great divide kiwi

6 - Enough

2008-12-23T18:58:00.010-07:00

5 - Catching Up

2008-12-23T18:49:00.007-07:00

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4 - Out of the Basin - Into the Bike Shop

2008-12-23T18:27:00.011-07:00

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3 - The GDR Roller Coaster

2008-12-23T18:04:00.013-07:00

An early morning view of the reservoir just out of Lima. Carl had left our room at about 3am. I got another 1.5 hrs of sleep and got started just before dawn.

I didn't feel great as Lima disappeared into the distance, and the dull scenery didn't help. This was the first anniversary of my dad's death. After a while I decided to crack open some music for the first time. This really lifted my spirits and my pace followed suit.

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Day Eight: June 27
By now I was averaging 200 km per day without burying myself for more than an hour or so. Jenn was catching up whenever I stopped and we were looking forward to sharing the long lonely ride through the intimidating ‘Great Divide Basin’ desert.

Day Nine: June 28
I got up at 4 am to avoid the impending heat. There was a big day ahead but my stomach was in knots. I couldn’t eat. After a couple of hours’ riding we stopped for breakfast with David Blaine. He and Jenn had envious appetites. Without being able to take on fuel, I had to wave them farewell and settle in for 10 hours’ sick leave. Coming face-to-face with the possibility of failure was certainly the low point of the race. I wondered if this whole venture was a huge mistake.

Fortunately my digestive system gradually began functioning again and by early evening the wheels were turning, slowly, towards the desert. At 11 pm I crawled into my sleeping bag on the side of the road, coyotes howling in the distance, with a sense that all was well with the world.

2 - Chasing Lima

2008-12-23T17:26:00.016-07:00

Day Two: June 21
A camera flash just after 5 am confirmed that somebody was up and it was time to move. The stopwatch was still ticking. Most of us were on the road just before 6 am and feasting at a remote café by 7:30 am. The early start aside, the race felt like a holiday cycle tour. All the riders were enjoying each other’s company, the fine weather and excellent scenery.

Just the beginning of about a hundred tree falls - luckily most were hoppable.

Everyone carried a camera and looked forward to the possibility of a bear or moose sighting (as long as it wasn’t too close). We were heading for Mt Richmond, an area where delinquent bears causing trouble in towns are taken and released. I saw a small Grizzly in the morning when riding alone, after which I made more of an effort to stick with another rider. This turned out to be a Brit, Carl Hutching, an Iditasport champion. He’s about twice as muscular as I am; a good man to be standing next to should a hungry Grizzly attack.

I caught up to Carl on the climb after stopping at Lake Holland Lodge, where I was lucky enough to score a packed lunch just before they closed for a wedding. It was so hot I walked back and forth under the lodge's sprinklers.

Carl stops for a bottle recharge. Some environmental surveyors shared some water with us a bit further on. It was always a pleasure to stop and chat with somebody in the middle of nowhere.

What's my pack doing unzipped?! Most of the riding was smooth gravel roads - perfect for a rigid MTB.

Typical scenery in the Richmond Peak area.

Well into the climb - almost at the snowline.

Now we're talking. Gerald films Carl as we start a long trudge.

As we got higher the snow was banked up on a steep angle and eventually hid the track completely.

Despite surprising heat, countless tree-falls and difficulty following a track buried by snow, we made good progress. Nobody got eaten. By 11:30 pm I’d covered 241 km, but ended up in a one-horse town that was all closed up for the night. Half a Powerbar and a cookie sufficed for dinner. Geoff Roes and I tried to sleep on the local museum lawn, only to be woken by the sprinkler system and, later, a heavy downpour.

Day Three: June 22
The racing field was starting to pan out. John Nobile was off the front, riding through much of each night. Geoff chased until he could chase no more and then pulled out, exhausted. Another six of us battled on at a similar pace, sharing each other’s company, on and off, for the next few days.

Fred, Geoff and I head off for Lincoln, very happy that heavy rain had cleared while we ate a hearty cooked breakfast.

Some very nice fireroad after Lincoln - it wasn't all like that!

Feeling pretty chuffed to be clearing the Continental Divide for the first time.

The meadows above the tree-line contained acres of wild flowers

These mine relics featured in Kent Petersen's GDR blog. As I'm a similar age, I was keeping an eye on his early splits to check I was on target to make the race cut-offs.

By noon of the third day I was starting to feel the effects of the day before. My quads were spent and saddle sores had begun to develop. To compound things, I was riding totally solo and the navigation was taxing the old grey matter. The air was thin in the mountains and hot in the valleys. By 7:30 pm my day was done, with only 162 km covered. If things continued to get worse, the chances of making the cut-offs would be slim.

Fortunately, Carl caught up with me, looking as bad as I felt. We split the cost of a hotel room and shared a decent meal; recharged our batteries. By checking the race blog in the morning we could see that only three riders were ahead of us. They’d pushed on into the dark and explored various wrong-turns during a midnight thunderstorm. This race was like a roller coaster, with highs and lows aplenty, all transitory in nature.

Day Four: June 23
We entered some extremely technical terrain on the fourth day, which for me pushed all the right buttons. The organiser commented that I looked as if I was in a cross-country race, which was precisely where my mind was at. After a break, during the most intense afternoon heat, all the physical difficulties of the race were pushed to the back of my mind, hidden behind one single goal – reach Wise River Lodge before the restaurant closes at 9 pm. Thank God I made it. Nobody wants to see a grown man cry.

The Lava trail was the first serious test of technical riding skills.

On muddy section you could see who was in front of you, and the tree falls ensured a vehicle-free trail.

The rail trail between Basin and Butte. I caught up to Jenn and Carl in Butte and was starting to feel stronger.

The interstate into Butte had a generous shoulder - the aero bars were very handy here.

Day Five: June 24
We left the forest and began some incredibly tedious riding through arid ranch land. Luckily Carl caught up with me again and for much of the afternoon he shared tales of racing in Alaska. There were no shops until the end of the day’s 220 km, but I’d posted some treasures to a remote post office: a Powerbar, some chocolate peanuts and a can of peaches. We got water from small creeks – which had been contaminated by cattle – and treated it with iodine tablets. By evening we were wasted, again, but had now covered the 600 miles to Lima within the six-day cut-off. Incredible single-speeder, Jenn Hopkins, caught up a couple of hours later. We discussed saddle sore remedies and race goals over dinner. Carl apologised that he was going to have to race harder from now on. He was gone by 3 am the next morning and we never saw him again.

Catching up to Jenn after a sleep-in in Wise River. Right about now she put the hammer down and I struggled to stay with her.

If you insist.

What is this thing?

This sign was the only shade all afternoon. The red packet contains chocolate peanuts I'd posted to Polaris - a tiny town with a post office, but no shops. In fact, I saw no shops from Butte to Lima - almost 300 km.

1 - Go

2008-12-23T16:45:00.010-07:00

[This is the start of my diary of the Great Divide Race. I'll download the images now (with broadband at work) and do the words during the holidays (next week). This will be as full account as I can manage. It will be boring in places - that's the nature of the GDR. Most of the pics were taken on the fly - sometimes it shows. There are a handfull taken by other people (thanks to David Blaine, Carl Hutchings, Mary Collier, Pete Basinger, Bill Drake, and Carl Patton). Some of my best shots are shown in earlier posts, but I will not repeat them here.]

20 April: I've been slack (and busy) so obviously haven't made any progress. Here's my 'Spoke' article to get things moving along:

MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED
SIMON KENNETT GETS THE GREAT DIVIDE RACE OUT OF HIS SYSTEM

High Noon, June 20: Roosville, Canada/USA Border
There was an enormous sense of excitement as 18 Great Divide Race hopefuls lined up on the lawn at the border station. Months (or even years) of preparation lay behind us; 4,000 kilometres along the American Continental Divide lay ahead. Snow-covered passes, sleep deprivation, deserts and dodgy food were just a few of the known challenges. The cut-offs that required riders to maintain a 24-day finishing pace was another. But the unknown challenges – there lay the real adventure.

Two shots from the pre-race briefing at a Eureka cafe. I arrived a little late after posting all my excess gear home. Between huge mouthfuls of pancakes and scrambled eggs, everyone is paying careful attention to the details of race rules and call-in requirements.

David sets out from his hotel with his single speed steed. Thanks to his blog (The Great Divide Project) and having met him in Spokane a week earlier, he seemed like an old friend already.

Todd getting set to do the business on his singlespeed cyclo-cross rig. His bags are home-made from sail material. He has an aerodynamic time-trial helmet.

This is Keith's touring bike set-up. The load on the rear rack flipped upside down during a rough descent (and his rear tyre ripped thru the sleeping pad and his jacket before he could stop).

Reiner, the German flying ace, once help the world record for the amount of climbing done in 24 hrs. He said he was there to check out the course before coming back next year to set a new record!

John, who had pulled out during his previous two attempts, found that his third time was indeed lucky.

Fred was one of the most experienced endurance racers in the field.

Carl was picked at the guy most likely to finish if things turned nasty.

Jenn was also riding a 69'er with a rigid carbon fork. 'What were the chances of that?' I thought. She also chose to ride sans derailleurs.

Me - so happy to be on the start line.

The startline - with Canada in the background.

Rushed introductions and photographs filled the last moments where nervousness might otherwise have felt overwhelming. Then there was a quiet ‘go’ from the organiser and a few cheers from the half-dozen spectators.

Fred and Noah spring to the front. Noah's grandparents were 10 miles down the road waiting to wave him through town, so he made sure he was in the lead with a big smile.

Carved bears with fishing rods - I was a long way from home.

We were off. Recent illness dictated a sensible game plan, but within 30 seconds I was in the lead with experienced Canadian Fred Wilkinson and youngster Noah Dimmit (on his second attempt). I just couldn’t help myself. After three hours they’d dropped off the pace and were out of sight, and I was left wondering if lead position was really the best place for an adventure-race novice in bear country.

Fortunately, 15 minutes later three riders came past as we approached the business end of the first mountain pass. There was a single-speed, a geared 29’er and a touring bike, and we all stopped at the top of the climb to consume precious calories and congratulate ourselves. The sky was blue and the road clear of snow. We’d covered the distance of a normal cross-country race, with loaded bikes, and we felt great. How long could that last?

Andrew and Geoff cruise up to the first big pass.

During the descent from the pass Geoff Roes and I broke away. He looked extremely comfortable, having ridden to the start-line from Utah. After 20 minutes at his pace I began to hit the wall. It was rather depressing; we were just four hours into a 20-day race. I stopped to refuel and collect stream water, and several riders passed. Some appeared to be time-trialing while others looked like they were on a Sunday group ride. I latched onto a bunch and chatted while my batteries recharged. The conversations are almost forgotten already, but the sense that they were really good people remains – the sort of people you’d be happy to get lost with.

Red Meadow Lake, near the top of the second big climb.

Near the top of the second big pass of the day, single-speeder David Blaine came into view. We marched through the snow along the top together for 45 minutes and then began the big run into Whitefish at the 100-mile mark. Whitefish was a rare opportunity to re-stock with quality food. I filled a shopping basket with mashed potato and peas, fried chicken, chocolate milk, fruit and sports drink, and then sat outside on the pavement with fellow racer Keith Flury to dine. We were covered in mud and looked like bums.

Keith follows me out of Whitefish in perfect riding conditions.

We set off half an hour later, overfull but happy, and rode until 11 pm when we reached Tom’s house in the country. Tom is a cyclist who welcomes all Great Divide riders to camp on his lawn, and his homemade rhubarb slice helped create a party atmosphere that night. We’d covered 196 km since noon, and by midnight there were eleven racers camped in one spot. Only the eventual winner, John Nobile, went any further. Four of the other five starters camped much further back and were moving too slowly to make the race cut-offs.

Day Eight: June 27
By now I was averaging 200 km per day without burying myself for more than an hour or so. Jenn was catching up whenever I stopped and we were looking forward to sharing the long lonely ride through the intimidating ‘Great Divide Basin’ desert.

Day Nine: June 28
I got up at 4 am to avoid the impending heat. There was a big day ahead but my stomach was in knots. I couldn’t eat. After a couple of hours’ riding we stopped for breakfast with David Blaine. He and Jenn had envious appetites. Without being able to take on fuel, I had to wave them farewell and settle in for 10 hours’ sick leave. Coming face-to-face with the possibility of failure was certainly the low point of the race. I wondered if this whole venture was a huge mistake.

Fortunately my digestive system gradually began functioning again and by early evening the wheels were turning, slowly, towards the desert. At 11 pm I crawled into my sleeping bag on the side of the road, coyotes howling in the distance, with a sense that all was well with the world.

For the next five days I rode solo 99% of the time, with an MP3 player blasting out Ravel or Nina Simone or Flight of the Concords. Solitude made focusing on the race easier, but my goal was to catch up with David or Jenn, more to share the experience than to pick up a placing. After Wyoming’s sparse landscape, the Colorado mountains and wildlife seemed even more impressive than Montana’s.

By the third of July I was starting to struggle; the heat and long days were catching up. That afternoon, while enjoying the descent off Carnero Pass at around 50 km/hr, a large mountain lion appeared around a corner. I skidded to a halt about 20 metres away from it and considered my chances of surviving an attack. They seemed slim. The mountain lion looked back at me and decided to yield the road. I was amped with enough adrenalin to last another thousand miles.

Near the end of the day Jenn appeared in the distance. I was so happy to have some company. Unfortunately she was starting to suffer from Giardia and was falling off the pace. The next day we rode together a little and shared a Fourth of July barbeque in a remote settlement. This was also the day I crossed into New Mexico, the last State of the race and the State where my wife and baby were holidaying. This was the point at which I’d decided to give it everything until the finish.

Day 17: July 6
The days were getting noticeably shorter further south. I woke at 5 am, having camped near the top of the longest climb of the race, and expected to be out of the mountains by mid-morning. My legs had different ideas. It took about three hours to warm-up, but I didn’t dare rest anywhere for long. Just a few days earlier a man had been eaten by a cougar nearby, and there were fresh tracks on the sandy road.

By midday I’d reached the safety of Cuba (the town) and was faced with the prospect of a hundred asphalt miles through desert. This was reservation land where services were few and far between. It was tempting to stay for a siesta, but instead I filled my back pockets, sleeves and shorts with ice and went for it. Head down, on the aerobars, the miles flew by. Just after dark a storm lashed down and it was out with the jacket, over-trousers and bike-lights. As the lights of the next town came into view, as if cued by my subconscious, I was overcome with weakness.

The first budget motel appeared just in the nick of time. It lay on the neglected Route 66, tucked in between a busy rail yard and modern freeway. Tea consisted of some biscuits and soda from the office shop, but I was too tired to really care. With another 280 km knocked off, the finish seemed almost within site.

Day 18: July 7
This day was almost a reflection of the one before: a long stretch of isolated tarseal followed by even more remote gravel road. The map showed just one shop, 165 km away from the town I left in the morning. As it turned out, that shop had closed months ago. I was in huge, open, sparsely populated country. A desperate inspection of the map indicated that the next shop down the line was another 160 km further south.

Over the next 20 hours I saw just four vehicles and flagged two of them down. Both drivers were happy to hand out emergency food supplies from their glove box and to listen to a short story of a bizarre bike race across America. The early afternoon brought a wonderful sight – the Gila Ranger Station had a drinks machine. Chink, chink, chink… click, whir, ka-thud! What a beautiful sound.

Six cans of soda and half an hour later there was a very different, somewhat sinister sound. A lightening storm rolled in just as I was about to climb up onto the Continental Divide. Torrential rain was accompanied by booming thunder, and massive cracks of electricity filled the sky. I hid under a bridge for a while as the creek rose, deciding which was the better risk – death by drowning, lightening strike or starvation. The possibility of electrocution won out (nice and instant) and I set out riding like a madman.

Along the top of the Divide, as the vegetation became more and more stunted, I hunched over lower and lower, pretending to be four foot tall. The lightening closed in until it could be seen striking the ground a couple of hundred metres away.

After a full-on time-trial out of the mountains, I arrived at the tiny town of Mimbres – 325 km from the last store – to find the only shop had closed 45 minutes beforehand! I scored a Clif Bar from a local woman and blitzed the next 30 km into Silver City. As the city limits came into view the incessant rain finally caused my lights and bike computer to fail. I staggered into the first fast-food joint in town looking like I’d escaped from an insane asylum via the sewer system. Bent, but not broken.

Day 20: July 9
The last, horrible day of the race dawned fine and calm. It promised to be a furnace in the desert until a thin layer of cloud slid mercifully overhead mid-morning. There were no large climbs, no rough tracks, no storms. Just 201 km of rolling dirt and straight sealed roads, so long and flat that they disappeared beyond the horizon.

I’d had enough. All I wanted was to reach the Mexican border and go home to my family. Fortunately, my American in-laws were waiting to pick me up at the finish, Antelope Wells, a border station with no well and no antelope. The last 70 km of road had way-markers every mile. I put my head down and watched the white line fly by, desperately hoping each time I looked up that two mile-markers would have passed rather than one.

The final stretch took an hour longer than expected, but eventually a building appeared in the distance between the Joshua trees and cacti. It slowly took a clearer form. Then, quite suddenly, Bill and Janet appeared just 20 metres away. I was done. My smile stretched from ear to ear and I was filled with relief and gratitude. There was no finish banner, nor any other humans.

The satisfaction of having completed the Great Divide Race took weeks to fully sink in. Of the eighteen starters, just two Americans, two Brits, and one Kiwi finished the entire course. John Noble set a course record of 15 days and 2 hours. Even Giardia couldn’t stop Jenn – she finished in 22 and a half days. I spent 19 days and 5 hours on the Divide. Much of that time is a blur, but there are many vivid memories of camaraderie and natural beauty that I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.

MSF Fundraiser Wrapped Up

2008-12-17T18:37:00.002-07:00

Just deposited NZ$11,030 into MSF Australia's account. This was the money raised through donations (mostly at slideshows), pledges for each GDR-km ridden, and the sale of sponsored gear.

A huge thanks to everyone who contributed - genorosity like that is heart-warming, and it made the motivational side of the GDR a piece of cake.

Here's a message from MSF explaining where the money goes now:

"Médecins Sans Frontières teams are currently in over 60 countries, working with more than 22,000 locally recruited national staff in conditions that are always challenging, sometimes dangerous. Wherever our teams are working their goal is the same: to provide essential medical humanitarian aid to those who need it most, regardless of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.

As an independent organisation that relies solely on our donors for funding, your support is absolutely crucial to Médecins Sans Frontières’ ability to provide medical assistance to millions of people throughout the world. Whether it’s assisting casualties of war, those in danger from deadly epidemics or in great need after a flood or earthquake, victims of sexual violence or someone excluded from health care; the funding we receive from our donors helps us stay flexible, responsive and ready to act swiftly in times of crisis.

In 2007, Médecins Sans Frontières carried out 8,447,106 outpatient consultations and dealt with 340,689 inpatient admissions in 62 countries worldwide. Our interventions spanned four continents with the majority of projects taking place in Africa, and smaller numbers in Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. Armed conflict was the most common cause of humanitarian and medical crises followed by epidemic or endemic disease outbreaks.

Some of our work right now includes:
Providing emergency medical assistance to people caught up in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Providing obstetric care for women in Haiti
Treating cholera in Zimbabwe
Providing medical and non medical assistance to refugees in Darfur, Sudan
Treating malnutrition in Uganda

For all the latest news on our work, please visit www.msf.org.au.

Kind regards,

Gina Birkett
Médecins sans Frontières Australia"

Almost back in top gear

2008-12-07T22:21:00.008-07:00

Work has been as frustrating as all hell lately (with the 7^th edition of Classic NZ MTB Rides taking a month longer that expected to arrive from overseas) but we've had some good times on various bikes to distract us from all that.

First up, in mid-October was the MTB orienteering event at Maungakotukutuku. Memories of last years win were well smashed as several riders trounced me both physically and mentally, but I still had some fun. There's some sweet singletrack through some excellent forest out there. My buddy John won – his first solo win in an area he wasn't familiar with – he’s the man. This was Sarah's first event since becoming pregnant two years ago. Very nice to see.

The following weekend we went up to Rangataua for some R and R. We all rode up the mountain road (a 1000m climb) in atrocious weather – by the time we got back down they had closed the top part of the road. Near the top it is very steep and I'm pretty sure a snail zipped past me – I felt so unfit. A couple of days later John and I rode down to Pipiriki and back – 80 km return. The weather was a bit better, but there was still some hail mixed in with the rain. Nice quiet roads; some gravel (always exciting on a road bike); and more sweet forest.

The dodgy weather theme continued the following weekend as we rode up to the top of Makara Peak to celebrate the MTB park’s 10^th anniversary. This was one of those days where the wind was toppling trees and blowing cars over on the Wainui Hill Road. Needless to say we were blown off the track at the top of the Peak and it was all a bit of a hoot.

The weekend after that we had a team entered in the Wild Wellington 12 hr Relay. This time the weather was perfect! Jonty did some fast laps for us on his cyclocross bike, Kaitlyn gave John a boost on the tag-along bike, Sarah did a few brisk laps, and Jonathan and I took the tandem for a spin. It was very social; Miro loved all the action; the crepes were delicious, and we ended up third mixed team.

Mid-November I snuck out the back door for a 2-hour grind on some tight local singletrack, some of which I'd never done uphill, and one new track I'd never done at all. I LOVE riding new singletrack.

The weekend before last was the end of the MTB-O season with a fixed-order event on Mt Vic (and more singletrack I'd never done before. Choice!). My second place was a pleasant surprise (even if it was partly thanks to a poor turn-out). John came in third and wrapped up the series.

The last weekend in November Jonathan, Alex and I took the triple for a spin round Taupo – a hilly 160 km – in 4:31. The guys did a good job of pushing me through the first hour; at 40 km I stopped for a leak and then finally got into a decent rhythm. We actually hammered the main climbs pretty well (given the bike would make a fine ships anchor). It was fun hearing all the kids yell out “Hey! What's that?!” “Go the threesome!”, etc, etc. Only a couple of blokes called out “The guy on the back isn't pedalling (ha ha)” or “You look so gay!”. Morons are pretty easy to ignore when the weather is stunning and you have clear views of the mountain or the lake to enjoy.

By the time I got back from Taupo, Miro was walking heaps more (from one room to the next). And there was me thinking she’d go straight from crawling to bike riding.

Yesterday was ‘Tour de Peak’ day. The aim of this event is to ride all 16 tracks in Makara Peak as fast as you can, in the order of your choice. A good old brain-teaser, as well as an honest grunt. This year I teamed up with Sarah in the Duo category and we split the tracks 50/50 (with me veering towards the most technical stuff, which I seem to have lost my mojo on – apart from being rusty, a big drop causes me to think of Miro; I hesitate and decide to walk. A tad frustrating at the time, but not so much as a broken collar bone). Anyway, the sun shone, long ribbons of single track were ridden (without injury), Miro loved the friendly atmosphere, and everybody went home with a prize.

Today, at long last, we shuffled the 7^th edition of ‘Classic New Zealand MTB Rides’ into our office (8,000 copies = 4 tonnes = some serious cross-training). The string of printing, freighting, and customs clearance delays has been agonising, but the book does look damn fine. Hopefully the punters agree.

BTW, the last post suggests that my fingers had returned to normal 2 months after the GDR finished. As it turns out, not quite. A band of thin, fragile finger nail is still growing out. This band now extends back to a small ridge a third of the way from the tip of each nail (beyond which normal nail growth is occurring). Not sure what caused that – poor circulation, lack of nutrients, or reduced growth hormone during the race? Kinda suggests that 100% recovery from the GDR is more like six months than three.

Time Marches On

2008-10-09T01:54:00.003-06:00

Well...it's three months since the Great Divide Race finished and I still haven't done a proper trip write-up. Sorry about that - it's still on the list of things to do. Spoke magazine asked me to do a 1200 word article about the race. I worked hard to keep the word count down and still ended up with 2400. That'll be in their next issue. Anyway, it occurred to me while writing it that it would be pretty easy to ramble on for 5000 words - just need to find the time. Realistically it won't happen until the Christmas holidays.

The last post mentioned an auction and slide show. They went really well. All the GDR sponsored gear is now sold and 99% of the pledges are in. At the moment the funds raised for Doctors Without Borders is just over NZ$10,000. I need to get this wrapped up and sent off asap, before our currancy plunges any further. Why is it that a US-initiated financial crisis has caused the greenback to strengthen?

If you missed the last slide show, there are a few more coming up. One for the Hutt Valley MTB Club in mid-November, one at the Cyclemania festival in Taupo at the end of November, and another for Cycle Aware Wellington on the 2nd December.

It's been impressive to see many of the GDR racers compete in other events recently. I've had no interest. It took just over two months for my fingers to return to normal (difficulty tying shoe-laces being the main problem). And, a combination of exhaustion, jet-lag, minor illness, wintery weather, baby-induced sleep deprivation and over-working conspired with a bit of melancholy. It is a bummer not having anything as big as the GDR on the horizon. Might just have to run something similar here in NZ.

Fortunately my heavy commuter bike kept the legs from wasting away completely and last weekend my brain finally said "It's time". I joined John for my first recreational ride since getting back to New Zealand in July. We found some nice steep singletrack and enjoyed a good hit of endorphins. Aaaahhh....

And now that spring has arrived, there are a couple of races in the off'ing too. As part of our 7th edition promotional tour the Kennett Bros will have a family team at the Wild Wellington 12 hour teams race and we'll drag the Triple out for the Taupo Cycle Challenge century. Bound to do something sifty at the Makara Peak Rally, too. Maybe we'll see you there.

Cheers
Simon

Slide show, auction and gear review

2008-08-09T03:56:00.008-06:00

Great Divide Race Slide Show - 2pm, Sunday the 17th August, Rongotai College, Wellington (Map). Free entry. All welcome.

The slide show will be immediately followed by an auction of my sponsored gear from the race (with proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders). The gear to be auctioned includes:

Giant XTC Carbon 69'er, with Stans wheelset and Sram groupset. Weighs about 10kg. Very good condition - only used in one race.
Cane Creek suspension seatpost. Near new condition.
XTR shifter (near new)
XTR crankset (brand new)
XTR derailleurs (near new)
Easton Aerobars (very good condition)
Misc Ground effect clothing (jacket, Montezumas long shorts, Median strip top, Half Pipes leggings)
NoTubes sealant (unused!)
Stans Crow 29" tyre (good condition)

If you'd like to place a bid from out of town, email me at simon [at] kennett [dot] co [dot] nz to arrange contact details during the auction.

How did my gear work over the big race?

Here's the loaded bike:

and the gear (unpacked) before the race:

My sponsors are shown in the links to the right - check those out for more info on the bike and clothes. Just remember that this is what worked for me in the 2008 GDR. You are different from me, and 2009 will be different from 2008.

Here's a list with some comments:

Bike: Giant XTC Carbon frame; Stans wheelset (ZTR355 rims, 29” front, with American Classic hub, 26” rear with Hope Pro2 hub, Crow tyres and NoTubes sealant), Sram gears; Truvativ Noir crankset; Ritchey WCS MTB forks, seat, seatpost & handlebar stem; Easton carbon handlebars & aerobars; Ergon grips & barends; Avid ultimate disc brakes; Shimano XTR pedals; Rear rack (an old mongreled front rack); beefy bottle cage; Cateye computer

The bike worked great. It was designed to mitigate my weakness (road riding) and take advantage of my experience riding fully rigid bikes. I longed for suspension (usually rear) on about 6 occasions. It was very aerodynamic, very light, and rolled very well. The aerobars gave an extra couple of comfortable hand positions.
The only mid-race maintanence was the replacement of the rear tyre at 960 miles and 1550 miles, chain oiling most days, and a good clean at 1550 miles (Absolute Bikes).
The only problems were the loss of some small chainring bolts at about 1800 miles and the malfunction of the bike compter after the big storm a day from the finish. No punctures. No shifting problems. No component breakages. Rear tyre wear-and-tear was expected and planned for by posting replacements to Pinedale and Salida. I sent replacement chainrings and brake pads to Salida, but did not need them.

Bags: Frame bag sewn up from cordura off-cuts by Shona; Pacific 5ltr dry bags; Cactus prototype small backpack (15 years old)

These all worked fine. Wore a small hole in one of the dry bags by the finish. A little extra capacity would have been handy and more compartments in the backpack.

Clothes: Ground Effect Shorts, legwarmers, tops, proto-type jacket, long-fingered gloves, short-fingered gel gloves, nylon overmitts, generic poloprop balaclava, couple of old thermal tops, light woolen top, polyprop longjohns, running shorts, LG shoe covers, socks, arm-warmers,

I've been testing most of this stuff for years, so no real surprises - it worked very well. The Half Pipe leg warmers were surprisingly useful (wore them every day). The Ground Effect prototype jacket was perfect - it was designed to fit my stick-like figure with minimal flapping in windy conditions. The long sleeved Rock Lobster top kept the intense sun at bay. Woolen socks prevented foot fungii problems.
The overmitts never got used. The shoe covers were only used once, so got posted home from Salida and were needed the very next day.
One of the advantages of being old and crusty is that I had a drawer full off old, worn-out shorts, socks and gloves. I started with some of this old gear and threw it out over the first few days. This saved me the effort of doing washing until day five.

ACA Maps, cue-cards, facility summary

The maps had me scratching my head once or twice, but I only got lost very briefly three times (in towns each time). Thanks to cousin Duncan for scanning & printing the cues.

Camera: Olympus 850 SW

The 'S' stands for shock-proof. The 'W' for waterproof. Shona sewed a camera breast pocket into my tops, and bingo! - a sweet camera at the ready regardless of the conditions. Most of my pcs were taken without stopping. Thanks John.

MP3 player: $29 Dick Smith Electronics

Cheap-as, and runs on a AAA battery. It had just over 3 hours of music on it, which all got listened to at least once a day from day five on. It also had a voice recorder which was handy to store some of my thoughts along the way.

Shoes: Louis Gaureau

A nice pair of LG shoes, but not the top of the line model (didn't want the risk of a ratchet breaking). Reasonably comfy and very solid and dependable (and a good price too).

Helmet: Giro Pneumo

An old favourite, this time with the visor. Worked fine.

Lights: Dinotte x2, Cateye rear, ankle reflector

Great lights (thanks Gav) except during the big storm when water got into the battery pack (I'd been warned of this, but obviously didn't seal the pack well enough). Otherwise, they were very, very good.

Sleeping bag: MacPac Epic (down, 540gm)

Bivvy bag: Old Fairydown (very light, semi-breathable)

Pad: Closed cell foam cut to ¾ length & width (10mm thick)

Insect net

This was a very light-weight, minimalist camping set-up. Not comfortable, but good enough to get a few hours sleep in. I was lucky it didn't rain much and the temp never reached freezing. I camped 10 nights out of 19.

Sunglasses

Stood on my nice Adidas shades at the end of day one. Replaced them with a $15 pair in Lincoln. Lost my spectacles on about day three (I can live without them).

Liquid carriers: 3ltr bladder, 2ltr bladder, 800ml water bottle, misc sports drinks bottles

Iodine tabs

This carrying capacity was fine (when it was used). Not sure if excess iodine contributed to digestive distress or not. We were all lucky that there was more surface water around than normal, and it was not super hot in New Mexico.

First-aid kit: All the normal stuff, plus some anti-biotics and stomach bug stuff (Thanks Dr Ruthie). Bought some ant-acid tabs along the way.

Hygiene kit: Sun-block, anti-bacterial wipes, toothbrush, chammy cream (Thanks Marilyn) or talc powder, etc

A lot of the first aid stuff remained unused, but it's lght and compact and had the potential to save my bacon, so I didn't regret carrying it.

Tool kit: Allen keys, chain tool, tyre lever, tubes x2, pump, patch kit, oil

Similar comment as above

Misc: Compass/thermometer, sun umbrella, cash, calling card, credit card, ID, ear plugs, shower caps, pen, travel lock, spoon, etc

The compass came in handy during a pre-dawn start in the Great Divide Basin. The sun umbrella was a waste of space (but it might have been handy, really). I used one shower cap during a short downpour. Everything else was useful for obvious reasons.

Thoughts on bikes and fairings:

You can spend a LOT of time deciding what type of bike to use. Eventually this becomes wasted time. If all you want to do is finish with a respectable time, any decent mountain bike will do the job. That said, it needs to be reliable and comfortable. If you can make it light as well, that's a bonus.
WRT full-suspension vs hardtails vs fully rigid vs 29er vs single-speed - it comes down to using whatever tickles your fancy. The main thing is to have FAT tyres that you can run at cushy pressures. The next most important thing is a saddle that doesn't make you bleed by day five.
In this type of race 29'er wheels are a slight advantage, unless you are running some really good suspension, in which case it's too close to call (imho).
Having raced with a Zipper fairing a few times (and a rear fairing twice) I thought long and hard about using a front fairing. The time to make and test a MTB fairing was not available to me, so it came down to buying a Zipper again, or a motorcycle fairing. I decided the weight penalty and increased risk of over-heating counted too heavily against the small gains of improved aerodynamics (when racing at very low average speeds). I guess John Nobile proved me wrong (although I suspect he could have cleaned up even without his fairings). This race is loaded with 'individuals' - many of whom have bicycles that are extensions of their personalities. Proving the capability of the bike (as well as the body) to finish the GDR is part of the challenge that motivates many riders .

Questions? Fire away (but expect a slow response - work is crazy at the mo')

Simon interviewed on Nights with Bryan Crump

2008-08-02T20:21:00.002-06:00

Simon was interviewed on Nights with Bryan Crump, Radio New Zealand National, 1 Aug 2008:

Simon interviewed by Bryan Crump, MP3, 22 min, 10 MB

Five FAQs (and some answers)

2008-07-30T02:57:00.003-06:00

1 - Did you enjoy it?

At times, very much. Overall, yes. But...the further into the race I got, the greater it seemed to be an emotional roller coaster. After about halfway it seemed to take 2-3 hours to warm up in the mornings. This could be very discouraging. Eventually, most days, the sun would come out, a fun descent would present itself, and maybe I'd have an enjoyable encounter with a rider or local person or some wildlife. Often the scenery was uplifting, as was my MP3 player and phone calls to Sarah. On the first day the ratio of fun to grind was about 10:1. By the last day it was 1:10. There is a correlation between those ratios and the amount of time I spent with fellow racers.

2 - Would you do it again?

If I had my time over - absolutely!

Will I do it again? No - once was enough. But I wouldn't rule out a similar challenge elsewhere.

3 - What happened to Rainer?

Rainer took a short-cut off Togwatee Pass (taking a fast stretch of highway rather than a 1hr+ hike in the snow). Just hours earlier, he indicated his intention to take that shortcut to a fellow racer (due to the pain he would experience pushing his bike, having broken his collar-bone 5 weeks earlier). At the end of the day he claimed to have been prevented from following the official route by a State Trooper. No other racers saw a State Trooper at this point.

The previous day he was seen missing a turn (and not returning there for at least 10 minutes). He then appeared to arrive at the next town before riders who had been in front of him on the official route.

It seems that Rainer may have been unaware of the importance of sticking to the official route. If he goes back next year, I expect he'll win.

4 - How did you and your bike handle the abuse?

I got very tired and experienced numbness in all points of contact with the bike. My lower back became numb where the backpack sat. My disgestive system became very cantankerous and I lost 11 hours to a stomach bug in Wyoming. My throat & tongue was often dry and sore. Various leg muscles seized up temporarily and my quads became very fatigued. My lips cracked. My brain became very tired. My weight went from 69kg to 67kg.

Now, 3 weeks later, my legs and fingers are still a bit weak, and my physical energy levels below average. My weight is 70kg.
[Too give this some perspective, Carl Hutchings ran a half marathon last week and Jenn Hopkins is currently cycle touring from Portland to San Francisco]

My bike was fine. Three bolts fell out of the granny chainring - that's all. Not a single puncture! I'll do a gear review shortly.

5 - Are you writing an article or book about it?

I'll do an article for SPOKE magazine, and a diary-style account here. There will also be the odd slideshow, including a big one at Rongatai College (where my gear will be auctioned off). This Friday I'll be interviewed at 8:10pm on Radio New Zealand National. There will be the odd extra article here and there, but no book - you'd all be bored to tears!
If you're in Wellington and want to hear more, sooner rather than later, come along to the tree planting at Makara Peak MTB Park this Sunday at 10am.

Bonus question: Where those Diamond Back shorts really 17 years old?

No, of course not. They were only 11 years old. I wore them over my Ground Effect shorts for a little extra padding in the mornings for a few days. [The Sams Bike Shop shorts I wore on day one were 17 years old]

Home Sweet Home, and Sweepstake Winners

2008-07-23T17:23:00.003-06:00

Ahhhh...it's nice to be home in Wellington after 24 hours in planes and airports - instead of dodgy air-conditioning we have a freezing southerly gale to keep everybody moving briskly as they shuffle about between showers. The forecast is for a maximum of 9 degrees C - but with the windchill of a 110 kph southerly thrown into the mix, 9 degrees is just wishful thinking.

It is good to be home with friends and family, back at work doing something useful. If the weather clears I'll be testing my wasted upper body with some track building on Mt Vic, if not, I'll be helping the bros finish the first draft of the 7th edition of Classic New Zealand Mountain Bike Rides.

Well! The fundraising sweepstake was almost too close to call. Just over 60 people pledged support for MSF and 50 of those entered the sweepstake at the same time. There were a few outliers - one guy thought I'd take 66 days! But the bulk of the predictions weren't too far off the mark:

16 days: 2
17 days: 3
18 days: 7
19 days: 7
20 days: 5
21 days: 12
22 days: 6
23 days: 4

But here's the rub - two people guessed 19 days and 1 hour, which was the closest estimate to my finish time, so they both get first prizes. They are Illona Keenan (from Cycling Adcovates' Network, a friend who gave me a first-aid kit for the race) and Andy Jones (who is riding the Great Divide Route at a civilised pace this very year). Congratulations!

Christian Hoerning was runner-up with an estimate of 19 days 10 hours.

I'll send out a gentle reminder of what people pledged in the next few days.

Cheerio,
Simon

Final results for GDR 2008 (revised)

2008-07-20T16:48:00.002-06:00

From the GDR blog :

1. John Nobile - 15:01:26, overall course record
2. Carl Hutchings - 17:10:41
3. Simon Kennett - 19:05:02
4. Fred Wilkinson - 21:01:45
5. Noah Dimit - 22:12:11
6. Jenn Hopkins - 22:18:40, women's singlespeed record

Click on image for full size version

Did not finish:

Geoff Roes, Steamboat Springs, Colo.
David Blaine, Steamboat Springs, Colo.
Keith Flury, Rawlins, Wyo.
Cullen Barker, Rawlins, Wyo.
Ryan McHale, Lima, Mont.
Dave Croll, Lima, Mont.
Brad Perry, Butte, Mont.
Nathan Bay, Butte, Mont.
Todd Temres, Helena, Mont.
Andrew Genco, Whitefish, Mont.
Gary Anderton, Whitefish, Mont.
Rainer Klaus

20 Pics

2008-07-17T10:23:00.028-06:00

OK. When it comes to blogging, I'm a punter, so these pics are all over the place, but here they are - 20 of 241. [I went in and reorganised them. Paul]

But, first...a week has passed since I finished and a few questions are starting to recur.

The sweepstake will be sorted as soon as I get home. I've a feeling somebody got within a few minutes of my finishing time.
And, yes - after a few days of exhaustion, I'm starting to recover quite nicely. Fingers are still a bit arthritic, but saddle sores have gone, stomach is back to normal and my energy levels are returning. After a few days of complete dissinterest, I thought about going for a ride this morning. Didn't actually do it, but suspect I will in the next couple of days.

Now for the photos (not necessarily in this order!):

This noon startline shot (above) has record-holder John Nobile closest to the camera.

David Blaine marching thru the snow with his usual cheery outlook.

Andrew (single-speed), Geoff (29" MTB) and Keith (touring bike) are leading the race up the first major climb (Whitefish Divide). Sadly, all three DNF'ed.

Some aspens. Pretty.

Twelve of us camped at Toms at the end of the first day (at the 120 mile mark).

Carl clambers over one of a hundred downed trees on day 2.

Carl tackling yet another roller on the tedious day into Lima.

Flowers and snowy peaks on the road to Island Pass.

Jenn and more flowers on the way into Wyoming.

Me leaving the Great Divide Basin with mylar neck shade and ear plugs to silence the wind.

A rare sighting of the mountain turtle.

Sweet view at the top of Togwatee pass.

Me hating the heat at 10,000', but soon to be revived by a mountain lion sighting.

Scot giving my bike it's first TLC since the start. Absolute Bikes at 1550 miles was almost a compulsory pit-stop. Oli had built it up so well that it needed very little attention.

Receiving some awesome hospitality in Del Norte.

Sunset on the Polvadera Mesa, New Mexico - the biggest climb of the race at just over 4000' (and covered in sand and bedrock for the last quarter).

Happy to be crossing the Continental Divide for the 2nd-to-last time on the last day.

The finish

Back with Sarah & Miro : )

I'll post a few more pics when I do a full write-up and there will probably be a slideshow back in Wellington.

Pedal on!

Simon

Jenn Hopkins: 22 days, 18 hrs, 40 mins

2008-07-13T18:02:00.004-06:00

From the GRD blog:

Jenn Hopkins called from Antelope Wells at 10 a.m. Sunday to say she arrived at 6:40 a.m., for a seventh-place and first-female finishing time of 22 days, 18 hours and 40 minutes. Jenn also is the first woman to complete the Great Divide Race on a singlespeed, which would make her time the new female singlespeed record. Her call from Antelope Wells was a bit warbly and hard to understand, but it sounds like she had an amazing last few days.

More...

The official leader board hasn't been updated since last Wednesday - here's my rough version. Noah and Jenn's last five plot points are my guesses:Click image to enlarge.

Noah Dimit: 22 days, 12 hrs, 11 mins

2008-07-13T18:00:00.002-06:00

From the GRD blog:

Noah Dimit called from Antelope Wells about 11 minutes after midnight Sunday, for a sixth-place finishing time of 22 days, 12 hours and 11 minutes. He sounded pretty tired and didn't have too much to say at the finishing line. "Anyways, it's a pretty crazy race," he said.

Fred Wilkinson finishes: 21day 1hr 45min

2008-07-12T23:12:00.004-06:00

Fred has finished. Noah is real close and Jenn is on the home stretch.

The official leader board hasn't been updated in several days, here's my rough version:
Click to enlarge.

Hello from Santa Fe

2008-07-11T09:41:00.002-06:00

Howdy folks

Just a short note to say 'Hi' and thanks for your interest/support. Sarah let me know that there were people cheering me on and that sure helped during the low times.

I'm still pretty wasted right now. Although I only lost a couple of kilos and suffered no significant injuries, my fingers (and other bits) are a bit numb, and my brain is exhausted, too. The main feeling at the finish was relief, with a fair degree of satisfaction at cracking 20 days. Hopefully there is more satisfaction yet to come once it all sets in. I'm a little dazed. The last four days were very tough. It was a LOT more fun when there were other riders to share the experience with. Everyone I rode with was great company - Fred, David, Geoff, Keith, Carl and Jenn (and Tour Divide riders Stephen, Mary and Felix). And there were several ordinary folk along the way who were a pleasure to meet. That said, most of the best wildlife encounters and fastest days came while riding solo.

It is fantastic to be back with family.

I'll post some photos soon.

Best of luck to the riders still out there.

Kia ora!

Simon

Simon's last calls

2008-07-10T03:41:00.002-06:00

Simon's last calls:

Tuesday from Silver City, after a tough day 2,848 KB, MP3
Wednesday from Deming, after finishing 1,695 KB, MP3

Post race thoughts from David B and Geoff R

2008-07-09T21:24:00.004-06:00

David Blaine has some thoughts on his Great Divide Project:

A full write-up on my experiences will be coming, but for now I would like to give some details about my departure.

Despite having some knee problems in Wyoming I had high hopes and lots of energy heading into Colorado. Once in Colorado, I realized I wasn't digesting my food right and my energy disappeared. By the time I crawled into Steamboat I knew I had more than a sour stomach. I got a motel room and hoped to take a day to recover.

By morning, I was in a terrible state. I was no longer thinking about the race I was just hoping to get myself to a hospital. I was extremely fortunate that I was in a town with medical service when this happened. Isabella from the Nordic Motel took me to the Emergency Room and within a minute I was getting hooked up to an I.V.

More...

Geoff Roes is Fumbling Towards Endurance:

This is as close as I'm going to come to a race report - a random collection of thoughts and photos:

Lack of sleep seemed to be my ultimate undoing. In the first 3 days I slept a total of 8.5 hours and in the first week a total of 33 hours. In the future I need to find something to help me sleep when I do multi-day races. I would lay down at night and just couldn't get my mind to stop carrying on.

More...

And Jenns Cycling Compendium friends are still blogging for her.

Simon will be back at his in-laws, in Santa Fe, sometime tomorrow. Then he'll be able to blog some post-race thoughts.

Antelope Wells 19 Days 5 Hours & 2 Minutes!

2008-07-09T18:37:00.007-06:00

Simon just called- he's done!

He called at 6.30, the border station closes at 4, which is where the pay phone is (and no cell phone coverage)- so he was calling from down the road.

Bill & Janet were there to meet him, having got there a bit early and spent some time fending off dogs!

He said they were driving back the way he had just come, down a road they could barely see the end off, slightly downhill. It was a pretty tedious day, around 11 hours including breaks, lots of long straight roads. He had mostly cross & slight head winds. But the weather was very good & the temperature perfect.

He's exhausted and aches all over, a bit worse for wear after yesterdays effort.

They are heading for Deming tonight, he said something about guacamole. He should be back here in Santa Fe early afternoon tomorrow.

He sounded relieved and happy.

I am so proud of him.

He's finished!

2008-07-09T18:33:00.005-06:00

He finished just after 5pm.

Not only is there no payphone at Antelope Wells, but there's no cellphone coverage either. So Simon's in-laws had to drive him way back up the road till they could get cellphone coverage.

Sarah will post details soon!

No news yet

2008-07-09T16:34:00.003-06:00

Still no news.

When Simon reaches the finish he'll call Sarah. Sarah will call her mum, Shona. Shona will call me. And I'll blog it as she speaks.

By the way - there's no podcast from yesterday because he didn't call in to the GDR answerphone.

On the home stretch

2008-07-09T15:01:00.007-06:00

By about now (3pm New Mexico, 9am New Zealand) he will have plugged his way across this stuff:

And popped out onto Highway 81:

The National Weather Service is reporting better conditions today: currently 25 degrees Centigrade, East-South-East wind at 19 kph.

The nearest webcams I could find are:

Tucson, Arizona - 239 km to the west
El Paso,Texas - 206 km to the east

Updated leader board:

Simon's rough day, continued

2008-07-09T07:38:00.003-06:00

The GDR blog pretty much summed up what Simon told me last night. But just though I'd add a few extra points this morning.

There were three people that gave him food yesterday after he either flagged them down, or in one case went in to a Real Estate agents- in each case he offered to pay, but they were all insistent that he just take it (I guess we would do the same!), he probably looked like he needed it too.

He said when he was in the thick of the thunder storm, before Silver City, where the trail actually goes along the Great Divide, the gap between thunder & lightning got down to 2 seconds. Eeek. Once he saw a bolt of lightning strike the ground about 200m ahead. He was riding along crouched down to make himself as small as possible.

It was pretty much an afternoon long interval session!

When he got to Silver City the first motel he went to took one look at him and said "sorry all booked up".

He said he felt really the riding was really isolated yesterday. It was about 120 miles, and for 95 miles of that he only saw 4 cars.

He was going to get going about 6 this morning.

He's on the last leg!

Simon's rough day

2008-07-09T01:40:00.002-06:00

From the GDR blog:

Simon called from Silver City at about 10:10 p.m. Tuesday, saying he arrived in town at about 9 p.m. "I got pretty well thrashed by the weather today," he said. He also discovered there was no store 40 miles south of Pie Town, so he rode off route and flagged down a vehicle to ask where the next store was. When they told him it was 20 miles down the road, he asked if he could buy some food from them and they sold him some cheese crackers. "Those are good. They pack a bunch of calories," he said. When he arrived at a ranger station, he bought six bottles of soda from a vending machine, "and that carried me through most of the way."

"I finished my food off just before the last hill, and I'd really been hammering to that point because there were lots of storm crowds brewing," he said. A big storm broke out with pouring rain, thunder and lightening. Simon waited under a bridge until it eased a little, but the storm didn't show any signs of letting up. He decided he needed food more than he needed to stay dry. So he set out as the storm picked up steam again, trying to hammer to the next town. "I got there, got soaked, got muddy, got to Mimbres at a quarter to six and the store closed at five." He tried to wait the rain out a little longer and continued on to Silver City. "I'm pretty well hammered, but only one day left, and it doesn't look too tough," he said. "I look forward to being at the border."

290 km to go

2008-07-08T23:25:00.001-06:00

Antelope Wells is now 290 km away, with 914 meters elevation climb.

The leader board updated:
Click to enlarge

Part of the trail he'll face tomorrow, south of Silver City. Elevation 1834 m. [Source]

Note: This photo is from 2004 - the weather forecast for tomorrow is less sunny.

Silver City- Tuesday 9.45 (18 days+9.75 hours)

2008-07-08T22:08:00.012-06:00

Just a quick update- will add more tomorrow morning (sorry!)...

Simon just called from Silver City where he is safe in a motel after enduring full on thunderstorms most of the day. He's pretty shattered, but glad to be there (and glad to be alive too).

What does Antelope Wells look like?

2008-07-08T19:43:00.005-06:00

Satellite photo - there ain't much there

The border post

And here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Antelope Wells is a small unincorporated community in the state of New Mexico in the United States of America, located along the United States-Mexico border, across from the small settlement of El Berrendo, Chihuahua, Mexico. Despite its name, there are neither antelope nor wells in the area. The name comes from an old ranch, located 2.5 miles north of the current community. The only inhabitants are United States Customs and Border Protection employees.

Antelope Wells is the southernmost settlement of New Mexico, situated in Hidalgo County and in the region commonly known as the "boot heel" of New Mexico. It is the smallest and least-used border crossing of the 43 ports of entry along the border with Mexico. The crossing, which is open solely for non-commercial traffic, is open every day from 8 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon.

The port was established by Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 and has been staffed since 1928. In 1981 the border crossing had a population of 2, living in trailers behind the customs station, and averaged three people enterring per day. In 2005 just 93 pedestrians crossed over at the site, which consisted of just four buildings, a port of entry building, two houses and a trailer. Including domestic and international travelers, fewer than 500 buses and privately-owned vehicles pass through the community each month, though traffic has been increasing slightly lately with more international shuttle van service. Despite its low usage, there is no move to close the port, which is the only port between Douglas, Arizona, and Columbus, New Mexico, and provides the most direct route from the United States to the Sierra Madre Occidental.

Antelope Wells is located on New Mexico State Road 81, which links it with Interstate 10 and New Mexico State Road 9. Antelope Wells is the official southern starting point of the 3100-mile Continental Divide Trail.

The word from Sarah is that they are expecting him to finish roughly Wednesday lunchtime New Mexico time.

So that would be around 6am Thursday morning in New Zealand.

David Blaine's photos of GDR 2008

2008-07-08T16:29:00.012-06:00

David Blaine has just uploaded a whole bunch of photos to Flickr. Here's some shots he took of Simon:

Simon on the start line, 20 June 2008

Simon nearing Red Meadow Lake

Red Meadow Lake Snow

Simon leaving Ovando

Simon catches David before Island Park

Simon riding into Atlantic City at dawn

Breakfast in Atlantic City with Simon and Jenn (not in the pic)

David in Yampa Valley Hospital - the final pic in his GDR08 set

See all David Blaine's GDR08 pics

Rainer Klaus: 18 days, one hour and 26 minutes

2008-07-08T15:43:00.002-06:00

From the GDR blog:

Rainer Klaus called from Antelope Wells at 1:26 p.m. Tuesday for a finishing time of 18 days, one hour and 26 minutes. He enjoyed the morning's ride and said he stayed ahead of the rain. "It was a very easy stage today," he said. "Had I known the stage was so easy, perhaps I would have gotten up earlier in the morning, so that would have caused a below-18-day finish. But I'm very happy to have done it. I'm healthy and I'm feeling well mentally and physically." He said he would call back in with more details later.

And the updated leader board:Click to enlarge

Sunday call-in

2008-07-08T05:43:00.006-06:00

Simon's call-in:

Sunday from Grants 843 KB, MP3

Do you think Simon might finish in under 20 days?!

Cheers, Paul

Carl Hutchings: 17 days, 10 hours and 41 minutes

2008-07-08T05:15:00.003-06:00

From the GDR blog:

Carl Hutchings called in from Antelope Wells at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. He said he arrived at the border at 10:41 p.m. Monday, giving him a second-place finishing time of 17 days, 10 hours and 41 minutes. He wanted to thank Pete Basinger and Mike Curiak, and also Eric Parsons at Epic Designs for keeping his bike "rack-free."

"Wow, this race really kicked my ass," he said. "It wasn't easy at all. I'm pretty pleased to be done." He wished good luck to everyone else still in the race.

Updated leader board:
Click to enlarge

Day 17 Leader board update

2008-07-07T23:24:00.005-06:00

Click to enlarge.

GDR blog update from Pie Town

2008-07-07T15:42:00.011-06:00

From the GDR blog Monday afternoon:

Simon called from Pie Town at about 2:30 p.m. Monday. He said the Pioneer Cafe was closed, but he has a 69-cent pie that he bought in Cuba, "so that will have to do." He said the weather was nice and overcast, but the last stretch of road was rough with washboards. "300 miles to go, yee-haw," he said.

500 kilometers to the border [that's roughly the same as Rotorua to Wellington]

And earlier:

Simon called from just outside Grants at 6 a.m. Monday. He said he arrived at 10:30 p.m. Sunday. He said he was going to roll down Route 66 and 117 to Pie Town. He said he had the "usual roller coaster ride" Sunday, with beautiful scenery and a bit of rain.

South Of Grants, NM through the desert

Here's a weather forecast for Hachita NM (Elevation 1433 m, compared to the Desert Road summit which is 1074 m):

This Afternoon: Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a high near 91 [33 degrees Celsius]. Light southeast wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Tonight: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly before midnight. Partly cloudy, with a low around 64 [18 degrees Celsius]. Light wind becoming east northeast between 13 and 16 mph [26 kph]. Winds could gust as high as 23 mph [37 kph]. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Tuesday: Scattered showers and thunderstorms after noon. Partly cloudy, with a high near 90. East northeast wind between 7 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Tuesday Night: Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64. Northeast wind between 8 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Pie Town- 2.30pm Monday (day 17 + 2.5 hrs)

2008-07-07T14:47:00.006-06:00

A very tired and dry sounding Simon just called from Pie Town. No pie though! The cafe was closed, but fortunately the Post Office was open and he'd posted himself a care package.

The Pie Town Cafe - closed as usual.

He had just had 16 miles of slightly rolling uphill, with corrugations & a headwind- so didn't sound like it was much fun.

Yesterday he did 270km. Saw a herd of about 20 red deer.

Fortunately it's not too hot today (he said it was 24 deg. C). He might only go on another 20 miles today.

But it gave him a real lift when Janet & Bill (my folks who we are staying with in Santa Fe) offered to go down and retrieve him from the border. We had been wondering how to manage it, the prospect of driving down there (about 8 hours from here) with a one year old wasn't very appealing, so we are super grateful that they have volunteered!

Keeping track

2008-07-07T14:04:00.002-06:00

Now it's getting more down to the wire for Simon I'm going to start using the GDR race start time to keep a track of the days.

So, they started at noon on the 20th of June (we'll go from noon to noon)- it's now just after 2pm on Monday the 7th of July. Which means that he is 2 hours in to his 18th day.

Add a comment if I've got it wrong!

Day 16 call-in from Cuba

2008-07-07T00:51:00.002-06:00

Simon's call-in:

Day 16, from Cuba, New Mexico 888 KB, MP3

The dates have become even more confusing; yesterdays Podcast was definitely "Day 15, Friday 4th July", but today they're saying "Day 16, Sunday". The riders started at noon on the Friday 20th June - so the end of "Day 1" is noon on Saturday the 21st.

Whatever the time... Simon is still plugging away at those miles.

Cuba -mid day Sunday

2008-07-06T16:42:00.002-06:00

We were out when Simon called this morning at 11.50. His message is pretty much as follows...

It was a really hard ride to Cuba & his legs feel exhausted.

He saw cougar prints in the dirt after being warned in Abiquiu about cougar being around, and to watch his back. (sadly a man in northern New Mexico was killed a week or so ago, by a cougar they think, so I guess the warnings weren't unfounded)

The ride from Abiquiu was the last big "hill" of the ride though, it's mainly just rolling stuff from now on. He's hoping to make it to Antelope Wells by 20 days. He's got 160 miles of seal in front of him & 3 out of 4 bolts are lost from his middle chain ring.

He sounded pretty tired.

Day 16 Sunday afternoon

2008-07-06T15:49:00.014-06:00

From the GDR blog:

Simon called from Cuba at 11:45 a.m. Sunday. He said he couldn't find a pay phone in Abiquiu but he arrived about 5 p.m. Saturday. "Bit of a grunt over to here," he said. "But that's the last big hill of the ride." He was planning to hit the alternate route and shoot for Grants later today. He congratulated John Nobile "on taking it out," and said he hoped Geoff and David were feeling better and maybe even starting to think about next year.

The track south of Cuba through high desert [Source]

And the leader board:
Click to enlarge

Cuba is 2,133 meters meters above sea level.

At Cuba, Simon had pedaled 3,130 kilometers and climbed 42,062 meters in just over 2 weeks (Mt Everest is 8,850 meters tall). It's 152 km to Grants including 2,438 meters climbing (Mt Taranaki is 2,518 m). Simon has averaged 2,628 m climbing per day.

The finish line is 870 km from Cuba, with 10,668 meters climbing.

The weather in Grants is currently: 31 °C, partly cloudy, wind 26 km/h from the SSW (which sounds like a head wind).

Day 15 Friday call-in from Pletoro

2008-07-05T20:17:00.003-06:00

Simon's call-in:

Day 15, Friday, Pletoro 315 KB, MP3

And the leader board:

Click to enlarge

Abiquiu- 6pm Saturday

2008-07-05T19:02:00.013-06:00

Simon called this evening from Abiquiu, New Mexico (the closest he'll be to us, till he gets back to Santa Fe (didn't mention that to him though!)). No pay phone there either, so it was a pretty quick call.

He said the Brazos Ridge [see weather ] still had snow on it. At El Rito he bought a bag of ice & put bits of it everywhere he could- down shorts (yikes!), pockets, back of his pack. It was pretty hot here in Santa Fe today, so that sounds like a good idea (though we did get a good downpour this afternoon, and it cooled off alot- Simon didn't mention that he'd had any rain).

Along Brazos Ridge (Simon had snow here) [Source]

He's going to head on out and get a couple of thousand feet of climbing under his belt before he hits the sack. I'm pretty sure he said the climb out of Abiquiu is the longest in the GDR. So I guess he'll be waking up to more climbing

South of Abiquiu

Tomorrow he's going to try to get to Cuba in the morning, have a siesta, then push on in the afternoon.

Heading towards Cuba

John Nobile: 15 days, 1 hour, 26 minutes!

2008-07-05T18:45:00.004-06:00

From GDR blog:

John Nobile called from Antelope Wells at 1:26 p.m. Saturday. That means he finished the Great Divide Race in 15 days, 1 hour and 26 minutes. "It was a pretty grueling day," he said. In the last 3 days, he said he slept about 2 hours and has not slept at all in the past 48 hours. "I made it. It's hot as hell down here. Glad to be here, and glad to be heading north," he said.

John's finishing time is a new record for the Great Divide Race - 2 hours, 52 minutes faster than Jay Petervary's finishing time last year.

Day 15 leader board

2008-07-05T01:30:00.002-06:00

Click to enlarge.

Note: the official leader board is showing Simon in third place - but that's just because Rainer hadn't called in when they updated it. He's since called in from Abiquiu - still ahead of Simon.

Horca- 5pm day 15

2008-07-04T17:31:00.005-06:00

Simon just called from a place called Horca, still in Colorado. (initially I thought he said Hawker & couldn't find it on the map, but a posted comment suggested Horca, which still isn't on any of the maps here!)

He's done 73 miles so far today, and is planning to head on over La Manga Pass when it cools down a little.

He said the ride up Indiana Pass was a real toughy, it gets to almost 12 000 feet, it was nearly a four hour climb. The air felt pretty thin & there was a lot of rolling stuff along the top.

Arrived in Platoro in time for July 4th celebration community BBQ. $12 for a pretty good feed.

The downhill out of Platoro to Horca was pretty rough, serious corrugations (as bad as the road up to David & Jennie's old place in Hawea!), quite a lot of climbing and a headwind. Not quite so much fun.

He sounded reasonably happy, but he said that was because he was standing in the shade!

The plan is to camp high tonight. He's hoping to make it to Abiquiu tomorrow. New Mexico!

Day 15 - Friday 4th July

2008-07-04T16:44:00.005-06:00

Update from the GDR blog:

Simon called from Platoro at 1:20 p.m. Friday. He said there were a bunch of Fourth of July festivities going on in town, and he was planning to hang out and enjoy some barbecue before moving on south.

And then:

Jenn called from Platoro at 1:51 p.m. Friday amid a noisy celebration that she and Simon were enjoying. She said they ate some barbecue and were planning to head down the road. "It's not too bad a day. It's not too hot," she said.

Day 14 call-in

2008-07-04T00:32:00.003-06:00

Simon's call-in:

Day 14, Thursday, Del Norte 2,097 KB, MP3

He's heading for Indiana Pass, on the way to Platoro:
Just north of Indiana Pass, heading south [Source]

Day 14 - GDR blog update

2008-07-03T23:48:00.005-06:00

From the GDR blog:

Simon called from Del Norte at 9:25 p.m. He was staying at the place of a couple he bumped into on the trail. He had a cold night on Wednesday, bivying five miles over Marshall Pass. He said he froze pedaling down the pass, so he didn't go quite as low as he'd hoped. Overnight, the temperature dropped below the specifications on his sleeping bag, so he had an unpleasant rest.

But he got up early, and "once the sun came up, it was all good."

On Thursday, a mountain lion crossed his path. He planned to get a good night's sleep before heading over Indiana Pass in the morning.

Then, later Thursday night:

Jenn called from Del Norte at 10:15 p.m. She had a rough day out of Poncho Springs. She rode about halfway up Marshall Pass, but caught a "big wall of complete exhaustion." She felt she couldn't pedal through it so she had to stop and sleep for a while. She said she had a better day Thursday, but got caught in a thunderstorm and spent an hour underneath sign boards, waiting it out. Simon passed her near the top of a climb and she was happy to see another racer. "I haven't seen anyone for five days, so that was really good." She was going to sleep for a bit and head on to Indiana Pass in the morning.

Del Norte - end of day 14

2008-07-03T21:31:00.014-06:00

At last- a phone call from Simon!

It's been a full on few days, with no pay phones insight...

After Kremmling Simon bumped in to Mary Collier, doing the Tour Divide, she recommended going on to Breckenridge after Silverthorne- which he did, got there about 9pm Tuesday night. Took about an hour to find some accommodation though.

Wednesday he got in to Salida at about 3pm, where he stocked up on food, collected his mail drop from the post office and ran in to Carl Patten, a friend from Wellington, in the bike shop! Also at the bike shop he had to replace his custom made Ground Effect jacket that had managed to escape his "foolproof" bungy system on the back of his bike, fortunately Absolute Bikes gives a 30% discount to GDR racers.

South of Salida - climbing to Marshall Pass [Source]

Headed off from Salida by 6pm, up the long climb to Marshall Pass, at about 11 000 feet, got to the top about 9pm. Went 5 miles down the other side and camped, it was pretty cold.

Got going about 6 this morning, still really cold, but he wanted to make it to Del Norte today- tomorrow is 4th July and he wasn't sure what would be open.

Coming down the second pass this morning, going along at a fairly good clip, came around a corner and there was a mountain lion halfway across the road! A big one. Simon pulled on the anchors and as he skidded to a stop about 20 metres away the lion looked at him, and then decided to go back the way it had come in to the trees.

Descending from Marchall Pass

A thunderstorm just missed him, he could tell from a spell on the tarmac that it had been pretty wet recently. He turned off on to a dirt road and there were two vehicle tracks and one bike track. He could tell that the bike was trying to follow in the path of one of the vehicles where the soft dirt had been compressed, so he new it was pretty recent. He picked up the pace a bit and not long before the top caught up with Jenn.

Amazingly, she had his Ground Effect jacket! A guy on a motorbike had picked it up, and seeing it was a small had presumably assumed it wasn't Simon's when he passed him, had caught up to Jenn and asked if it was hers- she recognised the GE label and said she would leave it somewhere for Simon.

[Simon is using a custom made ultra-light small jacket that is tight fitting - which gives less wind resistance. PK]

When they were at the top of the pass before Del Norte a guy called Steve arrived, out for a ride. He had been cycle touring in New Zealand a while back, and in the interests of international relations offered them beds for the night. Simon has given his newly aquired jacket to Steve as koha.

Here's what the trail looks like south of Del Norte

Simon said he's been feeling fairly flat the past couple of days, but it sounds like he's been going pretty hard out. He's been very lucky with the weather, just got caught in one thunder storm after he lost his jacket, but managed to make it to a wee cabin to shelter for a while (he actually said it was quite nice being wet, cos it's been so hot). His body is holding up reasonably well, including his mind (he's glad he's got he mp3 player though) & the saddle sores are doing ok (no better, no worse).

It was good to talk to him, feels like it's been ages!

Day 14 - leader board

2008-07-03T15:13:00.007-06:00

Click on image for full size version.

We're down to seven riders now that Cullen Barker has missed the second cut-off.

I'm picking Carl Hutchings to pass Rainer in a couple of days. I don't think John can catch the record. And Simon is still gaining on Jen.

South of Salida - Climbing to Marshall Pass. [Source]

Day 12 and 13 call-ins

2008-07-03T00:13:00.009-06:00

Simon's call-ins:

Day 12, Tuesday, outside Silverthorne, 711 KB, MP3
Day 13, Wednesday, just past Selida 268 KB, MP3

Here's a reminder of what they all look(ed) like:

I just noticed in the start line photo Simon's orange sleeping bag at the front is attached in-line with the bike. Everybody else with gear on the front has it attached cross to the wind - except John Nobile, with his windshield.

We interrupt this Blog for a techno-post.

2008-07-03T00:10:00.003-06:00

Paul pointed out some basic differences in set-up between Simon's and the other rider's set-ups. Here is a bit more detail on some of the smaller points of difference for the guys currently sitting in the first five.

Some observations. While preparing for this event Simon did a lot of research.
I am pretty sure he told me that a full suspension bike had never finished the event before, and even front suspension could be a liability. Hence his choice of a fully rigid rig.

Its interesting to note that three fullies lined up at the start of the event. Its barely half way, but the guy currently out front is sporting a fully with a full aero set-up. Some people think that aero-ness only makes a difference at high speeds, but this is not the case. Could this be the start of a new trend in these type of events?

Jeff

Day 13 Wednesday afternoon

2008-07-02T19:21:00.006-06:00

From GDR blog:

Simon called from Salida at 5:50 p.m. and was planning to head up over Marshall Pass [3,291 m elevation]. "Hopefully the weather holds," he said. "It's a bit changeable at the moment, but that's cool; it reminds me of home."

Here's how Shona (Simon's mother-in-law) is tracking the race:

Day 13 Wednesday - David Blaine is out

2008-07-02T14:34:00.020-06:00

From the GDR blog:

David Blaine called at 9 a.m. Wednesday from the Yampa Vally Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, where he'd spent the past 24 hours. He stayed in town because he wasn't feeling well, and went to the hospital when his sickness became progressively worse.

He said he had a fever of 104 and could hardly move. "As soon as I can stand up, I'm going home. It's been a great race up until this point and good times."

David sounded upbeat even as he made this call from the hospital.

Keith Flury pulled out yesterday because he couldn't get his bike fixed in Rawlins.

Pete Basinger - who was helping at the start of the GDR, left last week to do a 24 hr race in Alaska. During that event he was the first person to find a rider in front who had just been mauled by a bear. Here's another account.

Leader board:
Click on image for full size version.

Day 12 - Tuesday evening

2008-07-02T03:56:00.006-06:00

From GDR Updates blog:

Simon called from Silverthorne at 7 p.m. Tuesday and said he had a tough time finding his way through Frisco. He was caught in a thunderstorm but said it was a refreshing change from the heat. He was planning to ride to Salida on Wednesday.

Silverthorne is 2323 km into the race.

Salida is 187 km away with 2133 m climbing.

Cheers, Paul

Leader board update - day 12

2008-07-01T15:24:00.010-06:00

Click on the image for full size version.

And Dave Nice (aka Cellerrat) just posted this pic of Simon out on the trail somewhere yesterday:
Click on the image for full size version.

A slightly disturbing biographical note: The Kennett Bros were sponsored by DiamondBack (DBR) way back in 1991 when we were riding/writing the 3rd edition of Classic New Zealand Mountain Bike Rides. Those shorts are 17 years old.

Cheers, Paul

Kremmling- middle of day 12

2008-07-01T14:01:00.004-06:00

Simon called at mid-day to say he was in Kremmling [the weather is about 23 C], which is about half way between Steamboat Springs & Silverthorne. He couldn't talk long because he had borrowed someone's cell phone to call me. He said there was a definate lack of public pay phones in the resort towns. He had to make his GDR call-in from Steamboat from the bike shop.

So, not much to report- hopefully he'll call again if he makes it to Silverthorne (and can find a phone!), which is where he's hoping to get today.

Last night he camped about 20 miles out of Steamboat Springs, he said he got a really good photo of a fox coming towards him on the road.

He was pretty shocked to hear that Geoff Roes had had to pull out.

That's all!

Steamboat Springs - day 11 Monday

2008-07-01T05:33:00.004-06:00

Simon's call-in:

Day 11, Monday, in Steamboat Springs MP3, 433 KB

That's in Colorado folks!

This is the 12 day cut off. Simon had to reach here by noon Wednesday 2 July.

He's done 2,124 km so far and has 1,876 km to go - he's passed half way! He's also climbed 25,298 meters which leaves him with "only" 24,993 meters still to climb.

Steamboat Springs ("Ski Town USA") looks like it might be a real town - population: 9,815.

Cheers, Paul

Leader board update - day 11

2008-06-30T19:44:00.004-06:00

Here's the latest:

Click on image for full size version.

Note that Geoff Roes has pulled out with the flu. "My body's at the point where it's broken down to a point where it's not even really an option to continue in an enjoyable way or probably for that matter even a safe way," he said.

David Blaine called from Steamboat at 10:57 a.m. Monday. "I had a rough day yesterday and even rougher morning," he said. "I'm having difficulties with my stomach - the latest part of my body to give up on me." He said he was going to take it easy for a while.

Jenn called from Steamboat Springs at 8:20 a.m. Monday. She said she had a bit of trouble with her left knee, so she was going to take it easy on Monday.

Special comment from Patrick Morgan

2008-06-30T15:35:00.001-06:00

Support for Simon doubles

After ten days of following Simon's epic, I am inspired and awed by his courage and perseverance. Moose! Dehydration! Saddle sores! Sharing small town motel with strange biker dude!

So I am doubling my donation to Simon's nominated charity, Doctors Without Borders.

I invite all fans of Simon's terrific adventure to do likewise. Great guy, good cause.

Patrick Morgan

GDR blog update

2008-06-29T17:29:00.021-06:00

From the GDR Updates blog:

Simon called from Atlantic City at 3:40 p.m. Saturday. He said he arrived at 8 a.m. with David and Jen, but he picked up a stomach bug the day before and had to remain in town.
Simon called again from Rawlins at 2 p.m. Sunday. He said he spent 11 hours in Atlantic City "sitting around and thinking negative thoughts about the race." But after a couple of ice creams he rallied and said he was feeling much better into Rawlins.

The Updates blog also mentioned that Geoff Roes, currently in second, was considering pulling the plug. Sounds like this second week is a much harder physical and mental endevour.

Simon's call-in:

Day 10, Sunday, in Rawlins MP3, 1266 KB

Cheers, Paul

Leader board update

2008-06-29T16:28:00.005-06:00

Click on the image for a full size image.

That's 1907 km since last Friday, and 22555 m elevation climbed.

Which leaves 2084 km and 27737 m climbing left.

Rawlins has a population of about 8,538.

Rawlins!- middle of day 10

2008-06-29T14:49:00.004-06:00

Simon just called from Rawlins, sounding his normal cheery self! Yay. He arrived in at around 2pm, before the heat of the afternoon really set in.

He spent about 11 hours in Atlantic City yesterday, napping & cleaning his gear & having very negative thoughts about this whole escapade (he ate a total of 4 pieces of toast, 2 eggs & 2 ice creams). By 7.20 it was nice & cool and he left town, rode about 35 miles in to the dark (lights working beautifully- thanks Gavin!) & camped in the sage brush. He slept for 6 hours & managed to sleep through 3 snooze alarms (didn't have Miro to wake him up), got going by 6am.

Didn't see any trees for 200kms. He was out of the desert by noon when it wasn't too hot, but the last 40 miles of tar seal were a bit of a killer. He had enough water though.

It's Sunday here so most things are closed in Rawlins, but there was at least a convenience store open. It's too hot to do anything till after 5 this afternoon, so he's going to try and have a power nap & then get another 25 miles or so under his belt.

He sounded very positive and happy. And now I am too.

Day 9 call-in from Atlantic City

2008-06-28T20:10:00.006-06:00

Simon's call-in:

Day 9, Saturday, in Atlantic City MP3, 906 KB

Atlantic City: population 39 according to Wikipedia, map, and here's the Atlantic City page on ghosttowns.com.

And ya gotta see this: Atlantic City, Wyoming, USA on YouTube.

Atlantic City- middle of day 9

2008-06-28T16:12:00.002-06:00

Simon called from Atlantic City at 3.30 to say that he is sick! Aaargh. He says he has some kind of stomach bug. He's been in Atlantic City since 8 am.

Last night he rode till 11.30 and then didn't get much sleep. He had a few pieces of toast at lunchtime today. He hasn't had any vomiting, but has had the runs and is feeling really weak. He's been trying to drink plenty.

He's going to try and eat some more this afternoon , and then head out towards Rawlins when it cools down a bit. He doesn't think he'd be able to make it there in one day anyway, given the way he's feeling now (its 136 miles).

I've got all my fingers & toes crossed again that he gets better soon.

Friday afternoon - day 8

2008-06-27T23:31:00.009-06:00

From the GDR blog:

Jenn calls from Boulder. She was in Pinedale at 4:00 p.m and will be continuing on down the road with Simon and David. She says that Union Pass was beautiful.

Simon's call-in:

Day 8, Friday, in Pinedale MP3, 1080 KB

Click on the image for a better view.

In an effort to see how he's going compared to the others and also to the fastest and slowest possible times here's a plot of the times as posted on the leader board.

We already know he's passed Pinedale so this is a bit out of date. I'll update it as the official times come in. Note that Simon and the others may not call when they arrive in a town - they might call in after having a sleep. So it's never clear how they are doing compared to others around them. Hopefully that will become clearer as the race goes on.

The bottom dashed line is the 15 day course record, and the top grey line is the slowest you can go and still reach the finish line within the 24 day cutoff time. I'll expand the chart as time goes on.

As you can see - Simon is doing great.

Cheers, Paul

Pinedale- middle of day 8

2008-06-27T14:31:00.003-06:00

Simon just called from Pinedale, 2.20pm.

Yesterday afternoon he had trouble staying awake- downed a couple of Pepsi's and felt much better. Then was the 9,600 foot Togwotee Pass. The climb was fairly easy, had a good tail wind, but the descent took 2 hours! The first hour trudging through snow. Then, to the relief of his hands & saddle sores there was a tarmac section.

He spent the night at a cyclists only lodge at the base of Union Pass. For a donation he received a cooked meal & a bed for the night- sweet! He was away by 6am this morning.

The climb up to Union Pass took him an hour forty, but the downhill seemed never-ending, with countless false-tops.

In Pinedale he's got a mail drop to collect, including a new rear tyre to put on.

This afternoon he's going to try for south Park city, but that includes three crossings of the Continental Divide! Go, Simon!

Then tomorrow he's hoping to get the Great Divide Basin over and done with (I think there's quite a bit of trepidation about this section, on both our parts!), and maybe make it to Rawlins.

He says he feels like things are going well, but that his mood could change if the tail wind turned!

Thursday, 26 June 2008 - day 7

2008-06-26T15:43:00.012-06:00

From the GDR blog:

Simon Kennett calls in from Flag Ranch at 10:20AM. He reports that the ride from Lima to Island Park was pleasant, but the Rail Trail following that was "brutal" and it was the first time he wished he had suspension.

Last night he slept at Squirrel Creek Lodge and despite having a good night's sleep he is still feeling a little weak today.

Simon's audio:

Day 7 Thursday in Flag Ranch MP3, 1114 KB
Day 6 Wednesday in Lima MP3, 505 KB

Flag ranch, Wyoming- mid-morning day 7

2008-06-26T10:45:00.002-06:00

Simon just called from Flag Ranch, Wyoming where he was stopped for a 9.30am buffet breakfast.

There's been slushy snow on the road and he's really knackered.

He stayed at Squirrel Creek Ranch last night.

Got totally hammered by about 40kms of rail trail, horrible sand & corrugations. Had to get off & walk a few times. He said they had just ripped up the rails & left it at that. His hands were so sore this morning he coouldn't chop up his bacon- ouch.

His throat is heaps better today, at least.

He saw a moose with a calf. They've been riding the boundary with Yellowstone National Park, so the views are pretty spectacular- but if you stop for more than 10 seconds you get attacked by ravenous mosquitos.

He's going to try and stop for the day at a lodge just before Union Pass- which is possibly one of the hardest climbs in the race. Here's hoping he gets a good nights sleep.

Island Park- middle of day 6

2008-06-25T20:11:00.004-06:00

Simon called at about 3.20 this afternoon (was just on the way out- hence the lateness in posting!). He was in Island Park, Idaho, and planned to carry on to Warm River.

The scenery has been stunning and he saw a bull moose (big!). It was about 50 feet away, but he didn't manage to get a pic.

Some of the navigation today was a bit tricky- one of the reasons he was travelling with Rainer Lenninge & David Blaine, they had both mis-placed themselves & he caught them up.

He's got a bit of a sore throat (which could possibly be due to the fact that he spent alot of the time on his aero-bars, strangely about 20 minutes after I talked to him my throat started feeling sore too....), hope it doesn't develop in to any thing else. Apart from that he sounded pretty chipper really.

He used his mp3 player for the first time today, the first track was Bolero- by the end of which he was going about 10mph faster.

He hoped to be in Wyoming by tomorrow.

All the audio so far

2008-06-25T00:33:00.007-06:00

MP3s of Simon's call-ins:

Day 8 Friday in Pinedale MP3, 1080 KB
Day 7 Thursday in Flag Ranch MP3, 1114 KB

Day 6 Wednesday MP3, 505 KB
Day 5 Tuesday MP3, 131 KB
Day 4 Monday MP3, 418 KB
Day 3 Sunday MP3, 613 KB
Day 2 Saturday - no call-in (but he put in a huge day)
Day 1 Friday MP3, 255 KB

Lima- end of day 5

2008-06-24T19:56:00.006-06:00

Yay- just had a good chat with Simon. He's made it to Lima in time for the 6 day cut-off. Got in about 7.30pm. 135 miles today.

[That's 1,005 km and 14,325 meters climbing in 5 days.]

Going back to Monday, he said he spent just over an hour in Butte in the shade (sounds like it was pretty hot) & decided to press on to Wise River. He called the Lodge to make a booking & they told him that the kitchen closed at 9pm- pretty good motivator! He got there at 9.03- the kitchen was still open so, hooray, he managed to get a burger & chips. Had a good nights sleep too.

He was able to collect a package that he had sent to himself care of the Post Office in Polaris, so didn't have to make any detours for food on the way to Lima (and enjoyed a can of peaches mmmm). Ran out of water though, so had to scoop some out of a dodgy looking puddle, yay for iodine tabs.

As we were talking he asked me if I knew where any of the others were- I was able to tell him that John Nobile & Geoff Roes had both called in from Lima earlier in the day, but I had checked David Blain's spot position about ten minutes ago and he hadn't moved for a couple of hours. So I went back to look again and he was still there- told Simon that he was on Harrison & Willow Creek Road. Simon was calling me from a service station on Harrison & Bailey- he said there was a cafe & a motel over there, I wonder if he'll find him? Ha!

Simon said that yesterday Jenn had left about 20 minutes before him and it took him about 1.5 hours to catch her up. Wow.

Physically he said he has a pretty darn sore arse, his hands are a bit tingly & his quads are sore as. He sounded a lot happier than last time we spoke though.

He's going to get a good nights sleep, and an early start tomorrow.

Miro saw her first chipmunk today.
Cheers
Sarah

Monday night

2008-06-24T15:44:00.000-06:00

From the GDR blog:

Simon Kennett called from Wise River at about 9 p.m. Pete said he saw Simon riding up the hill at Fleecer Ridge "like he was in a cross country race." Close behind was super Jenn, who claims her English bug spray doesn't work on American mosquitoes. We didn't receive any more calls from our intrepid group of non-Americans (Simon from New Zealand, Jenn and Carl from the U.K. and Fred from Canada). Those calls will probably come in the morning.

Monday afternoon

2008-06-23T17:31:00.003-06:00

From the GDR blog:

Carl Hutchings called from Butte at 2:30 p.m., reporting Simon Kennett was with him and "that insanely strong English girl Jen" was just 10 minutes behind. Jenn called at 3 p.m., saying the weather was hot but nice, and she was moving on with Simon and Carl.

[That's the 692 kilometer mark. He's done 10363 meters of climbing since noon Saturday.]

Pushing on

2008-06-23T14:49:00.000-06:00

From the GDR blog:

Simon Kennett called from Helena at 4:45 a.m. to report he was leaving with Carl Hutchings.

Helena [end of day 3]

2008-06-22T21:40:00.009-06:00

Quick update: Simon just called me from Helena, 9.30pm. [That's the 587 km mark, 8534 meters elevation gained so far, including 2133 meters gained since leaving Lincoln just after midday.]

He's just had one of his toughest days biking ever - it got very hot this afternoon, they had three crossings of the Great Divide, pretty rough track.

He's sharing a motel room with Carl Hutchings (who also had a really tough day).

His plan is to get a good nights sleep & do 120 miles [193 km, 1828 meter elevation gain] to Butte tomorrow. (a decent feed tonight should help too, I reckon!)

Helena, Montana State Capitol

From GDR blog: Bike party on the GDR [Day 3]

2008-06-22T19:36:00.010-06:00

It's been a big "bike party" on the Great Divide route so far today, with racers piling up in Seeley Lake, Ovando and Lincoln and pushing on toward Helena. John Nobile called in from Helena, at mile 365 [587 km] on the route, at 1 p.m. Sunday. He reported no snow on the route between Lincoln and Helena, a washed-out road toward Stemple Pass, and a wolf sighting.

David Blaine called from Lincoln [492 km] at 11:36 a.m., Rainier Lenninge called at about noon, and Simon Kennett called at 12:35 p.m. to report light overnight rain and a nice tailwind into town. Geoff Roes also called around noon Sunday, sounding a little wiped after attempting to camp outside Ovando with Simon, Fred Wilkinson and Carl Hutchings. "I have not been able to sleep," he said. Geoff said he's been sleeping about three hours a night even though he's been stopped for seven or eight, and the weather isn't helping. "We got a torrential downpour just as we were getting out of bed," he said. "I was trying to get my stuff together and my sleeping bag got soaked." Geoff said he would probably only push as far as Helena today because he's exhausted, "sleepy-wise," but still feeling strong physically.

Lincoln

2008-06-22T13:21:00.007-06:00

Simon called at about 12.30, Miro and I were just having lunch. He was in Lincoln & had about 60 miles to go to Helena, where he was going to call it quits for the day - maybe splash out on a motel.

Yesterday morning (Saturday) saw about a dozen riders camped on a front lawn together, they all headed off to a cafe for breakfast. Simon had a salmon omlette- couldn't move for about 1/2 an hour afterwards.

It was a long hilly ride to Holland Lake, where he arrived 30 minutes before the cafe closed. got a packed lunch (he reckons he has about 1/2 the food carrying capacity of some of the others, that'll get better as he gets rid of some of the old (very old) shorts etc he is carrying).

Simon starting up Richmond Peak.

He hooked up with Carl Hutchings (a former Iditabike winner- very handy) going over Richmond Pass. It was a bit of a slog. Lots of fallen trees.

At the end of a 145 mile (233 km) day in Ovando dinner consisted of some gummy bears and an oatmeal cookie (not ideal recovery food!). Camped out on the grass in front of the museum, when at midnight the sprinklers went off! Eek.

So, sounds like he's having a pretty good day today.

Cheers, Sarah

Also: Listen to Simon's GDR call-in (597KB mp3)

Scorching Day 2

2008-06-22T04:33:00.003-06:00

This from the GDR updates blog:

A quiet day for call-ins, but not for movement out on the Great Divide route. Around 3:30 p.m. Pete Basinger and the film crew found Geoff Roes, Rainer Lenninge and David Blaine on their way up Richmond Peak - the next big snowy barrier where Tour Divide racers reported deep snow, steep sideslopes and lots of deadfall. Just behind them came Simon Kennett, Carl Hutchings, Fred Wilkinson, Jenn Hopkins, Keith Flury and, just a little ways behind that group, Nathan Bay.

"They were all within three miles of each other, and none of them really knew it," Basinger said. "But the most exciting part of the day happened when we were coming into Lincoln about 11 p.m. We were expected to get some sleep and then wake up to film the racers when they came through in the morning, but then we bumped into John Nobile. He had some pretty good stories to tell."

Nobile, the first racer into Lincoln at 11 p.m. Saturday, definitely did have an interesting day. First he saw two small black bears, followed by a big black bear. Then he met a hunter with at least two dogs "with heads as high as my handlebars" that gave chase. "One chomped into my left thigh and one chomped into my right knee," he said. "Now I guess I have some puncture wounds I have to wash out."

"But he was so stoked about (the bites)," Basinger said after talking to Nobile in Lincoln. "He's talking about it like it's some huge adventure."

Richmond Peak is still a complete mess. Nobile said he was lost up there for about an hour, and Nathan Bay, who called in from Seeley Lake around midnight, said "it really was that bad." But Basinger said racers seemed to all make good time over the nasty pass, and were rolling into Seeley Lake close together after 9 p.m.

"Nobody seemed to have too many problems on the pass," Basinger said. "Mainly, the problem today was the heat. Everyone said something about that. I think it was in the upper 80s, at least 88."

4pm Saturday (Simon time) update

2008-06-21T15:55:00.008-06:00

Here's some stuff I've collected from the Great Divide Race Updates blog:
Simon just before the start.

Simon got to Whitefish at 8:30pm Friday which puts him in 5th. Here's the progress board.

Here's what he said on his Friday 8:37pm Whitefish call in:

Listen to Simon (248KB mp3)

Gidday, it's Simon Kennett here. It's about 8:36 and I'm in Whitefish - which is niiice. Been a good day, not too much snow. Lot's of good people to ride with... so looking forward to tomorrow. See ya.

Whitefish!

2008-06-20T20:47:00.001-06:00

Just had a call at 8.40, from Simon in Whitefish.
He sounded tired but happy.

Not too long after the start he was with a couple of other guys, after 12 miles, one other guy, then after 20 miles it was just him (don't get too excited he's not in the lead!). He was thinking it would be really cold going over the snowy passes, so wore two layers of wool- and is now a bit dehydrated. Had a 45 minute walk through the snow with David Blain (a single-speeder).

He thinks he came in to Whitefish in about 5th place (but who's counting).

Apparently it doesn't get dark till after 10 up there, so he is pressing on to a GDR-friendly front yard 10 miles out of Columbia Falls (I imagine a big pile of bikes and tired riders).

Simon said there are some very talented riders in the field- the guy who is in the lead rode to the start from Utah!

I think I'm going to have a cup of chamomile tea and a lie-down.

Cheers
Sarah

Start line

2008-06-20T19:00:00.007-06:00

Click on the image for the full size version.

19 Great Divide Racers left the border at noon today under clear skies and warm temperatures [not sure why there's only 18 people in the photo].

That's Simon 4th from the right (facing away from the camera) shaking Cullen Barker's hand.

Meet the racers part 1 (photos)

Meet the racers part 2 (bios)

I just noticed in the start line photo that Simon has his orange sleeping/bivvy bag attached in-line with the airflow, whereas everyone else with gear on the front has them attached crossways to the wind - except for John Nobile, who has his windshield.

What time is it?

2008-06-20T16:12:00.001-06:00

Here's the time in Helena, Montana.

Add six hours and subtract a day.

This message was posted just after 10am on Saturday NZ time so that's just after 4pm on Friday on the Great Divide.

Simon has to phone in when he gets to Whitefish, Montana - 101 miles (162 km) away.

Cheers, Paul

From the border

2008-06-20T13:15:00.000-06:00

Hi, Sarah here. I'll be taking over from Simon while he's a tad bit busy for the next couple of weeks...

This photo is Simon on the Dale Ball Trails here in Santa Fe before he left.

He called this morning just after 11 from the border. Phew, he made it there.

Didn't have a great sleep last night- motel neighbours woke him up at 3am watching Western's.

Race briefing and breakfast at nine, followed by a cruisy ride from Eureka up to the border (about 10 miles). He seemed happy and ready to go. Of note was the fact that he wasn't the oldest rider there, the weather was fantastic, and there were some pretty interesting bike set-ups.

Simon's plan (as of 11.15am) was to ride conservatively for the first three days, maintaing a pace that will see him inside the 6 day cut-off. And to try and hook up with one or two others riding through "bear country"! (good idea)

He's been going for 1.5 hours now! Miro and I have got all our fingers and toes crossed for him.

Getting to the Startline

2008-06-16T15:11:00.000-06:00

The old hands say that getting to the startline of this race is half the battle. I'm starting to see why.

Bill & Janet drove me to Albequerque yesterday morning (with Sarah and Miro - they then checked out the polar bears at the zoo). Then I flew to Spokane Washington (via stops in Oakland and Portland). Then it was a very early morning Amtrak train to Whitefish. I had time to kill in Spokane and meet GDR racers David Blaine (who picked me up from the airport; see www.the greatdivideproject.blogspot.com ) and Noah Dimmit (who invited me over to his friends house to shoot some pool). Super friendly folk.

Looks like my bike survived the journey just fine. It's getting some new running gear slapped on it at the Glacier Cyclery right now. While I was unpacking my bike there a Tour Divide rider pulled up and pulled out, so we packed his bike into my old box and hauled it over to the bus station. His big mistake seemed to be having a photo of his beautiful family stuck to his mapboard, and he got taken by surprise at the amount of snow on the passes - several miles worth. Sounds like there are lots of fallen trees too. [The Tour Divide is a new race that follows the Great Divide Race route plus the day north of the US/Canada border. It started a week earlier and, as it has no cut-offs along the route, it's attracted a wide range of riders - 17 in total (probably about the same as this years GDR)].

I'll hang out here trying to finish off my 'Classic NZ MTB Rides' writing for a couple of days and head up to Eureka (a stones throw from the border) on Thursday. Oooo...writing that just put a tingle up my spine. Nice.

BTW, the MSF/Doctors Without Borders pledges are now up to 114 cents/km. Yee-haa! And thanks!
If you were thinking of pledging something and want to be in for the sweepstake, better send a form in before this Friday (there's a copy in the Feb 12th post). After the first day of the race you'll start to get some idea of my form. I've refrained from looking at the poll Paul put up at the top right. Too scary.

The Right Stuff

2008-06-14T20:17:00.000-06:00

I'm still fluffing around trying to sort out the right stuff to take on the Great Divide Race. Should have had this sorted a week or month ago, but I've been taken by surprise by how much detail there is to consider. Anyway, this pic shows 95% of the final selection. Still got to get a bear bell and some insect repellent, and I've posted a couple of items for the New Mexico desert to southern Colorado. And, there will be more food most of the time (up to two days worth when departing for a really remote stretch).

Tested the lights that Gav Ng lent me yesterday with a singletrack night ride. Yee-hah! And then slept out to test my sleeping bag and pad. Hmmmm...not exactly cosy.

Heading north tomorrow. Thanks for the emails and phone calls and comments of support - they are all much appreciated, including the ones I've not found time to reply to.
Cheers
Simon

Back on Track, almost

2008-06-12T19:51:00.000-06:00

Well, I won't deny that an extra week to prepare would suit me down to the ground, but things are kinda back on track.

A couple of days ago I did a 45 min timetrial to confirm there's still some speed in my legs. That was on the road and a 30 kph average was just fine. The bike was loaded with camping gear and a clothes bag.

Yesterday was a much longer Dale Ball singletrack ride with Sarah during which we both actually enjoyed ourselves. The afternoon was filled with much more gear tinkering and a trip to the post office to send out some Red Cross parcels to tiny towns without shops along the route.

Today I drove out to Abiquiu, a wee oasis at 6,400 feet altitude, on one of the most brutal parts of the course. Two Great Divide racers ended up in hospital here with dehydration last year. I wanted to test my gear, trial my navigation skills with cue cards, and gain a little confidence.

At 10:30 am it was off uphill, through the dry scrub-land of an Indian Reservation and eventually into some rather pretty National Forest (see pic). After a couple of thousand feet of climbing it was a pleasant 20 degrees C. The climb was broken by a 400 foot descent to a small cattle ranch, but when it resumed the track deteriorated fast. I only did 20 miles - the last few were all on sand and bedrock - and then ran out of time to reach the 10,300 foot hilltop. About face; downhill and with a reasonable tailwind - I was feeling pretty damn slick : )

Then my bivvy bag jumped ship during a rough stretch. Lesson learnt. Better now than mid-Montana. The ride was 3:4o all up, and the general store in Abiquiu came up trumps with a tasty turkey and swiss cheese sandwich.

Turns out the higher passes in Montana and Colorado are still under a fair bit of snow. Apparently, we can expect many stretches of a few miles of hike-a-bike. Making the first cut-off at 6 days is going to be very interesting.

High and Dry

2008-06-08T17:11:00.000-06:00

Just a quick update - nothing much to say really.

Sarah, Miro and I flew over to New Mexico on Tuesday. Miro handled 15 hours in planes like an absolute star. I caught a bug.

We're staying at Sarah's Dad and step-Mom's place in Santa Fe. The weather was very kind the first couple of days, but I just got sicker, so it was off to the doctor on Friday. Acute sinusitis was the verdict and another course of antibiotics prescribed. They seem to be working.

While laying low, it was fun to observe some of the things that make America great - stunning scenery, BIG motor vehicles on the 'right' side of the road, upside-down light switches, friendly peace-loving people. Santa Fe is nearly all traditional adobe construction homes. The Spanish built a capitol city here in 1610 and proceeded to try and convert the native Americans with all manner of uncivilised methods. The natives eventually said 'Piss off!' and in 1680 they burnt the Spanish out of the region. It was 12 years before they came back, another 31 before Mexico became independant from Spain and another 25 years after that before the Mexicans got kicked out of New Mexico - this time by the Americans. This town is a melting pot all right.

Saturday Sarah and I went for a ride on the Dale Ball trails just down the road. It was hot (high 20s in the shade) and VERY dry (about 12% humidity). There are cacti and stunted pine trees. At breakfast we sat outside and watched the resident snakes come and go from a hole under the back door step. On the trail our throats were dry and our heads pounded at 7500 feet altitude. Basically, we felt like shit. Couldn't imagine doing a race in these conditions. Fingers crossed that 2 weeks acclimatisation will do the trick.

Today I set off earlier on a 2-3 hour ride to the Santa Fe ski area where snow fell a few days ago. At about 8500 feet my head was pounding and plans changed. The nearby Windsor Trail beckoned. Sweet singletrack under the shade of some big trees at slightly lower altitude. Very therapeutic.

Back in the saddle

2008-05-31T21:21:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was starting to feel heaps better, so it was time to celebrate with a ride, but with caution. Rather than breathing in thousands of litres of cold air, I grabbed a borrowed wind trainer (thanks Mark) and a DVD and headed over to John's place. It just so happened he bought himself a wind trainer last week. He took this slightly disturbing picture on his cell phone.

The risk of mind-numbing boredom is obviously pretty high with indoor training (as it is with 'cross-country' bike racing) but the novelty was working for us - that and the video.

While the bikes hummed away, we watched The Amateur - a Spanish film about a punter who has a crack at setting a world record for endurance cycling. Pajarito has to ride his bike for 130 hours with no more than 20 minutes in breaks every four hours. Crazy fool!

Luckily for us, the movie is only 87 minutes long. When it was done, so were we.
The highlight of the evening: Sarah's homemade meringues with whipped cream. Seventy kgs, here I come!

The 4050 km route

2008-05-27T21:36:00.000-06:00

Open in Google Maps

Brother Paul has slapped up this map to make it a bit easier to follow the race - thanks, Bro. You can see it unfold from the links at www.greatdividerace.com
I'm halfway through my antibiotics - feeling much better, but still a ways to go before training on the bike again. Catching up with the io sessions though.Last night's farewell that John organised was a great success. Lots of good people and good wishes and fairly-founded laughter about the Great Divide Race...AND over three grand raised for Docters Without Borders. Sweet!The bike continues to evolve. It now has the SRAM shifters, extra handlebar padding, 10mm longer stem and all the gear bags on board. Should have it totally sorted by the time I reach Colorado. All part of the fun.

Home Sick...........ugh

2008-05-22T18:56:00.000-06:00

Woe is me. Last week's cold has come back for round two. This time it had me waking at 3:30am Thursday morning and wondering if I was in a sauna. Sweat was running down my arms and by morning I'd lost almost 2kgs. Being self-employed with a month of work to do by the end of next week, I sucked it up (a packet of Strepsils, that is) and went to work yesterday. Dumb move.

The cold might have passed, but it didn't. It got worse. No riding today, not even any altitude simulation.

British club cyclists used to have a rule about training with colds - if the symptoms are above the neck, continue riding; but if the symptoms are below the neck, rest up. What the hell does that mean if the symptoms are in the neck?! Some people have had recent colds linger for weeks. Deciding when to start training again is just so much guess-work.

I don't bother with training diaries or plans any more. Training plans seem impossible to keep to since becoming a dad. And this blog is more fun than a training diary. But I do have several years of old training diaries. At a time like this it's handy to refer back to a time when illness tried to spoil things and see what really happened.

In September 1990 I got back from the Worlds and promptly fell in love with Sarah. There wasn't much time for training rides for the next few weeks and then, two weeks before the start of pre-season races, I was hit by a nasty cold that lasted for 5 days. After four weeks that included just four rides, there was time for only two more rides before putting the hammer down at the 'Mountains to Sea'. Three weeks after that I managed 4th at the Australian Nationals. That was a weird race 'cos I started at the back of the grid and 200m from the start my handlebar stem bolt jumped out. Sabotage perhaps? Fortunately my stem wedge was a bit rusty and well seezed. With the big bolt tucked away in my back pocket I set about picking the field off. Despite (or because of) all the recent time off the bike, my legs felt fantastic.

Reminded of that experience, I'm off back to bed. Training can wait until next week.

All welcome...

2008-05-20T15:37:00.000-06:00

Not much new to report. Still getting the gear sorted - hopefully pick up my Bond'esk minitool today. It's not really lethal, but is ultra-light and you can do just about anything with it except knit yourself a new cycling jersey. Shona finished the frame bag yesterday - it fits like a glove and should hold a third my gear. It's the key to getting away with just one mini-carrier. And I did some time trials at the local velodrome to test for ultimate tyre pressures. A recent slip has left gravel strewn across part of the track adding a nice challenge for the fat tyres, but closing the 'drome for the trackies.

If you're interested in finding out more about the gear required to do 4000 km, unsupported, in less than 24 days, or want to hear some tall tails of heroism and stupidity from previous GDR races, you're welcome to come along to this:

"Prior to Simon's departure, I'm hosting a little shindig to send him off. It will be at Rongotai College's Ballinger Room, on Tuesday 27 May from 7pm. Simon will have his Great Divide Race rig on display, fully loaded up with the gear he'll be taking. He'll give us a little talk about the what, the how, and most importantly the why, and will tell us a little about the charity which he's supporting Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières. There will be non-alcoholic drinks, and nibbles provided, and if we get bored of listening to Simon, there might be a chance to watch a bit of endurance racing on "the telly" ;)
There's no entry fee, but if you do come, I encourage you to drop a bill or two in Simon's hat (for Doctors Without Borders).
I hope to see you there.
John"

Rongotai College is on Rongotai Rd (the airport end of the street Burkes Cycles is on) in Kilbirnie.
The video is likely to be something like '24/Solo' (about the epic battle at the 24 hr Worlds a couple of years ago). There will be short slide-show from previous Great Divide Races.

Should be a fun evening and, of course, the more the merrier! 7pm next Tuesday - be there or elsewhere.

Cheers
Simon

PS: Michael Jacques has provided 5 free entries to next years Karapoti Classic to be given away on Tuesday night.

Final Endurance Test

2008-05-18T15:24:00.000-06:00

Another week has flown by and I'm starting to get anxious about whether I'll be ready in time (AND have my writing for the 7th edition done).

During the last working week there was precious little time for riding - three fast lunchtime rides was all - so I attempted to make up for that with a long ride on Saturday (knowing Sunday would be chocka with family outings). Summer before last I tried to do 4000m of climbing in a day (seeing as that's what the Great Divide Race requires on a big day). After six times up to the top of the Tip Track (approx 2400m) boredom got the better of me. Saturday was 'I'll be back' time, only this time John joined me and we decided to link lots of different climbs together.

We were downtown in time to see the sun rise. It was a cracker day! Not a breath of wind and barely a cloud in the sky. Still cold though - my Half Pipe leg warmers would stay on all day.

First up, Mt Vic which is really just an average-sized hill - no worries there.
Number two was Hawkins Hill (see pic) - 495m, but with plenty of conversation it flew by. Stunning view from the top. On the way down John hit a pothole hard and the front tyre was flat instantly. That was fixed fast, but on the next steep descent the back end fish-tailed (probably the canti brakes catching on a big ding in the rear rim that we didn't notice after the previous pothole). John yelled out and in a split-second he was flying over the bars. He body-slammed the tarmac with the right side of his rib cage and arm. The pain was obvious as he tried to take in air. A walker yelled out an offer of a first-aid kit, but this injury was beyond the reach of any bandage. John felt like vomiting. We fixed the bike and dawdled down the hill, where he would meet his parents and I would carry on, subdued.

Next up was the rolling Makara loop on my way to Porirua and the Colonial Knob 4WD climb. At the bottom I bumped into someone who used to be a regular volunteer at Makara Peak. I knew him as Davy then, but the last time I saw him/her, he/she entered the Women's section at Karapoti. Turned out he/she was half way through a sex change (we were mighty glad she wasn't a contender in the race). I've forgotten her new name and wasn't sure the procedure had been completed, so exchanged minimal plesantries and continued up the hill. It was a nice 450m climb.

Back in Porirua a guy wearing baggy trousers and sneakers zipped past me looking very happy with himself. I gave him a nod.

Lunch in Pauatahanui and a reassessment. The time to get from one climb to the next was starting to bite, so I replaced the mellow Paekakariki climb with the steeper (and quieter) Belmont Rd up to the regional park boundary. Sweet.

Then over Moonshine and across to Whitemans Valley - nice and rural. The sun was starting to descend fast. Just enough time before nightfall to blitz the Rimutaka Hill and the Akas. The Akas is an old favourite - narrow, winding, some great forest and a big view at the top.

With my lights failing I raced back for the 6pm commuter train from Upper Hutt, making it with a couple of minutes to spare. Roughly 10 hours of interesting riding, but not enough climbing for my liking (approx 3500m, still a PB). The 4000m goal will have to wait until the Great Divide itself.

Alternative Training

2008-05-11T17:28:00.000-06:00

The weather here is coming straight from the Antarctic - and I do indeed have the cold that's been doing the rounds. Sore throat, congestion, achy legs and testy mood. Last weeks training totalled a miserly 5 hours and this week won't be any better unless I come right in a hurry. Still, time off the bike is time to catch up on other preparations.

I'm finally putting together all my gear (with borderline obsessiveness). Carrying only what is needed has to be the key - maybe with some spares thrown in. Photos from last years GDR show a massive range in gear. Some guys looked ready for a day-ride, others for a pleasant cycle tour. One guy had spare shoes strapped to the outside of his pack. Another took a cooker. I wonder what else filled their panniers?

At lunchtime I'll head off to the local metalwork shop to get some work done on my custom rear carrier (an old front rack converted). My load won't be the lightest, but I hope to keep all my gear (clothes, tools, firstaid kit, camping gear, camera, etc) down to about 5kg and be able to carry up to 10kg of food and water. It'd be nice to do some loaded training rides on the new rig sooner rather than later.

Although I won't be on the bike for a day or two, training continues as I've just started a 15 day course of altitude simulation sessions. This involves breathing rarified air on and off for an hour (while catching up with email). Thanks to a voucher won at a race last year it doesn't cost much (although the rest of the clientelle look decidedly well-heeled). How well it works is anybodys guess - scientific studies seem hard to come by, but it seems like a good idea. A fair bit of the GDR is over 10,000 - high enough to hurt for a sea-level dweller. Being well acclimatised knocks one more thing off the 'worry list'. But I sure look forward to getting back on the bike.

Six Week Countdown

2008-05-09T03:55:00.000-06:00

Wow - just three weeks left in NZ and then three weeks in the States before lining up in the Canadian border! Choice!!!

After getting back from the South Island on Sunday I needed a recovery week. This was it. Only two lunch-time rides, both of which felt good - roadie rides with me on the GDR rig. Road climbs feel so easy on the Giant XTC CO with the Stans Crow tyres. It's almost perfectly dialled in now. I'm loving the Ergon grips. Have replaced the Cane Creek seat post with a Ritchey WCS one for now. As much as I liked the Cane Creek on rough trails, I couldn't pedal smoothly enough to avoid bobbing around when hammering along on the road. The Easton riser bars and aero bars are a sweet combo. The whole thing roles beautifully along the tarmac. Now I need to get out and show it some more technical track.

68 and 48 are the numbers of the week. 68 kilograms puts me 1 kilo down on a month ago. Time to go back onto the protein shakes. 48 is my resting heart rate - a couple of beats up, maybe cos of the cold going round, or the excitement of seeing Miro stand up, or the stress of being back at work. This month will be hectic as I train the new Cycling Advocates Project Co-ordinator (my friend Patrick Morgan, which makes it a lot easier) and try to write my share of 'Classic NZ MTB Rides'.

Work, training and family aside, the list of gear to sort before leaving for the Great Divide doesn't seem to be getting any shorter (just more real). The Rockies have been experiencing higher than normal snowfall - 8 inches in Banff yesterday. Based on one of the photos I saw of a high pass in Colorado, I'm considering taking a snow shovel - why take a tent when you can dig a snow cave? That news combined with the onset of an early winter here has me considering all sorts of extra clothing.

One bit of gear I don't have to worry about any more is the all important camera. My buddy John has sponsored me a rugged wee Olympus (thanks also to Craig for the sweet price). It's waterproof and shock-proof and much lighter than my old one. Thanks, mate! One step closer to a worry-free pile of kit.

Righto. Better get some shut eye. Time for a big ride tomorrow.

Pics from the South Island

2008-05-04T23:14:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pics from last months tour, in no particular order (since I don't really know what I'm doing with this blog publishing lark yet).
Lance showing me how it's done at the Seven Mile tracks (Queenstown) ; above.
Jean Hut in the Whakaari Conservation Area (Glenorchy) ; below.
Sarah and Miro on Pohara Beach (Golden Bay).
Self-timer shot in the Taipo Valley (West Coast).
Self-timer shot at the top of Percy Pass (Fiordland).
David on the tops of the Bendigo Conservation Area (near Cromwell).

Project Rameka

2008-05-02T18:05:00.000-06:00

After a quick drive up the West Coast (stopping to stay with Mark and Cathy in Hokitika) we found ourselves in an idyllic old farmhouse just out of Takaka. On the way, we paid more than $2 a litre for petrol for the first time - a moment to remember. We've been spending the week here in Golden Bay helping my brother Jonathan and his partner Bronnie celebrate the launch of Project Rameka.

In response to their concerns about climate change, they've bought a 50 hectare block of land situated halfway between the Abel Tasman National Park and Rameka Scenic Reserve. The plan is to help it regenerate into native forest and build a couple of tracks so that mountain bikers and walkers using the Rameka Track can bypass the road on their way there or back to town.

On Wednesday they held a public meeting to form an incorporated society to make it all happen. 35 people signed up and 13 of them agreed to be on the organising committee. Today is the Open Day up on the land and the weather is stunning (unlike yesterday when Greg Thurlow and I rode up into the snow above Cobb Reservoir, got wet and frozen, and then nudged 'the wall' just before being rescued by Sarah who was driving back from Rameka).

Here's hpeing there is an awesome turnout again and everyone gets psyched to start track building and possum trapping.

Haven't been thinking much about the Great Divide Race lately, which is refreshing. Will be home in a couple of days and start focusing again then.

Lake Hawea Epic

2008-04-28T20:40:00.000-06:00

Saturday was race day - specifically the 116km Lake Hawea Epic mountain bike race. Luckily I could take it easy on Thursday and Friday. Sarah borrowed my bike to do the Wanaka Outlet Track while I played with Miro and fiddled with David's house foundation a bit more on the Thursday. On Friday I spent hours trying to get my bike into shape. That involved scraping and brushing three weeks of crap out of the drive train, which revealed some nasty burred teeth on the smaller chainwheels. It was out with the file to get rid of those and scrape the brake blocks clean. At such short notice there was nothing to be done about the noises from the bottom bracket, water in the shocks, or 2 cm crack in the carbon seatpost.

On race day David and I were up early and out the door at 6am for the 10 km ride to the start. It was freezing, literally, so good to get a warm up done. I bumped into Steve Gurney at the start and he shared some advice about dealing with sleep deprivation. There were about 560 entries - pretty impressive for this events first year! We were off at 7am and cruised the 25 km of seal to the beginning of the dirt at a civilised pace (around 30 km/hr) - then things got serious. Although I was with the front bunch, the flatter sections were a bit of a struggle. But on the first big hill I found myself in the 'zone' and surging to the front. Did I feel in the zone because I was passing people, or was I passing people because I was in the zone? Not sure, but I liked it.

An hour and a half into it I was in a group of four that included David Drake and Marcus Roy (the NZ MTB Marathon Champ). The sun had risen above the mountains and was directly into our eyes. I put on the sun glasses bought from the local service station after mine broke a few days earlier - they are polaroids and although they look cool, they are terrible in high contrast situations. As we descended through a wee patch of beech forest I was looking stylish right up to the point where an unseen object sliced a large whole in the sidewall of my front tyre. "Curses!"

After sorting a tyre boot and tube, going for a leak and shedding one of my woollen tops, it took a long time to get back into race mode. I caught up to Justin Freeman and we rode together and chatted for about half an hour. That was pleasant, but after crossing the river at the head of the valley I started to hammer the hills again and haul people in.

The scenery and weather were still magnificent (even better now the sun was behind us). This is a really fun, old-school course.

About 5 km from the finish it was back onto the seal and fairly flat. I got overhauled by 3 riders with just 2 km to go, but still snuck into the top ten and cracked six hours (5:11) so both my goals were ticked off and I was a happy chappy. David came 3rd and Marcus won in 4:44. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

New Ground

2008-04-21T02:34:00.000-06:00

Wow! The new rides just keep on coming. I'd hoped to do a couple of the old classics this week, but no time.

Yesterday it was up early to check out McPhies Ridge in the Lindis Valley. The water bottle left out overnight had ice rattling round inside it and I set off with a balaclava on and frostbite having a go at my finger-tips ... six km from the start I was not happy to see the Old Faithful bridge across the Lindis River was out. Too deep to ride. Shoes and socks off and a minute later I was out the other side with daggers in my toes. Time to get the blood flowing with some tempo riding up the long Goodger Valley... farmland ruled by dry stock...big herds of merino gathering on the road infront. Silly animals. Gotta thank them for my top and socks though.

After a stiff wee climb onto McPhies Ridge there are awesome views and a long, very enjoyable descent. 53 km all up, but some slow farm track in there so it took 4 hours.

Took an hour and half to get to the start of the Mt Rosa Track - a "4-6 hour mini epic" according to the 6th edition of a certain guidebook. I had 4 hours until dusk.

The first half is simple - 1100 vert m of climbing in 13km. The top half is very steep ... very, very steep for tired legs. The descent was a bit of a puzzle as the tracks are not marked on the topomap, but it all came together OK. Even steeper than the climb and super rough...had to stop near the bottom to wait for my eye-balls to stop rattling around. It was nice to be down and heading back to the ranch well before dusk.

Today was the start of the Queetstown leg of the tour. There are 8 new rides here that look worthy of the 7th edition - one of them is the new tracks at Seven Mile. They were the highlight of the day - amazing berms, nice forest, groovy structures. I was well schooled by local lads Lance and Martin. The Queenstown MTB Club (with DOC's blessing) have done a world-class job. These tracks are sweet!!!

Also enjoyed a quick blat around Lake Hayes and got out to Jacks Point along the natural technical singletrack just as the weather started to pack in. Raced back to the car as darkness and heavy rain descended.

It was a funny day. Drive, research, drive, ride, lunch with the family, drive, ride, drive, ride, etc .... I was going for it from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm and am knackered now after riding a grand total of 34 kilometres! But you've gotta love technical new trail.