Race Report: Day 3 and the Morning of Day 4 - Snow, Hail and a Growing Lead

Alan Goldsmith hiking his bike through the snow on Richmond Peak (2008)

The past day has been another exciting one on the route.  Jay and Tracy have finally gotten back on pace after getting lost over the Whitefish Divide and have been riding with Chris Plesko, Joe Meiser and Kurt Refsnider up and over Richmond Peak.  Matthew Lee, who has been leading the race from the start, has developed a 5 hour lead over the chase group.  He checked in from Ovando (mile 486) at 11A.M. as the pack was beginning their ascent up Richmond Peak.  His lead grew in part from his early start, as he began his climb up Richmond Peak at 5am whereas the others did not start until 5:45am.  Moreover, Matt skipped going slightly off-route to Seeley Lake in favor of delaying his resupply 26 miles until he reached Ovando.  If the chase group goes to Seeley Lake, Matt will likely gain another 30-45 minutes over the group.

Yesterday's progress was certainly slower for many of the racers than anticipated.  A popular resupply point at Swan River (mile 354) was discovered to be burned down, likely causing a number of racers to go off-route to Big Fork.  Additionally, bad storms ripped through the Mission Range, dumping hail on Matthew Lee and forcing him to wait out the storms off his bike.  Chris, Joe and Kurt likely encountered the same storms and forced them to get off their bikes as well.

One of this year's favorites, John Nobile, has also been severely sidetracked by intense knee pain.  He also backtracked 12 miles to restart his border-to-border time.  Since his backtrack, he has been riding with Jill Homer, putting him over 115 miles behind Matthew Lee.

On a more unfortunate note, we have been sent word that Kevin Hall was in a wreck and his bike is ruined so he will not be continuing.  The current word is that he is okay but our information is limited.

Off-Course

Unfortunately, a number of racers have been greatly sidetracked by navigating themselves off the route.  Bruce Giroux missed an important turn through the Flathead addition and, luckily, made his way to Elko.  Unfortunately, he will need to backtrack to complete the route.

Additionally, a number of racers have become lost through the Mission Range, including the chase group of Kurt, Chris and Joe, as well as other racers such as Eric Lobeck and John Fettis.  They all seemed to have missed an important turn as they took Fatty Creek Rd. to Highway 83.

What's Ahead

Unfortunately for racers, we learn from Matt Lee that there is over a mile of snow on the top of Richmond Peak this year.  Although the snow cover is certainly not as long and deep as it was last year, this will undoubtably slow down the racer's progress.  After the racers descend off of the remote-feeling Richmond Peak, the will be greeted with a long section of relative civilization and flat terrain.  They will be able to go slightly off-route to Seeley Lake, where there are plenty of hotels, eateries and even a laundromat.  From there it is a 26-mile section of rolling dirt road with extremely-light traffic into Ovando, followed by more flats through pasture-land.  Finally, there is a long climb with a light gradient over Huckleberry Pass followed by a fast downhill that brings the racers into Lincoln (mile 521).

Today we will likely see Matt Lee push towards Helena (mile 584).  The 63 mile segment between Lincoln and Helena includes the first 3 Continental Divide crossings in the United States.  While known for some amazing downhills, it is a slow section due to the amount of climbing the three crossings require.

In addition to the terrain that the racers are facing, there are a number of bad storms that continue to rain down on the racers and slow down progress.  Unlike recent years with generally favorable weather through Montana, this year the racers have been forced to endure many cold and stormy days.