Tour Divide race discussion

[Adam Alphabet]

Way to Go Fernie SAR and Paul A. Thumbs up to all involved. Nice work!

[BobM]

For anyone interested in supporting this group, Fernie SAR accepts donations:

https://www.canadahelps.org/dn/6961

[jryter]

Great story about Fernie SAR and Paul. It is a great learning experience. First if you're hurt, do it in Canada or most any other country than the US if you want to have a lower bill. Second, head injuries are hard to diagnose. The person may seem pretty normal but really shouldn't be left alone. I don't know about this case but from first hand experience I've let a friend go and shouldn't have. Luckily they were getting a ride and the person noticed on the ride to town that the injured didn't know who they were.

Well the bus to go see Jefe is about to leave so gotta go. JOKING. GO JEFE!
Jarral

[ABfolder]

Today marks a very important date on the Tour Divide and the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route: the 30th Anniversary of the Grand Depart of the Moe Brothers -- Mike and Dan -- from the Mexican border northbound to the Canadian border almost 2500 miles in distance. Those were the days when GPS was nonexistent, steel bikes ruled the roost and fancy waterproof Adventure Cycling Association maps were not even a glint in someone's imagination. The Moes did it the hard way:

http://tourdivide.org/GDMBR_origin

"Last summer two brothers may have changed the traditional notion of bike touring as a highway sport. From June 24th to August 28th, 1984 Mike and Dan Moe of Laramie, Wyoming pedaled, pushed, coasted and carried bicycles for 2,500 miles from Mexico to Canada along the rugged mountain wall of the Continental Divide. Their trek exemplifies an exciting renaissance in touring, that of long distance mountain biking."

Ten miles of the Great Divide Route in Wyoming's aptly named Great Divide Basin are dedicated to Mike and Dan. Mile 17-27 of Map 3, Side A: “Adventure Cycling Association in memory of Continental Divide mountain-biking pioneers, Mike and Dan Moe.”

http://www.adventurecycling.org/default/assets/resources/moebrothers.pdf

[ABfolder]

Looking at the photo of the Moes at the finish line/international Canada-U.S. boundary, it's obvious that they liked Diamondbacks. Mike's bike appeared to be a black 1983 Diamondback Ridge Runner while Dan's was (perhaps) a 1984 Diamondback Mean Streak. Weight of a barebones, unloaded 1983 Diamondback Ridge Runner? 31 pounds, 7 ounces!

[BobM]

Just saw this. Great back-of-the-pack lament:


Oh, I'm the last to leave.
Now would these ribbon highway roads
Be less wonderful to me?
Why must I always be so slow?

    --Arlo Guthrie

[ABfolder]

Historic flashbacks to put the Moes' high-tech equipment into perspective:

http://vintagecrank.com/fat-tires-come-of-age-vintage-fat-tire-mountain-bikes-bicycling-magazine-may-1983/  A great article on "lightweight" ballooners:

"Ride one and you'll be scratching your head. The wonderfully secure handling of the rock-solid chrome-moly steel frame and sure-footed 26 X 2.125 tires [standard equipment on the Ridge Runners] is to be expected. But in a 30-pound package, it's unexpectedly lithe. And the fat tires most certainly do thumb their noses at rolling resistance."

Another goodie: "Cantilever brakes are just about mandatory on an off-road bike".

1984 Diamond Back catalog: http://www.ozbmx.com.au/index.php?showtopic=21655 (check out the specs page)

[mtbcast]

TD14: Sam and Katy called in from Steamboat, Scott McKinnon called in from Butte, and Jason Snell called in from Lima!
http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/calls/

[mtbcast]

Thanks for the reminder, ABFolder!

[ABfolder]

You're welcome Joe! Hopefully you've thawed out from the Goat Creek blizzard by now.  

Just for the record: I run a black, renovated 1985 Miyata Terra Runner with 2.25" Marathon Extremes and canti brakes. About the same, um, light weight as the Moes' bikes! Tip: Even though Eric Parsons at Revelate Designs cautions riders not to use his harness rig with a vertical exposed cantilever brake up front, you might get away with it if you have the old style bullmoose bar and use two of his feedbags (with water bottles in them) to act as backdrops for a loaded dry bag to bounce against instead of hitting the brake cable. Works for me!

Now, after those few moments of thought and remembrance for the pioneering Moes, back to the race....

[Hadfield]

Did I read correctly on pivot cycles facebook page that they are giving a firebird 7" travel bike to the winner of the tour divide? Wow if it is true.

[ZackR]

If Jefe wins something like that, then starts drinking Red Bull, we're gonna need to organize an intervention.

Just sayin'.

[mbeardsl]

If true, awesome for Pivot, but seems like they could find a better model to fit the style of the ride.

[Woodland]

Don't quote me on it but I think JP ran into storms in NM that slowed him down a bit.  And of course there's the other worry through NM that I won't even name...

Could always use the archive here:
http://trackleaders.com/tourdividei.php?name=Jay_Petervary

[ComoDepot]

The Como Hotel is not open this year, I have seen a few cyclists come by, one in the race.

Jefe came by about 3pm, I was here watching the Football, not an obvious time to stop.

A friend saw Jill and fed her, dawn on Sunday.

Boreas Pass is now officially open, as somebody said the road is fine, we have had no rain of consequence, but there is still a lot of snow melt coming down.

[mbeardsl]

Could always use the archive here:
http://trackleaders.com/tourdividei.php?name=Jay_Petervary

Doesn't tell you much about pace through certain sections though unless you want to do the tedious math of computing points from 131 days 9 hours and 20 minutes ago.  You get better at-a-glance info from the splits of his ghost on the tracker for this year IMO.

[beckmank]

Anyone know what's going on with Katie & Sam's GPS spot? They called in from Steamboat, but their spot has been stuck in WY for three days. Are any other riders having the same issue?

[bncrshr77]

I was wondering the same thing about Katie and Sam?

[ZackR]

Sam mentioned they are working on their Spot situation in his most recent call. They're both kind of busy right now though.

[Mathewsen]

Sam mentioned they are working on their Spot situation in his most recent call. They're both kind of busy right now though.

I organized a warranty replacement of their failed tracker. Spot overnighted it to the Quality Inn in Silverthorne. It's activated and ready to ping.