The Spirit of the Tour Divide

[Christopher R. Bennett]

This is the afterword for Volume 6 of the Cordillera, endorsed by 24 former Tour Divide participants (not all finishers). Looking forward to an open (and civilized!) discussion on the forum.

As readers of this book will have noted, 2014 was an especially challenging year for the Tour Divide. After having sublime conditions for the 2013 race, the weather turned and conditions could at best be described as grim.

This coincided with the largest starters field yet, led to the highest number of scratches in years, and what could politely be called a heated debate on the bikepacking.net forum about riders not following the rules. It reached the point where trackleaders.com put in a different color for trackers which deviated too far from the route, and a page was created where riders were asked to confirm that they had indeed followed the course.

This year there is no annex in the Cordillera listing the riders and status/times because in preparing the book some people objected to others being included as finishers, while others objected to being called ‘Relegated’ because they were considered not to have followed the route.

As the Tour Divide grows in popularity, these sorts of debates will arise again. It is timely to reflect on what is the ‘spirit’ of the Tour Divide, recognizing that like anything which grows and matures there are inevitably some changes.

First and foremost, the Tour Divide is an underground race. There are no formal organizers, or even an official entry list—just a Google Docs file mainly to help in contacting riders to contribute to the Cordillera.

All you have to do is to show up on the second Friday in June at Banff or Antelope Wells and ride your bike.

There is, however, a community who have a deep passion for the Tour Divide. Not all of us are riders—some will never venture anywhere near the route. But we are all committed to the Tour Divide, recognizing the unique experience it represents and the transformation that anyone who rides the Tour Divide goes through. While there are some high profile names everyone knows, there are others in the background who support the race through the discussion forums and in other ways.

It is this community who have defined the ‘rules’ for racing the Tour Divide (http://tourdivide.org/the_rules). Like the race, they are simplicity in themselves:

• Ride 100% of the Great Divide ‘main route’ as denoted by the most current map edition published by the Adventure Cycling Association, except for four approved deviations;
• Aim to finish in a competitive time which is 25 days for men and 29.5 days for women;
• No outside support—including visits from friends/family; and,
• Do not go forward on the route except under your own power unless there is a serious mechanical problem.

As the rules page notes: “Tour Divide is a web-administered, do-it-yourself challenge based on the purest of wagers: the gentlemen’s bet or agreement. Nothing to win or lose but honor”.

In recent years, especially since the release of the film ‘Ride the Divide’, there has been an evolution of participants. There seems to now be two distinct groups on the Tour Divide: those who are there to ‘race’ the Divide, and those who are there to ‘experience’ the Divide. This is reflected in the target finish times of the riders: in 2014 some 22% of riders planned on being outside of the 25/29.5 day period. Yes, those time limits are arbitrary and are not adjusted for age or conditions, but these statistics suggest that many people are starting off having decided that they are not able to meet the 25/29.5 day period and so have already essentially put aside one of the ‘rules’.

We observe two distinct attitudes towards some other rules on the race. While one rider who rode the entire route in 2014 under 25 days self-relegated because he had family support at one point, others who did not follow the route entirely considered themselves unfairly relegated. This raises a fundamental question: what is the ‘spirit’ of the Tour Divide and what do we as a community need to do in order to maintain it. We should not, and cannot, have the sort of ill feelings and dissention which arose this year and maintain the beauty and special nature of the Tour Divide.

It would seem best that we accept that there are always going to be two groups of people riding each year. Those who are going to try and strictly follow the rules, and those who for a myriad of reasons do not. The former need to acknowledge and respect the decisions of the latter. As everyone who has ridden the Tour Divide knows, the mere act of finishing—be it in over 25/29.5 days or on a route that was only 95% of the actual GDMBR route—is an incredible personal achievement which changes our lives. Similarly, those who don’t follow the rules should not be upset to have a different color against their SPOT tracker and to be recorded as ‘Relegated’ in the results.

Unless we can find a way to accept the positions of each of these two groups, we run the very serious risk of compromising the spirit of one of the most unique and life changing events any of us can ever participate in.

Hopefully before the 2015 Tour Divide we as the community can reach a consensus on how to preserve the spirit of the Tour Divide.

[bpeschka]

Nice summary, Christopher.  I agree some criteria are arbitrary.  I try to use the first line in the 'rules' as my primary guideline.  The Tour Divide challenge is based on one guiding principle: Cycle the GDMBR end-to-end, as fast as possible in a solo, self-supported fashion.  Don't know what happened to the solo aspect.

[WatermelonSugar]

Well the thing is that the Tour Divide is a race, everybody should have to cover the same route, follow the same rules etc. otherwise you're not really competing on the same terms. If people are not willing to follow the rules they shouldn't enter the event. The route is open to anybody to tour at anytime of the year. It is no less of an achievement to complete the route or 95% of the route outside of the Tour. It's tough to do but there is no shame in self relegating, nobody says you can't finish the route, I just think that if you are forced the divert, or break the rules, and sure it might not be your fault, but you should be man or woman enough to accept that you are no longer competing. I think the real shame is to finish and say "yeah I finished in xth place" but knowing that you skipped a section of the route. That makes no sense to me. You can still be proud of the fact that you managed to cycle all the way from Banff to AW and of your finishing time, but as far as the "race" goes it's over

[dream4est]

Well I dont think the results should be omitted from the book. But I understand why. I finished like 29th? Within a few finishing spots of me, racers skipped the CDT, new route from Basin to Butte and Brooks Lake Lodge Road. Every racer who skipped a section acts like they finished the "race". I heard of other moves too, like skipping Red Meadow Pass or taking the highway to skip Richmond Peak, but I dont think those racers "finished" or they had been relegated already. One racer who skipped a section claimed he was out of food. That same guy broke his frame mid race and had a bike shop owner deliver a frame to him in Silverthorne and assemble his bike in a hotel room. Same guy begged private homeowners for food and lodging nearly every day of the race. Impressive display of sportmanship out there this year. Only 2 of about 15 racers near me who violated rules actually relegated themselves.

One could voice an objection, but I think not contributing to The Cordillera as a silent protest is just as effective. I could post a story about the 2014 race, but it wouldnt be a true account as I would have to out some cheaters or write fiction. Notice how I never post a race recap or blog report? Think about it. Cheating is widespread in these events. A real recap of the event would include all the cheating I see. So I never write one because I dont want to have a negative memory of the event.

edit- Upon reflection I will say that I saw no funny stuff in this years CTR. So maybe things are improving somewhat. My opinion is not meant to offend the race organizer(s) either. No ill will there I blame the individuals who put the race directors in such uncomfortable positions of having to make relegation decisions because racers wont self-relegate.

[Christopher R. Bennett]

I originally had the results in the book but I started receiving e-mails complaining about including some people etc. During the preparation of the above afterword one very sage suggestion (Nathan Mawkes?) was why bother getting involved in such controversy. Preparing the Cordillera is a huge undertaking already without having to deal with such debates. This is very true - this year's edition is 300 pages - so I've decided not to put it in any longer. All I've done is put the times that someone reached AW and I'm leaving it to them/others to decide whether or not that is a finisher's or relegated time.

It's unfortunate if people don't support the Cordillera. You don't have to be a finisher, or even a participant to contribute. It's not about us, it's about helping raise funds for Dave Blumenthal's daughter Linnaea's education.  Otherwise I wouldn't be sitting in a hotel room at 5:30 a.m. on a business trip doing the final edit before starting work for the day!

[dream4est]

I think my point is why dilute the thing with stories about cheating?  I can buy the book to support the cause. But I dont like the fact there are 2014 finishers who didnt actually finish THE RACE. They for sure toured the route, but that is not what bikepack racing is about, a ribbon for everyone even if you bent the rules kind of mentality. Racers should not have to learn to coexist with these chumps. They should be DQed plain and simple. Like Nate Gallion in 2010 CTR. Self relegation has become a joke- gentlemans sport??? Please.

[dp]

I proofed this year's Cordillera and I can say without reservation that it's superb. Each contributor - finisher or otherwise - focused on his/her own TD experience and what it meant to them. After all the hubbub on the forums about rules and relegations, I was afraid it would be full of finger pointing and name calling. I'm happy to say it is not. Buy the book. Support the cause. Be inspired.

[Marshal]

It would be sort of nice to achieve real consensus across the self-supported/multiday race community but I have come to the firm conclusion that it will never happen. The history, which is found right here in many many bikepacking.net threads conclusively proves the point.

In essence some will abide by a rule-set for a unorganized/underground self-supported race and some will not.

For a variety of reasons full enforcement of said rule-set is simply not practical.  I have no objections to attempts at rule enforcement, but at the end of the day consistent rule enforcement cannot and will not happen without fundamentally changing the unorganized nature of these races.  

Basically the participants either “get it” and are willing to abide --or they don’t and won’t.

It’s difficult at times but I now strive to minimize the impact all the “rule” hubbub has on my individual multi-day experiences.  I tend to admire those who quietly follow the full rule-set to the letter and simply no longer worry about those who, for whatever reason(s), choose not to.

My advice would be don’t worry about it.  Ie: Don't let the fact that some participants will always choose to disregard the spirit and/or rule-set impact or perhaps even overwhelm your personal pleasure in these events.

[THE LONG RANGER]

In re: to the topic of bending/breaking/shaking the rules, I can only be in charge of myself, but I'll be happy to purchase and read the next edition of the Cord. because this is a great race, with great people involved.

The bummer for me, is that seeing people take inappropriate way out of things, is that it pops me out of the strange, imagined world I've put myself in while racing. It's enough trouble when times are low to know that there's an easy way to get back home, or whatever. I need to focus, and that's hard when morale is lowered. I wanna focus on there being only one way to get back home.

Perhaps a Grand Fondo cat is in order: you're still going for a speed run, but rules are flexible. Friendly Class. Make it not a negative thing. Things happen on route and it's a way to honestly save face, keep enjoying yourself. Yeah OK: you needed someone to hand-deliver that part to you. For you, clock stops - there's no official finish time for you (or just like in above, a time is recorded as when you ended the ride), you take the part and you're now in Friendly Class, having the time of your life.

No matter about those 10 people that passed you, that's a whole difference race they're racing (as you're racing something else!) . People do this already, they just call it, "Touring it out". If I'm still racing, and I come across some dude that looks well rested or whatever my morale doesn't go down because they're like, "hey, not racing the Race, anymore, just in Friendly Class!). Oh! Sweet, carry on, my compadre.

I think that's a def. improvement of relegated yourself and thinking you need to stop cold. Pressures off to think you need to conceal your infraction and hey, there's a groupetto just ahead filled with people who needed to do similar things like I did. Time to get a motel room or two and commiserate, before banging this thing out! And hey, all our dots have turned into smiley faces! Guess that's an easy way to know I'm out of the race, but not out of the ride.

Just an idea, and not one that needs to be added to the already enormous rulebook. Just another way of stating, "Say what you did, and how you did it". The rules are just a shorthand way of saying, "this is how I did it" and it makes it easy for us to compare times.

[dream4est]

Maybe I  am just grumpy- the Tour Divide, the gift that keeps on giving- swallowed some more dough from me yesterday. Wore my brand new Fox fork out in 2000 miles (now has 3500 but didnt understand what was wrong). Just realized it last night (not a bad front brake- shot fork bushings) as I was about to install my almost 4th complete drivetrain of the season? I lost or broke so much stuff in TD/CTR its crazy.

[flyboy]

Dream4est, after reading all of your prep posts here in Bikepacking.net I was looking forward to hearing your "what it was like for me" in the Cordillera. You don't have to write a blow by blow account nor do you need to say anything about other riders. Karma will sort them out. The highs and lows as you saw them are the takeaway from your time on The Divide.
I am looking forward to the next Cordillera. Thanks in advance go to Chris and all of the contributors.

[Done]

A couple of years ago, after taking many arrows from the "Do. Whatever." crowd, I cobbled this together:

http://tobygadd.blogspot.com/2012/05/ultra-racing-rules.html

[sthig]

great discussion here.  On 2013 I saw some grey areas but nothing rule breaking by racers.  I never heard of anyone skipping any hard parts, that's a little disconcerting that someone skipped Richmond Peak... for all the hell I went through up there (late at night, covered in snow, nearly slid off the mountain, a forest fire from freak lightning)... it was an experience I'll never forget!

[Done]

There seem to be four kinds of racers out there:

1. Those who seek to push themselves as hard as they can, and who willingly force themselves to excel under self-imposed restrictions and limitations that increase the challenge. As such, the style of the race is often as important as the final finish time (although winning or placing well is still a major consideration).
2. Those who put athletic performance and finishing times above all else, and therefore don't worry much about style. People in this group often dabble in gray areas when it will give them an advantage or increase their odds of a fast finish. Generally highly competitive, they know the rules--but don't have a problem rationalizing minor deviations. They don't generally cheat outright though.
3. Those who race for the "experience." Finishing quickly isn't that important, nor is style. They do what feels good, which  means that they'll bend or break the rules to fit their current situation. To them the rules are "guidelines," and open to creative interpretation. People in this group sometimes slip into category 4--although only when the race is finished, after people accuse them of cutting corners.
4. Those who enter races because they want recognition and prestige. These guys will cheat, cut corners, and otherwise do whatever it takes to make themselves look "epic."

Of the four groups, the first seems to be the most common.

[Eszter]

There seem to be four kinds of racers out there:

1. Those who seek to push themselves as hard as they can, and who willingly force themselves to excel under self-imposed restrictions and limitations that increase the challenge. As such, the style of the race is often as important as the final finish time (although winning or placing well is still a major consideration).
2. Those who put athletic performance and finishing times above all else, and therefore don't worry much about style. People in this group often dabble in gray areas when it will give them an advantage or increase their odds of a fast finish. Generally highly competitive, they know the rules--but don't have a problem rationalizing minor deviations. They don't generally cheat outright though.
3. Those who race for the "experience." Finishing quickly isn't that important, nor is style. They do what feels good, which  means that they'll bend or break the rules to fit their current situation. To them the rules are "guidelines," and open to creative interpretation. People in this group sometimes slip into category 4--although only when the race is finished, after people accuse them of cutting corners.
4. Those who enter races because they want recognition and prestige. These guys will cheat, cut corners, and otherwise do whatever it takes to make themselves look "epic."

Of the four groups, the first seems to be the most common.

And then there's Toby.

[Done]

And then there's Toby.

I'm in the first group. Slow, but committed. I think that you are too--just about a zillion times faster!

[sthig]

That was an awesome list Toby

[Nathan Jones]

Any time I get too worked up about what riding a bike is and isn't, I just repeat Bill Hicks mantra.  

"It's just a ride!"  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMUiwTubYu0

[Done]

"It's just a ride!"

Maybe for some. But for me, it always seems pretty damn real.

Riding late into the mystery of the night, high in the glorious mountains, is soul-enriching. Sharing the day's adventure with another inspired rider draws me closer to others. Struggling to excel within the constraints of a race environment strengthens my self-discipline and focus. Searching for the beauty and purpose to continue pushing through pain and exhaustion gives me perspective and builds my resilience. Battling the dark hours of isolation and self-reflection reveal insights into my relationships with family and loved ones.

Life is what we make of it, I suppose. The only time that I feel like "it's just a ride" is when I'm screwing up and not living with purpose.

[Nathan Jones]

Maybe for some. But for me, it always seems pretty damn real.

Very true Toby.  The realness of it is not so much what I'm getting at though.  But the importance with with which a long bicycle ride matters on the cosmic scale.  I would argue it is very small no matter how much it means to us personally and the ones around us.  It is this bit of sanity that reels me back in any time I get too worked up about what others are doing.  Yes greatness can be achieved through the race, but that greatness can be achieved many places in life.  No one's ride is more important than another, we are all on it together and we all will perceive it in different ways.  Some rides may seem more magnificent than others, that is without saying but trying to get everyone to follow the rules and the bitterness which can ensue when others don't can feel painfully detracting.  Especially when we're involved in nothing more than a long ass alley cat race.  All of this said I do feel personally integrity matters on the cosmic scale and that's really the crux of the issue in all of this.  The silly ride is pointless, but how you act on the ride is of the utmost importance.  And I think that's what most of us are really striving for here, that the ride forces us to act better and make wiser choices.  I can say this, endurance riding is better than buying some self help book and I'm proud to know anyone who chooses that path to find their place in the world.  For me the spirit is this, it's a ride, have fun, don't fret about what not, constantly seek improvement. 

A big problem for me with all of this sort of racing is the massive epicness combined with the miniscule fact that the ride barely compares to other much more pressing issues in the world.  I in no way mean to detract from it but as long as it's a back of the pants sort of agreement to ride our bikes real fast, making it out to be much more in the grand scheme of things can be quixotic. 

Inline with Christopher's original struggle.  I must attest to delaying several months before posting the results of this years trans am on the website.  The personal struggle I've had to deal with in managing a race and being officiator has been a bit more than I was willing to deal with.  Results have been posted, no asterisks were made despite vocalizations during the race of violations.  In the long haul I left it up to the racers to call out their comrades, no one stepped forward with a direct complaint calling out another racer and results were posted.  This is mostly me playing nice guy cop out.  I don't get paid jack to do this and the amount of stress it causes for me to worry about a bunch of people's integrity, let alone their safety on a bike ride of this magnitude is not worth it.  If we had some sort of formalized organization that had rules laid down in stone, small entry fees similar to the TCR then I would feel much more strongly about published results.  But once again this sort of back of the pant's, gentleperson's bet is bound to draw those who break the rules.  Pirate bike racing is filled with pirates, some more noble than others, but all pirates nonetheless.  If no sanctioning body exists, we are all merely on a ship with no clear captain.  That is the darkness and beauty of what we do. 

I think if folks want to see accurate results lists that are meticulously maintained, we need to form some sort of sanctioning group.  Otherwise, we should be content with the ship we set sail on and have fun with the crew because it's an unknown for everyone.