Tour Divide is awesome - TD 2021 Discussion Thread / MTBCast links

[bon]

Loving the call-ins! Such a unique year in every way!

[mtbcast]

#TDGDC21 - Days 23 of the Tour Divide Border-to-Border and the Great Divide Classic! We true-up only 1 call as Jackson Lester called in as he worked his way down the last 65 miles to the border!

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

[tlane3of6]

Can anyone explain the route options south of Cuba?  So many were taking the blue track on TL that I thought it was a fire detour.  Now I notice Rick Cano and Gary Johnson now south of Cuba on the Classic route so it must be still open.  Why did so many switch that were previously on the Classic route?

Edit:  Sorry, just noticed RC and GJ also took the blue track out of Cuba but swithed back to the classic route south of Grants.

Question remains, is the Classic closed out of Cuba for some reason?

Thanks, Tom

[woody]

Can anyone explain the route options south of Cuba?  So many were taking the blue track on TL that I thought it was a fire detour.  Now I notice Rick Cano and Gary Johnson now south of Cuba on the Classic route so it must be still open.  Why did so many switch that were previously on the Classic route?

Edit:  Sorry, just noticed RC and GJ also took the blue track out of Cuba but swithed back to the classic route south of Grants.

Question remains, is the Classic closed out of Cuba for some reason?

Thanks, Tom

This might help clear it up a little.
https://bikepacking.com/news/2021-tour-divide-great-divide-classic/

And

http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/ultra-racing/tour-divide-2021-preparation-planning/msg99376/#msg99376

[schillingsworth]

Audrey Tangye is still moving, her Garmin tracker died. She was in Grants last night and making the push for Pie today!!

[superdavebruno]

https://apnews.com/article/montana-lifestyle-travel-c1d866fa4113b50b9292d8fe5f0301e2

Definitely GDMBR-related, and I hope not TD-related. Ovando: I remember seeing 3 bears just north of there in 2011 while riding at dusk. Deepest condolences to family and friends.

[bikelite]

https://youtu.be/FvRKX5XiVdY?t=4285
So he knew his friends would be there beforehand. (already knew his friend Jeff Fox would be there with his kid)

Visitation: Divide racing is not intended to be a spectator sport! However, route-town locals only may interact with (i.e. visit briefly, cheer on) thru-racers as they pass through their locale. Out-of-town visitation to the GDMBR mid-race from challengers' family or friends?even if only a  'loosely-planned', remote possibility for rider rendezvous?is prohibited.

[ScottM]

I think everyone who knows anything about the race knows that there will be friends and a vibe at Brush Mtn.  It's essentially a 'town' with all services there, as well. 

Sometimes the support/friends and vibe there does seem to be at odds with the purely self-support vibe of the event but it's been accepted as a bit of a special case for many years.

[Briansong]

As to Leal Wilcox's ITT. Why is she on the old TD route? (Prior Koko)

[ScottM]

As to Leal Wilcox's ITT. Why is she on the old TD route? (Prior Koko)

She wanted to directly challenge the overall record (Mike Hall 2016) so is essentially doing the route he was on.

There was not much cohesion in the route choices this year, so it seemed like a good idea to me.

[Iowagriz]

Spray Lakes road is closed to bikes - that wasn't a good choice

[ScottM]

Spray Lakes road is closed to bikes - that wasn't a good choice

Oh, I didn't realize that.  To be honest I have not tracked the reasons for all the changes to the route on the Canadian side.  That does sound familiar though. 

Wait, the route was moved to the west side of the Spray River / Lake in 2016, which is the route MH rode:

"TD 2016 v2 update (5/20/16) - Added High Rockies Trail-North, west side of the Spray River"

Is that what you are referring to?

[Iowagriz]

I only knew as I rode it the year prior to closure. From memory, it was due to bear habitat. The road on the west side of Spray Lakes Reservoir, south of the campground at the north end of the lake, to the southern end.  Bummer as it was a beautiful section.  I had to double check myself to see if it was just temporary.

I found this pdf - https://www.albertaparks.ca/media/6493727/2016_bow_corridor_kan_valley.pdf

Unless I am reading it wrong, "Spray Road West" is hiking only for the majority of the west side.  Oddly enough, the map only points out no bikes at the southern point.  But, the purple line is hiking only.

EDIT: spelling

[ScottM]

Huh, this seems to indicate it's open to bikes and horses as well:

https://www.albertaparks.ca/parks/kananaskis/kananaskis-country/advisories-public-safety/trail-reports/spray-valley/spray-road-west/

I am not so sure.  I do see the purple line in the map you linked.

Either way she is past it now.  <shrug>

[robinb]

Huh, this seems to indicate it's open to bikes and horses as well:

https://www.albertaparks.ca/parks/kananaskis/kananaskis-country/advisories-public-safety/trail-reports/spray-valley/spray-road-west/

I am not so sure.  I do see the purple line in the map you linked.

Either way she is past it now.  <shrug>

Hi - Banff local here.  Spray lakes road is definitely open and legal.  West Spray as well.  Certainly a little quicker than the current route through this first few miles to Boulton creek.  But it's the route Mike did so fair play to her for choosing it.

[robinb]

Wait, the route was moved to the west side of the Spray River / Lake in 2016, which is the route MH rode:

"TD 2016 v2 update (5/20/16) - Added High Rockies Trail-North, west side of the Spray River"

Is that what you are referring to?

Scott - there are 2 parts to the High Rockies Trails - the one you refer to (North) is a short section you folks added in 2016 (and is still the current route) In 2016 all that was ridden was the 'North' part of that trail which takes you to the west spray lakes road and back on to the original route (circa 2009).  Post 2016 was when the other southern part of High Rockies Trail was added in and riding the West Spray road was removed.

Hope that helps!

[Alex.C]

For the last couple of years the new trail maps in the area have had this on it:



However as far as I know they don't actually have the closure implemented yet, and there are no actual no no-entry signs or the like.

Additionally they cleared all the deadfall along that section recently.

[salsola]

I've been watching Andrew Kulmatiski's NOBO ITT with great interest.  He finished up yesterday with a time of 15d 12h 45m.  Incredible ride!  He stopped in Helena for a covid test before proceeding to the Canadian border and the finish.  Josh Kato had an excellent write-up which he posted to Facebook and I'm posting here for those who may not be on FB.

"It?s been awesome watching Andrew Kulmatiski?s ITT.  He?s getting right down to it. A few hours to finish.  I posted this last night elsewhere on the interwebz.
Andrew Kulmatiski is currently battling over KoKo Claims in the dark.  That place is hard to move through in the daylight! His current elapsed time is about 14days 19 hours. He has a bit over 100 miles to go.

While the Great Divide isn?t about time the Tour Divide is a race and yes time is recorded.
I believe Andrew?s fastest Tour Divide time is 15d10h20m which he did in 2017 on another independent time trial (ITT).  His time was fast enough for 3rd place of all racers that year.
A Tour Divide time under 16 days is wildly fast.  I think there have been 18 finishes throughout the history of the Divide that have gone under 16 days. Only 3 people have had more than one finish under 16 days. Mike Hall, Jay Petervary and some other guy who likes orange jerseys.

I have to think that Andrew could easily finish in the next 12 hours.  Also, I am in doubt that anyone else will finish the full length Tour Divide this year faster than Andrew.  If that is the case he effectively becomes the 2021 Tour Divide winner. If that is the case he also joins a very small group of people who have podiumed more than once.
Cheer on that dot! Get it, Andrew!"

Huge congratulations to Andrew!

[taprider]

Even if you add 24 hours onto JP's time for border to border (24 hours is approximately the fastest time from Banff to US border), it would still be more than Andrew's full pull time.
Regardless of my arithmetic, I agree with Kato's pronouncement of this year's winner.