Tour Divide Blog

Hi this is Ardie Olson calling from Roosville from payphone at Bar across street from border. It is Saturday 6/14. I crossed the Border at border patrol at 10:50 am. It sunny skies, good weather. Finally. Saturday was pretty bad weather. on and off and really bad last night. Skies are blue and things are looking good. Again, this is Ardie Olson, thank you

Hey there race fans, Matthew Lee and Rueben calling in from the Lamplighter Restaurant in Elkford, BC. Getting ready to chow down. 8:20 p.m. on Friday. Ok, cheers.

Photo removed due to website issues.

Third set of pictures below. Mathew Lee Mike Dion Leighton White Karl Wilcox 6/17 photos removed due to website issues Not pictured: Reuben Kline (So Sorry, for some reason the picture I took was corrupted) Kevin Montgomery -missed start to fix leaderboard; not sure when he started or if yet because leaderboard is still not showing current locations. Steve McGuire-delayed due to tragic flooding - will start later Sherry O.

Here are pictures of 5 more racers at the start. Adrian Stingaciu Kevin Hall Dominik Scherer Alan Goldsmith Andy Buchanan (6/17 photos removed due to website issues)

Here are photos of the racers with their bike and gear at the start. I'm posting in 3 groups. I'm having a little difficulty posting the pictures so bear with me. You can link to them below. I'll try to get it so they show up in the blog when I get back from Banff. Click on the jpg. It will take a minute to load and then skrink down so you can view it. Racers: Felix Wong David Nice Ardie Olson Stephen Gleasner Mary Collier (6/17 Photos Removed due to website issues)

15 of the 16 riders gather in front of the Y Mountain Lodge at 10AM to start their ride. Unfortunately, Kevin Montgomery, is still working on the Leaderboard for the website and will have to start a little later. We are lucky to have Kevin who is willing to give us this time when the clock is clicking. Lead by John Stamstead, the riders head out past the Banff Springs Hotel and down to the trail.

Everybody's here for the start but Steve McGuire. We hope he'll join our general classification a bit later on but for now he's busy in Iowa saving his home and his neighbor's homes from the high waters plaguing that region. It was a selfless decision to remain on the sandbagged homefront by a guy with a heart of gold. We wish his family the best in the coming weeks and months. We'll be thinking of him while we're out there on our challenge that almost seems to pale in comparison.

Picture of Racers Meeting.

Eve of roll-out: Gorgeous bluebird day here in vertical Banff.

As the press hits the wires we'll update this entry with links to coverage (as we hear about it..until we hit the trail tomorrow morn)

-Divided By Two, Bike Mag

The Great Divide Turns Ten, ACA Release