Tour Divide 2022, who’s paying attention?

Mass start riders are away, who are you following and how are they doing?

Will definitely be keeping an eye on those dots. And while I have no particular “favourite” it will be good to see how the Brits and Sofiane get on.

No records to chase this year due to the re-route, but could be some good racing at the pointy end.

Yep, will be keepings tracks on Josh Ibbett.

Looks like Josh has just got going again after a (very) few hours kip at a shade over 200 miles. Sofiane is about 30 miles ahead but hasn’t stopped yet, is he aiming for another massive first leg as per his last attempt?

I’m watching a local, Jim Barrow, but he is riding as a pair so it’s down as an ITT, so can’t see him on the main dot watching site which is a shame.

Had a look at the ‘Bikes of’ on backpacking.com. Very few FS, lots of rigid. I thought that with the rise of ‘downcountry’ there might be a few more short travel FS.
I suppose it is ultimately about where you can stash your stuff

I’m watching a local, Jim Barrow, but he is riding as a pair so it’s down as an ITT, so can’t see him on the main dot watching site which is a shame.

I’m also trying to watch Jim.
He/his bike is shown in the bikepacking.com ‘Rigs of… Part 2’.

Pity we can’t dot watch him. I’m waiting for his Instagram/Twitter updates.

Pity we can’t dot watch him. I’m waiting for his Instagram/Twitter updates

I suspect he won’t mind me sharing this, he usually loves a bit of attention 😀

https://eur-share.explore.garmin.com/share/jimbosussexmtb?fbclid=IwAR3gA8kCUG5Km5GiVAvjisUxPu8cecgDEHCSItZZbBLdcgYivLCCA8tm6oM

It’s looking a bit wet for Jim and Chris just now with torrents of melt water flowing down and over the ‘roads’

Also following Jimbo and Chris. Pretty rough day yesterday by the looks of it and sounds like there’s storms on the way!

Sofiane now has a 70-odd mile lead over a group of 4 including Josh, all within a mile of each other, has only taken less than 5 hours stoppage so far…

Thanks for that @Rubber_Buccaneer.
Jim has posted a couple of Twitter and Instagram messages.

Randomly, I think I am. A bikepacker guy from Toronto that I follow on Insta is, as far as I can work out, taking part (theokelsey). Dunno where he’s at, mind

He’s here, http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide22i.php?name=Theo_Kelsey

Jeez, he’s going well!

So, after Sofiane took a little detour and had to backtrack this morning, things have got a little closer again with only about 35 miles between the top 4. The difference in amounts of stopped time must come into play at some point unless our French friend is not human. Even a Parisian courier must need sleep from time to time.

More rain forecast north of Fernie for those further back in the pack. According to a TDMBR Facebook post, there were a few cases of hypothermia yesterday as the rain is falling as snow at altitude.

Seems like a challenging year at the north end of the course. Good luck and safe travels to all riders.

BBC News showing some bleak footage of the rainfall in Yellowstone Park: Soggy

Note: Not strictly on the course, but gives an indication that it’s maybe a bit wetter than normal.

some lead by Sofiane at the moment, early days though, but still behind Mike’s record 🤯

Some lead indeed, if you look at his history page he’s only had one proper stop of any length after about 65 hours. Just mind boggling.

Seems like local Search and Rescue groups have already helped 6 riders suffering from hypothermia around Fernie…

He/his bike is shown in the bikepacking.com ‘Rigs of… Part 2’.

Jesus wept, I’ll do everyone a favour and save them the scroll, this is the only interesting bike, the rest are 98% Cutthroats or clones thereof bar a couple of Crust oddities.

Part 1[/url] is far more interesting.

Sofiane still some way out front but the rest of the sharp end are swapping positions as they go over half distance. Still lots of miles to ride so can anyone get close to catching the flying Frenchman?

There was an unfortunate withdrawal when a guy’s bear spray attached to his bars got him in the face. He was found 2.5hours later, presumably having lain unconscious and ended up in hospital with broken ribs. Just as well the bears didn’t find him!

^ British rider. Crazy incident, glad he’s ok and GWS to him.
I went to buy bear spray in Banff and was told by the forest worker I got talking to there that they didn’t carry it, if they got close enough to use it they then had to think about if the wind was in the right direction etc. They used bear bangers instead so I took a packet of those. Maybe a daft decision, idk. Intended to set them off at the Mexican border as a celebration but border guards were having none of it.

this is the only interesting bike

the crate is for his dog 🙂

want to know what a bear banger is but have a feeling google might offer some interesting and not entirely safe for work options

Interesting to see the variation in minimalist/maximalist setups there.

want to know what a bear banger is but have a feeling google might offer some interesting and not entirely safe for work options

haha true.. they’re like a little firework rocket. Aim and fire. I would have bought them even if there was no bear risk, they looked like fun.

Mind boggling that some of the US riders carry a handgun instead of bear spray/bangers.

Looks like the number of riders rescued by search and rescue volunteers is up to 10.
That’s a lot of unprepared people riding some of the more remote country in North America.
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/at-least-10-cyclists-rescued-during-race-from-brutal-weather-in-b-c-kootenays-1.5949544

I’m not really surprised. I met some folks on the start line who had never done an overnighter before. They evidently saw that loads of people do the tour divide and thought “yep I’ll give that a go”, bought all the gear and turned up at the start. Most of these people quit in the first week.

No doubt some of those who have been rescued were well prepared and just unlucky.

Josh Ibbett has scratched. Chest infection
. 🙁
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce6z6t4M5on/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Sensible choice but I bet he spent some time coming to it. Hope he recovers quickly.

Meanwhile, Sofiane has reached Brush Mountain Lodge. Their warnings on Facebook about 20-30,000 hippies on the road sound ominous.

A Rainbow gathering! If you’re in two minds about whether to complete the TD, it seems like the perfect spot to drop out!

cheers for the josh update, was just checking the tracker after work and wondered what had happened

the crate is for his dog 🙂

😃

Mind boggling that some of the US riders carry a handgun instead of bear spray/bangers.

More mind boggling that they think it will do anything other than result in an even angrier bear. The sort of handguns that drop bears are the sort that not even handgun shooters like.

Jim has also called out a day, sounds like wildly fluctuating weather from freezing to 38 degrees, Yellowstone being washed out in floods, more flash flooding over the next 48 hours on the next section, and then a week of proper heatwave with government advice to remain indoors has made it difficult to risk continuing.

I’ve been following a local (to me) guy – Phil Jones from Southampton who j met through fatbiking z few years back.

His Facebook posts look like horrific conditions- torrential rain at low altitudes, pushing bikes for hours through knee deep snow up high. Six days of that so far!

He waited out some of the worst weather I think, under instruction from the race organisers. However the number of helicopter rescues on the race is getting local attention and consternation as its (perhaps unnecessary) taking resources away from the whole Yellowstone area evacuations etc.

I hope the weather improves and they can get on (and enjoy it a bit!), I don’t know at what point the organisers may decide to pull the plug, or even how they’d manage to communicate a decision to 200 racers strung out as they are.

Keeping everything crossed for all of them.

It looks like New Mexico mud is playing havoc with the sharp end of the race, only Sofiane made it via this years route before detours were put in and miles were added for everyone else. The Trackleaders site is showing all sorts of weird distances for riders but all the top end seem to be still on the move.

I’m following a local pal, Ant Ball. First time rider and doing great so far. His facebook posts have been terrifying and inspiring at the same time, now he’s past the worst of the stormy weather it looks amazing. It does sound a bit hot now, going to new extremes within every few days.