Tour Divide 2022 - Race Discussion

[ScottM]

It's been three years since the last Grand Depart in Banff and everyone is excited!

Tracker:

https://trackleaders.com/tourdivide22f

Hopefully a bunch of folks will be calling in to MTBCast:

http://mtbcast.com/site2/


Who are your favorites at this point?  I'm going with the Strempke's (Andrew and Katie) for overall wins on their singlespeeds!  Not only are they super strong, they are awesome, humble folks.

Roughly 170 riders took the start in Banff (in 10 minute start waves), with a much smaller group going northbound from Antelope Wells.

[mtbcast]

#TD22 - NOBO Nat Cobb called in from Silver City!

 http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/td22/

[Groundshine]

I am watching a bunch of people this year:  Marshal Bird is pretty amazing and did the TD 13 (!) years ago - the same year I raced it in 2010.  Dale Perzanowski is an East Coast guy - I rode Paris Brest Paris with him in 2007.  It'll be interesting to see what he thinks of the West and elevation.  Also from the east coast is Tim Wagner who slayed the Vermont Super 8 last year and David Landis of The Rockstar fame....they should have no problem with this longer distance. Robert Lesmerises is another VtSuper8 veteran and Guillaume Tessier Tremblay is perhaps my cousin  so I gotta watch him.   I think Sofian really wants to win - and I think he can pull it off - should be to watch fun if there is someone there to keep him on his toes.

[ScottM]

Good people to watch there, thanks.

Has anyone looked at the forecast for .... anywhere along the northern 500 miles of the route?  An atmospheric river is predicted to move in bringing 100% chances of rain (including all night) and risk of flooding.  That's from Sunday through Tuesday.  This should be quite interesting! 

The leaders would do well to get to Whitefish before all that really ramps up.  From there is a long paved stretch followed by some firm roads.

Popping the popcorn!

[ScottM]

We will be adding people's start times (in the Grand Depart) to the tracking map soon, but for now here is more or less how it went:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l0T2AzQTmzeUkODuMglZqtPntfByO_LyJv9p0QcGxcM/edit#gid=462702007

It needs updating because we need to hear back from some people as to when they actually started.

But it is interesting as a sorted list of riders by 'goal finish days', too.

[schillingsworth]

Let the strategies begin!! Nightfall on Day 1, always interesting to see where everyone stops...or who doesn't!! Lots of friends to cheer for this year, so fun!!

[Two Tired]

Who are your favorites at this point?

Shawn Cheshire

https://www.choosingtosee.org/

http://www.shawncheshire.org/great-divide-ride.html

[tanadog]

Sofiane and Zoe for me, I think Zoe's experience from 2019 will be crucial as the route unfolds.

I'm interested to see how things play out with the route changes in NM with the last "hard" section getting to Grants meaning there's a pretty clean run in from there. Will the heat be the deciding factor? The time of day that riders hit the desert section (night) could make or break some...

[salsola]

I am watching a bunch of people this year:  Marshal Bird is pretty amazing and did the TD 13 (!) years ago - the same year I raced it in 2010.  Dale Perzanowski is an East Coast guy - I rode Paris Brest Paris with him in 2007.  It'll be interesting to see what he thinks of the West and elevation.  Also from the east coast is Tim Wagner who slayed the Vermont Super 8 last year and David Landis of The Rockstar fame....they should have no problem with this longer distance. Robert Lesmerises is another VtSuper8 veteran and Guillaume Tessier Tremblay is perhaps my cousin  so I gotta watch him.   I think Sofian really wants to win - and I think he can pull it off - should be to watch fun if there is someone there to keep him on his toes.

I'm watching Marshal too, having followed him for his past attempts.  Looks like he had a slow slog through the desert and the Separ Road.  Got right back to it though and hasn't really lost much time on the NOBO front runners.  I've ridden the Gila reroute and it is hot and exposed!  Going to be a grind getting up from Glenwood to Mogollon.  Already pushing 100 degrees out there.

[Biggs23]

Going to throw my hat into the ring. I like Timon Fish and Ashley Carelock. Think they will do well the further South they get. Friend in Whitefish says Mother Nature is going to bring Snow/Rain Sunday night through Wednesday.

[threepin]

Since the weather is so crappy here i took a drive to see if i could catch up to sofiane on grave creek rd.and did about 10 miles above grave creek campground.
He was looking great. A person i knew had chatted with him and was told he did not take any sleeping gear. Clearly that strategy is working now but it would seem to be a gamble further on. I talked to a touring cyclist who had been over both red meadow and whitefish divide. Whitefish divide was apparently no big deal but there were a few big slide remains. He said red meadow was quite bad because its still about 6 ft of compacted snow and the heavy rains have left it as a slopfest. I seee by Sofiane's timings that Galton pass was hard, something we have not seen in years. When i originally scouted that route for the race I found it really held snow much longer on the east side?wigwam drainage.
Red meadow is always the worst since it gets so much more snow and heavy snow machine traffic all winter.

[ScottM]

No sleep kit!  That's bold.  Should be interesting with two nights of rain on tap.

[SlowDave]

Beyond bold.  Kind of surprising after his snow adventure ended his past TD effort.

The weather is a bit different this year.  Here in Tucson the monsoon appears ready for an early start with the early heat.  It is predicted that this year's monsoon will be stronger than usual.  I was talking to a friend in Santa Fe today and she says Santa Fe was hotter than she ever remembers in the 40 plus years she has lived there.  A week ago I was camping on the Conejos and we had a rain and snow mix.  Crazy stuff.

[threepin]

still looking pretty good a few miles before whitefish.

[threepin]

seems like my wife's phone didn't do too good of a job, looking like everyone else is a couple of hours from coming by here. I bet the Red meadow push is no fun

[mtbcast]

#TD22 - Peter Kraft called in from near Eureka!

 http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/td22/

[ScottM]

Glad to see a couple folks calling in!

I just added record dots and green pace flags, too.  They speak to slower conditions overall thus far in the 2022 race, I think.

[threepin]

Mike hall's record year was i believe largely snowless in the north and did not have Koko Claims (?). This year may have had the most snow to deal with to date on the designated route so I think what these folks are doing is quite impressive. One advantage to Sofiane's pacing is he will probably be south of the cold super wet storm we are about to get. Regardless it's still a long way to mexico

[ScottM]

I think you are right that Koko Claims was added in 2017, the next year.  So it's not fully a fair comparison.  And of course with conditions, it's rarely fair!

Seems like Sofiane and his chase group will miss the atmospheric river and may just get 'regular' rain. So the strategy may pay off in that sense.

[tanadog]

Seems like Sofiane and his chase group will miss the atmospheric river and may just get 'regular' rain. So the strategy may pay off in that sense.

There was a post from Manu Cattrysse that they were very aware of the incoming weather and the need to get south asap.

There's a great battle going on in the women's race. I'm wondering if Ana is more comfortable with the hiking being from Alaska?