Daaaaamn! Keeping a Garmin 705 alive for 14 days is as challenging as the TD. That is freaking awesome. Real or imputed power I wonder...suddenly my grand loop strava file looks puny, ha.

Amazing effort!!! Funny it's been already flagged by some dimwit... I guess in this case, as we know this was a REAL and SUPERHUMAN effort, it must be a badge of honor;) LOL...

Congrats Mike and all racers, either finished already or still enroute. You guys are ROCKING!!!

Mike Hall is off route - looks like he's lost. Eek!
Point #2617

He seems to be back on track again;) It looks like he backtracked a little to make sure he is on the right road...

I would expect something like that near Hatchita.

If my GPS coordinates (44.526871, -111.345152) are accurate this is around Island Park, ID, from my GDMTBR tour in '07;)

America's Continental Divide: Beer Cans, Shot Gun Shells, and Cows.

Hahaha, that's more like it

And this:

Record or no record he will be a TD legend for a long time to come.

Yep, that's so true!!!

It looks like he'll be back on the main route in about an hour when he hits Cuba... He is flying on the detour;)

Feel really bad for Mike. The dude deserved the record, unquestionably... What a ride he has been having!!! Wouldn't have been surprised if he was able to squeeze under 14 days when everything was said and done and we haven't had the fires throughout the NM. But I guess, Mother Nature decided to intervene:(

Hey, maybe he decides to come back in a year for another run. Or, squeezes it in his fall schedule and does an ITT in September this year, just like JP did in '12... Who knows;) Still, he is a helluva rider. A few years ago I wouldn't have dreamed that anybody can crack, or even come close to, 14 days on the Divide route;)

A maximum fine of $5,000. Might be worth it for a record after that much work!

Not so sure, because it could also be up to 6 months in a prison, if I was reading it correctly;)

If there is an "official" reroute, Joe will usually post it on the outgoing message on the MTBCAST line and it will probably be posted here.  Otherwise, the racer is supposed to choose the shortest practical detour.

So, what happens if the rider decides to stay on the route even though it's closed, i.e. if he/she gets an exemption to ride through after contacting the USFS or if he doesn't even know about the closing beforehand? Not clear on this one:(

I've been following this race since 2007, on and off, and it's interesting to watch how it's subtly changing in nature. Always loved "watching" it (or listening to call-ins and podcasts before SPOT trackers) and have the utmost respect for all the racers.

I kind of get the idea of folks worrying about time limits for their efforts to count at the end but I think that misses the point of the true nature of this race, and this still is a race, self-supported, in the wilderness, relying on your own power and stamina pushing your own limits. As such I think the most participants know it is between them and the route itself: getting out there, eat, sleep and RIDE, and knowing deep inside that they gave it their best... Any kind of worrying about 'official' (whatever that means in this race) ranking outside of maybe winning it, getting top 3 in a given year, or breaking a record, is at best 'mis-guided'...

I may sound a little bit too harsh but if you are doing this race worrying that your effort won't be recognized because you fall outside of the current 2x record time limit, I think you need to re-evaluate if the race is what you signed up for, or if you get at all what the race is about... I just don't get the whole 'fairness' (or 'validation') thing. If you participate, and complete it, no matter where your name shows up, no matter what anybody tells you, no matter if you are included in 'official' records, you know yourself if you gave it your best and nobody can take that away from you;) It doesn't need to be validated by anybody else. 

What I am getting at is that this race started as a simple way to get out there, have fun outdoors (or suffer, depending how you look at it, lol) and measure yourself against the elements, your fellow riders, but mostly against yourself. All this talk about easing up on time limits, different group/age categories is just "diluting" what this race is about. You can always tour it (or fast-tour it) and still have memorable experiences, enjoy the camaraderie of fellow cyclists and raise money for charities. Plenty of people are doing it every year on the Divide route without participating in the race.

Just my opinion, FWIW;)

Peter,

Nice write-up;) Question: What kind of crank set are you using on your Fargo??? I want to go double too. I'm trying to decide in the next few weeks. I'm looking for something like 36/26 or 38/24...

6) Before Del Norte there is a‘45 deg’ intersection between road 41G and road 38A, GPS track follows a .9 mile “cutoff” that may or may not be 38A


Did I miss anything??
Anyone aware of any other variations??

Dude, you are awesome... I pretty much did the same thing, spent some hours doing my own gps TD 2010 track from Scott's, my own and tourdivide.org sources (for Flathead valley). The #6 was the only one I missed;) Thanks for mentioning it;)

Question to all veterans:  what are some of the day-to-day dangers other than bears?

Your own mind messing with you...   j/k

This year could be a tough start in either direction due to heavy snowfall on both ends .

Welcome to El Nino 2010 year... This can actually work out to our benefit even though it is to soon to tell...

I'm not a meteorologist but here are some links I found. Please if someone knows how to properly interpret it, feel free to chime in;):

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.pdf
http://www.environment.alberta.ca/forecasting/WaterSupply/jan2010/overview.html

Basically, the way I read it the southern US states might be colder and wetter than usual and northern drier and warmer...

Maybe it is too simple explanation but either way I'm ready for anything, weather doesn't really bother me that much and I find myself performing a lot better when conditions are miserable... Now, when they are miserable for 20 straight days, that's a whole different ball game;)

Garmin etrex Visa HCx and Scott's GPS track........

Yep, that's the way to go;) Just make sure you correct for changes. Off the top of my head, the track differs slightly around Ovando and the alternates around Cuba and Grants are not included...

According to the Tour Divide leaderboard, Deanna made it to Antelope Wells!!! This is just amazing: FIRST EVER FIXIE FINISH!!! Unbelievable. Congratulations, Deanna!!!

And it's probably another 10-15 miles longer as some racers mentioned that the new Flathead valley re-route cuesheets were under-reporting the distance...

Gary,

Thanks for sharing the pics;) BTW, Kurt is dressed up for some serious freezing rain...

Wow, again...

That's nuts!!! And I mean it in entirely positive way: Awesome      

Hope to meet them on the trail somewhere;)

Spot stocked Deanna today and rode with her for about 10 miles, fed her a pepsi, and chatted.... shes rocking 32c tires a 42x17 ratio

she seemed to be in awesome sprits ...   Her and brad M have been riding alot togather....

shes hovering near 1700 miles done so far.....  One tough gal!

Dude, you are awesome. Helping out a fellow fixie rider;)

I was thinking the same about Deanna on the fixie but the total mileage showing in the Spot focus is still just under 1,100 and I think Dave rode just over 1,100 going in the other direction. I would have thought she'd be way over 1,100 by now...?

Either way, amazing ride by her and she's still rolling!

Ed

Don't go by the total mileage in SPOT, that's clearly wrong. All it does, it takes a straight line between SPOT readings. So, if you didn't have your SPOT on for a day and rode 100 miles on a route, the straight line between the SPOT points might be only i.e. 60 miles... She definitely did at least 1,600 miles already;)