Kurt Refsnider

Hey, Kurt here! Chris and I made it to the Place Cafe, which is, I don't know, what? 25 miles above Pinedale. Today was going really well until we started getting a fierce headwind coming across that high 9,000' plateau below the Wind Rivers which was just gorgeous. But the wind kicked up, and my rear derailleur pulley, the lower pulley, has started to have some problems - seized up, and then basically stopped turning completely, and upon inspection was completely exploded inside. So my bike is now a two-speed. It's working well enough, we got five miles to here, and Dale at A to Z Hardware down in Pinedale is going to hook me up this evening with a new pulley, so hopefully I can keep going. Just got to make it 25 miles down the road, and then we'll be going a little faster again.

Good morning all you blue dot junkies out there. It's Kurt, I'm with Chris here at Lava Lodge, between Togwatee and Union Passes. It's a beautiful morning here, we had a pretty long day yesterday, making our way across the Idaho/Wyoming border only to be met by an enormous cloud of very thirsty mosquitos. Made it through that area down to Flagg Ranch, and hit Togwatee Pass late in the day and got over the summit just as it was getting dark and discovered there was a lot of snow up there.  So, needless to say, it was a slog to get through that, but we made it. I almost ran over a porcupine coming down the road on the back side, which was unexpected. There were some pretty impressive bear tracks all over up there, so definitely in some bear country here. Union Pass is the last big challenge and now we're heading off up that, and out toward Pinedale and beyond. Things continue to go well, hopefully you'll hear from us again sometime in the next day or two with more big progress. Alright, later!

Hey Kurt here uhh Chris and I just rolled into Lima. It’s noon on Thursday….day seven so ya Thursday, it’s been a rather epic last 24 hrs or so … with a great ride over the passes outside of Button just gorgeous up there . Life is good then Chris and Joe and I got split up a little bit didn’t know where each other were I think mother nature told us it wasn’t time to split up and just slammed us with a storm…we actually regrouped but the uhh road over Banik was horrible and things got worse from there. We ended up staying at a ranch up most of the way up Banik pass and pushed through the mud floor for most of this morning. Joe’s bike is broken now so he has not yet arrived but Chris and I are gonna push on after getting a good meal and cleaning our bikes up here so for Chris and I at least things are looking up and we’re looking forward to crossing the Idaho border later today. Alright cool talk to ya guys later!

Hey, race fans! Kurt calling here. I'm with Chris and Joe still, we're on the pavement right outside of Butte. Looks like there's some rain between us and Butte, unfortunately. It's evening on Tuesday, I believe, and today's been just a magnificent day. Tons of great little climbs, some big climbs - lots of climbing, it was kind of the theme. But legs are feeling good. What else? Hasn't rained at all yet, that's probably going to change soon. We got some frosty chocolate shakes back in Basin, which rejuvenated everyone's legs, and now we're cruising. Think that's about it for now. Tomorrow's pushing on, and we'll see we end up. But if things continue like this, everyone's golden. Alright, later!

Kurt here! I am with Chris and Joe. We rolled into Lincoln a little bit ago. We were able to get some groceries and are now looking for a restaurant to get some dinner. Today went really well. My legs are finally starting to come around. Got over Richmond pass and over Huckleberry. Huckleberry is just gorgeous. We have had fairly good luck with the weather.  Things are looking up and tomorrow we are heading South. We will try to get a few more passes behind us. Until next time. Later!

Yo, Tour Dividers - this is Kurt, and Joe, and Chris, pounding some food in uh, where are we? in 'Hovando' - yeah, anyway, we're hiding out from this storm for a few minutes, and there's a grizzly bear ahead on the counter. Our first grizzly sighting. It's pretty awesome. And then we're heading into Lincoln from here, and we'll see what happens.

Hey, it's Kurt Refsnider, calling in from Eureka. We just crossed the border - I don't know - 10 miles ago or something like that. Spent most of the day riding with Chris Plesko and Matt Thourot and, uh, some of the time with Jay and Tracy on the tandem and Joe from Minnesota. Umm, but we split up a little bit, there were a couple of sliced sidewalls today, and all around just a pretty hard and challenging section through the new part in Canada, but it was pretty nice. Saw a couple bears, and saw a couple wolves yesterday. So, it's been pretty entertaining. Um, but, feeling good, and Chris and I are heading off toward the Whitefish Divide tonight, and are gonna probably camp up there somewhere, and try to hit through that and ride Meadow Pass in the morning. So hopefully things continue to go well. Alright, later.