Some questions answered…

Not surprisingly, there are a ton of things we get asked about our Tour Divide attempt. Why is answering these questions important to us? It’s important because whether anyone knows it or not, our family and friends are our main resource in successfully completing our TD attempt.

You see, this is not a journey that either of us could do on our own. We each have families and friends that support this effort with their time and energy. We know that is creates a strain on them as we train endlessly, for instance on Saturdays and Sundays while we are out for 10-12 hours instead of being home with them (although I am told that it is really nice having me out of the house!). We have also saved every hour of work leave we can so that we can be gone from our jobs. This means we haven’t taken leave to spend time with family and friends for quite a long time. The family’s sacrifices go on and on.

Then there is the cost! Riding the TD, let alone racing it, is not an inexpensive endeavor. Sure there is the bike, but then there are packs, navigation devices (and associated service plans), tents, sleeping systems, clothing, lighting systems, shoes, helmets, gloves, glasses, etc….the list goes on and on. And while it may seem as though we have a bunch of that stuff as cyclists already, there is the nagging thought that if one were to skimp and use an old piece of gear, and it fails, that would end our TD and the rest of the investments in time and resources were wasted. There is a continual balancing act of “good enough vs. best” going on in our planning.

Some information about the, who, what, when, where, and how (The why is still a question in our mind!! ) is contained in the website, but somewhat randomly in different areas and pages, so I’ll answer a few of those questions below.

Question: Can we support you on the route, or before?

Answer: The rules of the race demand that we complete the race completely WITHOUT support. We can use anything available along the way in terms of stores, bike shops, lodging, food, etc. Anything that is available to all the other racers. However, we cannot accept support from anyone outside of that. We can’t help each other with anything either. We can ride side-by-side (nope, we cannot even draft from one another), but each of us is essentially alone on the ride. Additionally we cannot pre-stage supplies along the route. It is the Wild West after all!!

We have thought numerous times about sponsorships, but feel like the support we get from everyone is more that we could ask for. If there is anyone that still feels they want to sponsor us, we would be happy to accept and get you on our website!

Question: When does the race start?

Answer: The traditional start day is the Friday before the second weekend in June, so June 11, 2021! This day is called the Grand Depart.

Question: How many people do the race?

Answer: Traditionally the Grand Depart is seeing about 175ish folks start. There is also an Individual Time Trial (ITT) where you can race the route at any time in the year, though many folks start in late June or Early July to hit the best weather windows along the route.

Question: What’s the record for the race?

Answer: The fastest known time (FKT) is 13 days, 22 hours, and 51 minutes and was set in 2016 by British endurance racer Mike Hall. (Unfortunately he died after being struck by a car, just south of Canberra, during the inaugural Indian Pacific Wheel Race across Australia, on 31 March 2017, after covering just over 5,000 km of the 5,500 km distance.) The fastest female finisher is Lael Wilcox who still holds the women's overall speed record at 15 days, 10 hours and 59 minutes. WE WILL NOT BE APPROACHING THESE TIMES!!! 

Question: Where does the route take you?

Answer: The route begins in Banff, Canada (Although with COVID restrictions the US/Canada border may be closed and we may have to shorten the route by about 250 miles and start in Rooseville, Montana on the border.) The route goes down the western part of Montana, nips Idaho, goes through the Great Basin in Wyoming, into and through the central part of Colorado to the New Mexico border near Chama, and then down the middle of New Mexico to Silver City, and finally south to Antelope Wells, NM on the US/Mexico border.

Question: How long will it take you?

Answer: That’s a really good question! Basically we can only say what we will aim for, and give it our best shot. Remember, this is based on us never having done the Tour Divide. Our best guess is somewhere between 20 and 30 days. We are training, planning, and definitely shooting for the 20 day mark, but weather, nagging injuries, route changes due to construction, fires, etc., and a million other things get a vote.

Question: How much do your bikes weigh?

Answer: Right now our BIKES a pretty light, around 20-22 pounds. HOWEVER, I realize the questions is how much will they weigh with our gear. For the last 2 months we have been training with our bikes about 75-80% trail weight loaded (albeit it with surrogate gear such as towels and clothes so we don’t wear our gear out). The weight of the bikes right now is about 40-45 pounds. We also each wear a Camelbak with water and gear. Each of those is weighing in at about 15 pounds. So you can see we are carrying, and plan on carrying, about 35+ pounds of gear on our TD attempt.

In future blogs, I’ll be answering more questions. If you have something specific you’d like to know, I’ll do my best to give you an answer!

Ride on!

Shane and Ray