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Tracking Svein Tuft from Nelson BC.

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It’s 6:45pm here in BC. Svein Tuft is in a great position, and strong. He’s in 2nd place on the tail of Robin Gemperle from Switzerland. Robin appears to have rode all night with no sleep getting a jump on everyone, but he is slowing down. This strategy is never a given that it will work. Maintaining without sleep is the biggest test of endurance. Records are being broken by last years winner Justinas Leveika from Lithuania who broke the men’s record in 2023. Svein is currently about 10klm ahead of Justinas record, and Robin is 45klm ahead of that. The question is—when will he fall asleep? Hopefully not in the saddle. Newbies following DOT tracker, take note there are riders that are touring riders, some from the north and some south, so it can look confusing. You can click on the dots to get beta on each rider. Svein is ST, it’s their initials. If they have a projected time of more than say 25, they are likely not in it to win it. If they get to a point where their chance of winning i...
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2025 Tour Divide Get Glued

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Nelsonite Svein Tuft is one of the leading riders to watch this year. As I type this evening he is in 1st position. Meanwhile a bunch of riders are grabbing a hot dog in Fernie. It’s critical to sleep but some don’t for a couple of nights pushing the limits. Veteran rider Joe Nation from New Zealand is back. Check this link out to learn about the route, the weather, the racers and more. https://bikepacking.com/plog/2025-tour-divide-preview/
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FINISHED!

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Well there ya have it!  Congratulations Dave!!  Tim and a whole bunch of people burned the midnight candle last night to witness Dave's dot bounce on the finish line at 11:59pm PDT July 2nd, 2023.  Photo: Doug's notes:  This has been so amazing to watch what these riders must have endured. You can only guess what it's like because there is no time for them to keep followers informed. However, our dear friend Doug that I've mentioned before,  played a guessing game, and I must say he did it very well. He's spent the past 24 days anticipating and living what it must be like for Dave out there. He'd sleep not much more than Dave, awake when he was, jumping on his own bike at home to spin a few for himself. He'd lay out what the day ahead might look like for Dave. Then he'd text, text, text to let us know where Dave might sleep, where he might eat, the altitude gains, the downhills, the weather and so on. He'd even check out the food options. Last night ...
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WINNERS and SCRATCHERS

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Winners and scratchers all happening in significant numbers since my last blog. On June 23, 2023 these three reached their goal on the 2745 mile race on the extreme continental divide route.  Note-  the great throw together podium.    FIRST WINNERS Ulrich (Uba) Bartholmoes from Germany finishing first in the 2023 Tour Divide with a time of just 14 days, 3 hours and 23 minutes, making the second-fastest time ever recorded.  Followed by Justinas Leveika from Lithuania who finished second at a time of 14 days, 16 hours, and 57 minutes and Joe Nation from New Zealand takes third place.  (The men's record still belongs to the legendary late British rider Mike Hall, who finished in 13 days, 22 hours, and 51 mintutes.) Sadly Mike was struck and killed instantly by a car on an inaugural 5000km Indian Pacific Wheel Race across Australia on March 31 in 2017.  We chuckled looking at the photo of Justinas. It's obvious in his outfit that he did what Tim spoke of d...
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DAVE UPDATE

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Dave is still well ahead of the broom. The broom is a location on the track map where your dot turns white if you're not keeping up to race speeds, you'd then be considered in touring mode rather than race.  Dave's wife Linda is in touch with him and keeping us up-to-date on how he's doing behind the dot. They had their first phone call on June 19th.  Dave is now in sync with a new race friend -  Erich Gnewikow, 44 years old from Missoula, MT. They both had some issues with their bikes and cold. When they arrived at Pinedale MT they took a room there for 2 nights to regroup and do some fixing. They've had their fair share of peanut butter mud during these storms. To a point where you are not riding or pushing your bike anymore, but rather dragging it forward as the wheels no longer turn with clay mud locking everything up.  Yesterday June 20th, they made it to Atlanta, Wyoming and report having had a better day. Starting off warm and rested and not having to deal wi...
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22 HOURS AT ALTITUDE

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The title of this blog sounds like a lead into one I used to do with our teams on Everest.  Dave reached Pine Dale, Wyoming an elevation of 7175ft/2187m.  He’s almost at the half way mark with one of the extreme challenges ahead of him. The Great Basin in Colorado where he will cycle for 100 miles without access to water.  I was catching up on the three leaders. Things start to hit the wall at this point. Some who went too hard too early are starting to suffer the consequences. It was interesting to learn that leader Ulrich who was the front runner for most of the race early on, was suffering from swollen ankles. This is what happened to Tim as well as his butt. We were trying to figure out what was wrong. As it was painful and looked worrisome to me. Apparently from sitting in the saddle too long in cold and wet, your Achilles starts to tighten over time. Ulrich is nursing this condition by lowering his seat a bit and now in the dryer weather it will hopefully help....
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GOT GRANDPA!

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 I’ve got grandpa! He proudly says he actually got called that at one point on the trail.  He’s on the mend now after 2 days off the saddle  He’s eating a lot  Yesterday he had his ritual cheerios and yogurt. Followed by fruit salad, 2 egg and cheese buns, 2 avocado and cheese buns, 2 donuts, popcorn, 5 Bavarian sausages, 3 baked potatoes and the whole bowl of Greek salad. Dave is moving along at a good pace according to his track and beta from the track leaders site. He’s now cycled 962 miles. Yesterday the track dots changed colour for some. Those who have fallen too far back from finishing in the running time are now white dots and categorized as touring instead of racing. I'm not sure on the percentage of drops out yet, but there appears to be a few.  I also see a larger separation between those in the upper times, more resting time as they are getting tired and starting to have more fun. There is also more paring up in groups of two. The three leaders are t...
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