2019 Tour Divide endurance bike ride, 2745 miles

Ever heard of the Tour Divide?  It's an bike-packing endurance bike race that covers 2745 miles from Banff, Albertato Antelope Wells, NM, on the Mexico-U.S. border.  For 2019, it started June 14.  No prize money, just a bunch of amateurs.

Check out this article about a 60yo who completed the Tour Divide in 25 days.  Covers how he trained in order to compete.  He's the husband of a Ski Diva, so that's how I heard about the accomplishment.  I'm not much of a bike rider.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jul/25/at-60-spokane-resident-completes-grueling-2745-mil/
". . .
In June and July, Schwyn took 25 days, 15 hours and 49 minutes to complete the Tour Divide. The self-supported race that features no prize is considered one of the hardest – if not the hardest – endurance bike races in the world.

Competitors follow the continental divide leaving Banff, Alberta, in Canada on June 14 and finishing in Antelope Wells, New Mexico, on the Mexico-U.S. border. During the route, Schwyn climbed 175,980 vertical feet (equivalent to climbing Mount Rainier more than 12 times), crossed numerous mountain passes and dealt not only with weather, fatigue and terrain but also challenging route finding.
. . ."

LOL
I am a reading a book about this now.. " Eat Sleep Ride"..

JasonWx wrote

LOL
I am a reading a book about this now.. " Eat Sleep Ride"..

Who is the author?  When I searched, I turned up more than one book written about a Tour Divide experience.  The one that looks most fun is by an Englishman, published 2011.  Notice mention of bears for all of them.

The first suggestion Google came up with was the EatSleepRide motorcycle GPS app.

In the article, the 60yo noted that the main difference between him and the leaders who finished days earlier was how much time he took for sleeping.  When he was riding, he was riding about the same pace the leaders were riding most of the time.

It's the 2011 by the english chap..

it's a little dated but , it's a fun interesting read..

JasonWx wrote

It's the 2011 by the english chap..

it's a little dated but , it's a fun interesting read..

On my reading list.

Missed the point that there is a 30-day limit for the Tour Divide.  Less than 50% finish.

". . . it’s truly a test of grit and determination, with each amateur competitor setting their own goals. The leaders, Schwyn said, are mostly trying to complete the course in 13 days or less, which would be a course record (the male course record is 13 days, 22 hours and 51 minutes, set by Mike Hall in 2009).

For his part, Schwyn had two goals: to finish the race and average about 110 miles per day, which would mean he’d finish the race in 25 days.

Just finishing is an accomplishment, with only 30% to 40% of riders finishing the race within the 30-day cutoff period.

“Mentally, it’s hard to keep going when you’re out there in the snow,” he said, “or it’s pouring rain.”

Thunderstorms and snow forced him to cut a few days short. A route-finding mishap cost him nearly a full day. That all meant that his 110-mile-per-day goal fell by the wayside.

“What plans I had to start just kind of went out the window after a while,” he said. “OK, I’m just going to ride all day long and get where I’m at. And some days that’s more than 110 and some days it’s less.”
. . ."

The tour goes through Whitefish , its easy to pick out the tour riders......their the really dirty ones.

Outside Magazine had a story ab out this several years ago. Sounds like an epic ride.

The 2015 winner is from my town. He's an amazing athlete.  Both him and his wife won the Cross Washington MTB this year.   He did 700 miles in 4 days.  It took me 2 weeks.