The Tour Divide 2016 thread

Metalheart – I’m not trying to be a dick, although generally I am, but none of them are really good reasons. Bar maybe number 4.

They are excuses, all of which can be worked around. In all honesty, 6 years ago when I heard about the Divide for the first time I responded how you just did. It took others to make me realise that it was a list of self prepared barriers – not actual ones.

1 I’m 51, overweight and unfit. It would probably kill me! (+ chronic back issues, phlebitis, etc)

Oldest rider I met was 72. I finished with a 59 year old who was deaf and had back issues among other things. Fitness, well that will come with the riding that goes in to preparing for it – oddly, usually sorts out other things too.
Doing the Divide does not always have to equate to “racing” the Divide. Get that race word out of your head – Touring it, damn that would be a good life experience.

2 logistically, doing it completely solo, no back up anywhere. Wouldn’t know where to start, would probably end in disaster…

I’ll happily help you with any and all of this. Trick one, your computer. Read blogs. Read books. Research. It’s the first 6 months for most people.
Why would it end in disaster? If you prepare, it’s less likely to happen.
Oddly, the solo part is the best part. You get lonely sure, but when you do interact with people…it became some of the best memories I created.

3 finances, nobody ever would sponsor me, not exactly flush with cash these days…

I paid for everything I took bar my Ortlieb bags – I’m not a sponsored rider. I saved for 3 years. Sold a lot of bike bits. Rode to work for 4 months to save on train fares. Stopped spending on things I didn’t need. I still haven’t paid for it. But that’s not the point – it’s just money. You can get more.

Yes I have a wife/house/mortgage/car/full-time job(+freelance work)/existing debt/and so on – so also, not like I’ve all the time in the world either. Nor have most people.

4 you make sound such fun….

Erm…. I can’t comment on that. But some parts, quite a lot if you dig into it, were phenomenal. But yeah, quite a lot wasn’t. Same as most bike rides really. Lots of crap riding inter-spaced with some superace near death awesome moments.

Monde – happy to help with brain inspiration. Go do it.

Robcolliver – told you you should have brought a camera 😉

Greg, I don’t think you’re being a dick and I’d agree that they’re all pretty much excuses. Except maybe the leg bit, there’s a bit more to that one… Only time will tell whether it would be a show stopper.

My interest was first piqued with Jenn’s article (she was way more inspirational than you… 😉 ) however long ago that was. This is the first year I’ve ‘followed’ it though.

I did find your blog very interesting, I liked the warts and all aspect especially.

I’ll dig through stuff and send you an email (if I can find your address). You can maybe inspire me after all… 😆

PS after 4) I did put a smiley face you know….

I will admit Jenns awesomeness surpasses mine by a very, very large factor. It was quite nice when she’d occasionally speak about the Divide when we were out on a ride. Spent a lot of time thinking about her while out there – mostly that she’d be tutting at me for making poor decisions. But also how bloody hardcore she was. Miss her a lot.

Email not in profile any more as others we’re fond of abusing it. If you use Twitter ping me a DM at greg_may_

As for #4…no really, there are some uber shit bits to the Divide. But just as many good ones.

Greg, sent you a mail via a well known photo sharing website….

Greg, you’re right about a camera.
However, some of those views are so mindblowing that I’ve got to back again and ride the Flathead again.

Leaving for Fernie tomorrow. I will take a camera this time.

Just finished Gregs write up. Honest and brutal. Inspired to go further…not quite that far but further. Great read and I’m still in awe of anyone who takes on a challenge like that.

I raced in 2011 and toured as far as Hartsel in 2013 before riding back to Denver on the Colorado Trail and flying home. Touring was excellent and I did a couple of longer days than I managed when racing i.e. into Lima and Rawlings (no longer on route).

Still hope to go back in’19 and barely a day goes by that I don’t reflect on it.
If you can out there metalheart go for it. If you stop in Colorado you avoid the worst of the dogs!

Good man Rob, I’d love to be back out in the Flathead again, such an amazing area.

Teamslug – as I said to Metalheart; what’s actually stopping you?

A few years back, I talked a lot about this being the goal for my 40th.
The 40th came and went a few weeks ago with no Tour Divide on the horizon…but it was my choice not to sign up to it.
Reading Gregs account pretty much sums up my reasons for falling out of love with the idea. Thanks Greg, it’s a great read and the pics are fantastic.

While reading it has made me even surer that I never want to do the ‘race’, it’s also made me surer that I deffo want to visit at my own pace. Now doing about half of the route, over a month or so – that really appeals!

I really enjoyed reading your write-up Greg, and the important postscript too. The honesty and openness was really welcome, and a pleasant change from too much polished fictionilising of the non-fiction (if that makes sense?). You seemed to step outside of the standard blog/bikepacking guidebook formula of writing and the expectations that go with it, which revealed lots of refreshing insights. I think it’s interesting that you managed to do this in one sitting some time after the event, as you seem to have captured a sense of rawness which one might normally associate with a time closer to the events.

I look forward to seeing what may get published. I still find Jenn’s piece inspirational and almost aphoristic in style, and the colour and variety of the Ride the Divide film is still enjoyable (though I never bought into Mike Dion’s ‘trail quest’ approach).

Your thoughts on mental recovery are interesting too, many things too close to home for me to comment on really. Physically your hands sound battered, would a sus fork have helped, would you consider one for 2018?

bedmaker – tour the route, my advice – Start in Canada and go through to Warm River Idaho. Or, Brush Mountain Lodge to the other side of Co. The rest…well it’s not that entertaining – except for the middle bit of New Mexico!

faustus – thanks for the kind words, honesty is something I can do – fast bikepacking like this is not romantic really, its about time people stopped thinking so. Mostly, its shit, except when it’s not – then its awesome.

No I’d not take a sus fork. Several reasons – 1) They don’t react fast enough for the bumps that cause the damage – the washboaring 2) Heavier by a country mile 3) service interval and reliability. For some, a Lauff would be the answer – but they offend me visually and they twist too much for my liking.

The postscript was in my head for a while – I needed to dump that more than the others, but wanted to give it time to brew . As for how the posts read, despite being two months post, well I took a lot of photos – many i’ve not published – so it was easy to remember. I also have a sadly overactive memory that drives out useful information like phone numbers/ peoples names and replaces it with wide open spaces and misery 😉

Read all your write up Greg. A no-nonsense insight thanks for posting.

I read Greg’s blog too. As has been said earlier, it’s refreshingly free from hyperbole. I enjoyed the pictures as much as the prose. Writing in the moment reveals a lot of the despair and the euphoria of the adventure. I wonder how a race paced ride for you would deny you time to take pictures and process words.

I’d like to ride the route someday, but have seen shorter more varied rides with less prolonged exposure in Oregon that I’d been keen to try first.

Enjoyed reading all that, thanks Greg!

Here’s my write up which I finally finished – slightly more upbeat perhaps! Have to say I don’t think I experienced quite the same emotional extremes as Greg.

http://newretrotom.blogspot.com/2016/07/tour-divide-2016-summary.html

All the chapters are linked at the bottom of that summary page.

For those interested, issue 009 of Grit.cx has an article, and photos, that I wrote:

DSC01522.jpg by Greg.May[/url], on Flickr

You can get it here: http://grit.cx/magarchive/issue-009

I finished my 55 day bimble last Saturday – still digesting it all and sleeping a lot. How you guys race it in the time you do is beyond my understanding and I have massive respect for anyone who races it!!

Overall really enjoyed it. Loved the countryside and views. Everyday brought something new. Weather was fantastic – rain in Canada and then no rain through Montana (except one mega storm), Idaho, Wyoming and only a couple of days in Colorado. Colorado was ****** freezing at night – down to minus 10c – I had already changed sleeping bags and bought a liner. Bit of weather in New Mexico. Tail wind across the basin made me wonder what all the fuss was about.

Deviated from course twice – once via Kremmling due to a bad tooth abscess (day 3 and I had had enough – had to sleep pain was so bad and woke with 3 Vultures circling above!) and was forced off the Gila by a bad storm – I had ridden through a 5 hour blizzard on the Poldavera Mesa. Id already brought my flight forward so didnt have time to wait it out.. Oh and had to detour via Victor and Jackson due to Yellowstone fires so did 2,950 miles in total.

People where fantastic. All the locals bar one on the trail were so nice and enthusiastic. Met quite a few (50 plus) also doing it as a tour – rode with a few of them. One guy was on an electric fatbike (knees were shot) so planned his route around recharge points. There was also a french couple towing their 12 month old baby in a trailer.

Every town had at least one Micro brewery as well. Fantastic beer 😀 Everything was hideously expensive post Brexit 😥

No real issues. Chased twice by dogs in NM. Stopped and they backed off. I did have to swerve around 3 rattlesnakes on the hard shoulder though which was slightly un-nerving. Saw no bears (made huge amounts of noise), but met people who had had pretty nasty experiences of Grizzlys. Did see a couple of wolves (one circled me on Fleecer which was cool) and a Mountain Lion briefly after Brush Mountain Farm.

No mechanicals – Salsa Fargo was fantastic. Finished on original tyres – each with about 100 thorns in them so glad of tubeless. Changed brakepads and chain halfway.

Random things – was robbed of my gloves and arm warmers by Gophers at Desolation creek (just past the start of the wall nr Fernie). Found and quickly walked away from £30,000 worth of Crystal Meth in a magnetic box on the side of the road going up the Teton Pass.

Massive, massive thanks to Greg, JamesO and Johnnystorm for your help and advice beforehand. I only had three months to prepare so your help was essential. To anyone thinking of doing it – go for it – its a great experience. Its not really that wild – you are never that far from civilisation and you pass through some great towns on the way. I will write my experiences up and share if needed once done.

Well done Andy, was happy to hear you’d finished.

All that meth could have paid for your trip though….

So, how did he know it was worth £30,000?

One assumes there was an invoice.

I thought it was just rock salt and said to the Merkins I was with “why put rock salt in a magnetic box” – they knew what it was straight away. It was 250-500gms so the value is from google.

We did joke at the time about paying for the trip but somehow a few middle aged fat blokes armed with soft bike bags weren’t really going to cut it in the underworld drugs trade…. 😀

Ah, I wonder where I’d put it!

😉

So that will explain why you were in Colorado so long Johnnystorm 😉

Nothing to do with the hills..

For those interested, book 8 of the Cordillera is available in print as of now.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/christopher-bennett/the-cordillera-volume-8/paperback/product-23042874.html

If you don’t know why it costs what it costs – All the revenue goes to the college fund of Linnaea Blumenthal, whose father Dave was killed in an accident just after Bush Mountain Lodge. To date it has raised over $10,000.

Good luck anyone contemplating it in 2017. Hopefully words from mine and other riders mouths will give you an idea of what it is really like.

DSC00735.jpg by Greg.May[/url], on Flickr

DSC00768.jpg by Greg.May[/url], on Flickr

DSC00819.jpg by Greg.May[/url], on Flickr

Bumpety bump. Don’t be put of buying the book because I wrote a bit of it you can skip That!

Unless you wrote the rest of the book after my part… then maybe skip it.

Nice to read the words of the riders around me, answers some questions to what happened ahead and behind me during the earlier days of the race!

Usual mix of writing from people who finished fast, failed, and toured. Interesting to flick through chapters only having a vague idea who people were before hand. Then suddenly realising that I remember them, or I have different memories of the places they visited.