Ollie on Pancakes

Check it out, Ollie Whalley talks about the ride at the finish of the Tour Divide.

New Record Set

Up before sunrise this morning. I'm going to get out and ride soon. Yesterday I didn't go out first thing but I did make the time for a ride. Right now I'm more focused on getting out each day rather than the distance or time. I want to get out there riding or running each day and build that habit of riding regularly.

Yesterday Ollie Whalley set a new record for the Tour Divide with a 16:02:46 time!

For most of the race Craig Stappler stuck with him, but then Craig had a mechanical issue with his pedal and fell behind. He got something worked out and made good time after that but then his spot just stopped. Either he turned it off or it stopped working. No telling if he is done or not, but the next two guys are racing toward the finish right now. Kurt Sandiforth and Garrett Peltonen. Way up north Cjell Money is riding up into the Flathead section in Canada. He might make Banff today, if he can pull in a long day. David Nice is still going up in Montana. The line of riders stretches across the route right now. People will still be rolling in to finish for the next week or longer.

Riders on the Tour Divide

I'd like to do the ride in 21 days or less. No idea yet if that's something I can manage or not!

Tour Divide 2012

I'm not out there riding, but I'm watching the Live Tracker and the forum discussion at Bikepacking.net. There's so much going on right now, with so many projects it'd be great to be out there riding like David Nice. This is the sixth time that he's hit the ride, I wish him the best of luck in finishing this year!

With all that's going on I'm not doing my 'Mock Tour Divide' ride this year, but I encourage anyone else to give it a shot. The idea is simple: ride every day that the riders are out on the divide. Ride with them in spirit. You might not do 100+ mile days under brutal conditions, but if they endure all of that how come it can be hard to get out each day on a bike when you're not faced with those conditions? That's my biggest problem. I'd like to ride the tour divide for real, but right now even pulling three to four weeks of riding every single day is a challenge.

2013 suddenly doesn't seem that far away and I've got so much to do before I could get ready for something like the tour divide. I just don't know if that's realistic given my multiple jobs and family life right now. But I don't want to push it out too far either. I'll see how everything goes. If it comes together, great. If not, well then maybe 2014 will be the year. Or some other year.

Spots Gathering for Tour Divide 2012

Exercise Bike Miles

The other day I started off to work bundled up against the cold. The sun hadn't come up yet. Everything was frosty and dark as I pedaled down the road with my light illuminating the road ahead. I felt excited about the ride but I couldn't decide which way to go. Should I head down the trail and take the old highway in to work, for 20 miles total? Or risk going the shortest route (~16 miles) which put me on a busy, narrow stretch of road with no shoulders and grumpy morning commuters?

As it turned out I didn't have to decide. Not quite three miles down the road all of a sudden I was riding on a flat back tire. It happened fast. I got off, moved off into the frozen weeds and turned over the bike to look at the wheel. After rotating the wheel a little I discovered the culprit — a nail stuck in the tire. Small, but completely embedded. I had to use my multi-tool screw driver to pry that sucker out.

Then I set about working to get the tire off so I could change the tube and continue on my way to work. I managed to get in one plastic tire lever but couldn't slide it along the wheel. I broke another trying to pry up another section of the tire. All I could think was that if this had happened out on the Tour Divide I'd be in a fix if I couldn't do something as simple as fix a flat.

In this case I took the easy out. I put the rear tire back onto the bike and walked home. I made it back in enough time to change and drive to work without really being late.

I still haven't fixed the flat! I ordered some alloy tire levers that shouldn't bend when I try to get off the tire.

In the meantime, this is what I'm riding:

Star Trac E-UBi 

It's an expensive bike machine at my gym. Lately I've been putting in more miles on it than on my bike. It has its good points. I can go to the gym and ride when time or weather considerations make riding my bike less desirable. With its hill programs it also gives me a chance to build my hill-climbing muscles. I wish it was more like riding a real bike, but it does provide a good work out at least. I'm also using the gym to build core and upper body strength.

Last year I rode and ran ~1076 miles. I feel pretty good about that total but I plan to do much more than that this year. I still have 2013 in mind for a possible Tour Divide attempt, if things come together to make it possible. There's so much that has to happen for that to work out, and my fitness is only one piece. But that's a piece that I do have control over so I'm going to train and see where I end up by the end of the year! From flats to gym miles to whatever comes next, I'll keep learning and improving!

Tour Divide Caveat

Are you a seasoned multi-day bikepacker? Have you ridden back-to-back off-road centuries? Are you an expert level mountain biker? Are you a veteran of Primal Quest-scale multi-day adventure races? Are you a proficient bike mechanic; skilled navigator; competent at self-rescue? If you cannot confidently answer yes to most of the above, it would be wise to consider simply touring the route or taking more time to prepare for a true blitz. - TourDivide.org

Uh, no. No. No. No. And not really, um, no, no. 


Guess I've got some training to do! At this point the idea of doing the Tour Divide sounds insane. Daily 150+ mile rides, mostly off road with tons of climbing? I'm not even up to doing one day at that mileage! 


It's really hard to imagine. And as they say on that page, you don't want to discover that solo racing isn't your thing when you're out in the back country. I don't know yet if this is something that I can seriously consider. I'm dreaming about it, thinking about it, and out riding a 29er these days, but I have a long way to go before I can consider doing the race. I've thought about a 2013 attempt but that gives me not quite two years to get ready. Right now I have no way of knowing if that's going to prove possible or not. Maybe I'll lose interest before then. I don't know.

That nice sticker is available from mbeganyi on flickr, free for personal, non-commercial use. 


So given all of that, what's my plan? 


Right now just to ride. I need to get stronger, get used to riding a bike, and build up my endurance. As that improves eventually I'll go for longer all day rides, start doing centuries and more. I guess I'll keep going so long as I'm having fun and enjoying the challenge. The goal isn't so much the destination, because I'll never reach that, it's the journey along the way. Ride to the next tree, the next hill, the next library and keep going!

29er Change

Trek Marlin

I have a new mountain bike! First real mountain bike I've owned and a huge change from riding the TerraTrike Path. I've been thinking about it, and then an email came from BikeTech about their summer sale. It seemed like a perfect time. I called over and Jim was nice enough to bring one down from the other store. He also called yesterday to make sure I knew they had the bike and it was ready to go. I was really looking forward checking the bike out. I got off work at 4:00 p.m. and headed out on a hot day to Olympia to take a look.

I had two thoughts when I saw it. One, it was green! I'd wanted that color, but hadn't asked. Not that it really matters, but I like green and black. My second thought, That's huge! I've been riding a trike that sits a couple inches off the ground. This thing stands tall and once I'm on it I felt like I was on stilts or something, way up in the air. Cool, but quite the change than what I'm used to. That's what I wanted. When I got there I walked around the outside where they had tons of bikes set up, saw one of these but it was the 19" size, too big, went to the next and it was 17.5" with my name literally on the tag. I talked to the guy, got on the saddle, and then grabbed my helmet and took it for a spin out down the neighborhood streets. I've been using a twist shift with an internal hub so it took me a bit to figure out how to shift. By the time I got back to the store I was sold. I also picked up a lock for work (I'll leave it there), a spare tube and a water bottle cage.

I've started making a few changes already. After removing the front tire to get the bike in to the back of my VW New Beetle (yes, I did manage to get it in with the back seat folded down), I noticed some brake rub on the front and back. It was a good opportunity to get the quick releases figured out and then I adjusted the calipers so that there was no rub on the brakes. That was good. I'm taking a few components from my trike, this like my bell and bike computer. I think I'll swap the pedals as well, and go clipless. I've gone back and forth thinking about it, but I'm used to clipping in on the trike. The difference will be doing it on two wheels.

timbuk2 freestyle

Carrying things is the challenge. What to carry? How to do it? I can stash some things at work, like a pair of shoes. I've got a timbuk2 freestyle bag on order, plus a seat bag and a small top bar bag. Enough to carry my iPad, keyboard, a few flat-fixing tools and some food. After I get some time to spend on the bike I'll figure out more details on what works. I'll get a photo up soon.

Since getting bit by the whole Tour Divide bug I've been itching to get on a 29er and start putting on miles. I think this is a good bike to get started with, it looks like fun!