Finishers and tutting pub patrons

Finisher numbers are increasing

Shakespeare newest play

Snow - woo hoo

11 September update

A-POC-a-lyptic

Who to watch

Alps Divide - the route

Stepan Stransky

Florent Rodot

Manu Cattrysse

David Malfliet

Ondrej Mohyla

Aleš Zavoral

Guy Bowden

Nick Rotter

Peter Wernsdorfer

Alain Rumpf

Cédric Aubert

Leanne Bentley

Stephen Haines

Jiří Holub

Marco Montanelli

Roel Massink

Marco Philipp

Niel Copeland

William Stewart

Guillaume Durr

Clare Walkeden

Kevin Dawson

Paul Girond

Scotty Cornish

Millie Gibbons

Jimmy Braat

Markus Löwen

Stu Taylor

Matthew Franklin

Petr Zemlicka

Torsten Frank

Leona Kringe

Lissa Breugelmans

Benjamin Maibach

Gabi Winck

Webster Wickham

Julia Schopka

Jenny Tough

Josephine Blunt

Clifford Clermont

Jaap Van der Salm

Paul Gannon

Jo Britton

Cristiana Tamburini

Emily Scott

Matej Ženiš

Duncan Macdonald

Stuart Caughlin

Emiel Bockting

Yann Gobert

Martin McShane

Louison Bangerter

Darren Blackwell

Graham Bryce

Richard Gate

Thomas Boury

Tim Newton

Jos Dohle

Thomas De Ruiter

Kris Willaert

Benjamin Clark

Bas Wit

Haico Bianchi

Martin Dunn

Rebecca Beale

Alex McCormack

Elliot Dixon

Finn Sleigh

George Sales

Joachim Mendler

Geoffrey Beurskens

Manuel Schmid

Peter McDermott

Laurent Dujols

Kevin Merrey

Christian Beyer

Ron Gutierrez

Sebastian Martin Telega

Marco Van Veen

Anthony Carton

Sarah Lewthwaite

Damien Corbi

Pavel Krajčík

Mike Baldwin

Paul Tovey

Isabelle Berti

Berten De Canne

Christopher Rißmann

Philippe Comte

Paul Coats

Pieter Wilbert Molemaker

Arco Van Zetten

Olivier Bertrand

Kate Vergette

James Hanscomb

Laurent Bruères

Lennard Pasman

Sven Asjes

Media Car 3

Media Car 2

Media Car 1

The emotions from this first edition of the Alps Divide were palpable. The atmosphere in the cosy French Pub along the shores of the Lac Lèman, in the fading evening light, were electric. A rider coming to the finish just before the organiser’s presentation was cheered through a throng of people as the chilly breeze fluttered the flags demarcating the end of the route. Emotions were mixed: relief and regret. But nothing restores the human soul like the option to share stores with people who suffered the same conditions and so the noise in the pub was enough to bring a frown from the local patrons. 

![AD finish](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3M98baGT5wUilc0UWzHw7z/0435f43a86d0164abfe1d5ba2dee22ff/IMG_4119.jpg)

The gathering was for the end-of-ride presentation, where __Katie L’Herpiniere__ presented __Stepan Stransky__ with the an aged cow bell on a it’s traditional leather strap for his efforts to set the course record for others to try and break in the coming year.

![stepan](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2ptKeos361Uw5ErZmNWbIo/08f23121c6c2f636b5d649b00fc9772d/IMG_4123.jpg)

__Leanne Bentley__ received one for the first women over the line. Both incredible feats of speed in pretty bad conditions. The floor was then opened to anyone with a story from the route. 

![leanne](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4cB3NZigRshcf8kqQoflHT/177a8bb8fc2a1d88c328bfffaf1fbdae/IMG_4129.jpg)

Forgive me, I did not gather any names. One rider made it to the snowed in section before race organiser Lee could stop them from progressing any further. A normal two hour crossing of this part of the route turned into eight hours, with the rider breaking trail and questioning where the route went due to a lack of poles demarcating the trail. Following him was another rider who know the trails well and persuaded the organiser to allow him to continue. For this brave effort and getting up to tell his story, a small cow bell was awarded as a prize. 

Another rider received a bell for losing their light on the first night at the top of a descent. With some duct tape and the iPhone light strapped to the time-trail bars, they were able to descend off the mountain. 

Once all the stories were told and the bells handed out, Stepan stepped up to the front with a half wheel mounted on a wooden plinth. This was the damaged wheel he raced with and had it mounted to give as a gift to the organisers.

![stepan wheel](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/76cAcMtL5hKvFpVexSNfWE/0abbcbdaf6b876c2cf4f1056cd22139c/IMG_4126.jpg)

If you’re going aww, how lovely. That’s not all, Stepan, his wife and two children remained at the finish-line, not just for the party, but stayed to welcome the last rider of the event - Petre Zemlicka - going on to prepare him a meal too.

The final numbers are in and the order of finishing adjusted for the detours taken or not taken.
Of the 87 starters:
- 32 finished
- 55 scratched
- Giving a 36.7% finish rate. 

Add in the 11 DNS, that’s a 32.6% finish rate.

Out of the finishers there were three women and one pair within those finishers’ numbers.

If your goal is to throw down the gauntlet to anyone who thinks they can brave this route, that’s one opening statement to make. 

# The finishers
__Solo                                     Result__
1.  Stepan Stransky                      116 hrs 23 mins
2.  Florent Rodot                        120 hrs 54 mins
3.  Manu Cattrysse                       121 hrs 58 mins
4.  David Malfliet                       124 hrs 59 mins
5.  Ondrej Mohyla                        126 hrs 40 mins
6.  Ales Zavoral                         146 hrs 43 mins
7.  Guy Bowden                           150 hrs 7 mins
8.  Nick Rotter                          151 hrs 40 mins
9.  Peter Wernsdorfer                    151 hrs 50 mins
10. Alain Rumpf                          154 hrs 46 mins
11. Cédric Aubert                        162 hrs 35 mins
12. Leanne Bentley                       163 hrs 2 mins
13. Stephen Haines                       164 hrs 7 mins
14. Jirí Holub                           165 hrs 33 mins
15. Marco Montanelli                     165 hrs 34 mins
16. Roel Massink                         165 hrs 53 mins
17. Marco Philipp                        167 hrs 38 mins
18. Niel Copeland                        171 hrs 22 mins
19. William Stewart                      172 hrs 24 mins
20. Guillaume Durr                       173 hrs 18 mins
21. Clare Walkeden                       175 hrs 3 mins
22. Kevin Dawson                         191 hrs 59 mins
23. Paul Girond                          192 hrs 6 mins
24. Scotty Cornish                       192 hrs 9 mins
25. Millie Gibbons                       192 hrs 28 mins
26. Jimmy Braat                          193 hrs 18 mins
27. Markus Löwen                         193 hrs 39 mins
28. Stu Taylor                           198 hrs 35 mins
29. Matthew Franklin                     198 hrs 40 mins
30. Petr Zemlicka                        219 hrs 3 mins*

__Pair                                     Result__
31. Pieter Wilbert Molemaker             194 hrs 52 mins
32. Arco Van Zetten                      194 hrs 53 mins

* Technically Petr was outside of the cut-off. That did not stop Stepan from waiting to see him in or for him to be excluded from the result. Bravo to everyone, especially those not on this list. 

## #DotReporter
Your DotReporter is __Peta Mc Sharry__, I’ll be posting updates via [bikepackingcoach](https://www.instagram.com/bikepackingcoach/) or [my persoanl instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


It’s the weekend. Whoop whoop. It also means a little more time to report. 

Overnight another 5 riders made it to the finish. Bringing the total number of finishers to 10.

Only one rider made in under 5 days, __Štěpán Stránský__, with 4 others making it under 6 days: __Florent Rodot__, __Manu Cattrysse__, __David Malfliet__, __Ondrej Mohyla__.

![Stepan Stransky](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1GE9VE2VtU0YGtH1LQFPaB/d174ba93f81eafe396320fd5fe660847/IMG_4104.jpg)

# Finishers so far
(not in the correct order)
__Štěpán Stránský__
__Florent Rodot__
__Manu Cattrysse__
__David Malfliet__
__Ondrej Mohyla__
__Aleš Zavoral__
__Peter Wernsdorfer__
__Alain Rumpf__
__Nick Rotter__
__Guy Bowden__ - his tracker still shows him on course, but that was 10 hours ago, we can assume he’s done riding.

Those finishing overnight did so in under 7 days.

# Women
__Leanne Bentley__ is not far off from finishing, definitely in time for a well deserved lunch. __Clare Walkenden__, in second, sits at around 100km to go. It’s taken Leanne 16 hours to get from the point where Clare is on the trail. Leanne is not at the finish yet, so let’s call it 17 hours, this included a stop of 5.5 hours, leaving around 11.5 hours of ride time (at Leanne’s speed). If Clare pushes all the way through, we could see her come in close to midnight but that would be a huge push in these conditions. 

![Leanne Bentley](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/75LW6IoESe1sAI8XgjNDsF/86f9d69103c8182fe61c7a7b69fd4845/IMG_4102.jpg)

# Deviations
More deviations were in place yesterday. Mountain passes over 2,000m are inaccessible and those with tarmac roads would be closed. Riders on the final section into the finish found themselves deviating into the Rhone valley, where you can find the UCI cycling centre in Aigle. It is a straight home run down the Rhone valley to Lac Lèman. Riders, however, are turning left out of the valeey and  back into the mountains where they’ll hop between the original route and deviations to avoid the higher elevations. Riders report about the efficiency of the organisers communicating these deviations and it certainly looks like no rider missed being advised about the changes to the race as conditions worsened. This looks like a well thought out plan with pre-made contingencies going into the event, and definitely to the level of a mountain leader ensuring the safely of their participants. Zooming into these diversions, it looks like the original route was planned with these diversion in place from the start.

# Decision-making agony
Facing -9°C temperatures and the thought of riding to 3,000m with snow cover starting at 2,000m should be a fairly easy decision. Easy for us sitting on the sofa with no skin in the game. To hike in those conditions in the snow requires a good amount of dry, warm clothing, probably a set of snow-shoes and good knowledge of the terrain. Probably a topo map too. And I’d certainly not want to do it alone. But when you’ve set your goals to finish the whole ride, no matter how long it takes, this decision can wrangle you to the point of insanity. In your head you know it’s not wise, but your heart holds other desires. Maybe the organisers can give a time deduction for skipping that out and back in such treacherous conditions as most of the deviations are in place to avoid another above 2,000m. __Lissa Beugelmans__ is the one grappling with this section of the route. Keep pushing Lissa everyone of us is cheering you to the finish.

![Lissa Beugelmans](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4roFF3GyqvHMHdABPhHn8q/97209747e77c0b9fe37913a737637619/IMG_4105.jpg)

# Lantern Rouge
Until now __Stuart Caughlin__ was holding on the Latnern Rouge. He's diverting to Gap and thus officially handed this over to __Lissa Beugelmans__. Let's hope she brings it home for us.

## #DotReporter
Your DotReporter is __Peta Mc Sharry__, I’ll be posting updates via [bikepackingcoach](https://www.instagram.com/bikepackingcoach/) or [my persoanl instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


If Shakespeare wrote a play and the Shakespeare society did a TL;DR version it would be something like this.

# The Bikepacker

TL;DR: Bikepackers, lured by the beauty of the Alps and glorious gravel roads, are met with fury from the weather gods. All riders suffered from the cold and wet but not all got snowed on. The organisers got their wish - the love of a good suffer-fest. Everyone lived. (PS Organisers - we still love you.)

Shakespeare would be proud of all the characters in this play. They outperformed the weather, no matter where their finish-line ended for this race. 

# Current situation (as at 16:00 13Sep2024)
5 riders have finished
31 riders are still active on the route
11 riders did not start
47 riders have scratched

87 riders started, giving a DNF rate at 54%. There's still a day and half before the participants party gets underway. Cut-off times are likely to be adjusted so riders may have a bit longer to get a qualified finish after the original cut-off time (I still need to find out when this is).

# Finishers
5 riders are finished, with the next active riders at 50km, 60km and 70km to the finish-line.
![AD finsihers](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5FkcfIi2oXvaqe72FceVun/ec6fb335106bb5803de7469a647f72a6/IMG_4069.jpg)

# Women
Leading women’s rider, __Leanne Bentley__, needs another 115km to get to the finish. Her nearest chaser, __Clare Walkeden__, is 85km back. Barring bad luck, Leanne is looking to be the first women over the line with the tracker suggesting an ETA in around 12 hours. Will she push on through to the finish or given the large margin she holds, take an overnight break indoors? There’s the overall ranking to consider, so it may be a push through the night.

# Scratchers’ remorse
These off-road bikepacking races often see a higher scratcher’s rate. The off-road nature is hard on the body and the bike. There’s no town nearby where you can quickly drop into a coffee shop in the bad weather or to repair your bike (not in the coffee shop), or to hitch a ride to a bikeshop. Judging how much food you need to carry is tough, shopping hours in small towns are shortened and the chance of running low on food is possible.

Everyone of these riders trained hard for this event, they came in with the idea of finishing. To be left short of that goal stings and the remorse that follows is palpable. It’s hard not to feel this remorse, the rider’s entire life over the past year was spent training and planning for this. But in the right hands they can be pried back to life and the positives of the ride eeked out of them. So if you are in the presence of someone who’s scratched, be kind to them, offer no advice on what they should do better next time. Ask one question: What went well? Ok, maybe two: what was your favourite (pick one), views, food, coffee, bed, rider companion. 

Hopefully each one is able to do a race debrief in person or on the phone with someone who is not judgemental. If you can find the mistakes and see how you’d change them next time, then that’s a great start to dealing with the remorse that comes with scratching. Some might swap remorse with relief given just how bad the weather turn out. But for now, enjoy the shopping experience of buying something you’d never normally wear and don it with pride.

# Weather
Patches of rain, sleet, snow and hail are falling out the sky and have been most of the day. This looks to continue until 8 or 9pm where a large dump of rain near the finish will give a good soaking to those pushing to finish the last part of the route. 

Tomorrow the weather looks dry but north-easterly winds are building from lunch and seem to remain strong throughout the afternoon and evening. They’re not warm, with temperatures around the Lac Lèman between 6-16°C. Higher up will be colder and snow is still falling in the higher regions overnight.

![weather](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2ZShD9DzGatbc9itRhSsoM/0b14c2e2b4c6726b21b98d8488ddb55c/IMG_4068.jpg)![weather](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2ZShD9DzGatbc9itRhSsoM/0b14c2e2b4c6726b21b98d8488ddb55c/IMG_4068.jpg)

# Participants Party
There will be plenty of stories to tell.

__The End__
(Not the end of my commentary, that will continue until Sunday 15Sep).

## #DotReporter
Your DotReporter is __Peta Mc Sharry__, I’ll be posting updates via [bikepackingcoach](https://www.instagram.com/bikepackingcoach/) or [my persoanl instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


Ok, may not for the riders. Those giants of Alps, which looked to be in the distance yesterday will appear much closer today. I’m not sure what a big dusting of fresh snow does to these mountains, but they appear to be much, much closer. Like your neighbour just built a huge wall next to your window and painted it bright white.

# Planning check point cut-offs and finishing times
By now we know the organisers are on point with their planning, organising and rerouting but how do they decide on CP closure times and finisher's times. Looking at similar races, as I did yesterday, the organisers included the Hope1000 and Silk Road Mountain Race as a base line for their schedule. Then they made it a bit more lenient. And still, everything is behind schedule.

If you’ve not ridden off-road events, it’s hard to understand the impact of weather conditions on your speed. It’s impossible to know how different a sector rides in the dry versus the wet, unless you’ve ridden the sector in all types of weather. Some are ok in the wet, others unrideable. There’s no doubt the biblical weather on day 1 set everything back by a large margin. Trying to explain to someone who doesn’t know much about off-road bikepacking races and certainly not ones of this tough, can be hard. During Tour Divide I was being message by someone who thought they could help ‘keep me on-schedule’. To explain to them that I could do 150km or just 86km in the same amount of ride-hours is far from what happens on the road. When you factor in a hike-a-bike, it’s possible to take 5 hours to cover 10km. Unless you’ve done the route before, you won’t find this information in your research for the event, especially an inaugral one. While it’s easier to keep to a schedule on a road event, off-road it’s pure adventure and where you stop for the night is determined by the weather gods and what the trail throws at you. I was probably just as surprised as the organisers to see how much slower the Alps Divide is running compared to other events of a similar nature.

![route conditions Alps Divide](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6aWphKocZq5WqWB64NQ0KZ/b00cafab9b17e3940be60377a07d2590/IMG_4034.jpg)

# If it’s hard for us…
If it’s hard for us to get our heads around how much slower this event could be versus others of a similar nature, imagine what the riders are feeling. The front runners will expect to be finished by now. To spend another 25-30% more time out on the trail is mentally tough. To stay positive and motivated takes a lot of effort but to do this from day 1 of an event - kudos to everyone who is still riding and especially today as the conditions are far from the autumnal ones everyone would be expecting at this time of the year.

# Upfront
We could be seeing a challenge for the front and first to finish. __Štěpán Stránský__ pushed through the night, with the tracker showing his last proper stop at CP2, around the 790km mark. He’s pushed through the night to 973km and is currently resting at the Refugio. Chasing him is __Florent Rodot__ who stopped overnight and took some sleep indoors. At start of play (for me) today, there was a 30km distance between the two, with around 60kms to go. This would mean Florent will need to ride twice as fast as Štěpán to catch him (correct my maths if it’s wrong - but it’s a lot of ground to make up). That would be impossible unless Štěpán stops to sleep. As I look at the tracker currently, Štěpán’s been stopped for 3 hours and Florent is currently around 10km behind. Granted you can’t make any time assumptions because he’s on a climb. But, for sure, this will be exciting to watch. Florent is running at around 92% versus Štěpán at 94% ride time, giving Florent 2% more rest time. This late in the game, it comes down to who is freshest. The top three riders have been pacing each other fairly consistently but after his stop at 790km Štěpán’s pushed hard, showing a steeper gradient on his speed chart. We can’t tell whether he’s been riding well under his threshold until now and this push is normal for him, or if he’s dug a little deeper to get a gap. If so, then these last 60kms could take a toll. Only time will tell and if you’re not as excited as I am to see how this unfolds, them maybe you’re not on the same level of coffee intake as I am today. 

![coffee](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3ZvnyiCgwCe7SsJ7WuTVqE/35b6d3d7573fa6d605d29dd0f198c276/IMG_4035.jpg)

I’ll be back later today to report on the rest of the riders. But for now the focus is upfront and the excitement is like a kid seeing snow for the first time.

## #DotReporter
Your DotReporter is __Peta Mc Sharry__, I’ll be posting updates via [bikepackingcoach](https://www.instagram.com/bikepackingcoach/) or [my persoanl instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


There is so much to unpack from the two day’s I’ve not been able to report on, I’m not sure where to start. I’ve scribbled a few topics onto pieces of paper, thrown them into my casquette and to ensure a fair selection, Muus, the cat, is doing the draw.

![muus](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6HEmfHUoWeHB4Aeg1fDiei/839da128eb79461b0a2135f497c08a02/IMG_3997.jpg)

![options](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/E63OZ8RjZA06iqnkFLy3H/484c5575b049c53c22e7078201859d8a/IMG_4001.jpg)

# The route
It’s the Alps. To link two wonderful pieces of gravel road together you either go via the tarmac or via a goat track over to the next valley. The organiser’s website covers the topic but I think this possibly covers it best:
> ‘The question we get asked the most! There is no clear-cut answer here, as the perfect bike does not exist. Whatever bike you choose to ride there will be times during the event you wish you chose something different.’

This is certainly what we’re hearing from the field of riders. 

> ‘Whether you choose to ride a hardtail mountain bike or a gravel bike, have front suspension or no suspension, is completely down to how much comfort you need, your bike handling skills and what bike you have available to you.’

On these long off-road endurance events, I always advice clients to choose comfort first.

# Under-biked and bike’s quitting
Good choice for the next topic from Muus, as it segues (segways) perfectly into choosing the right bike. Even for those who did, the terrain served up a good deal of mechanicals. Some fixable on route, others needing a few weeks turn-around time from a specialist. As is the case with suspension forks.

The worst way to be underbiked for this event is not taking small enough gears, even with the right bike for the terrain you’re crossing, when you run out of gears, you’re walking. Climbs can be long and draggy or short and punchy, by day two fatigue in the legs need a few extra granny gears that you may not miss in training.

Personally I don’t ride a mountain bike because I don’t trust my descending skills at speed. So a gravel bike makes me safer on more technical descents, because I’m never tempted to try and ride it. Thus I’m happy to walk a bit on rough terrain rather than risk crashing. So your skill then determines how the terrain rises up to meet you. Over estimate your skill on a route with technical sections and your race schedule goes out the window. This is both the beauty and the beast in doing an inaugural event. 

# Scratch or short-cut
Boy, Muus is on fire today. Even for those who brought the right bike, have the skills to ride plenty of the route and are pretty fast, this race has taken it’s toll. The front of the race thinned out, with Benjamin Maibach and Thomas Boury not able to continue in the race. It’s a shame as Benjamin and Stepan leapfrogging each other was gripping ‘television’.

It’s hard to prepare a race schedule for an inaugural race and with the bad weather on day 2 forcing many riders, mostly those further back, who found themselves on the more exposed parts of the route, to take early shelter. This was advice given out be the organisers for managing yourself in the mountains in the worst weather, showing their experience as mountain guides. To accommodate this unexpected stoppage time, the closing time for CP1 was extended.

Despite making the revised CP1 cut-off time, many riders will need to weigh up their ride time to the finish and weather they will make their flights or trains home or indeed the need to get back to the office. Providing a service to transport baggage to the finish will leave many riders with no other option than to make their way to the finish. The back of the race are more like to need to reroute or hop on a train to the finish. Embrun, thankfully, offers a good option. Avoid the TGV trains, where you need to package up the bike, riders can hop on 4 TER trains with around 9.5 hours of travel time to Évain-les-Bains before the short 40 minute ride to Thonon-les-Bains (the actual finish town and not as previously reported Évian-les-Bains). I once booked a hotel 400km from the start of my Paris-Roubiax race because France has so many towns with same name.

# THE WEATHER!
Talk about getting the Full House. From lashing rain to full sun and everything in between. The lashing rain is probably the worst, but next up is full sun with a cold wind or scattered clouds with alternating cloud and sun - both of these are hard to manage. It’s either a constant change of layers or deciding which you can live with the most - being cold periodically or boil-in-a-bag. A great compromise by one rider was to wear his puffa jacket like a scarf and use the arms on key parts of the chest.

Just last week we saw the lowest levels of snow on the Jungfrau mountain in the Bernese Alps. This morning it’s a huge white wall of 4,000m of fresh snow. The wind will be much colder than is forecast on the weather app and another weather front is approaching and looks to hit the route late afternoon and overnight, with the worst of the rain through the night. Expect the route to clear of riders to the nearest indoor shelter as this front will be colder than the previous one and I expect there to be more snow. If anything the mountains with a fresh covering of snow will be spectacular from the route.

# Hope1000 finish times
With no previous comparable times for the Alps Divide, understanding just how tough this route is can be drawn from a comparison with the Hope1000 - a ride of similar distance and elevation gain. Best time is 3d16h42m.

The race clock is showing 3d19h24m, estimating another 20 hours to get to the finish-line. The inclement weather scheduled to hit tonight may push out that estimation.

# Leap-frogging at the front
We’ve been treated to some great riding upfront, both in the men’s field and the women’s. Stepan Stransky is holding position upfront with the next following rider, Florent Rodot, trailing by around 25km.  40km behind in 3rd is David Malfliet. In the women’s field Leane Bentley overtook Jenny Tough and holds a 65km lead over Jenny. (I’ll come back with a little info on this once I get some extra time to investigate).

# CP1 Cut-off and diversions
As mentioned before CP1 stayed open for longer and I’ll wait to hear if this is the case for CP2 as well. Some diversions are now in place, avoiding the more remote sections of the trail. With snow forecast overnight, this seems like a sensible option, with the diversions offering more options for sleeping indoors.

![diversions](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/13AvoAlczBWOJDS8cwor5o/a911b67a65e0711d36be12336991747f/IMG_4005.jpg)

The weather seems to be winning at the moment, lets hope it doesn't to horrible for the riders still out on route. 

## #DotReporter
Your DotReporter is __Peta Mc Sharry__, I’ll be posting updates via [bikepackingcoach](https://www.instagram.com/bikepackingcoach/) or [my persoanl instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


It’s not often you can use the word apocalyptic when it comes to weather on a bike race. When I looked at the weather radar it showed a large area of very heavy rain was heading right for the course. Following the dots moved towards the towns scattered along the course or at the Refugios, what looked like a long lunch break started to show up as riders taking shelter from the weather and as night fell the route emptied of riders as more took shelter for the night. With hotels in the towns on route filling up, riders were forced off route to nearby towns to find some available shelter. 

As at 20:30 on Sunday 8 September - just over one day of racing - only 29 riders are currently riding on the route, everyone else is indoors taking shelter for the night. I’m not sure I’ve seen this on a race before. The switch from summer into autumnal or border-line winter conditions with snow on the higher peaks happened over night. Packing for a warmer race could have caught out a few riders who may not expect snow and cold conditions requiring more of a winter kit set up. The conditions are set to dry up, but the cold weather seems set in for the next week.

## Who is Štěpán Stránský?
The 2018 *Hope1000* race or the Navad1000 (as it was called back then) is known for the film made by __Rue and Lael__, it was actually won by Štěpán where he set the course record. He also took second at the *Italy Divide* in the same year. A respite from regular races he returned to the *Altas Mountain Race* in 2024 taking 31st overall. So it’s no surprise to find him up front. 

‘Paradigm disruption and internal change of character exceeds even the greatest pain I have experienced while bikepacking.’ I’m a fan already and a look around his [website](https://stepanstransky.cz) is, indeed, quite intriguing. 

# Upfront
__Benjamin Maibach__ holds the lead (his tracker is still only updating periodically). __Štěpán Stránský__ and __Thomas Boury__ are chasing hard.

# Women’s field
__Jenny Tough__ took over the lead with __Cristiana__ stopping in one of the towns. __Leanne Bentley__ is around 20km behind Jenny and potentially still riding, but she’s been stopped in a town for 15 minutes so may choose to take shelter for the night. It’s hard to take shelter when everyone else is still riding, but when most of the field take shelter, it’s those riders who are reassured that their bodies can manage the conditions and not be impacted further down the road, who can continue in these conditions. It’s safe to say Jenny sits within the category of being able to keep going in the worst of conditions.

__Field-reporter: Neil Copeland__
‘Blimy. What a day. I’ve never ridden through rain like it.’ This coming from an UK rider is saying something. The salt road, a beautiful section of the route and much looked forward to by many riders, is an exposed part of the route running for around 50km above 2,000m.  
![salt road](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/8QNXEpkZjYpGWg15OdVKw/c39d6aafb2a12ae748c33bb1d6667d9e/349c130e-8d0b-44b9-a29f-dc15c08670b7.JPG)

Is not where you want to face heavy rain but the weather gods held a different idea. Heavy rain caused many riders to hold up in the Refugio at lunch time. Niel found himself pushing his bike up rivers running down the route and letting rip downhill where rocks were hidden in the rivers of water, not sure if his wheels would hold up. He missed the supermarket opening hours and without resupply his bag of Harribo were not really enough for 5 hours of riding and 1,700m of climbing. When I caught up with him he was on his second meal, supported by a large beer mug mostly drained of it’s liquid calories.

![Niel food](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1FSmz3FrDXPWe5DP9fNQ0x/5168434df0b82a672b757e476a14f1fd/daac3672-52f6-4436-8b6a-c67b25b1d4a6.JPG)

## #DotReporter
Your DotReporter is __Peta Mc Sharry__, I’ll be posting updates via [bikepackingcoach](https://www.instagram.com/bikepackingcoach/) or [my persoanl instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


# What an opening night

The dress rehearsals are over, opening night curtain is drawn, the actors here to entertain us for the next few (to several days) are showing off their best performances.

Leaving at 4pm from the quaint coastal town of *Menton*, riders faced some heavy climbing taking them away from sea level into the mountains famed by many pro-racers using this playground for hard training efforts.

# The Front of the Ultra
A large group made their way towards Castel Vittorio before a clear split happened in the bunch. If you were following the trackers it looked like  __Alex McCormack__, __Thomas Boury__ and __Stepan Stransky__ broke away from __Manuel Schmidt__, __Joachim Mendlier__, __David Malfliet__ and __Nick Rotter__.

Some of the trackers are not updating regularly, so it’s safe to assume __Benjamin Malbach__ was upfront with the leading trio given his is currently leading the race. Trackers are currently updating within 10 minutes of each other, so it’s safe to assume the riders are actually where their dots say they are.

The front runners made it into *Tende* around 7am, with most refilling their bottles only at a fountain along the route. Those in the chasing pack stopped in town to resupply.

__LATE UPDATE__: __Alex McCormack__ just posted up on Instagram - his ankles have not recovered and unfortunately he needs to scratch. Recover well Alex.

![fountain](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/43eeJlZb8HVQgsxSgoEYXG/fe79e175eb03cd38e4a30279c09506c5/IMG_3817.jpg)

# The women’s field
__Christiana Tamburini__ is leading the women’s field coming through *Tende* at 11am. She’s held the lead from the start, while the places behind swapped among a few riders. __Millie Gibbons__ held second place through the daylight hours. She comes off a win in the womens field and 24th overall at the *2023 TransPyrenees (Lost Dot)* - a road only event - showing her strong riding ability. As night drew she dropped back a few places giving up position to __Leanne Bentley__ and __Jenny Tough__ who hold 2nd and 3rd respectively.

As one of the riders I missed in my pre-race review - __Leanne Bentley__ finished the *2024 Hellenic Mountain Race* in 19th place and 91st position at the 2023 *Atlas Mountain Race* with a finish in the 2022 *Dales Divide* in 53rd position. She’s been hiding in plain sight.

![women of alps divide](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/ISgiGXYSdX61lW3GpFQbp/11cc188b806a1171d878e463251d2ae7/Screenshot_2024-09-08_at_14.12.42.png)
Alps Divide produced a [reel](https://www.instagram.com/alpsdivide/) covering all the women on the race.

# The weather
A late summer in the mountains is coming to an abrupt end next week, where regional temperatures in the late 20s are dropping to a low of 6°C and a high of 11°C in central Switzerland. Briançon is looking at a low of 1°C by Thursday and a high of 8°C while on Friday the mid pack will face  a -1°C to 6°C temperature range. Briançon lies at 1,326m asl, meaning at  higher elevations riders could see lower temperatures and snow should there be an accompanying precipitation with these low temperatures.

![IMG 3845](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5Sho1Hoiodyu5DmmYRzgwf/3822c8c81d2b16b1003228cbf66bc1a8/IMG_3845.jpg)

The mountains around here have been experiencing building cloud cover as the day progresses, leading to late afternoon thunder storms. As the temperatures drop the thunderstorms should fade away, replacing the threat of a thunderstorm with that of a snow storm.

## #DotReporter
Your DotReporter is __Peta Mc Sharry__, I’ll be posting updates via [bikepackingcoach](https://www.instagram.com/bikepackingcoach/) or [my persoanl instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


Opening night

# Who did I miss

It’s inevitable this will happen, thanks to those diligent readers for spotting my errors.

## Women's’ field - wildly missed the target
I used the women's filter function on FollowMyChallenge and while I spotted __Jenny Tough__ in the starter list sent by the organisers, the filter in tracking page didn’t add Jenny and a few other women into their category. While my brain can work out complex movement patterns, give me a gap of a few seconds to remember two pieces of information and it’s like a puff of smoke in a heavy breeze.

![who did I miss](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/121ArkuezP6SrmF4gpGbi9/8726b41146beaa4f9cf03a425f8afedb/A36C64B2-D3B2-4E9E-8545-D204B17284C5.jpg)

So apologies for missing a few players out of yesterday’s ‘who to watch’.

We all know, and love, __Jenny Tough__. She crushed the *Altas Mountain Race* along with a few other races before revealing the how years of under-fuelling for this sport impacted her. So it’s always great to see her on the start-line and here’s wishing you a fun race Jenny.

As an aside. A recent piece of research undertaken by a female athlete at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift showed her to be under-consuming by around 2,300 calories per day during the tour, despite eating close to 4,500-5,000 calories per day. To put this into context, this is eating more than twice your regular amount of food each day and still being short a full day’s worth of food. For an athlete under nutritional guidance who’s team was calculating her daily calorie expenditure and guiding what she ate - this was a huge shortfall. From the study it showed smaller athletes struggle to physically eat the amount of calories they need for these long days in the saddle, but more interestingly that current data and/or algorithms are under-reading the amount of calories actually burned by female athletes. So to manage this as an unsupported athlete consuming calories at the upper limit of what the body can digest, probably means many are burning way more than they can consume. If you add on the pressures from society of what a women’s body should look like, then boom, in a calorie-deficient hole before you know it.

__Lissa Bruegelmans__ is also lining up. Another *Accursed Race* participant, so she wasn’t able to finish as her travel date back home forced her to stop early. She seemed to be enjoying the rugged nature of the race and thus will enjoy this route just as much.

![fun bus](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/41LoWuTZLjXf1n4pFFDULo/64d05e31542fde92ee3c32a68d2b0acf/ADF38C1D-F9E0-4D2A-BBB2-4EABB064A5FE.JPG)
# In the fun bus
While the focus tends to lurk around the front, let’s not forget the fun bus behind. They’ll be racing just as hard, if not harder. Keep an eye out for our own DotWatcher contributor __Niel Copeland__ - he’s promised to send in some reports from on the ground.

__Torsten Frank__ is another to keep an eye on, you may know him from his endless reviews of products, so I imagine he’s running a well thought out rig on the trails and he’s great with his updates while racing.

__Alain Rumpf__ is another to keep an eye on. Known as the Swisswithapulse, he’ll know this terrain well and lives for climbing mountain passes. I hope his wonderful photography accompanies this race too.

__Lissa Brugglemans__ brings a great sense of humour to these races, so she gets an automatic ticket to the fun bus.

The fun bus will start to fill up as we go along the route. As always I welcome anyone wanting to nominate someone for the fun bus.

## #DotReporter
Your DotReporter is __Peta Mc Sharry__, I’ll be posting updates via [bikepackingcoach](https://www.instagram.com/bikepackingcoach/) or [my persoanl instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


Who did I miss

Alps Divide brings together a good mix of riders hoping to challenge themselves on the route. The front of the Ultra will see some familiar faces who’ve been upfront in other events. A good chunk of the field are rookies with no information of previous events on Dotwatcher, showing the broad appeal of an event close to home. Just short of 100 riders will take to the route.

# Mens’ field

A rematch between __Alex McCormack__ and __Thomas Boury__ awaits us. Coming off a 1st and 2nd, respectfully, on this years *Highland Trail 550*, with Alex blasting through the FKT early in the HT550, it’s going to be a fast paced ride with plenty of action. One would be foolish to overlook __Manu Cattrysse__, taking the win at this years *Hellenic Mountain Race*, 2nd in the *Highland Trail 550* and *Tour of Rwanda* in 2023 and 2nd at the 2022 *Tour Divide*. 

__Christian Beyer__, __Richard Gate__, __Manuel Schmid__ and __Benjamin Maibach__ are ones to keep an eye on, with Manual Schmid hailing from Switzerland and taking 8th in the *Hope1000*, he’ll be familiar with this terrain. Christian Beyer also completed the *Hope1000* in 4th place in 2020, showing his speed over this terrain. Richard Gate took 1st in *TransIbérica* in 2021 while also completing a good handful of other races. Benjamin Maibach, also Swiss, took 1st in this year’s *Hope1000* and if I were a betting person, I’d back Benjamin in challenging Alex and Thomas at the front.

There are a large number of riders who’ve done the harder off-road races, so a dark horse could surprise us. I feel the tension building.

# Womens’ field
The womens’ field seems wide open, while __Isabelle Berti__ stands out after completing this year’s *Accursed Race* as a pair. Pushing through those tough conditions will definitely build confidence for the more rideable aspects of the Alps Divide but also the more challenging ones too.

__Cristiana Tamburini__ and __Gabi Winck__ come to the Ultra with finishes in the *Altas Mountain Race*, surely this will hold them in good stead over this terrain. While __Julia Schopka__ completed the *Badlands* 2023 in 3D7H.

There’s a good deal of experience in the field and the push for the front will be exciting to see unfold.

![Roads of Alps Divide](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4KpG9QZlhCj5n4ubuiWwCj/afc5d4d283a6b0db7d49ed8b41ddb1a0/Photo-13-08-2022-11-48-55-1536x2048.jpg)

# Pairs’ field
__Arco Van Zetten & Pieter Wilbert Molemaker__ and __Lennard Pasman & Sven Asjes__ are in from the Netherlands. __Olivier Bertrand & Laurent Bruères__ from France, while __Kate Vergette & James Hanscomb__ from the UK, giving us 4 pairs in the event. We’ve seen pairings form solid units able to challenge the front of these events, there’s bound to be some surprises and I can’t decide where it will come from.

## #DotReporter
Your DotReporter is __Peta Mc Sharry__, I’ll be posting updates via [bikepackingcoach](https://www.instagram.com/bikepackingcoach/) or [my persoanl instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


Inaugural races attract a particular type of rider to an event -  no previous records exist, no advantage from previous experiences. It’s unadulterated adventure, unless you know these roads. Then it’s seeing how your favourite routes are linked together by a team who live in these parts of the world and scouted the routes extensively. They also know what it takes to finish challenging off-road routes. Judging from the pre-race info and detailed route notes for my reporting, those taking to the route can do so knowing this route is well curated with much consideration before adding in a specific hike-a-bike or deviation to a little ‘off-route’ view point.

Katie-Jane L’Herpiniere and Lee Townend are the [team](https://alpsdivide.com/about/) behind the race. Experienced mountain guides, ski instructors and avid off-road bikepacker, the mountains are their playground. 

![AD team](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3etGRzxYeOSNU2UNbVKmBz/a802d925a66ea0186f8cc6a136fa6d4e/Screenshot_2024-09-06_at_13.54.22.png)

*‘The Alps Divide Bikepacking route is, and always will be, first and foremost a cycle route for you to tour and bikepack at your leisure. We provide free route files and logistics guide, for those who want to take their time and soak it all in as a TOUR. There are also several variants of the route available, to pick and choose the route that suits you best.*

*But our passion for a good suffer-fest on the bike, being tested physically and mentally to complete challenging routes ahead of the cutoffs, alongside other strong-willed (slightly crazy) ultra-cyclists, will see us organising the Alps Divide ULTRA for the years of 2024, 2025 & 2026.’*

Tracing it’s way from the Mediterranean to Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) along the Alps, the route takes in plenty of gravel from champagne to chunky, old military roads, tracing the salt roads while going past hanging villages clinging to the sides of cliffs. Paved roads deliver riders to the next section of gravel, with good weather the views should be spectacular especially from the highest paved road through the Alps. It comes just before CP1, a Refugio ready to welcome some hungry cyclists. 

Leaving CP1 a detour via old railway tunnels towards Embrun is active due to a road closure over a pass in the original scouted route. Swapping between road and gravel and hopping between France and Italy, riders will have ample chance to test their cursing in different languages on some of the more challenging hike-a-bikes. But the reward for these harder section comes in the variety of their regular bikepacking diet. A cold, rolled up to-go pizza or a rolled Croque Monsieur replace those nasty plastic packaged gas-station sandwiches.

Leaving CP2, another Refugio, riders are in for a real treat. If you’ve never experienced the approach to Lac Roseland or ridden the Cormet de Roseland - add it to your bucket list. Riders should have their cameras at the ready once they’ve lugged their bikes up the short, steep single track in the approach to Lac Roseland. I won’t spoil the surprise, but be on the lookout for photos coming in from riders at this point of the route.

After Lac Roseland riders will be constantly looking right, glacier fields and some of the Alps’ most majestic mountains hog the views as they head towards Switzerland.  Chocolate box houses line the route here once over the border, the gravel feels a little smoother and grass a little greener. The riders will be met with the faint smell of cow manure - the reason the grass is a little greener. Farmers ensure cow excrement goes into a septic tank when they are housed indoors for the winter. When the sun comes out, so do the farmers and their liquid manure spreading machines - no pasture is left ‘unmanured’. Riders may be spared the smell given we are be heading into Autumn. 

That lush grass is just what any chocolate-lover should be inspecting, it creates some of the best milk for chocolate making.  Thus, no rider should pass through Switzerland without filling their feed bags with Regusa. Whilst the chocolate comes from the Bernese Jura region (not on the route), on a clear day you could probably see the village of Courtelary from the high reaches of the route before it starts it’s final, undulating descent to the finish. Courtelary is where Regusa is still made by the third generation of Chocolatiers. A hazelnut centre holds very well in the heat and the nut / chocolate combo gives a good hit of energy.

![Regusa](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/7pknfPqcalHaiYSRzxINDF/f6719f2675f8edb641624d756abca4a9/IMG_3787.jpg)

Lac Léman awaits at the finish-line in Évian-les-Bain. A dip in the lake and an ice-cream are the recommendations here before tucking into anything with cheese on it, in it or under it.

## #DotReporter
Your DotReporter is __Peta Mc Sharry__, I’ll be posting updates via [bikepackingcoach](https://www.instagram.com/bikepackingcoach/) or [my persoanl instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)

Peta McSharry

The Alps Divide 2024 Tracking and Commentary: The Alps Divide Ultra is a self-supported, single-stage, mixed-terrain bikepacking challenge, weaving along the Western Alps, from the Mediterranean Sea to Lake Geneva.


Alps Divide 2024 Tracking

Alps Divide is a mixed-terrain bikepacking route, weaving along the Western Alps, from the Mediterranean Sea to Lake Geneva. Crossing back and forth along the national borders of France, Italy and Switzerland. A journey filled with high mountain passes, alpine pastures, turquoise lakes, and historic military gravel roads.

Alps Divide 2024

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Alps Divide 2024

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