Hi all,
One of the guys that rode last year's Oppy with us was Liam Crowly, he also worked in
Abbotsford Cycles with Andy. Liam has taken on the challenge of riding in the Tour Divide which is a 4400km race across America, wich started at about midnight last night-our time.
Jesse Carlsson is also entered in the race and has provided some links and some info on the race for anyone interested in tracking the riders progress or wanting to know a bit more about the race.
There is a ride planned for 9am from Lannie tomorrow morning, hope to see you there.
Cheers,
Steve
Jesse's post:
Hi everyone!
The time has finally come to do some
bike touring with a sense of EXTREME urgency from Banff, Canada to Antelope
Wells on the US / Mexico border in New Mexico. A few of you have been asking
for ways to track the race, so I thought I'd put this email together and give
you some further info about the race they call the Tour Divide.
The race kicks off at 8am Friday
morning. That's midnight on Friday night for those of you on the eastern
seaboard in Australia.
For those who don't know, the Tour
Divide is a solo, unsupported race of about 4,400 km. That means riders carry
all the gear needed to survive. The course criss-crosses the continental divide
starting with the Rockies in Canada and then moving south into Montana, Idaho,
Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. The course has deep snow and heavy rain in
the northern parts of Montana and desert conditions (mid 40s deg C) in New
Mexico. Interestingly, about 1,700 km of the race will be above the elevation
of Mt Kosciusko, with the highest passes taking us up above 3,600 m.
To add to the fun, the course passes
through the highest concentrations of grizzly bears in North America, including
regions where problematic bears from Yellowstone have been relocated. Hopefully
my whistle and music will be enough to scare them away before I get too close.
There are a few Aussies in the race
this year: me, Liam Crowley (VIC), Arran Pearson (NSW), Hugh Harvey (VIC),
Gavin Wright (NSW), Nick Hutton (QLD), Adam Kiem (QLD). I don't know the last
two blokes, but I'm sure we'll meet before Friday. This TD thing is a big
undertaking so please give all the Aussies your support and encouragement. Feel
free to forward this email along to others who might be interested as well...
We'll need all the support we can get to keep us rolling! Don't be shy... Make
some noise for us!
Now... Onto the race tracking...
1. Race Tracking Website
You can track the race at the
following website. You can choose different map layers for a bit of a laugh. If
you like, you can check out the snow depth or weather radar to see how bad the
conditions are. I'd feel ripped off if this supposed Banff summer was as
summery as it got!
2. Forum Banter
Someone usually starts up a Tour
Divide race discussion thread on the following forum. There, arm-chair fans
will speculate about weather, food availability, snow depth, cheating, etc...
3. Rider Call-ins
TD riders are given a toll-free
number to call to leave 3 min messages to update the world about how they're
going. The call-ins are posted on this site. Not sure if I'll use it, because
I'm bound to sound like a tool, but I've had fun listening to call-ins in the
past. There's always one or two comedians...
Finally, I've attached a few photos
of our (Liam and I) trip touring across Canada to get to the start line...
Wish us luck! Here's hoping we all
have a safe tour!
Cheers,
Jesse
