Tour Divide Race: Day 9, The Women
There are an unprecedented four female racers in this year's Tour Divide race. Arizonan Deanna Adams' SPOT dot, which hadn't been reset in almost 24 hours, showed her just north of Helena. Juneau racer Jill Homer is going strong out of Lima, headed for Idaho. Tracey "T-Race" Petervary, the stoker on the Petervary bicycle-built-for-two, has pushed her husband Jay up Togwotee Pass and now they're dieseling for dusty, washboarded Union Pass in the Wind River Range.
Cricket Butler from Charlotte, North Carolina is near Grant, Montana after fending off a bear at dusk. The bear charged her but pulled up fifteen feet away. Cricket stared it down (she wasn't sure in the low light whether it was a black bear or a griz) for several minutes. The bear turned back down the trail, but that's where Cricket, wet and cold, needed to go. There's a bear "go point" that happens on the Divide on a bike--you know the bear isn't far from the trail, but you need to use that trail and late in the day you don't have the wherewithal to turn around, so you go for it. It's like running a red light at speed, only scarier. She made it to Basin where some locals fed her beer and popcorn and found her a dry room.
Matthew Lee is stocking up in Pinedale, headed for the infamously dry Great Divide Basin. Your leader will sleep in the high desert tonight.
A particularly strange call-in by Jeff Kerby, who was with me in 2007 near Como, Colorado when we saw a UFO (which wasn't flying, but it was unidentified to be sure) is causing a stir on the enduro-bike-geek forums with his call-in about running into Montana's manifestation of Pennywise the sewer clown. For a good laugh go to mtbcast.com and catch the audio. Keep in mind that Kerby is a high school English teacher in Albuquerque. It's almost as frightening as a stand-off with a bear.
--Jon Billman
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i was out in lima area trying for photos of the racers that were passing thru . matt lee had a rough time going from wise river to lima it rained all the way . the kicker for all the racers was no food to be had in this section at all . lots of mud and mosquitos .
Posted by: andy buchanan | June 20, 2009 at 10:20 PM