Tour Divide 2012 - Race Day

Gorgeous sunny morning!  Up about 6 am.  When I say "up" I mean got out of bed.  Had a real hard time sleeping trying to manage my excitement and my fear.  Some final prep on the bike and out to fuel up and chat with some of the racers that I will never see again after the start.  I was not expecting to keep up with the top racers.  Crazy Larry again very present, getting everyone to sign his book and give quick video interviews. 

 

7:45 - Group Picture
7:50 - Off to the start and so it begins. 

Check out this video of the start! http://youtu.be/dx5eNlqmEfI

I was feeling like I really accomplished something taking my first pedal over the quite unceremonious start line at the trailhead.  The hours,days and months of obsessing over training, searching gear, logistics, maps, food choices and other riders stories was suddenly paying off.  The sad goodbye at the airport saying goodbye to my family and having my kids hugging me so tight I could sense their fear, was still front and center in my mind.  This is crazy.

 My first real goal was accomplished.  Showing up and and pedalling over the line.  No turning back now.  Spent the first couple hours enjoying myself.  I was trying to fit in to the pecking order constantly evaluating riders as I past them or they passed me.  I was focused on my next goal. Elkwood which was 110 miles.

My joy soon changed to misery.  The rain started and didn't let up.  The mud was relentless and I was very cold.  Lost my rain gloves when I stopped to get a snack.  Dummy. Guess I didn't pack them right.  Stopped at a trading post about 60 miles in and bought a pair of dish gloves in a week effort to warm my hands.  About a dozen were riders fighting for canopy space to dry off and get warm.  Poor girls at the cash! Took me a while to get comfortable again and get back out there. Wondering what I was getting into at this point.

 I was not preparing for the next few miles! Hit Elk Pass and immediately hit a pusher of a climb and the snow began!  I have heard the reports and seen the pictures of the racers pushing through the snow but to be here was a different thing entirely.  I mild panic set in as I had never experienced this before and there was no way to know how much to expect, 20 minutes or 6 hours.  I soon found comfort knowing that I was following other racers as I was literally walking in there footsteps, and that became my motivation.  It was my goal to catch someone everyday and never be caught!  So like a hunter and the prey I pushed through step by step, stopping to clean off the snow every once and a while that built up on the bike.  Through the snow to the mile of  the thick unrideable mud of the divide pass under the hydro lines and down the other side.

Soon caught up to Michael Clevland.  Great guy!  Think he was as happy as I was to have someone to ride with to push through to Elkford with.  The town that seemed like it would never come.  In the snow pushing through climbs  my cycle computer decided to stop working (no it wasn't just the magnet) I had no idea how far I had left as I was only depending on the map cues and my own mental ability to measure time and space (which is less than remarkable).  It was an agonizing, cold anticipation hoping to dear God that over every hill I could see the lights of Elkford.  I was hungry, tired, my hands were numb, and as the sun set and  we continued in darkness. I reached for my headlight which apparantly was turned on inside my pack so instead of fishing through my  pack in the dark for batteries I grabbed my maglight, held it in my hand and rode into town.  Hotel full, restraunt closed.  Grabbed a beef sandwhich from a liquor store fridge and headed across to the campsite cook shelter. Laid my bag out at about 11pm, between tables and other racers and involuntarily shook all night.  Day one 110 miles to Elkford complete!