Race Report: End of Day 2 into Day 3

Snow on Red Meadow Pass (2008)

Since our race report last night, we have seen a lot of action on the leaderboard and in the call-ins.  This morning, we watched Matt Lee's lead over Chris Plesko, Kurt Refsnider, and Joe Meiser (Salsa Cycles / winner of the 2009 Trans-Iowa race) grow to over 40 miles as he came into Columbia Falls (mile 328) as they took a break on the top of Red Meadow Pass (mile 287).  Chris, Kurt and Joe decided to make camp at the foot of the climb up the Whitefish Divide at mile 245 while Matt pushed halfway up the Red Meadow Pass climb (mile 280).  Unfortunately, two former leaders have dropped back.  John Nobile has been in Eureka (mile 225) for the past 16 hours for unknown reasons.  Jay and Tracey Petervary also made an effort to climb up the Whitefish Divide last night only to go extremely off course and nearly end up towards the Canadian border.

Joe Polk over at MTBcast uploaded the first batch of call-ins and posted the first race podcast.  Tracy and Jay P are certainly in high spirits as they report that they are "loving their new bike."  Unfortunately, Jamie Thomson reports that he has lost his SPOT, which will undoubtably make him harder to track.

A number of racers commented on the weather conditions on day one.  Trevor Browne reported Saturday morning that he "just barely beat a big lightening storm last night" and Jill Homer decided to stay in a hotel after it started raining at the campground in Elkford.

Dave Nice, who is also doing an ITTDivide attempt south-to-north, is still cranking along.  He called in on Friday from Cuba, NM and reported that he has had 11 flats thus far and was beginning to think that 32c tires were a mistake.  As of today, he is pedaling towards the Colorado border and looks like he will cross New Mexico off the list by the end of the day.  If you are not already, be sure to follow Dave's ITTDivide attempt on our 2009 ITTDivide blog.

What's Ahead

As a few racers continue to make their way through the Flathead addition, it appears they will have more climbing and rougher terrain to encounter than originally expected.  Matt Lee reported from his border call-in that he has "a lot of superlatives to use about the new reroute, but it is a lot harder than I thought.  Or I should say it has more climbing and it's more rugged."  Additionally, from Columbia Falls, Matt reported that there is about a mile of snow-pack over Red Meadow Pass.  While that is not nearly as bad as what Tour Divide racers encountered in 2008, it will certainly slow the field down some and prove to be a difficult section for those who did not pack lightly.

Currently Matt Lee is towards the conclusion on a 45-mile section of easy, mostly paved and relatively flat terrain from Whitefish to Ferndale (mile 358).  This section should also provide a good opportunity for Chris, Joe and Kurt to make up some time.  It will be interesting to see if Chris Plesko will be able to keep Joe's and Kurt's pace through the section, as he racing singlespeed and will not have a big gear to push.  Beyond Ferndale, the racers will enter the Mission Range, which is known for its grizzly bear population.  They will ride through a 65 mile section that is entirely dirt, has a lot of climbing and feels remote, in spite of the fact it largely parallels Highway 83.

As it is so early in the morning, it is possible that we will see Matt Lee push beyond Holland Lake (mile 428) to Seeley Lake (mile 460).  To get to Seeley Lake, Matt would have to make the ascent up the infamous Richmond Peak, a long climb that ascends over 6500' that dumped snow on divide racers in 2007 and forced 2008 Tour Divide racers to trek through deep snows and had Mary Metcalf spend a nerve-racking night hiking over the pass.