Tour Divide race discussion

[bruce.b]

The single speed race has been great. Tom DeVries, age 54, has been in the lead with the next two guys close behind and Alice Drobna not too far behind them. Then Jason Snell on a fixie another 120 miles or so back. The last rider, Josh Taylor hasn't had his spot update in 12 hours. Who knows where he is.

[JF-mtnbiker]

Winter Weather watch for the Butte area, he is probably just trying to beat it by a little. I think that 38 and snow was the overnight forecast. Any southern distance that he can get improves the weather by a little.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

There is plenty wet, cold weather and snow forecasted south of Butte. He might get some 2010 reminiscent Fleecer Ridge snow tonight. Bannack could be major mud tomorrow. It is raining buckets here in ID/WY area.

[MCR]

I have another suggestion for the trackleaders folks:

In the page for each rider (that you reach by clicking their name in the "all riders" view), you have a little table with a scroll bar. In that list are items like "current speed", "route mile", and "Route Distance per day".

Please add another field called something like "Pace", and calculate it as "Total length of the GPS line" divided by "Route Distance per day". The units for Pace are days. (It's an estimate of days-to-complete---the total number---it doesn't count down.)

Last year, the Total Length (of the GPS line) was something like 2859 miles, although Mike Hall's was 2867 for some reason. Maybe I got the 2859 from an early NB rider, and Mike's distance was different because of the Bursam Detour or the fire detour to Cuba. (I didn't notice it for finishers after MH).

[ndevries]

The single speed race has been great. Tom DeVries, age 54, has been in the lead with the next two guys close behind and Alice Drobna not too far behind them. Then Jason Snell on a fixie another 120 miles or so back. The last rider, Josh Taylor hasn't had his spot update in 12 hours. Who knows where he is.

Man, singlespeed is one thing, but fixie?  Thats amazing!   I am humbled by the effort so many people are putting down to keep moving right now, and encouraged by all the support from the community for the competitors!  Dad (Tom DeVries) will be ultra-encouraged when he sees all of the positive comments when he returns home!  Thanks everyone!

[mbeardsl]

Jefe is totally killin' it, if we compare it with the ghost of JayP. I remember JayP lost his SPOT around Lincoln, MT - dunno how that effects the ghost's position - may be a little off.

Yeah, lost in Lincoln and returned in Lima so from now until Lima probably not worth much in reference but the difference at Lincoln is certainly telling at 16hrs (!!!) ahead assuming that Lincoln data is accurate for Jay.  Lima or maybe even Macks Inn will be the next best waypoint to watch.  

[Done]

Although Alex Harris didn't arrive until after 11 pm on Sunday June 15th, when everybody was in for the night [hence attached photo is from a friend in Lincoln] he did spend a couple of hours resting in Ovando and personally I want to thank two of our residents.  Thank you Tony!, who upon seeing Alex biking back and forth ran out with a few sandwiches for him and thank you Shaun! for allowing Alex to get a couple of hours sleep in your cabin and shuttling more food to him.  

Hmmm...

[mbeardsl]

Hmmm...

I've been waiting for you to comment

[mbeardsl]

Yeah, lost in Lincoln and returned in Lima so from now until Lima probably not worth much in reference but the difference at Lincoln is certainly telling at 16hrs (!!!) ahead assuming that Lincoln data is accurate for Jay.  Lima or maybe even Macks Inn will be the next best waypoint to watch. 

It should also go without saying that Alex Harris deserves some serious props as well.  Ahead of Jays ghost at Lincoln too by 6hrs and change.

[sfuller]

Angler, keep it coming. In fact, me and 2 others are doing a 5 day tour in late July. Originally planned on Eureka to Seeley before turning back north. I'll have to talk them into extending it to Ovando and visit the town, drop a few bucks in payback.

Fine by me.

[ABfolder]

There is plenty wet, cold weather and snow forecasted south of Butte. He might get some 2010 reminiscent Fleecer Ridge snow tonight. Bannack could be major mud tomorrow. It is raining buckets here in ID/WY area.

We have heavy rainfall warnings all down the southern mountain areas in Alberta starting about Banff and running into Montana. Elijah Kane shouldn't have dawdled! It's pouring buckets in Calgary right now.

[mtbcast]

TD14 Day 4 and TABR14 Day 10 True Up! Billy Rice has another bike issue, Nathan Jones is in his fave: Rawlins, Eric Sime discussed the Canadian section, and we true up your TD calls for today!

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

[Angler]

I've been waiting for you to comment

My error:  shuttling was not a correct term.  He was on his own.  Shaun was shuttling between point 1 to point 2 to convince him to stay over that he wouldn't be a problem yaddah yaddah.  He in no way assisted him in his endeavor.  My bad.

[Angler]

Weather looks to not be in the favor of these folks.  Sorry to all:

A Winter Weather Advisory above 6000 feet remains in effect until noon MDT Tuesday.

* Impacts/timing: the snow level will be steadily lowering as a strong storm system moves into the area. Showers will become fairly widespread by early morning, resulting in accumulating snowfall on both paved and unimproved surfaces above 6000 feet. Travel on Montana Highway 1 and US 12 over MacDonald Pass will be affected at times by falling snow and slushy accumulations.

* Snow accumulations: 2 to 4 inches of snow are expected in Georgetown Lake and over MacDonald Pass with even greater accumulations expected over the higher terrain.

[threepin]

Just got back from whitefish after having some beers with friends doing tdr.
A beautiful evening after several days of rain had me riding up to a couple of miles above upper whitefish lake where i met an old ski buddy and rode back toward town, passed about 20 riders heading southbound, most looking pretty good. Saw an awesome double rainbow we chased from the olney cutoff road almost to whitefish lake.
The forecast here for the next 2 days sucks:

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Missoula MT
312 PM MDT Mon Jun 16 2014

...A SIGNIFICANT SPRING SNOW STORM WILL AFFECT LOCATIONS ABOVE
6000 FEET ALONG THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY
MORNING...

.DISCUSSION...A cold, dynamic upper level low pressure system
will bring heavy snow and rain to the Northern Rockies over the
next two days resulting in a variety of impacts. Here`s a synopsis
of what to expect.

Despite a slight decrease in showers this evening, an approaching
upper level low pressure system will bring a return of widespread
precipitation to the area. The first focus for potential impacts
will be above 6000 feet over southern Lemhi County and parts of
southwest Montana where the development of some intense showers
are expected by Tuesday morning. Advancing cold air aloft will be
drawn nearer to the surface under these showers with accumulating
snow fall affecting locations like Gilmore Summit, Georgetown Lake
and MacDonald Pass Tuesday morning. But this is only the beginning of
what could be an even more significant precipitation event.

Farther to the north, along the Continental Divide and especially
in Glacier National Park, a focused region of vigorous
precipitation will develop tonight and persist through at least
Wednesday morning. Models are showing some very impressive total
precipitation amounts with upwards of 4 inches possible over the
higher terrain of Glacier NP. This certainly has some valid
potential considering that the upper low is tapping into an
abundance of low/mid level moisture across the Midwest/upper
Midwestern states, evident by very high surface dew points being
observed. Ultimately the intensity of this precipitation will
result in the snow level lowering to around 6000 feet with 2 to 6
inches expected between 6000 and 7000 feet and upwards of 20
inches possible above 7000 feet.

[james-o]

Go SS Tom! 6th place on a SS, brilliant stuff. Cheering him on to keep close to that 20 day flag! Huge respect for the SSers here.

Alex is on last year's pace despite the conditions. Looks like he's bivied in the same spot, same time (edit, actually ~3-4hrs ahead of 2013) - I didn't realise he liked Basin so much!
I was bivied just before the Lava Mountain Trail fairly early on the stormy night of the 17th, 4th day. Marco passed as I ate, whooping and shouting a cheery hello in the rain : ) then Alex rode past in the early hours, both taking on that trail in the storm. I set off early next morning and we were back on the same pace shortly after Butte. Alex said he was holed up in the rain under the eaves of a building in Basin and hadn't had a good sleep. I hope he's got a better spot this year.

That forecast doesn't sound good, fingers crossed for all.

[rippling over canyons]

Angler, thanks for the pictures and updates.

[Woodland]

That is one ugly weather pattern in place, the whole field from Wise River north looks to be getting wet and awfully cold.

Reminds me of the weather I hit last year on the CT which I was wholly unprepared for - I hope they are better prepared than I was!

Stay warm out there folks

[mtbcast]

TD14: Overnight - Kent McDonald, Josh Kato, Casper Ortvald, Payton MacDonald, Valerie Kato, George Koefler, Eric Sime, Jean Frankhauser, and Sheila Torres-Blank!

http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/td14/

[mtbcast]

TD14: Calls from Sam and Katy, Jason Snell, Ralph Zastrow who is at Kalispell hospital, Sarah Caylor, and Charlie Kharsa!

http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/td14/

[Angler]

Hey Angler, thanks for posting all the updates!  My dad Tom DeVries should be passing through in 5-ish hours ride-time (Although he may stop for the night at Seeley Lake, I'm not sure of his plans at this point.)  If you see him, please say hi and give him a high-five from me!  He is already doing a lot better than he expected, his exact words were, "I can't possibly do any-more, but I would be letting myself down if I did any less".  He's making us all proud!

Take Care!

Nathan

Nathan, your dad is eating at the Stray Bullet right now.  I gave him your message exactly and I think I brought at least one tear to his eyes.  You could tell your words meant more than the world to him, especially now with the weather beating them all up.  Thanks for letting me pass this along!