The Route

It's Go Time!

Day 4 Wrap Up

Day 5

Day 9

Day 12

Day 13 - The Tour Divide Graveyard

Day 13 - The Last Sleep? + JayP's Birthday 🎂

Day 14 - it's not over until they reach the border! 215 miles to go

WE HAVE A WINNER!


Thought bike changes were only for the World Tour pros? Think again!

Bobby Smith took an overnight stop in Pinedale, WY where he made one of the biggest changes a rider can make to their setup: he bought a new frame. In search of comfort for the remaining 1,500 miles, Bobby switched out his Marin Headlands 2 adventure frame for a Trek Supercaliber 9.7, the short travel full sus frame that had the XC world on tender hooks for its release in 2019. Bobby's carried his drop bars over to the Supercaliber and fortunately all his bags seem to fit and surprisingly well! Geared Up Bikes in Pinedale open their doors to riders every year to help with everything from a new chain to a frame swap!

![Bob bike change](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6IDPajckJoy2ewQDoVzzlI/3f5cd7e759264b81649ec0abf0b86691/Bob_bike_change.jpg)

![Bob bike change 2](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1mRKjlwaGHAYidtvN672XP/6a0ee2f1df17556b430c3da5157f7b63/Bob_bike_change_2.jpg)

![Bob bike change 3](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4mIS5ITYhppWQFsQgbGHCb/58ca5abeb88aee4cc8d8ed4e20dda831/Bob_bike_change_3.jpg)

Andrew Zoot of Geared Up Bikes has been collecting the parts taken off the Tour Divide bikes for years and already, this is the collection of retired items from the racers' rigs.

![Andrew Zook TD graveyard](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6nvpgRKGpxJcUDCq7OOdE3/c7f56d0e5b6ca1b7078c898578ce6aef/Andrew_Zook_TD_graveyard.jpg)

The handlebars are from Sarah Swallow's bike. You may remember her bike falling off the vehicle on the way to the start line which cracked the seat post and handlebars. The former of which was replaced pre-grand depart. However, the latter of which was not discovered until a couple of days in. She was fortunate enough to have her new bars delivered ahead of her to Pinedale with still 250 miles riding until she reached the shop.

With travel restrictions across the US/Canada border, for the first year ever the Tour Divide will not include a Canadian leg and is approximately 230miles shorter than the official GDMBR. For this reason, the 2021 edition of the Tour Divide has been renamed to the Great Divide Classic to recognise the route adjustment.

[https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36367433](https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36367433)

## It's here.

It's finally here, and today is the day.

A year overdue. Folks around the world have been looking forward to this for months, not sure whether to believe. Some have been training, preparing, and are now primed and itching to go. For a few, today marks the beginning of an adventure lasting a month. Others a matter of days.

And I don't even mean the Euros. I mean *the* sporting event of the early Summer. The Tour Divide.

There's no glitz or glamour, no trophy or confetti at the end of the Tour Divide. Just a border post in the desert. A swell of satisfaction, pride, a sense of accomplishment and all those fantastic memories. The good stuff.

Covid-19 leaves its mark on this year's Tour Divide, of course. With the USA-Canada border still closed, there is little option but to prune the route to a border-to-border USA traverse.

With international travel a challenge, the roster is chock full of exciting, interesting riders from the USA. And with the Northernmost 230 miles out of bounds, there won't be any GDMBR course records but we still expect some fast riders.

Our thanks go to Matthew Lee, Pete Basinger, Jay Petervary, and Scott Morris (among others) for finding a way for the show to go on. This year, we're delighted to be able to report on the Great Divide Classic.

## Rigs of the Divide 2021

As tradition, the great folk at Bikepacking.com have collated the bike nerd's special sauce - the rigs of the Divide.

<https://bikepacking.com/bikes/tour-divide-rigs-2021/>

![Rigs_Divide_Header_Image](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3yGnqG2IDzXWggIEjsH9CJ/059809a068a2745971cc3025457c3b2f/sarah-swallow-2021-tour-divide-2000x1333.jpg)

With the different feel to the roster this year I think we're seeing even more originality and range in this edition's bike list. Yes, lots of Salsa Cutthroats and Fargos, and plenty of 1x, both with good reason. But what else is there?

There are home-sewn bags and kit, prototype Tailfin bags, lots of front racks and fork cages, more pinion drives and singlespeeds than I'm used to seeing, and lots of #danglemugs. All told, a classy looking field of bikes.

By the way, Martin Moschek has done the work and summarised some of the key bike mix stats in this handy infographic. A handy summary - especially for me! - but I really recommend studying the full Bikepacking article over a beverage of choice!

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CP79z_OB09v/>

Lots of aerobar options, with 2/3 riders having some form of aero setup for those extra positions and mounting points. Interesting considering 44% of the bikes are flat-bar setups. Aerobars with a squishy front end, the best of both worlds that I'd probably look to run. But your commentator is rather soft.

As in recent years, 1x dominates, but interesting to see just 5 riders are on 10-speed cassettes. It seems most of our champions have moved onto the range of 11 or 12-speed, and as many as 20% are on electric shifting. I am keen to see how folk get on with eTAP AXS.

![Jason Simons Singlespeed](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2ljnveqI5e5jSw11IkYCcC/60e2574b6a38a587ecb735a17006c76d/Jason-Simons-2021-tour-divide.jpg)

But perhaps even more interestingly I make 3 singlespeeds listed and 3 pinion drivetrains! And I suspect a couple more on the sly. I love an alternative drivetrain nearly as much as I hate indexing gears. And singlespeed is the talk of the town following Liam Glen's recent heroics in the Highland Trail 550. I'm keen to see how the folks on alternative drivetrains get on.

Some personal favourites include two rigid singlespeed Surlys, both with crank tanks! Jason Simon is running a 44x20 while Nate Fitzgerald a 36x19. Also Mary Ehlers' home-sewn bags, sleeping bags, riding clothes and down jacket! And a full endorsement for Derek Wiback for riding with a kickstand, an underrated accessory in my book!

Right, there are the rigs. Tune in later for a run-down of dots to look out for, and the grand départ at noon MDT!

Race Preview

With Covid-19 restrictions affecting the route and access to the USA, the start list is different to usual. With this Brit recognising fewer names than usual, I'm super excited to see what happens with what feels like a rather open field.

But who to look out for? Honestly, it's difficult to know who'll be making fresh tracks, so we'll cast a lens on some riders who have caught our eye in one way or another in the lead up to the Grand Départ:

We reckon __Sarah Swallow__ will be fast, pushed on by her fundraising for the Cairn Project, for which she's blown past her $5k fundraising goal and stretched it to $8k before even starting the race! Props to her for supporting the creation of accessible pathways for young women to explore outdoor pursuits. Here's a link to her story and fundraiser within:

[Sarah Swallow - How Finding What I Love To Do Outdoors Changed My Life Trajectory](https://sarahjswallow.com/stories/2021/5/18/the-cairn-project-how-finding-what-i-love-to-do-outdoors-changed-my-life-trajectory)

__Tracey Burge__ is a long-time vet of the TD. She first attempted the GDMBR in 2012 with *Conquer The Divide*, and has ridden the route multiple times since.

__Arya Namdol__ is the first Tibetan to ride the route and by all accounts is an inspiring, joyful person who is here to party!

__Sam Scipio__ is super cool and that was before I saw she is riding a self-made singlespeed. Just, rad. Here's her & Arya going over their rigs:

[https://www.instagram.com/p/CP6ympOh7g9/](https://www.instagram.com/p/CP6ympOh7g9/)

__Quinn Brett__ looks to be riding the route as an ITT by account of an electrically-assisted handcycle. Hers will be a unique challenge in this field and we're stoked to see her tackling the route. Here's a clip from her Instagram from the White Rim in Canyonlands.

[https://www.instagram.com/p/CO_oBffjzmP/](https://www.instagram.com/p/CO_oBffjzmP/)

__Jay Petervary__ looks to be lining up, and with a race history like his he needs little introduction. With this year's adjusted route, the GDMBR record isn't in scope for Jay but we expect him to be at the sharp end of the race and he seems to be targetting a quick time as always. After the 2019 controversy we hope the talking can be done on the trail.

__Brendan Heinig__ is targeting a fast time, and the men's course record holder from the 2020 Pinyons and Pines race clearly has some chops. It looks like he has been preparing for this for a while so we expect good things!

__Rob Adams__ is a returning vet with consistent results from the Tour Divide, French Divide, Colorado Trail Race and the Arizona Trail Race. He placed 23rd in 2016 but looks to target an even faster finish this year.

__Lauren Brownlee__ looks to be targeting a fast finish, and her prep is familiar to many ultra racers!

![Lauren's Final Prep](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3U0m5xsVItQQTDcgDENx8w/f6acb0457c59932be8db47917c8dbcbd/Screenshot_20210611-141147_Instagram.jpg)

There are plenty more exciting and interesting riders to cover over the course of the race, and it's nearly time to see who's gonna be fastest out the gates!

Folks To Watch

Best of luck to all the riders. Happy trails, keep the rubber side down. Enjoy the journey however you ride it!

Good morning campers!

I am up disgustingly early for an audax so here is your first morning update on the race.

It was wonderful to see a few instagram stories of a big group of Southbound riders at the US-CAN border post. The familiar feelings of tension and nervous excitement at the start of dozens of shared but unique adventures. No doubt mixed with relief that they were there and able to start.

The excitement was unleashed straight from the gun, with a lead rider taking a wrong turn after 50 metres - outstanding work. Thankfully groupthink persisted correctly for once, and the peloton has made storming progress along the correct trail!

__Kire Nihon__ and __Brendan Heinig__ have shot into an early lead of 10 miles over __Jay Petervary__ and they have already swept past a group of Southbound ITT riders (yellow labels) and hot on the heels of __Sean Huzieff.__

Kire is in the lead again despite stopping to resupply at Whitefish and swiftly came back past Brendan after. It's early doors yet but safe to say Kire is setting a searing riding pace out the gate, and Brendan able to match without the resupply.

## Early Mishap

I'll call it now, you want to follow __Sarah Swallow's__ instagram @sarahjswallow which is being hilariously looked after by @jambi_jambi.

On Sarah's stories (for the next few hours) is a story of pre-ride stress. Her bike rack snapped on the way to the Grand Départ leading to a snapped seatstay and urgent carbon repair job! Worth a watch and a follow for future updates. Fair warning, some colourful language, but there's also an interview with a piglet in the snow. How can you resist that?

<https://www.instagram.com/sarahjswallow/>

This pre-race drama doesn't appear to have held Sarah back, storming to the Women's lead, already out of Whitefish with __Lauren Brownlee__ and __Sam Scipio__ rolling into town just at the time of writing. 

## Silver City

Quick update on our few Northbound riders, at the time of writing aboth blue dots __Mike Ingram__ and __Peter Puenner__ are in or around Silver City. Peter's dot stationary in town and Mike rolling into town. Best of luck on the NoBo trail, folks!

## Trackers

Looking at the live-action replay, it might appear that some corners have been cut straight off the bat in the meandering trail in Northern Montana, but taking a quick dive into the map history tells me there isn't any creative shenanigans, just infrequent GPS tracker pings! I was excited for some early rogue navigators, alas.

Right, I'm running well behind and need to shoot. Catch you all later, folks!

Out The Gates

Hello again!

I forgot what this felt like - happy with my audax effort today, looked at trackleaders and put right back in my place. Some serious performances across the field which is, SoBo at least, spread from Whitefish to Seeley Lake.

## Three Strike Out

In the last update, __Kire Nilhon__ and __Brendan Heinig__ had a slim lead over __Jay Petervary__. Half a day later and Jay has swept past and now leads the close trio, just 3 miles apart.

Experience counts at the Tour Divide, and at the time of writing Jay is employing the handy tactic of: stop less. His stopped time at 4.5 hours is a sleep cycle less than Kire and Brendan at a shade over 6 hours.

Time will tell on how the rest schedules level out and the best strategies for each rider - Kire and Brendan have stopped more, but so far their average moving speeds are a full 1mph faster than Jay's.

## Female Leaders off route?

__Lauren Brownlee__ has marched ahead of Sarah Swallow and the rest of the women's field, but it looks to me that she has dropped off course onto highway 83 along with __Ryan Kurtz__ and __Ty Hopkins__. I'm hoping she's dropping into town for supplies or rest and the local airport there is mere coincidence. I'll look out for more updates from Lauren.

Meanwhile, __Sarah Swallow's__ GPS is also pinging off-route and has been for 3 hours now.

With some wet weather reported by the riders over the first day, it seems most riders have had their head down and quite right too! I am hopeful for further updates on socials as the riders set up for their 2nd night on the trail. I'll let you know in a few hours' time!

24 hours in

Hello everyone!

It's 3am in Montana and most of the riders have bedded down for some kip. Let's see how they got on over day 2.

### Out Front

Our leading trio, __Brendan Heinig__, __Jay Petervary__ and __Kire Nilhon__ continue to grow their lead over the rest of the field.

Kire, 3rd on the trail, took the earliest night at 4.5 hours. Brendan is furthest up the trail 17 miles ahead of Kire, and has been stopped for 3 hours 45. Meanwhile, Jay is between the two but only stoped 2.5 hours ago - he's had an interesting day by the looks of things.

## Routing Shenanigans

Yesterday I reported some route funnies from __Sarah Swallow__ and __Lauren Brownlee__ - it looks like Lauren just nipped off course to resupply, but Sarah's route does look suspect to my eyes - no news on her social media page, I think this part of Montana has particularly poor cell coverage. We'll see if we find out later what's happened here.

![SS Routing](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4jdfDEDAaOdUdCTXFWJyOX/27693d0401fb7d445467c27c2fd1ea2f/SS_Routing.JPG)

Meanwhile, it looks like __Jay Petervary__ has been doing some sightseeing - not customary for him to make a routing error, but he appears to have taken on Stemple Pass on his travels. Unclear if this he took the wrong trail or had a different TCX file loaded. 

![JP Routing](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/7E9ZEG5ncz6ZXvtT1EHhw/731c2cbb8f733dd500b43412ebda9e69/JP_Routing.JPG)

Regardless, this explains him having dropped back from Brendan and perhaps his riding further into the night to catch up.

## Scratch Update

__Remi Ray's__ dot is showing scratched and very stationary at Flathead Lake, sadly I think his race is over. I don't have any information to share with you so we just send our best wishes. Everyone who lines up at the start of the Tour Divide is a champion in my book!

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQDEKamnR4B/>

Unfortunately, one of the singlespeed riders I called out appears to have scratched. __Nate Fitzgerald__ is waving the white flag on instagram, although his dot hasn't been marked scratched yet. We all know the adage, never scratch at night. We can but hope for a change in mentality in the morning, but our best wishes to Nate regardless!

## Wanderlust

I tell you, trawling through Instagram updates from the riders is no hardship. Montana looks beautiful! Thanks to Dave Mitchell and Mike Chapman for sharing their images of the race on Instagram.

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCtnIfLw8EY8nShozzuYeKmm9clLE9aDj4Ozs0/>

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQDCGtGjMPi/>

Okay, apart from maybe Richmond Peak as shown by Mike, and Jay below I wonder what the snow coverage looks like at the higher passes in Colorado - I hope there's no repeat of the 2019 peanut butter situation!

![JP Richmond](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/7H81OZTuAg71mIyEB8RBdz/e94a636c87ab027b814b96e9e0f0864e/JP_Richmond.JPG)

Right, over and out for this update. Have a great day, folks

Second night update

I can't see much significant to update you on the race at the moment, I get the feeling most riders are settling into their rhythm and knuckling down on another  day of challenging mountain passes.

No-one is knuckling down harder than __Mark Cunnane__ who has had an excellent morning, who has made some good progress up the field.

Some unfortunate news for another MC __Mike Chapman__ who suffered a reccurrence of a heart condition overnight. His dot was moving particularly early this morning and I noticed had been stationary a while since - thankfully, this was him getting himself to safety and getting medical attention.

I'm pleased to see that Mike is safe and well enough to have been discharged from the hospital in Missoula with suitable medication. However it seems his ill health here was unexpected so our regret and commmiserations go out to him. He's at @mikechappy_ on instagram if anyone would like to send some love his way!

On a lighter note, with the overcast weather passing, some of the riders have shared photos of Montana looking particularly handsome in the sunshine.

Any vets reading this might enjoy fond memories, the rest of us perhaps some twinges of inspiration for the future...

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQEORlRNmOC/>

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQELfI2N2EZ/>

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQEDcjBHQAh/>

Another perspective on ultracycling - does this look familiar to anyone else? eek!

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCiY6PLMpI/>

Montana Brings The Goods

Good morning everyone!

It's 9am here, 2am MDT. Most, but not all of the riders have bedded down for the night so let's check in.

## The front of the SoBo race

__Brendan Heinig__ continues to lead the front trio, with __Jay Petervary__ pushing later into the night to be hot on his heels. He's 4mi back on an ascent, so close enough to keep the pressure on but not trading stories just yet.

__Kire Nilhon__ has slipped back slightly, seeming to take more stops yesterday. Of the 3, Brendan is riding the hardest but stopping some (moving average speed 11.5mph, stopped time 17), Jay slower but longer (10mph, 13h) and Kire is in the mix as well (11mph, stopped time 18.5h). It's a long race and these patterns may affect their races in different ways later on the route!

## NoBo charge

__Peter Puenner__ and __Mike Ingram__ are racing Northbound - Mike's dot has been stationary for some 20 hours now. It last pinged on the trail rather than in a town, so I'm hoping a tech issue rather than being off trail. But it's difficult to say how he's getting on.

Peter though, he got the miles in yesterday off a big descent and is now showing 3rd on the distance leaderboard, displacing Kire into fourth. Peter's doing a top effort on the quiter NoBo route, seriously impressive. I expect he'll fall back again as he hits the highest passes, but a good run so far!

## How are the women getting on?

Lauren Brownlee continues to head the women, kipping tonight in Helena and keeping pace with the front of the midpack. Sarah Swallow is pushing hard though, with a 0.5mph faster moving speed but 5 hours more stopping time so far. As she gets into the groove, will she start to push Lauren harder?

## The fronts pull ahead

The front of the midpack are in & around Helena, but the 3 leading SoBo riders are some 100mi further south on the trail. 

Unless there's a scratch or significant issue up front, I think we have a good idea of our top leaderboard already. I know the rest of the field are pushing themselves and racing their races as ultracyclists can. I'll bring a few insta stories in a couple hours to show how they're getting on!

Leaders' Update

A quick note to transmit that Arya Namdol's tracker is apparently not working but she's still riding. A number of dots have been stationary a while - this may be more tracker problems.

The Tour Divide doesn't have the same close race management as other major events so scratches often take a short while to register on Trackleaders. Not hearing anything on the wires either but I'll keep you all posted.

Anyway, I promised you photos from the trail. Here we go!

Wonderful post from @ronsbikes from the first day on the trail.

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQChdnUhbio/>

Although the field is spread along the trail, there are clusters of riders using the same campsites so far. Andy Roberts made this nice update from Holland Lake

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQFZVfSizFT/>

And Ken Zylstra summed up his Sunday

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQGe07wHMjp/>

Good thing that many of the riders are finding good camp spots and lodgings with a storm passing through yesterday

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQFxdQ1j221/>

A sunset stunner from Adam Lisbonbee

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQFsUCBBdiT/>

And this morning, Andy Roberts had some good luck from a trail fairy! This kindred spirit is what makes bikepacking races like the Tour Divide special.

<https://www.instagram.com/p/CQGeRNjCAJi/>

Western Montana

The original bikepacking race faces the biggest route adjustment ever; with no Canadian leg, the route has been reduced to a border to border race. An All-American roster means this edition is set to be an exciting and unique year.

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Tour Divide (Great Divide Classic) 2021

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