Tour Divide 2010

[sneakerpimp]

I'm ROOTIN for dave preston,kent peterson,mike prochaska,eric bruntjen all of these riders are from WA state also cheering for brian aillavo of henderson,NV and jeff kerby of NM! GET'm BOY's!
Steveo

[crolleyframes]

Watching from Colorado Springs.  Wanted to put out some positive vibes for all of our local CO heroes.  Matthew Arnold, Marshal Bird, David Goldberg, and Erik Lobek.  Good luck to you all and sorry if I forgot to mention anyone.

-Brian Crolley
http://www.crolleyframes.com

[ScottM]

Hey all,

Looks like things are going well for our fearless divide riders.  The leaders are already over 70 miles into it and making good time -- they are matching last year's quick pace so far.

It can be a little tricky to see who is where when everyone is so bunched up.  Since some racers have more recent points than others, the person with the point furthest along the route may not actually be in the lead. 

I wanted to point out that there is a way to get a little better idea, which is to use the split/projection chart:

http://trackleaders.com/spot/tourdivide/tracker-tourdivide-spec.php

If you click on the column labeled Elkford (the first 'split check' point) it will sort the estimated arrival time into Elkford.  This is as best an approximation of the actual placing as we can get from the currently available SPOT data.  It takes into account the age of the data.

Several racers still do not have a point beyond Banff.  Hopefully they will figure it out how to get the unit into track mode soon enough, though it may not be until they call in from Elkford before they realize they are not tracking.

OK, back to tour divide emergency contact data entry for me...

[pblumenthal]

Go guys go. Let's hope they all have a safe, muck free, rain free ride.

  - Pete

[SimonK]

Thanks for keeping us tuned in Scott.

Good luck to all involved.

[Jeff Tomassetti]

It looks like some folks will have a 150 mile plus day. Whew!

[riverfever]

Hey Sharon it's Chris. I can't imagine anyone would have an issue with your posting up pics. I know we'd all love to see them. I use www.tinypic.com when posting images. After you've downloaded them to your PC go to the site and upload pics. You'll need to do this one at a time. After it brings it up the site will then provide you with a URL for posting on an internet forum. Cut and paste that link into your post here and you're good to go.

Hang in there and if you should need anything don't hesitate to contact us.

[Marshal]

Thanks Chris, I'll try.

[ScottM]

Alright!  With about 12 hours on the clock we have a very clear breakaway! 

The group consists of Matthew Lee, Erik Lobeck and Kevin Dean -- all veterans of the race.  Trailing only a slight behind is rookie Robin Borstmayer, who may be new to the race, but certainly isn't new to the area, hailing from the start city itself, Banff.

Recall that last year Matthew Lee made the move of the race on the first night.  He went only a few hours further into the (deep, dark, is-there-a-bear-lurking night) than all the other racers, many of whom stayed in Sparwood.  From then on he was out of reach and only grew his lead.  You have to wonder how far the other riders in the break are willing to ride, and if they know about how critical the first night was last year for Matthew.

John Foster, Matthew Arnold and Dave Blumenthal are heading up the chase group, and are at least an hour back.

All but six riders are showing up as 'moving' on the tracker, though I am sure those six are only stuck in Banff due to operator error of the SPOTs.  For new users of the units there are a few gotchas that can occur, esp. when the nerves of starting a 2700 mile epic come into play.  I'm sure they'll get things working soon enough.

It will be interesting to see how far the leaders get tonight.  For sure they will be looking at one of the cabins up ahead to catch some Z's away from the griz-Z-lies.  Stay tuned.

[Marshal]

Hi:  These are just a few of the pictures from this morning.  My connection in the hotel isn't that great, so I'll stop with these.  Hopefully they come through.  Wishing well the best of luck with the race!!    Sharon  Sorry, don't know why they are so large.

, , ,  IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/5n28p2.jpg[/IMG],  

[bjamin]

Interesting that that top three are still blazing trail at 9pm tonight. Anyone know how many hours of sleep they'll average?

[ScottM]

It's a little too early to tell for sure, but by the look of it, at 11:20pm MDT, Matthew has made his move, going beyond Corbin, while Erik and Kevin have stayed behind.  There is another cabin somewhere ahead, I am not sure quite where, but I do know it was a possible goal of his for the first day. 

Sleep?  It's a race!  Clock is ticking! 

[MrWaves]

 Stunning - 4 hours sleep and Matthew is off! Any bets on his time to the border? Must be under 24 hours... It's going to be a game of catchup for everyone else from here on.

[fneilsimms]

Go Matthew! He told us he wanted to do 180 or so the first day, and put some space between himself and everyone else, so I guess he's done both.

I think the old vet wants to set that record before he retires .

All the best to all the racers, from Carrboro, NC.

[bjamin]

Question on the route: why do the riders have to jag all the way over to Eureka instead of just dropping dead south thru Polebridge? US Customs?

This event rocks!
Bjamin

[Von Petrol]

The boarder crossing in the Flathead Valley is closed

[steveintheboat]

Looks like we have a RACE, and a long one at that. Good luck to all TD racers, hope to see a new record set this year, and with a field this strong I am betting it will happen.  

[teamfaeth]

Team Faeth here in Sacramento, Ca. My hubby is a first timer and started off well, but then I found out after Elkford his chain wheel broke in half. He had to walk/cruise his bike 20 mi last night. Bummer!

[teamfaeth]

So, The bike shop didn't open until 10am. Sounds like they helped a brother and got him the part he needed and is up and running. Just wanted to say hi and I love reading all the post. I am a homemaker addicted to watching and tracking this race. So much fun! Thanks for all your expert input. At home praying for all the racers and cheering for my man!!

[bruce.b]

   Go Pete!
   bruce.b