Tour Divide 2009

[walkre73]

 I don't think matt carries maps anymore.

[ScottM]

Looks like the chase group split up briefly last night, with Chris staying in Butte and Kurt/Joe riding out of town to camp near the base of the next continental divide climb.  They are back riding together already though.

Matt Lee should make Lima today, meaning I need to extend my table somehow!

[AmyL]

Hey Scott - GREAT work on the leaderboard, animations, etc.  You've presented it in a way that makes it so easy to see the summary and to drill down.
Could you add mileage to the town names in the Split chart?  I adjusted my spreadsheet for the new Canada miles, and I get:
Elkford: 110
Border: 251
Whitefish: 352
Lincoln: 557
Helena: 620
Butte: 687
Wise River: 740
Lima: 877
ID border: 947
Flagg Ranch: 1044

Also, if you've got control of that table, what do you think about making the font size smaller, to reduce scrolling?
Thanks for all your effort.  Unfortunately, I'm a blue dot junkie now, and I really should be going to work instead
AmyL, Palo Alto

[AmyL]

Seeley Lake is at mile 495 (which includes the new miles in Canada).  There was a late start on the Friday June12, so anybody who made it to Seeley Lake lake Tuesday June17 is maintaining a 100 mile per day pace.  I'm impressed that so many riders are still on the 100 mpd pace.  As far as I can tell, last night's camps were as follows (plus or minus 10 miles):
740 Wise River:  Matt
687 Butte:  Joe, Kurt, Chris
620-687 btw Helena and Butte: J&T, Kevin, JohnF, Alan
620 Helena: EricL, Steve, Leighton, Cannon, Blaine, Josh, Justin
557-620 btw Lincoln and Helena: EricB, probably Rudiger
557 Lincoln: Jill, JohnN, Jeremy, Jamie, Brunello, Dario, probably Cricket
521-557 btw Ovando & Lincoln: JeffK
521 Ovando: Ray
495 Seeley Lake: SteveM, Trevor, Jacob, Per, Stephen

Of 42 bikes that started, at least 31 are still on >=100 mpd pace.  Awesome.

[ScottM]

Thanks for the suggestions and info AmyL.  I'll see what I can do.

In other news, Jay and Tracey are back tracking with a new SPOT they bought in Helena.  They are in Butte right now.  Thanks to Dave Byers for the SPOT info and for activating it for them.  Through what can only be described as magic, they kept their history data, despite being on a new SPOT.

[DaveC]

Damn, those guys are going fast.  I passed through Lima around 0900 today going north on I-15.  MC and I didn't think anyone would be in the neighborhood, or I would've popped off and gone looking.

I imagine Chris, Joe and Kurt got a bit wet this morning.

[richNYC]

Damn, those guys are going fast.  I passed through Lima around 0900 today going north on I-15.  MC and I didn't think anyone would be in the neighborhood, or I would've popped off and gone looking.

I imagine Chris, Joe and Kurt got a bit wet this morning.

Matthew Lee is hitting Lima just about now (20:15PM MT). Lead over Joe, Kurt and Chris is still holding @ approx. 6 to 6 1/2 hours...

[DaveH]

It looks like there's been some yo-yoing among the 3 chasers today.  Hard to tell with the variable SPOT update frequency...

Be sure to listen to Chris Plesko's call-ins.  Damn he is having more fun than a barrel of monkeys!  Sounds like a kid every time, loving every climb, descent, alternate sleeping setups (he's got some 'splaining to do!) and making up new words like "bearitory" and "bearinoia".  I am so stoked to see him riding that well, and SS to boot.

It'll be interesting to see what the weather tosses up in the way for the lead 4.  Matt is hauling the mail but sounds cool and casual every time he calls in.  Dude's got some composure!  Must come with having 5 of these under his belt.

The entire field in general is full of strong rides.  This blue dot thing sure is entertaining.

[DaveH]

Daaaaamn.  The Petervary's like to ride late - and fast.  They are quickly closing the gap to the first chase group.  Knowing Jay, I'd be tempted to say Tracy is hanging on for dear life.  But having met TRace, I honestly don't know who is driving that insane pace!

Doesn't the route chill out for awhile in terms of roughness and vert?  That, plus the homefield advantage coming up in Wyoming shortly is going to be prime territory for Jay and TRace to make up some time for initial setbacks.  I would not be surprised one bit if Matt gets some company by the Colorado line from the turbo couple.

[ScottM]

Yep, the route stays pretty flat from ~Grasshopper (the closed spot south of Wise River) all the way to just north of Jackson.  Personally, it drove me nuts not to have big hills to climb.  Should be good for the tandem, and you're right about home turf advantage.

Might be tough for Chris on the SS to keep up with Kurt and Joe.  No issues thus far, but I would imagine he'll spend some time playing catchup over the next couple days.  I'll bet he sticks with them.

They took a big snooze last night, with Matt leaving Lima a couple hours before they started rolling, so the lead is still pretty solid.

[DaveH]

Might be tough for Chris on the SS to keep up with Kurt and Joe.  No issues thus far, but I would imagine he'll spend some time playing catchup over the next couple days.  I'll bet he sticks with them.

He's got a tall gear on that SS - I think Joe and Kurt would have to average 20+ for a long time to get any distance on Chris.  At this point in the game I'm not sure how likely or even possible that is.  Maybe with a big fat tailwind.  I'm betting Chris will do just fine. 

[richNYC]

Is john Nobile still in the race? I didn't hear him calling in and officially bowing out yet?

[SandSurfer]

Just how big a gear is he running with all those climbs and carrying gear?  Does he have to push up the steeper parts of climbs?

[ScottM]

Full replay, all racers, from the start and in double time (actually 4000x of real time!).


Thanks to Sue N for the suggestion of going with initials instead of full names.

[EFarmer]

Is there an alternate route coming out of Butte?  I noticed a couple of riders this morning who's SPOT reports showing them using HWY 375 rather then US 2.  Any comments or am I just not seeing things correctly?

[ScottM]

That's actually an error in the route file (red line).  I answered this question earlier in this thread too. 

[carlhutch]

Are the record splits on the split chart from Matt`s 07 ride.

[ScottM]

Are the record splits on the split chart from Matt`s 07 ride.

Yep.  Recall that he met up with the GDR starting noon on the third day, so that was some downtime.  Still impressive that Matt is ahead of record pace considering the slow re-route in Canada and weather challenges this year.

[carlhutch]

Im surprised also.i didnt think the pace was so fast this year until i saw the record splits.
Wise River to Lima isnt such a big day which matt did yesterday,i expected him to go further and imagined the weather/trail must have slowed him.
Its too confusing for my pea brain to factor in course changes and border to border splits with whats going on this year.

[700see.]

Just how big a gear is he running with all those climbs and carrying gear?

32:18 with a 29" WTB Nanoraptor tire = ~51.5" gear. People have run both larger and smaller ratios.  

Does he have to push up the steeper parts of climbs?

Everybody does some walking regardless of drivetrain. The climb at Stemple Pass and parts of the route between Helena + Butte are pretty tough with one gear, especially with a lot of mileage. Consistently going forward + getting up early/riding late trumps big torching energy expenditures to 'clean' something.