Tour Divide Blog

Hello this is Dominik Scherer calling in from Pinedale. It is 8 o'clock AM on the 23rd of June. Today, I'm still riding with Alan Goldsmith from England. We are trying to make out way to Atlantic City today. Head out into the Basin and see what the weather is like there. Hopefully no more snow, cause that sucks. This one goes out to my family: Fest of the Message in German (can't transcribe; trying to see if I can find someone to help.) (recorder time: 2008-06-23 09:04:24 EST.)

Hi it is Alan Goldsmith. Its a quarter to 8 on Monday morning. I'm in a motel in Pinedale. I'm still with Dominik. We had another huge day yesterday. We were up on the road just before 6 and we rolled into Pinedale just as it was getting dark about 10 to 10, grabbed a subway and went to bed. Yesterday, was a bit big because the snowy stretch Brooks Lake. Its bad on the snow but it is even worse where the snow has melted. As more snow melts its going to get muddier and muddier. On the map, it says impassable when wet and I would agree with that. My bike must have weighed about 50 lbs at one point. I could barely push it. The back wheel wouldn't go around and it was skidding along. I fell over with it a couple of times. Dominik just laughed at me. That sort of broke the mood. That was good. We saw some animals in there that I don't even know what they were. The were a cross between marmots and beavers. They were climbing trees. I'm sure I wasn't imagining it. After that Union Pass was dottle, just a few drifts of 100 meters. Then a long, long stretch of wilderness down to Pinedale. Amazing, I expected to see a bear at any moment. I just saw a wolf and some moose. Not much else apart from spectacular scenery. Anyway the plan is to cruise down to Atlantic City for some dinner then Head out into the Basin and camp at Dingaus Well. that strategy seemed to work will for my compatriots last year. Anyway, bye. (recorder time: 2008-06-23 08:52:21 EST.)

Update: Monday 23rd of June @ 7am Our frontrunners have passed the halfway point, Matt Lee looks like he has caught up with Reuben Kline and they may be riding together again. All of the racers seem over the hump, they should finish if they maintain the same intensity (rough mileage) each day and dont have any major catastrophes. Mary Collier sounds like she is up and racing again, I am sure with help from her massive fan base. There are still some snowy passes for most of the riders, but by the time they hit the Basin it will be beach weather. Click on Attachment for updated chart. By: Alex Field

Good morning this is Mike Dion. Its Monday 23rd about 6:20 in the morning. Stayed in Sawtel/Island Park area last night. Got a tent spot next to a hotel that had a hot tub and what not. Crashed here last night. Got a little soak in. Woke up early this morning. Its nice and brisk. Sun is shining. Pretty good morning. Legs are feeling good. Rode a few miles until I got to some sunshine. Try to warm up a little bit. Plan is to get to Moran Junction at the end of the day today. Seems to be very doable. Pretty neat area in here right in there. Lot of vacation homes, log homes, and things like that. Kinda right on the south side of Glacier Park and Teton Park area. Hope all is well, Tina, Mikaila and Dylan love ya. I'll be talking to you hopefully at the end of today in Moran Junction. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-06-23 07:23:31 EST.)

Hey this Ardie Olson. Its Monday, June 23rd 4:44 a.m. in the morning. I am leaving Pinedale, WY. Trying to make it to at least Atlantic City, maybe a little bit past that today. Propbaby have to camp in the Great Basin and finish that up tomorrow. Everything is going pretty good. Just needed a little maintenance time in Pinedale. Hope everybody is doing well. I'm doing OK. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-06-23 05:46:07 EST.)

HI this is Felix Wong. I'm calling at 10:50 on Sunday, June 22nd. I'm actually at the Ashton-Flagg Ranch. I think that is the name. Just west of the WY border. I rode about 118 miles today. Great day. Amazing scenery, amazing weather. The only thing that dampened the day was at the end I got lost. I made a turn I shouldn’t have and I added on about 6 miles. The sad thing was I also added on my most difficult climb of the day which was completely unnecessary. I ultimately got back on the course. Got to this ranch. Got a room at around 9:45 and took a shower. It has been nice. Everything is going well. My legs feel really good. I took it easy today. I understand that the Tetons are going to be a lot more difficult, so I should be ready for them. Hopefully. I'll talk to you later. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-06-22 23:53:34 EST.)

Hi this is Adrian Stingaciu calling in from Coulter Bay Village in Grand Teton National Park, Sunday, June 22nd 8:02 p.m. I discovered the problem with my bike. I don't think it is the bottom bracket that is grinding. I actually lost a couple of bolts from my granny gear. So now my granny gear is wobbling. Everything else is lined up pretty good. Middle gear and top gear are working smoothly. But I can't use the granny gear. So I've got 2 big climbs to get up to my next food drop. Which is the other issue I have. I pretty much out of food so I went to two grocery stores in town and healthiest thing I could get was bananas. So I bought like10 lbs of bananas. I ate 7 bananas in 10 minutes. Bubt bananas is not going to be enough to get me to Pinedale, WY where is my next food drop. I’m going get off the raw food thing for a while just to survive out here. Going to hit a bike shop in the morning to get a couple of bolts and look the bike over. Have to detour south about 20 miles to Moose, WY, but should be back in the race by tomorrow afternoon. That is all from here. Bye.

(recorder time: 2008-06-22 21:03:04 EST.)

Hi this is Tour Divide Racer, Reuben Kline. It is Sunday the 21st. I'm in Rawlins, WY. Yesterday and today, I made it across the Great Basin. Successfully had enough water to make both trips. Yesterday going from Boulder to Atlantic City. Today basically Atlantic City to Rawlins. Everything is going well on the trail. Hopefully it keeps going that way. Bye.

(recorder time: 2008-06-22 20:14:14 EST.)

Hi this Adrian Super Vegan calling in again from Flagg Ranch, Sunday, June 22nd at 3:54p.m. Couple of things I forgot to mention. The pass coming into Flagg Ranch is snowed out and very, very muddy. I thought it wasn't going to be as bad as the other two snowy passes but mentally it was more taxing. It involved about 10 miles of either walking over snow, or walking through mud, or really, really fun terrain. The mosquitoes are out in full bloom now. So it was quite taxing on the mind to walk through snow and be eaten alive by mosquitoes. Since I'm not using any repellant, they particularly love me. Just got some food from Flagg Ranch. About the only raw food that they have here is 5 oranges, 4 tomatoes and 2 apples. I bought all of those. I'm all about done of them. All of the nuts here are roasted. So I can't eat anything else and I'm going through my food pretty fast. I have a food drop in about a 150 miles or so. Hopefully my food will last until there. Love to everyone, Bye.

(recorder time: 2008-06-22 16:55:11 EST)

Hi this is Super Vegan calling in from ..... Where the heck am I? I'll call back.

(recorder time: 2008-06-22 16:47:21 EST.)

Hi this is Super Vegan calling in from Flagg Ranch, WY. Its Sunday, June 22nd 3:49pm. Yesterday, I crossed over into ID at 5pm. Had a little bit of a head wind in the morning and a little bit in the afternoon. At about 7pm, I decided to go ahead and do the length of the old rail bed trail which was very dusty and slow going. About half-way through it I was experiencing some stiffness with the crank. I guess the crank is not sealed as they say it is. Anyway, I guess going through creeks and washing the bike and going through a lot of dusty trails almost seized the crank. I put a bunch of oil in there and its seems to be working smooth now. But a couple of times on that trail, my crank kind of seized in. Felt like some sand or something was in there, in the bottom bracket. Anyway, crossed over into WY this morning and was greeted by rain, snow, mud and lots of bumpy, raggedy asX roads. Quite a welcome. Anyway, I'm going to head and see how far I get today. I wish everyone lots of luck. Love, Bye.

(recorder time: 2008-06-22 16:50:48 EST.)