2011 Tour Divide Post 1: Leaders Cross Into New Mexico

By Eddie Clark  

Riders battered with rain, mud and snow despite numerous re-routes.

(June 10-16, 2011) CONTINENTAL DIVIDE, N.A.—Despite a record breaking season of snow fall for many areas of the Rocky Mountains, the 2011 Tour Divide is underway with nearly twice as many entrants as the previous year.  In all, 89 athletes are racing along the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route with 68 taking part in the southbound grand depart, 15 in the northbound grand depart and six are riding as an individual time trial.

Normally, the race covers 2745 miles of wild country along the Continental Divide, however this year the course was shortened since many of the high mountain passes were buried with incredible amounts of snow.  Race organizers accordingly created 6 detours around the nearly impassable mountains in Montana and Wyoming for the safety of the riders.  Even with the reroutes, riders were all subjected to brutal sections of hike-a-bike snow fields where they post-holed, pushed and drug their 40+ pound bikes through wet slushy snow totaling nearly 17 miles.  Some riders chose to even carry snow shoes, but most found them to be more of an impediment than and aid.

On just the second day, the leaders made their move to put the second stretch of snow that covered 9 miles to Upper Whitefish Lake behind them so they could warm up for the night in Whitefish, MT.  For the contenders, this was the first decisive race moment, and in the end roughly 20 riders made it through with a few bivying over-night near or in the snow.  Bivying near this section proved to be a terrible mistake as it rained all night while the temperatures hovered just above freezing.  More punishment in the form of bad weather was bestowed upon those who didn’t put this section behind them on the second day.  The debatable better weather definitely favored the front runners during the crossing of Montana.

Riding on a singlespeed, Jefe Branham took the lead early on by pedaling late into the night and sleeping for a few scant hours for almost the entire first week.  Behind, TD veteran Kurt Refsnider and CTR winner Ethan Passant found their rhythm and spent several days riding together through most of Montana.  On the women’s side, Caroline Soong was the leading lady as riders made their way across the green and very wet state of Montana. 

While the snowfields were put behind many riders, it was only the top 15 leaders who escaped the rain and snowstorms that battered many between Lima and the Idaho border.  The storms produced a double whammy by leaving once fast and nearly dry dirt roads a mucky muddy mess for the remaining riders to deal with.

Once in Idaho, riders had a relatively easy ride into Wyoming along the rail trail which started in Big Springs and ended at Warm River.  From there, riders took a huge reroute to the south of the Tetons through Victor and Driggs Idaho to climb up Teton Pass and into Wyoming.  The traditional route going through Grand Teton National Park, Togowotee Pass, and Union Pass was completely scrapped for good reason because of the impassable snow fields that would have been race enders for probably the entire field.  (While driving up to Montana, I stopped by the southern section of Union Pass to see firsthand the extents of the snow, and without doubt, having to push a bike through the insurmountable miles of snow over Union Pass would have resulted in dire consequences for many.)

Update: As of 8am Wednesday morning - June 22, Kurt Refsnider and Jefe Branham have crossed the New Mexico Border. Typically, the attrition rates run high with the Tour Divide and 40-50% of those who start do not finish.  Surprisingly, 69 of the 89 starters are still on course and putting miles behind them in their quest to ride the Divide.  Tune in to the Tour Divide Leaderboard for current racer locations, and also be sure to follow the MTBcast.com rider call-in's to get riders own personal accounts of their daily success and frequent tribulations.  And finally, stay tuned in to the MountainFlyerMagazine.com for more coverage and even video footage of these amazing riders contesting the longest race in the world.