Tour Divide mountain bike race

[rob colliver]

Hi , is there anybody out there who would be able to pick me up from Calgary on the 26th May – I’m coming over to Fernie from the UK to do a little training before starting the Tour Divide. There are a couple of Fernieites on the startlist for this race and if Paul Attalla or Franck Gimard are reading this, you may be able to hook me up with a ride. I could stay in Calgary for a day and come down on Friday 27th if that opens any windows on a schedule…

Kind regards

Rob Colliver

[fraval]

Hi Rob
Sorry , but on the 27th I am leaving for Spokane WA , for the 24h race..wont be back before the 30st…
hope to meet you in Fernie for training !
Cheers

Franck

[rudy-admin]

The Tour Divide Mountain Bike race is not your average event:

http://tourdivide.org/

[rudy-admin]

Paul Attala has established what looks to be – barring major incident – an insurmountable lead in the race to Banff. He’s over Boreas Pass– which he says is clear – and now in Steamboat. The speed with which he dispensed with New Mexico was breathtaking. It’s only a handful of miles shorter than the traditional route through Montanaand on a par in terms of difficulty – certainly in the very north and in the Gila. In the context of this year’s TD, that would lead you to think he’s broken the back of the ride as Montana has had some of its major difficulties circumvented (though a post on the race discussion forum suggests he’s planning not to take the snow re-routes…). Also, he’s not just heading to the finish, he’s also heading home, being a Fernie resident, which you’d think would provide extra motivation were any needed. Maybe his rivals will hope he’ll get distracted by calling in for a cuppa.

[rudy-admin]

If start and stop times are any indication of a rider’s state of mind – as opposed to more objective circumstances, such as weather, or availability of food or accommodation – then it’s interesting to note the following: Kurt rode latest on the 21st, but then Jefe got the jump on him in the morning; Ethan was a little slower getting going (he has reported suffering from a sore knee, which may be the reason). The Silverthorne posse had a bit of a lie-in; now it’s Josh Shifferly out front of Roberto and Parker after Aidan Harding had to return to Steamboat to fix a bust frame.

Perhaps also suffering from the drag-effect of staying in town, the Eurotrain in Steamboat took a while to get rolling yesterday, similarly those in Rawlins. Elsewhere, David Horton, Kevin Cunniffe and Mark Erhart were up with the lark but Kevin and Mark don’t appear to have been able to close the gap on Tori Fahey’s peloton, which is now in Atlantic City.

Northbound, needless to say Paul Attalla was off before sun-up and is now in Lima, having swapped notes with Justin Simoni about snow conditions in passing. Now is the crux for Justin in terms of completing the original route. If he fancies Togwotee and, probably worse, Union Pass in the snow he’ll have to turn east very soon. Union Pass in particular felt a lonely place to me, even when I had the comfort blanket of being able to cover the ground between me and civilisation quickly on a bike. Still, Justin’s clearly made of stern stuff.

To read more:

http://www.tourdivide.org/blog2010/what … ng_through

http://trackleaders.com/tourdividei.php … ul_Attalla

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