Jarral! Jarral! Jarral! Way to go Jedbo!  I'll bet the kids are happy to see you - now go get something to eat and a shower!  Unbelievable.

Speaking of food - I would really love to know what Jarral is doing. You all probably know he's Type 1 diabetic and has been for 18 years. He has to somehow calculate how many calories he's burning, how many he's eating, how fast they will digest, look at his blood sugar level at the moment, figure out what it might do in the next couple of hours, and dose himself with insulin to deal with the food and the activities both past and upcoming.  He hardly ever eats processed junk food or candy - but where along the trail can he get real food?  It is something our whole family has been wondering, and hoping for the best. We're all from the remote reaches of Colorado and know what sort of thing is on offer in the "outback". I was guessing he would mail himself loaves of his famous whole wheat and honey home made bread (yes, he bakes bread) at every little post office along the way.

I'm just a spectator. I check on my brother (Jarral Ryter) every day. I read through the discussion in case someone knows something about him. I really wish you had taken your rules discussion to a different thread. It detracts greatly from the Tour Divide. It is not positive. It is getting destructive. You are losing sight of what these riders are doing, and why they do it.

In my day job I am a strategic analyst - a problem solver. I work on "sticky problems" things that can't be solved.

Your rules problem isn't that hard. You need rules for any organized activity. You have objectives for your activity. I'm assuming that your objectives are to give a very few extreme outdoor athletes a venue. There is no prize or earnings from this activity. There is no greater good accomplished by doing it one way or another. It is an accomplishment that less than one millionth of the population will achieve to even finish, and really, everyone who attempts and particularly EVERYONE who finishes should be included in the achievement. More interest and positive vibes are considered good in my analysis. I will also assume that participant health an safety are your greatest non-negotiable requirement.

The solution is to have each person's result posted as it was achieved and the merits speak for themselves.
- Riders leave at the same time. They ride as fast as they can. They do as much of it without support as they can.
- Riders do the whole route as laid out in one shot.
- Riders keep a log of all the help they received. This log is posted as part of their achievement.
- Riders keep a log of all the hardships they endured. This log is posted as part of their achievement.
- Spectators from home towns, families, friends are all welcome to cheer for as many riders at as many points on the route as they want to.
- Riders use what ever bike or gear they want and report it in their gear log.

And just leave it at that. 

If your fastest finisher was on a $50,000 bike and stayed in a hotel every night -then there you are.
If your tenth fastest finisher had a bad crash on day 4 and stayed in the woods every night but 1 -then there you are.
If your 12'th fastest finisher had three major bike problems, and had to have his wife bring him a new inhaler because his quit working, then there you are.
If your last finisher was 75 years old, and met his son every night of the trip to ensure he was ok - then there you are.

Maybe spectators could "like" the riders they thought did the most amazing ride. And maybe the other extreme bikers could "salute" the riders they thought were the most pure in their achievement.

One thing for sure - most of your riders are very positive people. It is sad to see the event coverage with such continuous negative speculation and rules baiting.

I also want to thank people for the pictures. I'm Jarral Ryter's sister watching the blue dots from Christchurch New Zealand. We know he's superhuman, but... There are the challenges you choose, and there are those you don't get a choice about, and there is a thin line between.

Jarral is in Durango and looking for food!  The family, Anne, kids Lila and Julian are there and parents.   He rode the last day with a broken axel - some how. 

Hey, RyterFanClub, where is picture #38?

  On page 8 there is an entry where pictures were taken of a lot of pictures.
http://snowcatcher.smugmug.com/Cycling/2011-Colorado-Trail-Race/18339147_FD62rV.

Picture #38 - you just caught Jarral Ryter, the one on the right.  He looks focused.  

Since Jarral seems a bit of an unknown, you should check out his blog - http://livethinline.blogspot.com/
You will see why his fan club of family and friends are glued to the race.  We know he knows what he's doing, but he does live on a thin line and he's going a very long route right now.

Best wishes from the Jarral Ryter fan club.  Someone asked about the oldest rider.  It might be him.

We are cheering for old man Jarral Ryter - Chemistry Teacher at Western State.  We are also holding our breath!