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Well said. Willingness to subject yourself to extreme sleep dep is the single most important factor in whether you have a chance to be competitive. (Jefe's CT record run still boggles my mind.)

Having been involved in the old threads I know and respect Matt's philosophy that it's about the rider against themselves and nothing else...and that's not racing; it's a vision quest, which is cool and awesome but not racing. Maybe that's why he stopped posting results on the TD website...we're all missing his point.

Rambling a bit but the point is I've wanted to do these events for awhile now, and now that I'm close to being able I find the motivation to race waning and I'm just planning to tour fast brevet-style. I know I don't want to do the sleep dep and risk that damage, and what's the point of racing if you're not trying to win?

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Racing for the experience and camaraderie, and a fast time (rather than a win) worked for me. The sleep deprivation isn't compulsory if you have good fitness and strategy and are simply aiming for, say, a 20-day time.   

The problem is that the more rules that are in place, the more enforcement that is necessary. Who's going to enforce the rules? Once there is rule enforcement, then all the sudden there are entry fees, podiums, cash payouts etc. I hope these event continue as they are....grass roots self supported racing.

It hasn't worked out that way in New Zealand. We have mandatory rest periods in most of the big dirt brevets. That's only one extra rule (which, with Spot Trackers, it's very easy to see if it's being honoured). On the flip-side, we allow drafting (and the no-drafting rule is much easier to dishonour). So, we have the same number of rules, just a bit less suffering on the sleep-deprivation front.

There's still no rule enforcement, no entry fees, no prizes, no support, etc. Everything else is pretty much the same.
When I started this style of event in NZ (after doing the Great Divide race) I wasn't constrained by the tradition of Great Divide racing. I was a road safety coordinator at the time, so was dealing with the issue of fatigue-related, road crash fatalities during my day job. Added to that, we crossed a large, private farm where the land-owner didn't want people riding at night. Since that first 'Kiwi Brevet' had the mandatory rest rule, and it's been respected/enjoyed by 99% of the riders, the other long dirt brevets in New Zealand have followed suite.

Anyways...Go Josh!!! So impressive. I doubt they 'let him go', as such. He's blazing! Did he even stop for a Coke and an ice-cream in Separ (hope that store hasn't closed down).
And good luck to Jay and Neil working out the whole sprint/no-sprint issue!

Looks like Josh might finally have stopped for a nap, right about the time Alex and Dylan have started up again.

Surely Neil and JayP will be on the road again soon.

If sleep deprivation was in the Olympics, Dylan would surely make the podium!

Fun watching Josh catching up right now. That extra piece of pie is paying dividends.

Wow! It's 4 in the morning and Dylan still hasn't slept. Nice, cool riding conditions, I guess.

Awesome riding going on, by so many folk. Amazing to see the pointy end of things getting even more tightly contested in NM.

Big thanks to Scott and Matthew for organising such a grand tour!  

Having finally caught up with Jay P at 2am, Neil should sleep like a baby tonight. Well done!

Going to be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.

Wow! Go Dallis!!!

For a New Zealander, seeing a bear in the wild is extremely exciting. To have to fend one off - that is awesome!

The wildlife in that part of the world is a huge part of what makes the Great Divide Route a truly great ride. I had a face-off with a mountain lion on my day into Salida - it looked like it could have taken me if it wanted to. Certainly puts life into perspective.

Awesome job of closing the gap by Seb over the last 12 hrs!

The think I like about aero bars for this kind of thing is the ability to remove all pressure from the hands for a while (as well as drill through a mean headwind).

Woohoo! They're up and chasing! And it looks like Alex might finally have stopped for some shut-eye.

Yuss!! One advantage of living down under at this time of year - you get to see the big night-time moves go down on the TD! Alex has just passed JP and NB's blue dots. Were they sleeping? When will Alex sleep? I wonder if he's even aware that he's (maybe) just taken the 'lead'?

Great fun to be following again this year - thanks for the coverage guys, and good luck to all the riders!

I was wondering, what's caused the re-route passed the charming town of Rawlins?

This is a 1100 km event in the beautiful South Island of New Zealand. Not a race as such, but run in similar style to the Tour Divide. It's the event that last year's Tour Divide winner, Ollie Whalley, cut his teeth on. He finished it in a little under four days. Most riders take 5-6 days and there is an 8-day limit to keep everyone honest. There were 45 finishers last year.

No bears, snakes or deadly spiders, but plenty of awesome scenery ranging from coastal sounds to sub-tropical rain forest to a crossing of the Southern Alps.

Drafting is allowed, as are teams of two. Most ride solo.

For the first time next year, we'll include a shorter (700 km) Kiwi Brevette for those wanting to take a more leisurely pace.

As with the Tour Divide, there is no entry fee (although a modest donation to local trails and/or search & rescue is encouraged).

You can find out more at http://www.kiwibrevet.blogspot.co.nz/

Before I forget, many thanks to Mathew and Scott for running the TD again, and everyone who has brought us the coverage that I've been enjoying for the last couple of weeks.

And...congrats to all the finishers (and soon-to-be finishers - especially Nathan and Peter who made the long trip from New Zealand)!

Seems like a question to send to the ACA, since it's their route.

If you do put them up, be careful not to make them too nice. People will steal them. Happens all of the time!

Yep - it's something for ACA to consider, not the TD (and not to be done without premission). It's not out of the question that ACA would be interested in this. If done with some restraint, it could add to the experience for GDMBR riders in general (and I think they did put up a few signs when the route was first opened). http://olliebray.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341eb53c53ef01157233eb5e970b-300wi

I did the route without a GPS and did feel a bit confused on several occasions (but was lucky to have a couple of seasons MTB orienteering under my belt). The navigational challenge was great (says I, as somebody who didn't get lost) and the ACA maps are very good 99% of the time.

Regarding cut-offs (or any sifting of blue dots that might resemble the execution of a cut-off) - this is fairly standard in the world of Brevets and doesn't seem to effect participation. I think the GDR faded away due to a lack of marketing and blue-dot-junkie inspiration, rather than the cut-offs. Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly did an interesting artical on Paris-Brest-Paris which included some analysis of finishing times. He found that a lot of riders managed to dig deep and beat the cut-off and others almost appeared to slow down a little to make full use of the time available before the cut-off.

I include a cut-off in the 1100 km Kiwi Brevet (of 8 days - about 2 times the fastest time) and it adds to the challenge and prestige for the riders at the back of the field. Last year, only one rider missed the cut-off, but he still rode happily to the finish (albeit via a short-cut or two).

So - the top 5 consist of a welshman, an australian, an englishman, an irishman, and south african. Without taking anything from the personal achievement of every rider even attempting this challenge (and with BP chasing them all down), that's quite an international mix (3 rookies?). Anyone surprised by this and how far ahead most of these are from the main field? Has this been the case in previous years, or is this a symptom of the growing global awareness?

Last year it was a New Zealander and a Canadian in first and second.

When I did the GDR in 2008 the riders who made it to the finish were 2 Americans, 2 Brits, 1 German, 1 Canadian and 1 New Zealander. Coming from overseas is a bigger commitment and it shows in the results.


Of the 18 starters

All of the 2012 southbound finishers rode the full route. There were snow detours in 2011 and I believe a fire detour in 2010 (?) 2009 and 2008 finishers rode the full route. Riders contested the border-to-border route from 2004-2007.

If you want to be literal about it, though, no one has ridden the exact same route during any year of the Tour Divide. In 2008 they rode the Fernie route through Canada. In 2009, the Flathead segment was added. In 2010, fire detours. In 2011, snow detours. And in 2012, there were the two singletrack sections (Gold Dust Trail and CDT in NM) that had been added a few years earlier, which the 2009 crowd did not ride. And this year, it seems there will be fire detours again. So, in that regard, it's always been a little different.

Riders contested the border-to-border route from 2004-2009. You covered the GDR on its event blog in 2008 Jill! (and I think a couple of guys did it the following year).

Massive respect to Mike Hall - his pace is phenomenal!

I am one of two owners of Standby Hydration Therapy out of Arizona and Eric Foster is one of my riders!! Eric is an intense individual and a top competitor; he understands the importance of hydration when it comes to performance, recovery from one endurance race, and the rehabilitation to be ready for the next (Triple Crown Prospect right??). This is why we have put in place a plan to provide therapy for Eric before every race and after every race. Oh and guess what?  Robin Schartz may understand the importance of being hydrated going into an Ultra race such as this too... Standby Hydration Therapy and The IV Guys stand behind both of these top level athletes and plan on seeing them in Antelope Wells!!  I congratulate every athlete that started this adventure on June 14! So, Max and any other athletes returning home to AZ from the trail, give me a call directly to schedule your therapy session before heading down to Tucson

IV Therapy?! For real? How desperate would you have to be to resort to that?

Reckon a chocolate milk, followed by a half glass of water, followed by a sports drink, followed by another half glass of water, followed by a Cola and a piss. Cap it off with a yoghurt and a nap - then all's well with the world. [Before you ask...I have finished the Great Divide Race in a respectable time, with a stomach virus from Wyoming on. If I thought there'd been an IV waiting for me at the finish line, I'd probably have pulled out].

How long does it take to recover, physically, from a race like this?  

For me, about 6 months, but everybody is different.

No comment about the crows and eagles debate, but I will say I think it's harder to chase a record than another rider.  The record is set in stone.  In a race with another rider either one can falter or get sidelined by a mechanical.  Jay is chasing a number, and he needs to have a near perfect ride to beat that number.

Not so sure he has to have a 'near perfect ride' to beat the record. Remember that Ollie had nasty weather in the first two days, a closed road after Flagg Ranch and a light failure on the last night. And being a Tour Divide novice is bound to result in some minor tactical bloopers. I'd have thought a near perfect ride would be at least 10 hours faster than the current record.

Looking at their times into Whitefish (1:13 vs 2:03) JayP had a 14 hour lead at that point. At Del Norte his lead was down to 9.5 hours. Starting from Banff with a good weather window is clearly a huge advantage.

Jay needs to get at least to Flagg Ranch today to keep up a decent average. LIMA to Flagg Ranch is around 168 miles (??). Tough section of rails to trails and then a lot of climbing before the descent into Flagg Ranch.

I'm thinking he has to get a fair bit further than that. This stretch isn't mountainous. Three guys did Lima to Flagg Ranch the year I raced (and they weren't the race leaders). The riding after Flagg Ranch is pretty easy, for about 30 miles. Maybe he'll make it to Buffalo Valley, get all romantic and bed down next to Tracy Lake?