Tour Divide Blog

I have spoke to Summitt County Sheriff's Office and SPOT GEOS contact Randy Hanson. I have been told that there was a motor vehicle accident on UTE Pass with a rollover down an embankment BUT the 2 bikers were not part of the accident and rather assisting at the scene. The two riders at the scene were Alan Goldsmith and Dominik Scherer. I was told Alan's 911 message was set off to get help for the motor vehicle incident and the dispatcher particularly told me that when she called to the scene Dominik was there helping. It was a pretty tense time but I am so thankful that we have been told that neither Alan nor Dominik were involved in the accident. You may have noticed that they were at the same location for a couple of hours this afternoon. I guess this is not the "official message" yet but all the information that I could gather this afternoon. From all of my calls, I found out that SPOT dispatched sent for help immediately. As soon as Alan and/or Dominik call in we'll know the whole story.

A racer has sent out a number of emergency distress signals this afternoon and emergency responders have been on the scene for the last hour. As of right now, we know there was a motor vehicle accident that sent someone or something "over an embankment." Conditions are currently unknown. We will keep everyone posted as we know more. We are withholding the racer's name until we can contact the racer's family.

Hey good morning this is Ardie Olson. I'm in Harstel, CO. It is Friday, June 27th 10:07AM. I'm going to get me a breakfast here hopefully and head on to Salida. Hopefully be there this afternoon some time. Hope everybody is doing well. I'm hanging and talk to later. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-06-27 11:09:00 EST)

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.

Hello this is Dominik Scherer. I'm calling in on Friday, 27th of June, 8:30 AM. I am at Kremmling, CO. Still riding together with Alan Goldsmith, the mad Englishman. Well, last night we camped out near the Colorado River. Just had breakfast here in Kremmling. Now we are going go over UTE Pass to Silverthorne and then we'll see what we will do next. All you guys out there be safe, have a good trip. I got new shoes. I bought some new shoes yesterday in some Springs sort of town and they feel really, really good. That's about it. See you guys. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-06-27 09:31:34 EST) P.S. See pictures of Alan and Dominik posted by a race fan at http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=4609554#poststop

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)

Hey everybody Leighton White calling in from Steamboat Springs, CO. Got in last night just a little too late for the bike shops so I got a hotel room waiting for the bike shops to open up this morning. Need a little love, need a new chain. My cassette issue that I had has resolved itself. Actually some guys at an ATV shop and a little lock tight helped me with that one. My fork is also hemorrhaging some oil. So see if they can fix it here if not I've ridden it 3 days that way. Its a little harsh but maybe I can make it to Absolute Bike if they can't fix it here in Steamboat. Things going pretty well. Had an interesting encounter from some toothless drunken welder from Baggs, WY on some dirt road in WY. He really felt the need to give me a ride to Bags. "I shouldn't be out there alone" After 6 shots of Crown (well pseudo shots of Crown), I convinced him that he needed to go on his way and I'd be fine. So he drives away and I'm riding along and crest the next hill, there he is waiting for me. "Really can't leave me" - I'm like "No, dude, you have to leave me, I have to ride" So I keep on going and he drives away. Better him out there in front than behind me when he was as drunk as he was. Couple of minutes later I see a car coming back at me, its him, he pulls up and looks at me all shiXfaced and says "I have moles." At which point, I patted him on the arm and said "Well, I got to ride" and kept on riding. But I was looking over my shoulder for the rest of the night. So that is my interesting encounter of the trip so far with another human. Talk to you soon. Bye (recorder time: 2008-06-27 09:16:54 EST) (Race Fans-You really need to listen to Leighton's call ins on mtbcast. He could be a disc jockey with a smooth rolling story telling voice)

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."

Hi this is Felix Wong calling at 9:38 at Thursday, June 26th from Rawlins, the armpit of WY. Yesterday, was a _____ day. Even though I started late at 8:15am, I was moving quickly and did not stop very much. I ended up riding about riding 126 miles down to ______ (South Pass or Atlantic?) City. I had a nice (?) day. Encountered two motorcyclists who were doing the Great Divide Trail north. They even encountered by Matthew Lee. ____ (can’t hear next 2 sentences). Small world out there. I ended up staying at a place owned by a Bob and Barbara. ____ woke up at ___ am to cook for me which was really nice of them. Today, on the other hand has been a difficult day for me. I started at 4:50 am just to make it to Rawlins before dark. Not a morning person that strategy kind of back fired to ___ as I was falling asleep on the bicycle. My legs just were not there at all today. I was extremely tired. I was absolutely positive that I was suffering from hyponitrenia (sp). A lot of the food I had had no salt whatsoever except for one can of Spaghetti and Meatballs. I was saving that in case I did not get to Rawlins tonight then I would have some food for tomorrow but a I was desperate for some salt. A can of Chef Boyardee apparently has 1900 mil of sodium and after eating that with of ... I didn't had to use a spoon so I had to use a16 mil. cone wrench spoon. .. (message cuts off) (recorder time:2008-06-26 22:42:45 EST)

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.