Racing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route

As reported in a press release dated June 12, the 2009 Tour Divide is underway, with 42 racers attempting to time trial the broad expanses of wild country separating Banff, Alberta, and Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Who are these 42 intrepid, energetic (and crazy?) people? There’s not room here to tell about them all, but here are some bits about a handful of them.

Veteran mountain-bike endurance racer Jay Petervary of Wilson, Wyoming, won the 2007 Great Divide Race in a record time that stood for just one year. This year Jay and his wife, Tracy, are going for a different kind of record: the first tandem team to complete the Tour Divide.

Deanna Adams is a 20-year-old student from Prescott, Arizona. Deanna, who has epilepsy, has been racing bicycles for the past four years. To make matters even tougher than they need to be, she’s attempting the ride on a road bike converted to a single speed, outfitted with relatively modest cyclocross tires. Kurt Refsnider is a seasoned road and cyclocross racer from Boulder, Colorado, who documented his training leading up to the race at the blog Kurt's Going Nuts, while Jill Homer, of Juneau, Alaska, is a keen north-country cyclist perhaps best known the Lower 48 for her Up in Alaska blog. And check out this story about Yakima, Washington’s Eric Bruntjen, who while competing is raising funds to help purchase an all-terrain wheelchair for a wounded Army veteran.

I see several well-known endurance riders among the domestic crowd who are potential victors in this year’s race, including three past winners. But I’m wondering if there might be a ringer among the foreign riders coming in from Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and Austria. It’s really fun, and slightly addictive, watching the little SPOT GPS symbols moving from north to south on the Tour Divide leader board (it's also fun reading about the mental and physical anguish and exultation these people go through). The winner will probably reach the finish line--that would be the New Mexico/Chihuahua border--around June 25 or 26, so tap in soon to have a look.

Also be aware that writer Jon Billman is blogging about this year’s race at Outside Online. Jon’s article “The World’s Toughest Bike Race Is Not in France,” about his experiences riding the 2007 Great Divide Race, appeared in the August 2008 print version of Outside magazine. You can read it here.

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Biking Without Borders is written by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling’s field editor. It appears weekly, highlighting a little bit of this or a little bit of that--just about anything, as long as it’s related to traveling by bicycle.