Tour Divide Blog 2008

Hi this is Alan. We are still out here. It is Friday the 27th and I'm in Kremmling. Just had breakfast here after riding over from a campsite near Radium. In the last couple of days, we have had lots of things happening and its all been good. We left Rawlins and had to take a ride in a pilot car, unforunately. It was probably about 8 miles and a lot of that was uphill. So I was pretty gutted by that but I'm getting over it. Had a good day leaving the desert of the Basin into Medicine Bow Forest. That was nice. Aspen Alley. Then down to Slater. Not much going on there. Post Office with no fresh water. Then we headed up the Slater Creek Valley and it was getting hotter and hotter and we were getting more thirsty and more thirsty. At about 4, we came across the Brush Mountain Lodge and it was too good to pass. We got a bit of an early finish. Hung out with Kirsten, She really looked after us. I had my second hot tub of the trip. Then the next morning we got up really early and did the stretch out to watershed divide which was one of the most beautiful parts of the trip. Tons of Elk and Antelope up there. Proper mountain bike descent into Clark. Where they have a supurb store. If I had a store like my town, I'd buy everything in the store. Store, Post Office, everything. Then we went to Steamboat and we were intercepted at Orange Peel Bikes by the local reporter who interviewed us. There will be an article in the Steamboat Pilot on Sunday. So if you check their website www.steamboatpilot.com on Sunday you should be able to read all about it. Orange Peel sorted us out with new drive chain and didn't charge us for labor. The film crew met up with us again and filmed Dominik getting new shoes. He got a new pair of Sidis. Then we came over Lynn Pass. Met a guy called Marco who is following the race. He took a few pictures. He said he put them up on mtbr. Big thanks to him. His support helped me up the hill.

Hi this is Dominik again. Just one for Mikila (sp). Hi Mikila. Message in German. (recorder time: 2008-06-27 09:32:40 EST) (Not sure how to spell name)

Mary called Brendan yesterday June 26th. He was happy to report good news: "She put in a 100+ mile day today, and was planning to staying at a campground in Boulder. She was a little bummed to see GDR racers today, but it actually helped her get in gear & remember that she's racing- so she put the hammer down a bit & she said "it felt good to go fast for a change." She said the legs are feeling better & thinks she can "race" again. She got her shock seals in Pinedale & should be performing the operation tonight. She spent the previous night at the Trail Angels' house before Union Pass with some GDMBR tourists & said they all had a good time. Later, she called from Boulder with bad phone reception- after several tries I understood that she couldn't call in to the line but that she wished she could- apparently she has some good stories to tell. She sounds a lot better than she did at Flagg Ranch. She was feelin' the hurt that day & bummed that Mike had dropped out. She was hoping to catch him & ride with him."

Hey here Matthew Lee calling from Poncha Springs. Its Thursday the 26th around 3:50. I just left Salida. I'm at the gas station grabbing some snacks before climbing up Marshall Pass. Big thanks to Absolute Bikes for taking good care of me and cleaning everything up for the final stretch. I will say that I miss Reuben's companionship. I haven't heard yet what he has decided to do. Hopefully he is pressing on, maybe tomorrow morning. So anyway yeah final stretch here. Starting feeling a little tired. The rough was definetly tough this year. Looking forward to the Mexican Border. Ok, cheers.