2024 Tour Divide Preview & Who To Dot Watch

it is tour divide time again and in this video we're going to dive into all of the details that you need to know to get you ready for some exciting doubt watching we'll cover everything from the weather conditions and root changes to key Racers to watch and much more let's get into [Music] it to me the beginning of summer is always a reminder that well the tour divide Grand depart is near so I've long obsessed over this race in various capacities from watching dots to racing or covering the event like I do now it's a special route and for those who aren't familiar with it the tour divide is held on the second Friday in June each year the inaugural tour divide was in 2008 so that makes this Edition the 14th uh with the 2020 being canceled and the 2021 using the shorter version in the United States called The Great Divide race the full tour divide route Loosely follows the Great Divide mountain bike route and the Continental Divide from bamp Alberta through British Columbia Montana Idaho Wyoming Colorado and New Mexico finishing after roughly 2,700 miles in analou Wells New Mexico for the most part the route is comprised of dirt road some pavement and some double track and single track Trails I consider this certainly the longest gravel bike race in North America for reference here L Wilcox holds the women's record at a time of 15 days 10 hours and 59 minutes in the late Mike Hall holds the men's record with a time of 13 days 22 hours and 51 minutes so according to the unofficial sign up form there were 243 Racers said that they'll be racing this year and 211 Racers signed up on the trackleaders.com web page which I assume is probably a more accurate number so speaking of I will link our tracker page below which features a live tracking map so that you can follow along you can also find that linked from our homepage at any time over the next few weeks all right so while some areas particularly New Mexico and Southern Colorado recently have seen below average precipitation uh much of the western United States has experienced rather cold and wet spring despite maybe not having a great winter because of this many passes and stretches on the route still have snow and are a bit messy as I record this on June 11th so for reference here the second Friday in June was chosen for the grand depart each year to avoid most of the monsal moisture and Wildfire season common during the summers in the Western United States some years are dry others are wet but more recently temperatures have warmed up and widespread moisture has increased a little bit this should help melt some passes that hold snow into June and according to reports from folks who have pedal the roof recently things are melting quickly uh including Indiana pass in Southern Colorado gton pass and all the way up to Coco claims an already notoriously challenging section that often requires lots of hi aike uh while Racers are certainly going to endure some snow it might not be as bad as it would have been without this warm spell that said this warmup has had significant impacts on some areas including the Tetons and portions of Colorado where uh we're seeing record runoff and well above normal temperatures and these conditions are creating some pretty dangerous situations as Rivers have been closed due to bridge clearance issues and in the case of Teton Pass I'm sure folks have seen this photo uh completely debilitating the road for the long term so living off the route here in central Colorado I can tell you that the heat really turned on last week uh at least in the lower elevations of uh the route in Colorado things are definitely going to be dry and Dusty with mid 80s temperatures at around 7,000 to 8,000 ft fortunately small afternoon storms have at least provided some sun relief but unfortunately Racers on the route should not plan for that monsoonal moisture here's a quote from the Durango weather guy who I often follow to kind of get forecasts for the predicted monsoons each year the upper level jet has not moved far enough North and India has been anomalously dry the lack of moisture has has shunned the African wave train which brings the US its tropical storm season long-term modeling shows that the jet moving North in moisture heading to India in the next 3 to 4 weeks this should juice things up around the tropical development region well Monsoon seasons start by mid July again it's too early to forecast so we will likely see wildfires before we see Monsoon moisture in fact the indos fire in New Mexico is already burning it's likely currently not going to affect route obviously things can change very quickly especially as winds and temperatures heat up dead and down foliage all right so speaking of change yes I'm in a different outfit because I just got word of a new fire that broke out recently the Antone fire in Southwestern New Mexico is currently at 0% containment uh and sitting at 7,000 Acres as of 1 p.m. mountain time on Wednesday June 12th this fire is right off of Mangus road on the tour divide route uh which has has actually been closed by order of the forest service so really Our Only Hope here is that it is extinguished rather quickly and the forest service order is withdrawn in the event of a reroute Riders will certainly be given an alternative when the time comes so there are some pretty significant changes to the route this year three in fact all of which are in New Mexico so these route changes add a little bit more single track or double track to avoid highways uh something that I certainly appreciate and I think is very important for the safety of riders in today's world of distracted drivers and even larger Vehicles so the first change which I believe Scot more scouted last year follows the uh CDT or the Continental Divide trail from Lita's campground to Hopewell Lake the second change is outside of Silver City to avoid highway 90 it looks to be a collection of dirt tracks and Roads and the third is out of haa again following the CDT route instead of Highway 81 in other news unfortunately it sounds like brush Mountain Lodge the iconic Lodge in Northern Colorado will not be open this year here is the post on social media from just the other day uh it's definitely heartbreaking to kind of see and I hope it gets resolved maybe in the next week but if not uh hopefully they can open for future years to come and finally I think it's worth mentioning that yes the tour divide is a race first it's meant to challenge you and push you to your limits but obviously each experience here is a little different this is what Justin McKinley had to say in his rigs breakdown article posted earlier this week on the website if you want to achieve something there will never be a perfect time or a magic set of circumstances that will make it easy I'm somewhat qualified to speak on this topic as I recently lost my job and have had to make some tough decisions and plenty of sacrifices to keep my dreams of finishing the tour to divide alive with those sacrifices came a singular Focus which allowed me to be more prepared and determined than ever to tow the line My ultimate hope with doing difficult things like the tour divide is to come out on the other side a better person with a better understanding of myself in the world around me so that's my intention well said Justin all right so before we talk about who to watch for I just want to take a quick moment to let you all know that this video is supported in part by salsa Cycles salsa is Adventure by bike salsa offers a range of mountain bikes gravel bikes Allroad bikes and fat tired bikes all thoughtfully designed to enrich and enhance your cycling experience salsa truly understands the transformative power of adventure bike so to discover more about their products and bikes visit the card in the top right corner or else follow the link in the description below thank you guys for for joining uh this is definitely special to have some accomplished you know tour dividers and alter endurance riders with us today so can we just briefly talk about what you all do maybe some accomplishments let's not be modest here let's you know tell everybody what you've done uh you know in the ultra endurance scene and then what you've what you do for a living as well and um Hannah let's start with you yes um yeah so I'm Hannah Hannah Simon gosh last year I did the Triple Crown all alongside Alexandra um which was incredible um and yeah I'd say that's probably like biggest accomplishment in cycling for sure um and at the time I was working at a bike shop full-time as a manager and then at the end of the year last year we closed that bike shop um which was bittersweet but totally okay um so after we closed Cy least I started working at chumba um part-time as a production assistant so so now I cut metal all day um well I've been doing this for a while now um so I did some of the early transcontinental races back in 2014 and 15 um I did to divide in 2019 um in the infamous brush Mountain Lodge Scandal year um and yeah I've done things like Silk Road Atlas and I've just got back from the accursed mountain race and I also try and do daily coverage um well I started last year doing coverage of of um of toide and in various other races so yeah so thanks thanks for including me hi everyone I'm Alex Andre and uh like Hannah mentioned we got to complete the Triple Crown challenge together last year um racing against each other which was pretty epic most people probably know that I've raced the tour I think I've raced the tour divide three times I finished it four times started it five times so um I had a little little bit of an obsession with it my first ride on the tour divide was in 2015 um and I toured it Northbound and then every other year of racing it I've um ridden southbound and then I've toured chunks of it also a handful of time so I've got a lot of experience with the route itself and a lot of relationships with the people um that live along the Route so uh it's really close to me in my heart right now I am in duth Minnesota um and I just finished my first attempt of the the Grand Loop bike race which is like the original bike packing race um I'm wearing my my Grand Loop shirt um I've had it on I think every day since the race so it's nice and crunchy and stinky um but yeah that was super awesome uh uh Katie shrimpy and myself were the only two women to finish this year and it was a a pretty good race I I spent most to the race like chasing her on her really fast gears walked away with the women's win of that race and uh went pretty fast uh so that's as as ego as I can get here but yeah done a lot of bike backing and uh obsessed with the tour divide all right so let's get into who to watch so clearly you know every year there's always some folks uh maybe at the pointy end that we want to keep an eye out for and this year's certainly no different 2024 um so I guess what what I want to do is kind of go through and ask you all kind of who you have an eye on I've got a list as well um and we'll kind of just go from there and obviously we're not going to mention everyone um that might be at the top end or the pointy end that's kind of the beauty of of these Ultra races is there's always someone um that that kind of surprises or or maybe not surprises but uh that is super super strong so Alexander let's start with you and we'll go one by one one person and then we'll kind of rotate so um who who's on your list I'm kind of like really focused on the women's race I'm super invested in that um because there's a couple I'm I'm guessing for sure competitive folk showing up for that race as well as the single speed race that's the race I like that you know that's close to my heart too um but I get obviously uh Anna Jagger's come back for her second of it um Anna's been super successful in the past few years coming on to the ultra racing circuit just like crushing um she's got a long history working with the grit program she's from Anchorage Alaska and I've developed a a close relationship with her and you know duking it out in some serious races in 2022 Anna lined up for the tour divide race and totally won it in 19 days um and it was her rookie attempt too which is always kind of fun to watch um because you know that's kind of what happened to me too um but yeah she won that and then she went on to complete the Triple Crown challenge in 2022 um racking up a super impressive uh time for that route uh for that for the Triple Crown challenge so she finished the tour divide winning the women's race and then her and I had like one of the most competitive races I've ever competed in in the 2022 um Colorado Trail race I was like racing her super hard caught her um as we were getting up onto Monarch crft and like just turned it into overgear and created a tiny tiny little Gap um and then we kind of Yoyo back and forth and she came in just a few hours behind me um at the finish line so kind of just like showing her grit and how competitive she is so um yeah she's went on to do a couple other badass things including the idid rod um just this past winter so that would be 2024 like um February March I can't remember what month it was but she completed the idod in 19 days um as a tour as a solo tour not as part of the race which is uh pretty hardcore so she's definitely a favorite that I'm watching and rooting for and I just can't wait to see um what she does with her her second uh race attempt on the her divide no doubt and she's quite young I think uh she's like still in her 20s right yeah and her late latter half of the 20s um L you know she's like she's like forever in my head is like 25 but you know we get older as we do this so right right yeah she's she's still super young and really accomplished and I think she just signed with uh revelate officially this year so that's exciting to see her getting some sponsors this uh I think she's like off with salsa now too after kind of having an informal relationship with them too so great to see her getting some support and attention because um she's really competitive and really badass and really skilled so I can't wait to see what she does all right Josh who you got well I'm gonna start with um someone from from home from the UK so Liam Glenn um he's probably not a guy that many people know too much about um unless you follow the Highland Trail race fairly closely so he's won that twice now he's actually the only guy to win that that two times um but impressively I think it was 20121 he won it on a rigid single speed and set a new course record um which was I was there um i r him briefly at the start and then he just disappeared on his single speed and it was a really wet year um he's super super strong um I've actually known him a very long time um I remember just uh when I'd finished University I was doing a race 12-hour race MB race race in Bristol in the UK and this um a friend of a friend turned up this skinny kid from Bristol sorry from bar University and proceeded to destroy everyone at the race that was Liam um so he's a really talented guy he he he did a few seasons road racing in France and Belgium and was winning races there so that kind of shows you how strong he is um but he's he's um you know he doesn't shout about himself so I'm gonna do it for him um so yeah he's he's just spent the last year touring with his partner through South America he's done a lot of remote riding fully loaded um you know Bolivia Chile Peru high altitude and um he was strong before that so I'm I'm looking forward to seeing how strong he is on his debut at the tour divide and he's also doing the Triple Crown as well so um keeping on out for him and um yeah I've just got a feeling that that he's gonna be a name that's gonna crop crop up a lot this year and I H there's a lot of Triple Crown uh challenge participants this year which is super exciting and I'll get into that a little bit later as well uh all right Hannah how how about you what do you got yeah so I also am super excited about the uh women's race um because it was really fun to be a part of it last year and um we've got we've got some strong ones out there for sure um and Megan hackin is definitely one that um I'm excited to watch race I met her back in March um we had a little brief hillo before we both went and raced the ozar gravel Doom which is a 400 mile race in Arkansas um that Andrew hona puts on and uh she took off off the front and I remember I like didn't really look at track leaders much there's not a whole lot of service out there but whenever I finally like got into one of the like couple of towns that are on the route I looked and she was like holding a strong like second overall um so it was awesome to get to see that I like hadn't really met her before and um she did really well she ended up getting third overall first woman I came in like a couple hour a few hours after her um maybe even several I don't quite remember but um she and I got to chat afterwards and she's just such a cheery wonderful human um I saw her once on Route because the way that it was routed we like double backed on one another and like when I saw her out there she was just pedalling along having a great time um but she's also like very well lished she's done several kind of like Road um style races um Trans Am transcontinental um you know going across very long distances um self-supported so I think she's definitely going to be a strong race Contender um she's also really good at like documenting everything that she does too she's also a writer she's like written two books and done a bunch of Articles and stuff so um yeah I'm I'm stoked to to watch a race and to hear about it afterwards so I guess I'm up here let's talk about the 2023 winner rri bartholo obviously he's kind of maybe the favorite as far as the men are concerned and after winning the 2023 Edition he finished with the time of 14 days three hours and 23 minutes um and last year I'm sure many of you have heard about the kind of great Bas in debacle where olrick justinus and Yen all got caught in a storm in the Great Bas where basically they got stopped in their tracks um peanut butter mud they it basically was impassible so there's photos kind of on the internet of them three in uh a porta potty hanging out kind of covering themselves from from the rain and the storm and so they ended up stopping for 12 hours I think I think it was actually more than 12 hours half a day before they could actually get going before the sun could kind of dry out those roads which was just I mean I can't even imagine being stopped for 12 hours on the tour divide on any Ultra race pretty wild to see that and so clearly uh it's understandable why all rck is coming back because you know basically that 12 hours is how uh is why he didn't get the record uh last year and rri is also doing the Triple Crown challenge so for folks that don't know what the Triple Crown is that is the tour divide uh and then the single track heavy Colorado Trail race and then the single track heavy Arizona Trail race in the fall all three of those in the same calendar year so so super excited to uh to see rri's uh first uh veteran kind of run down the tour divide it'll be uh it'll be super interesting all right Alex uh what do you got next okay um well so oh man I should have asked her how to say her name fully because um she's French Canadian and I feel like I'm gonna butcher it so sorry maray but do you know how to say her name will you say she she was on my list last year Marie so Blaze I think something like that Josh i' endorse that that sounds good that's what I was gonna say then I was like oh maybe like you say the last the last place differently but anywh yeah I got to meet Marie on the very first day of the tour divide we were riding together um just right before Coco claims the Coco claim section and we're just shooting the and she was saying she's like a a road racer and I've you know I've never done anything like this race wise and you know just like talking about nerves and um I was like if you want you know I'll give you some advice if you want it um and I was like you know got eat like it's your job um so it was great to exchange some chats with her a little bit there and then we proceeded to uh I I was racing my guts out last year um anybody who followed the race will know that I had made a catastrophic gear selection um and she was hot on my tail the entire race so you know I was just like running away from her dot as as best I could Mary has a long history with um Professional Road cycling she's um seen some success or seen she's earned some success in um time trial racing track racing and um Road cycling and um I think she's been a professional cyclist I want to say since 2016 uh Marie sorry if I got that wrong but she set her sights on kind of the endurance racing scene or endurance touring scene after she toured The Divide in um I want to say 2022 I think was her first tour and um came to race last year and with like all of her background in high level competition and then now having like a super good knowledge of what the tour divide rout is I'm beyond stoked to see what she can lay down this year and um just really excited to watch Marie too plus you know like after I finished we popped over to the hia store and I gave her a good hug and I was like you got this you know just finish that last stretch of highway uh to the New Mexico Mexico border is extremely oppressive and she's doing it at like nine in the morning so um I'm really excited to see how her her second race run goes and I think it's her third effort of the Divide overall um all right Josh what do you got so my second Rider to watch in in the men's field at least is um well you've mentioned him already euso slva um he was in the port party with oric in Yen last year and well he was pushing oric the whole way um and he he had a few issues um he's the kind of guy that he seems to have a lot of issues with bikes and stuff and um I think in these things you do kind of make your own luck and you is quite good at not making his own luck um so he had um Shram axis battery issues and rech issues last year so he took a diversion from I think it was from tatti pass around that area to Jackson and then got a taxi back and then chased down oric again um and then his pedal fell off and then he broke a spoke and the list sort of went on and on and on and on um but he was he was and I think he is a match for Rick and he actually beat rck um at the Atlas mountain race in February this year he won that with a really impressive ride and I know he's he feels that um I know him fairly well and I know he feels that that he definitely could have won um the race last year and obviously they probably got the same feeling as oric with with the um the rain in the Basin and and the record that's still kind of that that dangling fruit that that everyone's trying to get and um they still can't beat Mike um so yeah I think he's come back he's hungry he definitely wants to Win It um he's still using Traxis even though I told him to use Shimano mechanical so we'll see what happens but yeah yustinus I think he's definitely um one of the people's favorites so definitely follow him on Instagram he's he's a very funny and intending Guy and um I really hope he can do it um I've been slightly biased but I really hope he can do it this year um yeah so he also had battery issues or I'd say issues he only brought one battery to atas so he was saying that he like he brought the One battery and it forced him to stop because he had to charge it and so he actually at least he told me afterwards I was also at Atlas mountain race this year and he said he was like oh if you sleep and rest then you ride faster and I was like amazing he's truly figured it out he he does like to learn things hard way this yes yeah hopefully he takes that with him into the Divide yeah I mean um made a quite a few mistakes so hopefully it's all going to come together this year but we'll see it's all about learning so that's great um all right Hannah what do you got next uh I have a dear friend of mine Matteo pz he uh he and I met in 2022 is that 2022 I've lost track of my years um when I did the westford's way challenge in Iceland um it's a stage race and he and I both were on the podium and we were the only ones who were not professional cyclists that um actually did pretty well uh in that form of race it was my first time doing anything overseas and it was also um kind of the first like long distance thing um that either of us had competed in um because it was 600 miles all together but yeah he and I bonded uh for lots of reasons but mainly just like kind of being The Underdogs just that we don't do this as our Prof profession and so um this year he was also at Atlas with me and did an awesome job um in the overall race I can't remember what place he got in but um in the last like 10 kilometers of the race I'm like cranking I had gotten ahead of him and uh was almost there and then he came flying by like full speed TT in the bars like see you later and like past four or five of us honestly in the last like 20 kilometers so he's really he's got a fire in him um for sure and he is touring up to bamp he lives in vend Oregon and he and another friend um Stephen cheski who we also met in iand the two of them toured up together this past week to bamp um and he's in Canmore now and when I asked him like how are you feeling how are things going he's like uh I feel sturdy so I was like sweet I'm stoked for you um and yeah he had a really strong Race season last year and I think that this is going to be a big challenge for him but he's got some lofty goals and not sure that he wants to win necessarily but he'll he'll be up there and it'll be fun to watch so look out for Matteo for sure I like that sturdy that that's inspires inspires confidence in me at least all right Alexander um we're gonna talk about some single Speeders eh yeah uh this is the first year I ever made a spreadsheet of everybody who I like am really invested in so uh uh thanks Andre shrimpy for inspiring my future in spreadsheets I'm excited because it looks like okay you know part of me gets really excited and getting invested in people when they have these like low numbers because I'm ultra competitive and love to see what's possible and I hate I totally hate getting let down when you know people really fall off their gold Pace because I want them all to Ed and I want to see people just like duking it out you know for the glory of you know bragging rights really that's all you get with this stuff um but it looks like we've got uh three guys gunning for a 16-day finish we got two guys uh with 18-day finish got a 19 day two 20 days and 21 a couple 21 days and then uh it looks like there's a woman on a single speed this year too so I'm extra excited to see that usually um there's not many of us ladies out crushing on the single speed so um Jazelle um from Buena Park California is looking for a 30-day finish on the tour divide this year but my Johnny is out there um going for the Triple Crown challenge this year too so this is his first year racing the tour divide so he's like my number I'm obviously for him number one but um my homie Jacob loose is also coming back for some Redemption uh I'm super excited to see what he can do um and so is Alex keski um I'm excited to see what he does too um and those are like the the people that I know I just read the article on the website this morning about Justin McKinley and his Redemption ride out there so um yeah a lot of like fastish looking single speed it looks like there's going to be a single speed race so uh I'm really eager and excited to see what people can do um you know last year I was like totally gunning for Chris's record um which is part of like why the the Flop and failure in my performance felt so hard because I was like training for that and aiming for that um so although nobody really has that 15 day time which is like really bold uh to put on there because Chris's performance was so incredible um you know I'm always hoping that these guys might go a little bit faster and uh creep on Chris's record so it looks like this could be the year that uh there's some solid competition in the single speed more than just like one or two or three people kind of racing for the front of the race and I'm like really stoked I'm really stoked to see what Johnny can do um just because we've been training really hard and um he's my person I'm always rooting for him is he up there already or if you're in duth how's he's uh been touring up there uh he was in Canmore last night and he's getting to B today so great sweet he he was like super helpful in the um the Grand Loop post Spike Race he took care of everybody afterwards and made burgers and stuff and oh he wrote some stuff for the website the coverage was great yeah he did so good I was so proud of him I had no idea it was happening um you know we have an agreement where I'm like I do not want to see you during the race and yeah um I had no idea what he was doing and then I came home and I was like oh good job so yeah uh after the Grand Loop he just left to he flew out to H Callis spell and oh he connected with Alex Schultz um somebody's got to talk about that guy literally I so I I I should have gone after Hannah but yeah I was going to talk about Alex right now so Alex is Alex is awesome so Alex is also doing the Triple Crown he crushed the Arizona Trailer Race last year the 800 he took the overall record uh before it was beaten just this uh past Spring by Austin KPS uh Alex has been I've been kind of tracking him a little bit on uh on Instagram and he's been racing the nue series so he's done like the first three RAC I think and I think he's podiumed two of them and then I think he took I think it was like ninth or 10th at the mohin 100 in Michigan so he's like he's racing at a really high level he's racing like really fast you know those those nue series races they're they're like you go as hard as you possibly can for you know until from start to finish so needless to say he's definitely in top form I guess the the question remains um I don't know how much experience he has with like the gravel racing because what the The Great Divide mountain bike route the tour divide is just a big gravel race after all but I'm sure you know those mountain bike skills will probably be able to translate into some of those tough technical uh sections on uh on the on the route so super excited to watch Alex not only you know in the tour divide but I think he can definitely make a splash in both the Colorado and Arizona trailer races again this year so um you know mountain biking is kind of his Forte so we we shall see how uh how the tour divide goes for him for sure he's definitely one of my favorites uh for the race I just like root for him so hard he you know I met him in the the Michigan Great Lakes kind of racing scene and he's just been so skilled and so dedicated and I've just watched him grow so much through like we you know leap frogged back and forth in our first Colorado Trail race and you know then just a blast he's really really strong and really mentally strong and a really good human so I'm like I'm rooting for him really hard I I actually had a thought yesterday about doing the Arizona Trail race like someone doing the Arizona Trail race 800 two years in a row like you have to have a lot of mental capacity it's not easy yeah I def I definitely agree there it's a maniacal maniacal race Josh did you have anyone else you wanted to talk about I uh I skipped you and then we're kind of out of order now um well I guess one of the again on the men's field um Lawrence tendam um yeah who's uh well probably a name that that lot of people would have heard of ex-professional cyclist um is Dutch um he's I think he's got like a Podium Unbound in recent years proper strong you know um when you've ridden toor of Frances and things um you don't just lose that overnight so he'll have the engine for it um whether he can put the skills together um who knows but we've seen before that you know some of these these X Pros they can kind of override the lack of kind of um experience on these events just by pure power um so that's going to be interesting to see and he tends to travel along with Thomas DEA who again was an expr I think they're both down um all right do we is there anyone else we want to chat about there's bound to be someone that that just comes out of nowhere there always is um so that's going to be interesting as well because for the thing I say the thing about bite packing in the races generally over the last few years is the level's just gone so high I mean some of the guys we've mentioned the European guys you know yustina oric they weren't even racing five years ago um and and and they're bringing that even yustinus is saying the level's getting higher and he's one of the guys I thought was making the level go higher so you just don't who's going to come out of the woodwor um and you can piece it together and and the Divide you know you guys all know that it's not about um you know pure athletic power it's about being organized and you know making good decisions and dealing with fatigue well and resupply well and some people are just really good at that and and that's that's the beauty of it it does level it in certain way so um yeah with the interesting to see if if anyone kind of comes out of the woodwork and uh surprises us yeah absolutely um I just wanted to ask a few quick kind of follow-up questions uh about the divide and then and then I'll let you guys go here but uh just to kind of piggyback off on that Josh how challenging is it for someone from overseas you know the UK to come over to to Calgary fly to Calgary and kind of get used to everything like what what what did you do and kind of what is the biggest like hurdle for for someone um like you come overseas um well I found that the biggest problem with was just jet lag uh so I I think I flew in on the Tuesday before which was too soon really um I should have flown at the weekends so the first few days I I just I was really struggling in the afternoons and evenings um so i' I'd certainly give it more time um but in terms of the journey I mean there's there's quite a lot of direct flights from Europe to Calgary um and then I just rode out to Canmore and stayed in camore for a few days um I think is a bit less of a circle and B and more affordable well just about um so yeah it's um I'd say jet lag is is the main issue what was it like in you know Rural America public lands you know I think that's a different thing that we have here um so just like wondering what that was like for you um it's interesting I mean the US is when you come from Europe it's it's like a whole different world it's it's crazy but the the kind of once you're out in the you know in in nature and you know away from the towns it could be anywhere I mean I was at the accursed race in Albania a few weeks back and at times you felt like you're in the Divide um just given the mountains and things I think I think the mountains you know it's kind of um obviously we've created countries over the centuries but you know the Earth is the Earth and there's a lot of similar places around the world but for a European the shock is just being in America sometimes it's um the towns I mean you just they're not just designed for bikes or people they're just cars and this the scale of things and and the food is is terrible really terrible yes I mean you just go calorie shopping I love the fact that every every single packet has the amount of calories on it so when you're a divide racer you just go in and look for the biggest biggest number on the packets and buy it and and and just going into the the gas stations and like two are just like coolers full of fluorescent fluids we don't have that in Europe fluorescent fluids I feel like it's also important to note too for folks who aren't English speakers either or like have very little uh English speaking like I could not imagine I mean being in Morocco and I'm sure Josh you probably had this experience too um with doing Silk Road and Atlas like that adds a whole other level of challenge to like trying to navigate um just because if you don't know the currency if you don't know the language like it's just it's a different than just a bike race um and I had that experience in Morocco and I also I mean Sasha who I like finished with last year she's Australian speaks fluent English and she was like I don't understand like I came over here and I was not sure what I was getting myself into there was not a whole lot of like organization around where to be and when it was kind of just like you know you have to show up and trust that what you're going to do is is going to be there for you so I can totally see it being uh a big challenge because it's way less organized than really any other big event like this I think that's the thing about the events in the US um in Europe we we had the Transcontinental races is a I guess a blueprint and obviously Mike Co the current record holder he he was inspired by you know things like the divide and he's R Around the World trip and he he created the Transcontinental race back in 2013 actually the year he did he set the record I think he set unofficial record that year were you racing the think he uh he said it he set the record in 2016 but I 20 2013 or 2014 he raced but then but I think he got like fourth or something I think I seem to think um he he set an unofficial record because there was some oh no that's right you're right fire fire reroute yeah in the heer um yeah but anyway Mike kind of used um the experience of divide and and various things to create this kind of blueprint of of races in Europe so there's actual organization and you know there's there's an organizer and there's there's sponsors and there's media courage um which which is is kind of all the races like you know like the Nelson trees races Atlas mountain race silk they they've all come from that kind of um influence whereas in the USA it's it's a lot more Grassroots there isn't necessarily always an organizer there's you know toide doesn't have an official organizer um as such there's no sponsors you just turn up and and off you go and um I think a lot of people uh who who have raised a lot in Europe you know that that can be a surprise it's quite unnerving and there's no official sign up form there's no website you know you have to kind of want to do it and um it is a it is a challenge if if you don't necessarily know these things and it's a big commitment um financially as well to to to travel over um and obviously $50 every time you go on a gas station it soon adds up as I think anyone who's done with to divide soon learns y um all right I'll do one more follow-up question uh how is you all are now considered if you would do it again Veterans of the race so what would be one kind of piece of advice that you would give to um a rookie I was just looking at the the lineup and it's just like it's crazy how many first- timers are racing this year so what's one bit of advice that you would give um yeah I mean I was a rookie last year um and we'll see if I'm ever a veteran I don't know maybe I'll catch the bug from Alexandra um I'm honestly like starting to feel it now I'm like okay I get it like we're talking about it we're excited about it I've been like studying it so um yeah I'd say um it's it's good to have a plan um a lot of the time when you do really long race like this it's hard to know where you're going to be and when so I would just like each day have a plan for what I wanted to happen um but be very flexible with that plan so like as soon as things start to go arai don't just totally shut down because you don't get to do what you think you're going to do but like it's nice to have a goal like a lot of the time folks be like oh I don't have any expectations I'm just going to go see how it goes I'm like well you know push yourself a little bit try to try to get to a certain goal each day um whether that's distance or time or whatever helps you feel accomplished because it's those little in between moments when you're like okay I've made it to brush mountain and now I've made it into New Mexico that like will keep you going um on the really long distance things like this so yeah have a goal but don't don't get all broken up when it usually doesn't work out yeah I I think that you know I IO some of those same sentiments Hanna and and I really just like it's hard and then you know in saying that statement too that's something that most people in contemporary Society don't really understand what truly hard means and like all the different aspects that the tour divide is hard for um there are many many forces that cannot be controlled for the weather is brutal the the animals the wildlife that's real the community and like you know being a person first is kind of I think a responsibility that we all have as bike pack Racers there are a lot of fans of the tour divide now and a lot of dot Watchers come out a lot of people know about the race and it's really important not to be an out there because if we want these things to keep happening like we have a responsibility as community members so like even though we're racing and competing it's still really important to like leave really good tips you know like if you're at a restaurant like pay people well like maybe more than you would in any other situation treat like hotel and Shop owners really really well you know I've come to like know a lot of these people on the route and one jerk can like ruin it for the rest of us so um just like understanding that we have a responsibility as individuals and community members on this route is something that like we might forget so I like to remind people of that as like be extra nice like even if it's really annoying to you know stop for somebody and be like hey uh thanks for coming out or thanks for these accommodations or I'm RAC you know just like communicating as a person instead of blasting through like I know that we're racing but it's still like a part of our responsibility so that we can ensure that people can keep doing this and keep setting new records and that was totally not the answer that I thought I was going to say um but yeah that's something that I've really come to notice over the years is like some communities have a good reput uh like a good understanding of what the race is and then some people are like oh yeah those bike racers are just jerks or or they you know they they're entitled so um you know I just want future Racers to understand that you know for some of us um this is my entire life and um has come to mean everything to me and the people and I love competing but also um the communities along this route really matter to me so um my advice is just to be like extra nice go above and beyond out of your way to let people know that you're grateful that they offer up their houses if you have extra money to like throw at them get a you know pay for your room uh get a meal to go little things like that U make it big difference in the longevity of this sport well I'd say that um just be prepared there's there's so many resources out there um you know kind of resupply charts things like that especially if you're a rookie do your research um and everything's written down it's out there um and then uh kind of echo in what the others have said as well um just make a good plan and then just be prepared for it to be totally tipped upside down because you're not in control the tour divide's in control of you um if you think you're in control if you think you're in control just be prepared for it to change very soon um you know and yeah just remember that you are you are racing but you're you know you're just passing through like the entire country um so yeah just be good to people um and that kind of pays itself back at some point along the line and enjoy it yeah enjoy it even when it's I'm like yeah yeah it's hard on purpose like what Alexander said like there are times that you are like split between two roads and there's like the route um that's probably muddy and awful and might have a really good view but then there's also like a perfectly good road that you could just go down but like you're doing tour divide so of course you're going to take the muddy route um but yeah just to remember like it's a massive privilege to be out there to do it and if at any point in time you're having a terrible time just like stop yourself and remember where you are yeah yeah it's it's the process you know it's like if you wanted to do this fast you should just ride a car or take a train or something it's like the journey um and yeah also just really want people to be humble so many times like new rookies sign up and like I set a record but like it's hard like be humble and like maybe lose maybe go slow maybe you know the hits the fan and come back and try it again and get your Redemption if you're not humble then um The Divide will soon humble you anyway so really awesome all right everyone thank you so much this was a blast um we went on a little bit longer than I anticipated but I think uh for good reason so uh anything else that you guys want to follow up with or uh um are we just ready to watch some dots uh I am going to be at the finish line for everybody that uh finishes up until Johnny you know I'll have to ract him out of there but uh I'm like so excited to you know see some of some of y'all finish so um go races do good do good have fun all right Josh Alexander Hannah thank you so much and um be to uh definitely check out Josh's daily updates uh you're going to start those you're probably G to do a preview as well um you want to just talk about that real briefly um yeah I'll I'll probably start Saturday morning um well in the UK anyway just to just to get the dots spread out a little bit Yeah the aim is to do daily updates um it's probably easier to do the tour divide to be honest but um yeah I've committed to it now so so yeah every every morning on YouTube it's on YouTube yeah just on my my channel so um I think you guys are going to help share it so thanks for that in advance yeah yeah we'll definitely be sharing them um and yeah definitely stay tuned we'll also be uh we'll be putting them on our uh tracker page on bikepacking.com that'll basically have everything from the tracker to videos like this to um all of our Rigs of series and um Eddie Clark's um photography so stay tuned to that on bikepacking.com as always thank you all so much for watching and if you like what you saw in this video and want to see more like it please hit that subscribe button and notification Bell good luck Racers see you [Music]

Channel: BIKEPACKING.com

Views: 22,642

Keywords: bikepacking, bike packing, Cycling

Id: zzYWK7lYbB4

Length: 52min 4sec (3124 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 13 2024