide doesn't really get that high up for a while.

On the other hand, doing something like the Colorado Trail Race from sea level is a disaster.  I can tell you going from the Ocean to 9000' in less than 48 hours does not work too well :-P

FYI - The twitter link does not work.

I'm in as well.

Definitely worried about the elevation.  Living at 50 feet probably isn't preparing me too well for 11,000'.  I also haven't seen a drop of rain in ~3 months.  It's going to be fun out there! 

The airport looks like a nice shuttle back to SFO to me 

Seriously, I have a flight late into Day 6 already booked from the Durango airport.  Only cost $140 including tax.  The only bad part is that I'll need to finish in 6d8h so I get myself off the trail, my bike to a shop to be shipped back to SF, (hopefully) into some non-cycling clothes, and finally to my flight.

RE: 45c tires

I've only ridden a 10-12 mile segment of the CTR before and all I can say is: "That's nuts!"

[Please note that this post has nothing to do with the official Tour Divide opinion on the matter of the rules.]

Please note that this post has nothing to do with the official Tour Divide opinion on the matter of the rules.

trail717 basically has it right.  I'm just going to say that a big consideration is not being able to go forward is the price you pay for comfort.  Take Cricket for example: she felt like she needed to spend the night in a hotel but was not near a hotel.  This is a reality of the route and what makes the race so challenging.  If people can easily get rides to and from places, it takes an element of the challenge away from the race: knowing that you have to re-ride a section will really make you reconsider getting a ride back to town to catch some ZZZs.

Additionally, I do not believe it is reasonable to ban all auto-transport.  For example, when Jamie busted his tire, it was not easy for him to advance back to Lima.  I don't recall if he received a ride or not, but that is a good example of how a ride would be helpful.  There are places on the route that are legitimately remote.  There is no reason to DQ someone because they, say, broke their frame and didn't want to walk 75+ miles back to town.  That said, whatever "emergency" justified moving off or backwards along the route should have been corrected by the time they are ready to rejoin the route.  Therefore, there is no good mechanical or health reason they cannot pedal that distance again.

In light of the point above, an argument could be made that all auto-transport back towards the route should be banned (again, you went to town to solve and issue so you can pedal back to the route).  However, I believe that it might be too difficult to manage that rule (loophole: say Town A is 50 miles from the route and Town B is 20 miles from the route but further south.  A racer goes to Town A to discover they do not have what they need.  Would going to Town B be a violation?).

All the said, I think the rule needs to be more specific about what happens when you are transported back "near" the route.  Cricket's example is a case of that... she was transported back to Butte but likely not back to "the route."  Clearly the penumbras of the rule indicate that being transported back to Butte would be sufficient as "back to the route" but, ultimately, it was not explicit.

"Severe sunburn"

Wow!  What a contrast in weather from those going n->s!

Good job, Dave.

It looks like he's still at it!  I hope he goes beyond Flagg Ranch so he can be the first person to have completed the entire route on a fixie.

It looks like he is now at the airport.  Likely a dropout.

Matt Lee was packless last year as well, I didnt see a pic for this year, but I magine the same again.

Going packless is key for the GDMBR.  I tried it last year and it was significantly better for my body.

Did anyone start this?

Yeah, looks like Bruce might be out of the race because he hasn't backtracked to complete the route :-/

'Course, there may be some TDers that also intend to do the CTR and can just keep the ones they have.  That's just plain nuts!  TD + CTR in the same year...   

Oh man, are there any takers for that challenge this year?

OTOH, I checked the routing in the Flathead re-route on Tourdivide website (http://tourdivide.org/dividenews/td_course_change_09) and it seems that one there is one discrepancy. (It's the red segment between aqua and yellow ones, following the Wigwam river.)

Just after sharp left turn onto Wigwam FSR (from Cabin Pass FSR), after about 200-300 yards from the crossing, there is a bridge (the longer one), and the official ("planned") re-route makes a left turn before it and follows through the woods on the left side (Eastern) of the river. All the racers though, based on SPOT trackers, crossed this bridge and followed Wigwam FSR on the right side (Western) of the valley.

I don't know anything about this.  Last time I spoke with Matt he didn't mention having to change the reroute.  Again, the cues at the Ski Stop should tell all.  They will hopefully be posted to td.org within a month.

Is there a way to get my hands on a cue sheet of the new re-route??? Would love to try it out this summer when up there;) Thanks, Rich

Rich, we made the cue sheets available to anyone who stops in at The Ski Stop in Banff.

Kevin Hall got into an accident and is out of the race.  I'm sure we'll hear more soon.