From the border

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.