This is it. Months and months of training, preparation, and obsessing have flown by, and tomorrow morning I'm heading north for the start of the Tour Divide. I think all the little details have been taken care of, so hopefully this last day isn't too frantic. My legs feel great, the bike is primed, gear is stowed, and my head is ready for some big days.
Follow along with the race as things progress, beginning on Friday June 12:
Live tracking provided by SPOT
Updates on the race blog, including transcribed call-in messages from racers
Listen to the call-in messages
If the live tracking page isn't working, try this one for my SPOT unit
And there may be occasional updates here. We'll see.
As for my World Bicycle Relief fund raiser, I've almost made my goal. A couple hundred more dollars will put it over the top, so please, if you haven't made a small donation, consider it. Click on the WBR link at right to make a contribution.
Before I close, I want to thank everyone else who has played a role in making this adventure possible. Without all these great people and companies, there's no way I'd be able to do this.
Gear:
-Eric at Epic Designs for the fantastic bags
-White Brothers for the amazingly dependable front suspension
-The good folks at SRAM for hooking me up with bomber components
-White Industries got me on their hubs yet again
-Pearl Izumi for taking pity on a poor product tester
-Gore Bike Wear for rain gear that keeps me truly dry
-University Bikes in Boulder for helping me out
-Ergon for keeping my hands comfy for so many hours of training
-Mike Curiak for lacing up the strongest wheels I've ever had
Other support:
-Matt Lee for organizing this little race
-My parents for being awesome and driving me to Banff
-Maggie for always being amazingly supportive and for offering to pick me up in NM
-Alex for putting up with my incessant yammering about everything bikes
-Giff for granting me some time off from my studies
-Mike Dion for lending the his SPOT unit
-Fred W and Scott M for putting on awesome ultra events earlier in the season
-Brandon Dwight at Boulder Cycle Sport for hosting a World Bicycle Relief night at the shop
-Katie Bolling at WBR for helping get my fund raising efforts off the ground
-Everyone who donated to my WBR fund raiser
-Everyone who has joined me for parts of the many long training rides
-And everyone who might come out and ride with me for an hour or two on the Divide
So with that, I'm off to Canada. And then Mexico. Let's see how this thing goes. Send positive, anti-inflammatory vibes to my knees if you've got any!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
No more training until the Aspen leaves show a hint of yellow
On Friday I headed down to Saguache for one last visit before the big adventure begins. That evening Maggie and I visited Penitente Canyon to check out the mountain biking there. It turns out that the couple miles of singletrack there is pretty serious stuff, so we rode a more mellow mostly double-track loop and watched the afternoon storms move off toward the plains to the east. After we finished up, Maggie kindly said I should go ride the more technical stuff, so I did, and it was a blast. Too bad that trail is not even a mile from end to end, because it has a lot of super fun rock features, drops, and amazing views.
On Saturday morning I set off for a mini-adventure, riding back to Boulder on as much dirt as possible. I wanted to get in one last solid weekend of riding and one last test of my gear setup. It's amazing how you never can predict what the future would bring, because 18 months ago, this ride would have been epic (in my book) in the truest sense of the very overused word. Instead, it felt more like a couple of long but mellow days in the saddle that left me feeling very confident in where my training has led me.
But that's enough writing for today. Time is short, my attention span is shorter (perhaps chocolate-covered oats weren't the best idea for breakfast), and my list of things to get done this week is enormous. Here's some photos of what I saw along the way...
Maggie leads out the climb up Ute Pass. It was her first time riding to the top!
The flowers were blooming in full force after 2" of rain in the Valley last week
Down the northeast side of Ute Pass toward Bonanaza. Note the black object in the sky. It is not one of the famed San Luis Valley UFOs. I never thought a raven could look like a flying saucer in a photo, but here you go.
My bars are too busy
This photo looks strangely fake. Suffering up the 3000' climb out of Salida
Looking back west across the Arkansas River valley toward the Collegiate Peaks
The rig, ready to drop into South Park
South Park is not as flat as I thought it was. This was an unexpected 1000' climb!
The rain didn't get me, but it sure destroyed the road
Ugh. Time to walk in the grass for half a mile
These storms never quite had their aim right and I fortunately stayed dry
A chilly, dreary evening after passing through Hartsel
Leaving the Puma Hills on Sunday morning. It was 34 deg when I awoke, and I was glad to have all the warm clothes that I did.
Photos don't do this area justice. West of the Rampart Range, east of the Taryall Mountains, and in the heart of what the Hayman fire burned, this landscape is absolutely phenomenal.
This road just went on and on, and I was loving it. This would be a great race course...
After an hour-long climb up pavement, I hit the Colorado Trail and had 20+ miles of singletrack between me and the plains!
This was sweeeeet
Again, photos don't adequately convey this landscape's beauty
After probably 100+ switchbacks, both up and down along the fabulous Colorado Trail, I ended up in out on the plains, running from these storms and toward the nearest gas station/fast food joint for some much-needed food.
After getting some grub, I pounded concrete bike paths north to Golden and Hwy 93 to Boulder, finishing off feeling very strong, thirsty, and quite pleased with how everything went. 230 miles, 18,000 feet of climbing, and ~12.5 hours in the saddle both days. Now I just need to find a louder alarm clock and figure out why my computer quit detecting my speed part way through the ride.
On Saturday morning I set off for a mini-adventure, riding back to Boulder on as much dirt as possible. I wanted to get in one last solid weekend of riding and one last test of my gear setup. It's amazing how you never can predict what the future would bring, because 18 months ago, this ride would have been epic (in my book) in the truest sense of the very overused word. Instead, it felt more like a couple of long but mellow days in the saddle that left me feeling very confident in where my training has led me.
But that's enough writing for today. Time is short, my attention span is shorter (perhaps chocolate-covered oats weren't the best idea for breakfast), and my list of things to get done this week is enormous. Here's some photos of what I saw along the way...
Maggie leads out the climb up Ute Pass. It was her first time riding to the top!
The flowers were blooming in full force after 2" of rain in the Valley last week
Down the northeast side of Ute Pass toward Bonanaza. Note the black object in the sky. It is not one of the famed San Luis Valley UFOs. I never thought a raven could look like a flying saucer in a photo, but here you go.
My bars are too busy
This photo looks strangely fake. Suffering up the 3000' climb out of Salida
Looking back west across the Arkansas River valley toward the Collegiate Peaks
The rig, ready to drop into South Park
South Park is not as flat as I thought it was. This was an unexpected 1000' climb!
The rain didn't get me, but it sure destroyed the road
Ugh. Time to walk in the grass for half a mile
These storms never quite had their aim right and I fortunately stayed dry
A chilly, dreary evening after passing through Hartsel
Leaving the Puma Hills on Sunday morning. It was 34 deg when I awoke, and I was glad to have all the warm clothes that I did.
Photos don't do this area justice. West of the Rampart Range, east of the Taryall Mountains, and in the heart of what the Hayman fire burned, this landscape is absolutely phenomenal.
This road just went on and on, and I was loving it. This would be a great race course...
After an hour-long climb up pavement, I hit the Colorado Trail and had 20+ miles of singletrack between me and the plains!
This was sweeeeet
Again, photos don't adequately convey this landscape's beauty
After probably 100+ switchbacks, both up and down along the fabulous Colorado Trail, I ended up in out on the plains, running from these storms and toward the nearest gas station/fast food joint for some much-needed food. After getting some grub, I pounded concrete bike paths north to Golden and Hwy 93 to Boulder, finishing off feeling very strong, thirsty, and quite pleased with how everything went. 230 miles, 18,000 feet of climbing, and ~12.5 hours in the saddle both days. Now I just need to find a louder alarm clock and figure out why my computer quit detecting my speed part way through the ride.
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