It’s that time of year when the letters of intent start flying in to Matt Lee. Maybe you are thinking of giving the Tour Divide a go?

I have finally written up my race in a series of blogs for your perusal: http://phased.co.uk/21-days-in-space-the-tour-divide-2019/

I’ve just read ALL of it….

It was brilliant….

Thanks tonnes for sharing.

Fantastic read – thank you!

Wonderful! Loved reading every minute of that. Thanks for sharing!

Enjoyed that! Thanks for sharing.

Terrific write-up of your achievement, a great read and thanks for sharing it.

Can I get an idea on cost please? Just a ballpark really. Ignoring bike and kit. Just logistics.

Really good write up. Thanks.

Well that killed a few hours very enjoyably!

Thanks very much for a great and entertaining write-up and congratulations on the achievement.

Can I get an idea on cost please? Just a ballpark really. Ignoring bike and kit. Just logistics.

£750 to £1k for flights
£100 a day for food and lodgings (average sometimes less sometime more)

I’d say £2-4k is achievable. Less than £2k is possible but much harder

Interesting figures. Not too bad at all.

I’d just need to drop 4st and gain some legs.

Thanks

Excellent. Enjoyed reading that 🙂

I’m ‘staying out of the red’ and taking a breather at day 13.
I’m wanting to savour a fabulous read.
BTW there is something very wrong with your toes 😁.
Thx for sharing (should be in the mag).

I really really enjoyed that.
Thanks for sharing.
There’s probably a book in there.

Thanks for that, really enjoyed it!

Read that instead of studying. Good to read after watching your vid, looking forward to the follow-up

That’s a great read Dave, not annoying at all! Well done.
A TD is definitely on my bucket list.

Interesting thoughts on the ‘Postcard Divide’. I was having a very similar discussion with a mate recently, except I’m not in the 1980’s so it was Insta rides rather than postcard.
We were on a bit of perfect winding gravel with a bit of grass in the middle, pikcheresk surroundings, blue skies. That’s the image which makes it to FB / Insta.
Not the cursing through peat hags in the mist with a hurty knee and soggy clothes. 🙂

Thank you all for the kind feedback it makes the hours struggling to make sense of it all very worthwhile.

Nice write up and having broken myself on a small thrutchy section today I laughed at that definition-spot on. I’ve done loads of sufferfest racing and could empathise with your words. Well done on all fronts, f&@£(, good one !

Inspirational that! Brilliant read.

@davidb was the bent disc the only mechanical you had? How much maintenance did you do along the way?

@davidb was the bent disc the only mechanical you had? How much maintenance did you do along the way?

Yes, the bike needed a massive service at the end. New chain, cables replaced, bearings knackered.

All I did was clean the chain most nights, keep it lubed and generally mince down everything technical.

great read, read it all from start to finish in one go.

One day….one day… 🙂

Dave, Read, and thoroughly enjoying, up to day 16 so far. Kept up to date, via lurking on BB forum, when you were going through this epic trip. Good to get more aspects of the moments reffered to on the vid’ & various posts. Looks like & real test not only physically but mentally. Very well written IMO in language that pedalists who have pushed their limits, though maybe not as deep as you had to go out there… can relate to. Thanks & lots of respect for finishing in the time you did. The banter with the guys you were coming across must have helped to keep you all hanging in there.

What a great write up!

You write very well – the blog posts are engaging, interesting and very human.

Chapau to you, Sir.

Read it in a oner. Loved it. Thanks.

Cheers for that, been reading it in instalments on the bog!

To echo the other voices here, what a wonderful tale that was. Although the prospect of bears, snakes and wild dogs is terrifying, it’s something I’m strangely drawn towards. Thank you for sharing!

I really enjoyed that but not sure whether to thank you for inspiring me to go and do something that would challenge me in the same way or thank you for making sure I never actually do!:-)

JFDI

Cock like the Pink Panther’s tail.

Thanks for going the effort of writing that up. Reading it has very much enlivened my commute over the last few days. Like the achievement itself, the account is 100% your own thing, and amen to that.