TD Race Updates

Hey Tour Divide followers this is Chris Plesko here in Lima…like the bean not LEEEMMAA. uhh I was gonna leave a Matt Lee style message but we’re just having too much fun out here to keep it that short. Getting into Lima was epic... be prepared …mud [bike] on your back hiking... umm ya! I have to give a shout out to my Grand Loop 2009 friends. Your pictures were inspiring me out there, so I'm just gonna get some food.  Just had a major stock up at the gas station and uhh then we’re gonna push on and get the heck outa’ Montana for the first time. It’s been a big state!  Alright that’s all. Later!

(Call received 5:15 a.m. Thursday, June 18)

Yeah, hi, it’s Eric Bruntjen calling in from Butte, Montana. I’ve been having some pretty good days. Leaving Whitefish, I went over a couple of passes, ended up going through some beautiful country, pretty green, lots of mosquitos. My hat’s off to Christian at the Holland Lake Lodge, it’s a beautiful lodge building with cabins around it on this nice lake. He opened his kitchen for us and I had a heaping mound of fish-and-chips and two beers in front of a roaring fireplace while it drizzled outside. Jeremy and I got a little cabin, it was pretty nice, a really unexpected treat on the Tour Divide.

Coming into Butte yesterday, I chased two things all day: a thunderstorm and two tire tracks, and I caught both of them in Basin, Montana. The thunderstorm was ahead of me all day long; I didn’t really get rained on until Basin, but everywhere I went was just mud and puddles. There’s a lot of tracks on the route right now; you can really see that some guys are heading straight for Mexico, they cut all the corners. Other riders, they’re going to Mexico too, but they go over to this side of the road first and then they go over to that side of the road and then maybe back to the other side.

There were two tracks, however, that were fresh. I chased those guys down and caught up to them in Basin. It was the Italians. I caught the Italians in Basin. I beat them out of town; they were having pizza and beer. I made it over the pass into Butte. Read more »

Hi this is Jeff Kerby uhh this is my first call in, I just arrived in Helena, Montana last night. Canada was cold and it was wet and it was beautiful, but weather was absolutely miserable. Uhh spent the first night I think it was Elkton uhh whatever the town was 109 miles in umm under a bridge talking to a I guess a homeless drunk guy….it was an interesting conversation, ended up trying to fall asleep but I was afraid he was gonna knife me. Then uhh I think it was two nights after that, everything I had was wet..I was freezing in this tent uhh I was getting frost bite. First thing as soon as I got onto the bike I saw a bear, he raised up at me, I didn’t know what to do so I just went at him…he ran away so that was good. Umm simple pass and that mud wall were particularly awful. Im gonna get my bike worked on now and hopefully get outa town, but today’s gonna be kind of low mileage so anyway do the best I can so take care and bye!

Hii this is Jill Homer I’m calling from Butte, Montana. It is Wednesday night I believe. We’ve just got in after a pretty long day, a good day. We did about six passes and closer to 20, but it was actually a lot fun coming down I-15 into Butte at night, with all the lights after spending all day in the woods. Kind of a cool experience, it shows that you get all kinds of experience on the Divide. It’s not just bears trees. And John’s still with me, we’re planning on heading out tomorrow so..talk to ya later. Bye.