Yay, Katherine! Wonderful race; congratulations!

And yes...no helmet. No idea why! Probably because of the weight. He's never worn a helmet touring. I mentioned something when I saw him on his ride through Frisco, CO. He said he should have had one during the NM stretch, for sure.
Congratulations Cjell!!! Truly an unbelievable experience and a ride of a lifetime.

According to the rules (as I read them), family and friends are prohibited from visiting with riders along the course -- am I wrong? I'm planning to ride the TD next year and I'm trying to get my mind around the rules.

Ester has been incredible -- very regular with early starts.

Eric Foster, how's the knee? Are you going to do the TD again?

Sorry about the down time this morning folks, both on trackleaders and here on bp.net (same server, unfortunately).  We exceeded our bandwidth quota for the month, which has never happened before... lots of eyes on this year's race, so that's cool.

 Thanks, Scott and Matthew for all you do to bring us the coverage each year. I just made a donation to Trackleaders and I hope everyone else lurking/posting here will do the same.

A couple of years ago there was a widget where you could see all the movement for everyone for 24 hours -- is that still around anywhere?

Looks like Craig and Ollie are at the Hopewell Lake Campground.

@Russ Kipp -- thanks for posting pics -- great to see everyone as they come through!

Don't forget to make those phone calls -- we'll be waiting to hear how you are doing as we live vicariously through you. Be safe.

Our thoughts are with you!

That is so cool that Patrick is taking the main route to Grants.

Is he the only one who took the main route this year?

i am down in Deming NM so i can pick those guys up.  i will get some good shots of the photo finish for you.

Did you pick them up? Hope to see those pictures!

Wonder if Matt called the cops in Grants. Could have been scary going to get it back by himself. Glad that it worked out so well.

Sending out safe vibes to all the riders left on the tour.

OMG, I hope they didn't steal any of his gear. Glad he got it back.

Go Matthew!

Matthew, definitely carry on. Dave will long be remembered for taking on his dream of doing the TD; the preparation and excitement that are obvious in his blog leading up to the start are very touching.

Carry Dave in your heart to AW for those of us out here watching.

Dave and family -- you are in my thoughts. Best wishes for a 100% recovery!

I just asked if someone could give me an explanation for why the rule about traveling forward by motor vehicle on the course exists and explained why I didn't understand it. I'm still waiting for a serious response to that.

What do you mean an explanation -- it's a rule. The riders are supposed to be familiar with the rules if they want to be considered for having a time assigned to their completion. We could pick apart every rule, but that's not the point. The rules are there to even out the playing field.

Erik broke down close to a town, and was able to hitch a ride and arrange to have parts sent quickly and grab a ride back to his bike to get back on the trail relatively soon. But what about someone who has a breakdown farther from a town, can't find anyone to drive them anywhere, has to walk to find help, maybe walk back to their bike, etc. Should the serendipity of Eric being close to a town and taking advantage of car travel give him an edge over someone without all this trail magic? It makes sense to me that the intent of the rule is to keep it fair.

It sucks to have mechanical problems, but that's part of the whole.

Wow, this is exciting. Look how many dots there are heading into Wyoming. Excellent race!

Hey Looper,

I didn't write the rules. But I can read. There will <always> be circumstances that will make folks want to circumvent rules, pull at the heartstrings, and even point out failings in the rules. Life isn't always fair. It's a bummer to have so many mechanical failures, but luck is part of every race.

Nothing keeps any of the riders from doing recon before the race starts. The rules are written to prevent intel of conditions ahead during the time period of the race. I'm sure that Matt would tell you that it's a different race every time (although previous riders do have the advantage of knowing the turns -- that's called practice).

Erik gave it his best shot.

You already stated that there isn't an alternate route.  How is he going to hitch a ride to Lima via an alternate route if there isn't one?  Moreover, you correctly state that Matthew was standing there in Lima when he got there.  Using the facts as you've stated them, I don't see an issue.

The rules state that he couldn't move forward "on route" which he clearly did. He was able to see the forward route twice before doing it again on his bike, and the rules are in place to prevent reconnaissance of the route. I totally agree that this is sad, but Erik clearly has to scratch unless the rule is changed. Continuing is good experience for next year however.