Tour Divide 2019 Race Discussion

[BobM]

Huge congrats to Josh!  If he purposely bivvied out to wait for the dawn it sure paid off!  I hope Sofiane can recover and get back out there and try to chase the others down.

[gringo]

""
"Gotta make some sacrifices to go as fast as he's been going."

Well he just encountered conditions that he was not prepared for and subsequently lost 6 positions....

[elobeck]

Hmmm is sofiane awaiting warm weather to return then....or emptying pillows of down at brush mountain lodge ?

[ghbucky01]

You may have read a note in dotwatcher.cc about some poor fella that fell on his bearspray and got burned.

With his permission, I can fill in some more details...

The rider is Doug Folk on his rookie tour. Day 1 and 2 went well for him, he camped the first night at the base of Koko claims, and night 2 was in Fernie. He and 2 other guys decided to push on late into night three and were doing pretty well up til they got to 'the wall'. While the three of them were working to shuttle their bikes up, Doug fell on his back (he was carrying his bearspray in a jersey pocket) and unknown to him he knocked the safety off.

Once they finally got to the top, he leaned on his bike and fired the spray into his back. I can't even imagine what the shock of that moment must have been like. In the process of getting his jacket, jersey and baselayer off, he smeared the spray across his back and back of his arms, and of course on his hands. I'm not sure at while mile this was, but I know it very early in the morning (1 or 2?).

Fortunately, the burns turned out to be almost all 1st degree, though he did later mention have a couple of blisters.

He couldn't stand to have anything touching his back, so he pushed on shirtless, and of course it was raining, so now the spray got to flow down his back into his chamois! He pushed on all the way to Eureka and got in there at around 5AM. He suffered through the burning in town for a day and tried to clean up his bike and gear (or threw away what he couldn't salvage). He got on the road the following day and is now making steady progress at the back of the pack.

He has a saying that I greatly relished saying back to him when he told me this story:
"If you are going to be stupid, you better be tough!"

I wouldn't necessarily say he's stupid, but holy hell is he tough.

I plan to do the TD with him next year on my rookie year, but rest assured I will spend as much time as possible upwind of him.

[AZTtripper]

""
"Gotta make some sacrifices to go as fast as he's been going."

Well he just encountered conditions that he was not prepared for and subsequently lost 6 positions....

Lost 6 positions, got into a situation got back down lives to ride again. Didn't panic and hit the 911 button so he's not that guy.

I see the lead North bounder has crossed paths with the spirit of MH. Question is how much snow separates JK from GS.

[Woodland]

Josh I. and Lael look to have both backtracked to the lodge. Wonder what's up? Just the weather and conditions, or something more?

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[geekonabike]

I think it was more in the context of wandering around lost at the top of a pass in the middle of the night.

If you change the TL's base map to USTopo (Mytopo seems to have gone away) you can see where the gpx track seems to get off trail right at the spot Sofiane got lost.

[Woodland]

I have a feeling those 4 in front might now gain a huge gap on the rest of the pack given that they're up and over lynx pass - or at least close.

Seems as if those at Brush Mountain might be holding off given the local forecast? I know I sure would and that's why I was never a frontrunner! 🙂

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[ewoklake]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzBe78QlMC-/?igshid=1957w76xtw82s

Mud!!!

Josh I. and Lael look to have both backtracked to the lodge. Wonder what's up? Just the weather and conditions, or something more?

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[Woodland]

Brutal. I remember hitting mud like that north of Fernie. I think I still have some of it on my gear a year later!

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[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Newb here, but following intently this year.

I would think that if you could muster the snow and cold last night it was actually a little faster going (assuming the ground was somewhat firm) than trying to fight through the mud and slightly warmer temps today. That peanut butter type mud is about the worst stuff to try to ride through as many of you know.

[Flinch]

""
"Gotta make some sacrifices to go as fast as he's been going."

Well he just encountered conditions that he was not prepared for and subsequently lost 6 positions....

If you think about it, he was prepared, as he knew his limits down to the temp he could endure, and did precisely the right thing by having enough oomph to self-rescue. Hats off (er, berets off?) to him for going to the edge and not falling off the other side.

[BobM]

If you think about it, he was prepared, as he knew his limits down to the temp he could endure, and did precisely the right thing by having enough oomph to self-rescue. Hats off (er, berets off?) to him for going to the edge and not falling off the other side.

I agree.  If you prepare for everything you end up with a 100 pound bike. Matthew Lee used to say that you must take risks in this race if you want to do well. Sometimes the risks pay off and sometimes not. 

[geekonabike]

If you think about it, he was prepared, as he knew his limits down to the temp he could endure, and did precisely the right thing by having enough oomph to self-rescue. Hats off (er, berets off?) to him for going to the edge and not falling off the other side.

All very true, but I can't help but wonder, had he been 15 mins later at 1st light & seen he was on the lip of the downhill, could/would he have kept going.
 It's always darkest before the dawn, especially after an all night HaB in blinding snow & rain.

[mtbcast]

#TD19 - @Peter Kraft called in from Pinedale and Hal Russell called in from the Montana High Country Lodge!
http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/td19/

[tanadog]

Re Sofiane's bail from the pass, there was some info on FB that his gps had stopped working and he was navigating off his phone, and it wasn't accurate enough to get a fix on the track. Remember it was blizzarding.

So glad that he is safe. Was good to know that there were good people just down the road that would have been looking out for him. I rode this section with Sofiane in 2016, so it's been an emotional rollercoaster these last 24 hrs.

[Woodland]

How long before someone at the lodge decides to brave the mud? Will the road dry anytime soon with the forecast as it is?

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[LandSharkBrian]

Just getting caught up after the first real summer day here in west Michigan. 

Gotta say, between the Mines of Moria and Sofiane emptying down pillows to continue, I've been having a damn good chuckle. 

Go Chris!!

[bakerjw]

Two years ago, I was attempting an ITT a few days aftyer the grad depart. I hit the mud North of Elkford. Ten miles of frustrating agony. That included dipping the bike in a raging ice cold stream only to have it muck up again 1 mile down the road. I'd never dealt with that kind of mud before, but the people a few days earlier have and knew what to do.
Some at the lodge will push into it, deal with it and move on.
Myself, at that point, I was about to throw my bike off of the road in disgust until that little voice popped in and said "Deal with it".

[Woodland]

Brush Mtn is about to get busy!

Still surprised no one ventured out from the lodge  this afternoon/evening...

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