he has been checking at his stops i guess , he definantly mentioned at butte that on trackleaders he seemed to be pulling a gap on mike.

I thought using your mobile phone in anything but an emergency was not allowed by the rules or did they relax that -not followed for a couple of years

tral_rat: The original border to border race had the no telephone’s rule but once a second race started from Banff they were allowed.

The border to border has not taken place for a few years – everybody goes from Banff – but if you want to ride the old border to border then ‘phones still not allowed. If you do use a phone you are dq’ed.

I think the rules were set before smart phones technology kicked in and perhaps difficult to monitor.

People like Mike and Craig are not stopping and checking there phones every 15 minutes – they are too busy riding. Also minimal coverage except in towns so not as many opportunities to check as you might imagine.

The valley Mike is riding up right now is really nice. Remember camping at Little Joe campground one night.

[/url] 101_0066 by blackhound59, on Flickr[/img]

Mike’s winding him in, slowly but surely. If there’s one person you wouldn’t want to try and grind off your wheel, it’s Mike.

Craig pushed on later last night and the gap is back to 40.

given it was 60 a couple of days ago thats still good …. Long way to go…..

Jesse Carlton is sneaking up the rear guard.

Last night the first American, Markley Anderson was 8th and after a 20 hour stint, and counting, has moved passed jameso and Leo into 6th.

The chasing pack, including James, heading for Lima will be hoping for dry weather. It is a long tough walk through the sage brush if it rains.

oooh they are close.
mike seems to be 20miles behind

Yeah he’s hunting him down alright. Fingers crossed we don’t get up in the morning and Craig has stretched it out again. Come on Mike!

I’d rather be 20 miles behind if I thought it was in me to make it up. That’s putting a lot of pressure on the leader.

11 miles!

Latest tracker shows Mike Hall has gone way off course to the West .It looks like it could cost him time?

one of the vets could confirm but to me it looks like hes gone to the end of the dead end track fannied about for a bit – then pitched up for the night.

theres nothing in that loop is there ? lodge , restaurant, shop, camp ground ? going by the names looks like forest tracks to me

Lets hope it doesnt cost him ,as he was starting to close in on Craig

According to the internet there’s a lodge there. Probably taking advantage of what looks like at most 1km off his route to get a good rest and meal and cleanup.

That`s good then .I had not looked at the scale and thought he may have drifted up a blind alley so to speak

yep sensible choice

given that on the call ins mike sounds like hes ready for a night out on the town and craig sounds absolutely nailed – like he is giving it his all….. hes pulling back a gap on mike every night by going into the wee hours but every day mike gets closer to him and hes getting more rest.

although i believe mikes mantra was its not he who rides fast but he who lives fast……. craig is living fast – but can he keep it up for another 2 weeks – 3 or 4 hours a night sleep , times so short the camping symbol doesnt even come up on the trackleaders board.

best of luck to him but i am still rooting for mike.

Mike’s moving average speed is 12.6mph and Craig’s is 11.8mph so Mike is pulling him back.

See James Olsen has been in Lima for 12 hours according to his SpoT, hope all ok with him and or it is just a SPoT issue.

mikes up an at em early again …. could be interesting – will he pass craig as he sleeps …… – its only 11 miles 😉

I am struggling with the tracker, the ticker at the bottom is clear enough but the people/pins on the map seem a bit out, what am i doing wrong?

zoom in closer and pan around …. there are so many riders and so close together this year that its hard work to watch*

* on my satelite connection in Port harcourt 😀

what are the 5 people/pins in front of Stappler all about?

Got it they are doing it Northbound… weird, why?

Folk going north and/or ITT riders heading south (i.e. not competing in the race)

read the key at the side – explains about ITT south bound – ITT north bound …. and billy rice going for the double — hes gone all the way north to banff – turned about and is working his way back down was supposed to be the idea.

OK, whats ITT? middle aged desk jockeys?

edit, ok so not in the race,,,, why would anyone do that, why not just be part of it & to hell with the result?

JayP was an ITT when he set the record.
Why bother with the Grand Depart?
Just as valid in both cases.

Nope still dont get it…. especially if you thought you could do a decent time, let alone set a record.

Nope still dont get it…. especially if you thought you could do a decent time, let alone set a record.

Cos its an ITT not really a race? If your fastest youll be at top of leader board irrespective of when you did it.

Its annoying you cant just watch the people in the ‘race’ tho, rather than all riders.

Select “Riders by Category” then “Grand Depart”

why bother riding it at all is also a valid stance…..

im sure everyone has their reasons .

in othernews – craigs out his bed

WTF are these guys & girls eating on a daily basis? Must be a huge graze of calories throughout the day.

eating sweets and drinking palm oil. anything calorific!

bleaughgggh.

Re. the Tour Divide diet, there was a really good piece written in the magazine by a former competitor, which went into a fair amount of detail about the food. Remember her writing about consuming ice cream sanwiches from gas stations at ‘1000 calories a pop’ and still losing weight at a scary rate.

6 miles in it now!

You’ve got to be a bit careful with those mileages. If the leader is doing a steep uphill then you might expect the distance to shrink. It’ll elongate again when the leader goes over the top and the chaser is climbing.

yup and quite evidently craig is climbing up a wall right now wheree as it looks like mikes on flat/gradual climbing track at the moment

Was just reading Mikes blog on setting up his bike …….

“On the bars I have a Garmin 705 which has done the Divide before as well as a lap of the planet, without any issues…”

What a thing to be able to say !

sounds like money bikes needs to work on the design a bit more before selling them

1800 miles in on the northbound and hes in getting some work done on a crack in his frame.

Just had a look at JamesO’s standing. He’s nearly got the fourth placed rider in view. Great riding from him today.

I had no idea James was preparing for this… I knew he was doing bivvy stuff and lots of miles but no idea it was for TD. Amazing that he’s hunting down 4th, really pleased for him!

trail_rat – Member

sounds like money bikes needs to work on the design a bit more before selling them

1800 miles in on the northbound and hes in getting some work done on a crack in his frame.

Aidan needed his frame repaired when he raced the TD.

My Tour Divide in Pictures