Race Report: Into Day 6

Racer update about:

There has been a lot more drama and bad weather greeting Tour Dividers over the past couple of days.  The biggest development thus far is speculation regarding the future of John Nobile's race, who was a heavy favorite.  On her blog, Jill Homer has used some fairly vague language that makes it difficult to tell if he intends to continue much farther:

Since day 3 I've been traveling with John Nobile, last year's GDR winner who was a contender for this year until his knee went out just north of the border. Now he's touring with me for a few more days. It's been fun to have a traveling companion, especially one who knows the route so well. We've come across four bears on the trail, and he always charges ahead to chase them away, so that's a benefit, too. (link)

If John does scratch, he will be joining Cadet Bryant and Kevin Hall as this year's first race casualties.

Weather has continued to derail the racer's pace.  The daily afternoon storms has gummed up drivetrains with mud and worn brake pads.  Matt Lee had to spend roughly 90 minutes in Butte getting his bike looked over while Jay P and Tracey had to get their dry rear hub lubed up.  In addition to longer-than-anticipated pit stops, frequent storming on climbs have held racers back.  Last night Matt Lee got stuck in a storm on Mt. Fleecer (mile 692) that forced him to hunker down for a while and hike his bike up and over the hill.  Due to this, Chris, Kurt and Joe were successfully able to temporarily take a few hours off Matt's once growing lead as he was only able to make it to Wise River for the night (mile 702) as they pushed to the foot of Roosvelt Dr. outside of Butte (mile 661).

Resupply Issues

Most racers are beyond the store closure in Swan River, however the majority of racers will have to deal with a significant closure south of Wise River.  The Grasshopper, which has been a major fueling station for racers just at the end of Map 1, recently closed their doors.  Unfortunately, racers will either have to go slightly off-route to Elkhorn Hot Springs (mile 737) or go without resupply for over 140 miles from Wise River to Lima.  With the closure of the Grasshopper and the 2006 shuttering of the store in Grant, this stretch of road is quickly becoming one of the more difficult sections for food in Montana.  Luckily clean water can still be found at Bannack State Park (mile 757).

What's Ahead

Matt has been making a big push this morning and afternoon and has managed to make up the time he lost last night.  Currently his lead is just under 8 hours, however, the next 100 miles will be extremely important for the chase group.  As many afternoon storms are building, Matt is putting a section between him and the chasers that is nearly impassible when wet.  If the road over the Medicine Lodge-Sheep Creek Divide between Grant (mile 773) and Lima (mile 841) receives significant rain prior to Kurt, Chris and Joe hitting the section, we can expect them to lose more of time.

Matt will likely push beyond Lima after resupplying, however his progress can also be slowed by mud.  The 70 mile stretch of flats between Lima and Red Rock Pass (mile 930 / the Idaho Border) is a long section of cattle country that also becomes difficult to ride through when wet.  That said, if Matt is able to make it to Lakeview tonight (mile 910), the ranger and researcher town in the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, he will have a solid lead going into Idaho, giving him some breathing room for some brief recovery in Big Springs (mile 945).

Comments

Super update, thanks for the

Super update, thanks for the analysis!

Curious about Deanna Adams - her spot has only transmitted a few points so far and none between the border and well south of whitefish and no call-ins.

A friend of Dave Nice is a friend of mine...

race update

Great up date thanks for the info.
Kris

Awesome Update!!!

Kevin,

I know I'm repeating myself but you rock with these reports. Good stuff;)

BTW, I thought there is a place in Polaris (at least was in 2007) called Ma Barnes' Country Market store open 800am to 600pm (except Wed).

That year I passed by on my great Divide tour, obviously, on Wednesday. Store CLOSED. Had only 3 chocolate peanut bars left. Got some water and ice cream in Bannack State Park. Later, I found out the hard way that there was no food in Grant and had to ride hungry toward Lima:(

matt thourot

matt was a first day leader,and his spot stopped in eureka.any news?

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