Tour Divide Blog

TD and SPOT are pleased to work with the Colorado Trail Race to bring folks the CTR Leaderboard. The board tracks CTR racers as they bikepack their way to Durango starting at noon Monday, July 28th. Much like Divide racing, CTR is self-supported mountain biking at its finest. The Colorado Trail is only one fifth the length (530mi) of the GDMBR, but the contour lines are packed in pretty tightly. 60,000 vertical feet of climbing and 350+ miles of singletrack means the strongmen of the mountains will be ones to watch in this Denver-to-Durango classic.

A final signing out from Mary Metcalf Collier, Tour Divide ‘08: 

When I lined up in Banff about a month ago, boy were there expectations in the air for everyone! Some of those were high and some weren’t. Brendan and our good friend Matt rode out the first 10 miles with me and then I headed off in a tearful first day. I really had no idea what I was in for and am glad that I didn’t. You read up on all the reports from years past, you study the numbers – 200,000 feet of elevation gain, 2,709 miles, at least 18 long days in the saddle (for some of us much more) – but it is all so abstract.  

I only hope to begin to understand what that all means now. But, more than the numbers, was the experience. How to stay focused on what lies ahead…and why? I describe it like playing pacman. You look at what’s in front of you and take one bite at time. The most amazing thing to me was how you could feel like you were an inch tall at the beginning of a day (with such monstrous tasks in front of you) and by the end of the day feel like you could conquer the world – or like you just had. I met so many people along the way that kept me going. I did this race for myself. But when you pull into a roadside stop and meet a woman who has been waiting for you because she was following the race – then she tells you that you can’t stop, you’re not allowed to, you have to do it for the rest of us – how can you argue with that!? I met so many men and women along the way who had faith in me – and they didn’t even know me. Read more »

This is Sherry Olson. Now that all of the race is complete, I'm signing off. I enjoyed typing the blogs and getting to know the racers along their journey. It kept me involved as I missed my husband, Ardie, while he was racing. Thanks to everyone who helped me during this process, especially, Joe Polk from MTBCAST and Derek Moore from SPOT. I biked the trail from Banff to Antelope Wells in 2007 and it was great reliving parts of it as the race reports came in. The trail is great, the Tour Divide Race is great and there was a great community of racers who took part in 2008. Take care, Sherry O.

Hey its Mary. Its Sunday, July 13th and I’m calling in from Silver City. WHAT? Silver City, this is pretty familiar. Actually I came through here like a day ago. Steve Gleasner and I pulled through the border at about 3:37 this morning, just a few hours under 30 days. WOW, WOO HOO. Friggin’ awesome. This is just big. This is one of the biggest days of my life. This is so huge. I don’t know where to start. Its still sinking in. It is big to be done. Its crazy to be riding in a car and heading back to civilization. Stopped over in Silver City just to relax a little bit and now its time for getting some food. I’ve got some eating to do. I’ve got some coffee drinking to do. I got a million things to do. I have about 800 photos to post and 800 stories to tell. I just want to say thank you to everyone out there on the course, everyone I met along the way, all the racers. This is huge. Its pretty big. I don’t yet have other words to describe it. Thank you everyone. Couple of people I wanted to get shout outs to that I didn’t along the way. Brian at the Path Bike Shop in Tuscan, CA overnighted me some stuff out on the course and saved my butt. That was pretty awesome. Linda (couldn’t make out last name), my coach, helped me through this a lot, helped me get ready for it and helped me through it. I never really had the opportunity to thank them so I wanted to thank them in tying this up. I’ll have plenty more to come. I’ll have plenty more stories to share and lots more to talk about. Right now I need to get some coffee and food on. Thank you everyone. Its been the time of my life. I can’t believe I did it. I still can’t believe that I did it. It awesome. I can’t believe that we did it. It definitely felt like a group effort. Thank you all. I love you and you’ll hear from me soon.

(recorder time: 2008-07-13 14:09:06 EST)

Hello Steve Gleasner calling in from El Paso Airport. I finished this morning at Antelope Wells 3:37. It had rained on the Hwy 81 just before we took off to go there, the road was wet and the toads were sitting in the warm water. Parade of cactus, moonscapes, clouds moving and these toads looking at us instead of cows for once. They call it the lonely highway, I believe. It goes on for the longest flattest stretch certainly that I have ridden for the last month. It was wonderful to decompress going down that highway and it was wonderful to be done this morning. I could not have done this without Illya my wife, Clark and Meg. This gift is huge. What you have done is at least as hard as what I’ve done. I just want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to do this thing. It means a lot of me. I’ll figure out what exactly that is as the future unfolds. The race was all I could have asked for and more. It will be filtering through my brain for as long as I live. I feel honored to follow the tire tracks that I’ve followed. I feel honored to have rubbed elbows with the racers that I rubbed elbows with. I’ll write more about it in the future as I sort it out. I’m flying home to see my family. Looking forward to being back in ME and especially seeing Illya, Clark and Meg. Down the Road., this is Steve Gleasner. Chow.

(recorder time: 2008-07-13 09:50:01 EST)

Hey its Mary Metcalf-Collier. It's Saturday, July 12th.  I am in Silver City, NM. 125 miles out. I just grabbed some lunch. Steve and I were initially thinking to camp outside of here and pull it all in tomorrow. BUT that doesn’t sound as exciting as pulling an all nighter and getting to the frickin’ border. We are going to push on through the night and stick this thing. Thanks everyone and we will call/follow up once we get there. It will be in the middle of the night so most of you will be asleep. Enjoy that while we are riding through the night. Talk to you soon. Bye.

(recorder time: 2008-07-12 14:04:45 EST)

Hello this is Steve Gleasner. Running Sweep. Its Saturday about 12:20. I’m Silver City. It is a fine day. Looks like a good to push through. I’ve got some DQ food in me. Mocha Moolata. Satisfying ice cream experience. For those of you keeping track if I’m satisfied or not with my ice cream, this was a good experience. Wasn’t spilled or ruined in any way, shape or form. I’m going to stock up on some groceries. I’m going to try that JATO Rocket Booster Kit again from Acme and see if it gets me to the Border. I feel like I have a little bit of energy today. Going to try to leave it all trailside. We are down the road Next call will probably be Antelope Wells whenever I can get there. Down the road. Bye, bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-12 13:25:25 EST)

Hi this is Felix Wong with Part II of the Final Thoughts. So I’m in Antelope Wells. I’m going to take a shuttle up to Lordsburg. Hopefully be back in Fort Collins in no more than 2-3 days. It is probably going to take 2 days by Greyhound. Now its time for me to detox and rehabilitate. The race has definitely taken a toll on my body. I’m not just talking about the very unfashionable tan lines that I have gotten but also the amazing amount of junk food that I consumed. As I had promised in my letter of intent, I did consumed more processed food in the race that I had all year. In fact, I think I consumed more processed foods during the race than I had in last three years. One thing I was completely wrong about in my letter of intent was being prepared for monsoons and thunderstorms. I was completely and inadequately prepared. I always thought that the snow and the cold would be my nemesis. It was certainly the rain and all of the mud it caused. Of course, the race presented numerous other challenges including the snow, downed trees, sections that were death traps because they are so exposed and we had to traverse over them without any ice axe, crazy climbs. But again the course amazingly beautiful, going by all of the mountains, through the small towns. I believe the largest town we went through was Butte, MT. MT largest town which only has about 30,000 people. Most of the towns only had a few hundred people some even less like that joke of a town, Pie Town. I still can’t believe there was nothing there. Anyhow, its been an amazing journey. One I will definitely remember for the rest of my life. I’m glad you got to share in this experience, watching on the internet. I hope it was as exciting for you as for me. I promise to write all of you back as soon as possible. Take care, next time I report….

(recorder time: 2008-07-11 09:39:31 EST) Read more »