Tour Divide Race: Interview With Winner Matthew Lee
I caught Matthew Lee on Wednesday while he put his feet up and enjoyed some real coffee. Matthew just won the 2009 Tour Divide race, a self-supported mountain bike race from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Lee, 38, has raced the Divide an unprecedented six times. He holds the record for the distance; this year he finished in just under 18 days. --Jon Billman
JB: You've just ridden nearly 3,000 miles and climbed 7 Mount Everests while sleeping on rocks in the rain--what's your body feel like?
ML: Jon, at first it felt fine; perhaps still in that numb state you race within for the second and third weeks. but as the hours creep by from the finish, inactivity actually brings on the discomfort associated with inactive recovery. the swelling, soreness, minor dehydration.
JB: How much weight did you lose in 17 days?
ML: I have not looked at the scales yet but by the end, I am about 10 lbs underweight. It was more coming out of MT, ID, WY, but I tried hard to get on top of it in CO and NM by gorging whenever I could and carrying more victuals between towns. I was noticing muscle loss and total fat loss coming out of what was a very, very cold first half of the race so I figured I better do more calories lest I "blow away" across the deserts of southern NM.
JB: You race all year, but you've described yourself as a Divide racing specialist, having raced 6 consecutive years and setting the Banff-to-Mexico record. Please give us a "typical" day and night for the frontrunner of the2009 TD. How do you keep the momentum up in such nasty weather? You'd said you had, what, 2 days without rain the whole race?
ML: That's right Jon. Two days without rain. As for momentum, it's tough. There are certain elements you have to try not to think too much on: comfort, eating well, sleeping well, safety. All those cares are cast with the winds. You establish a new, temporary regime on day 1 and just stick with it religiously. When the alarm on your wrist watch beeps at 4:40am, you don't roll over. not even once. you sit up, rip the sleeping bag off and suddenly you're freezing! The only solution is to get dressed. Then the only way out is to saddle up and ride. This forced routine is the key to success. If you get up and go, the biking takes care of itself. after about an hour you start to feel okay. the soreness is masked, the beauty unfolds before your eyes, perhaps a bear gives you a shot of adrenalin. This forcing continues daily until you settle into a circadian rhythm that is eventually "normal" to you. Nearly pain free (well, sort of). at night of course, the reward comes. I don't ride much after dark so as dusk settles I begin to look for the bivy spot. Fir trees are good for repelling dew. Immediately the bedroll goes down and the remaining activities take place supinated. eating. even teeth brushing! Slumber comes expectantly but still I almost never remember falling asleep. sort of like the way uncontrollable nods subconsciously hit a sleepy driver. one minute I'm there, the next minute I'm waking up to fading stars and a beeping Timex. One hand down my bike shorts, one hand still clenching yesterday's french fries.
JB: Cycling fans not familiar with this type of racing look at your gear and it appears that you're out for an hour on the bike path. What is your philosophy on going light and how well did it work in this, the year of Old Testament weather?
ML: I could have used more insulation this year Jon, but honestly I was prepared. The answer is in the simplicity of philosophy. As route engineer Adventure Cycling Association's motto says, "eat, sleep,
ride, Great Divide". This couldn't be more true when racing Tour Divide. You ride and you sleep. Any in between time is mostly devoted to eating, or brief, as I call them, "have a good life" conversations
with locals you meet "at the stoplights" (if there were any stoplights). But basically, with that simple philosophy in mind, you carry only what you need. No creature comforts; nothing. Most space is
dedicated to food other than your sleeping bag and bedroll. It's amazing how little we humans really need when it comes down to it.It's a large part of what makes divide racing such a beautiful and essential experience. It's very austere and monastic. Look how happy monks can be (i've heard)!
JB: It's not easy to lead such a long race from the start line. Where does doubt come from and how do you manage it?
ML: I race the route from memory now after 5 or six Tours Divide. Doubt, for me, comes when I'm tired and don't recognize a stretch I've undoubtedly ridden many times. It comes during storms when you're hiking your bike, wondering what speed your chasers are maintaining behind you. It comes from new aches and pains you've not felt in past races. It comes from getting older, wondering when you will lost your edge. Generally negative emotion of all types must be tuned out. Skeletons in the closet, demons, fear, doubt, pain all have a way of slowing you down. Divide racing is in many ways an out of body experience. To achieve such, you meditate and mediate your way into other worlds; you exist beyond. You think circles. You turn circles. You fly away on pedal cadence. I know it sounds hokey but it's an effective way to manage the negativity certain to come knocking.
JB: What food or beverage do you miss most when you're out there and can't get it on the Divide?
ML: Asian food. The Rockies are just simply not know for it. I crave the salt (and probably MSG) often. I dream of soft beds of white rice and tamari sauce. Of wok-fried broccoli and coconut milk soup. Of sushi and avocado.
JB: The world is watching this year via the SPOT trackers--how aware of the audience are you and how much do you think about it? Could you picture me in the dry air conditioning in pajamas with a giant bowl of hot Sumatra coffee, tracking the spots? There are thousands just like me who find it much more
interactive than watching the other Tour on Versus.
ML: The beauty of the SPOT-Casting is that you are only as aware of it as you choose to be. I reset my tracker daily and that's about it. SPOT tracking was introduced to release the Divide racer from dependency on pay phones for communication. I find I can tune out much more and have a much more solo experience using one. Sure I realize the world is watching, but there again, it doesn't serve the Divide racer to dwell much on the threshold between worlds so I prefer to be all the way gone and revel in that.
JB: You had some logistical challenges that resulted in you having to use canola oil to lube your worn-out chain. What other logistical challenges did you have out there?
ML: Yeah, I lubed my chain too many times to count each day. Eventually i just began hitting up short order cooks in towns for canola oil resupply. My race was logistically pretty trouble free. My chain issues in part relate to missing my replacement chain at the post office. I forwarded it south to Salida but by then the existing one was so worn out it had worn the cogs and rings on the drive train too much to change the chain. On advice from Absolute Bikes in Salida, I left the drivetrain intact and hoped for the best--and used lots of canola oil to keep things shifting OK.
JB: Kurt Refsnider, runner-up this year, was fast, but how aware were you of the Petervarys on Tandem-Onium? Their dust cloud must have seemed like something from a Cormac McCarthy novel. How will their ride this year fit into the lore and legend on the Continental Divide? Would townsfolk in, say, Rawlins, Wyoming, be any more surprised if a woolly mammoth trotted down Main Street?
ML: Survival in the west has traditionally been a very individual experience. However, the code of the west is one of help your neighbors. If one needed to double somebody on their horse for transportation
to the next town then so be it. Ingenuity and survival have always been primary qualities for existence along the Divide. From the get-go the Divide has attracted gritty, wiley types. Plenty of freaks too. It must be something about the energy of the Divide. Its not a vortex but an energy vertex. As such, nothing stays the same very long; everything just passing through. The tandem-onium fits right in with that. A couple freaks riding a bicycle built for two just passing through, like the rest of us. I think it was great for Jay and Tracey to go for such a huuuge challenge and take the weather in stride so cheerfully. They are truly positive people and are cut from just the cloth necessary for such an adventure. I admit I fully expected them to catch me in the flats with the speed those things can carry.
JB: What's the most memorable day of this year's race?
ML: For me I'd have to say opening day was pretty fantastic. There were more fast guys up front pushing the pace through God's beautiful country in the Canadian Rockies than ever before. It was an honor to be in the mix and felt like a real coming of age for Divide racing. Then, at the end of the day, a solid lead was delivered to me as a veteran of the race, by way of fellow competitors choosing a 10:30pm motel while 25 miles of nighttime pavement lay in front of me to the heart of the Canadian Flathead valley. It was a ticket to take the reigns and see how long I could hold them. I had a conversation with myself about it as I listened to fellow competitors wrestle over where to end their day at the Sparwood A&W. I knew I must go and go alone. I did not encourage any collaborations. It was sweet and lonely that night but it proved to be the winning move so I'm glad I went for it.
JB: 2009 established Tour Divide as the premier Divide race and now even casual cyclists are aware of it and turning into "blue dot junkies." Where do you see Tour Divide evolving? Are you concerned that any unique qualities of the race are in danger?
ML: As long as the uniquities are paramount, It can remain essential. They must be protected for all they are worth. That said, all things mature and there will always be a retro-grouch in every crowd who
refuses to be pleased. Less government, not more has always been a guiding principle of the racing. It will be interesting to see if it can remain a totally democratic event going forward. I certainly hope so. I have always believed we should let Darwinism manage Divide racing but just as Darwinism is not necessarily the best form of management for the increasing global perspective, it may not always work for Divide racing either. Racing the Divide the way it was intended is super hard. Not for 99% of cyclists. It's important to convey that to prospectors in preserving an open participation format. Just because one can race without scrutiny of regulating bodies doesn't mean one should race. It's certainly not for everyone.
JB: I've called you the "Poet Laureate of the Continental Divide" in the past. You're truly in love with the Divide. What is it about the formation and it's history and wildness that you seem to be acutely aware of when many in the field simply want to ride it fast so they can get the hell home?
ML: As I mentioned before, the energy there is good. The people are unique. The history is very mixed and I embrace that despite all the done-wrongs. It's peppered with National gems and Superfund sites. Trailer parks sit among mansions. I love that disparity. It was literally the cliff from which America's westward expansion stood briefly, looking into the abyss beyond, wondering what's next; the jumping off point. I also am embedded because 5 or 6 generations of my family settled the Snake River Valley of Idaho not 75 miles from some of the most beautiful sections of the Divide. Taken from the land to the East Coast by my Professor father before I was even born created a gradient for me to get back to the motherland as much as I could. Early family road trips were back to the Divide for trout fishing and family reunions. It became, and still is, a place, a smell, a feel I cannot get enough of.
JB: What's next for Matthew Lee? Any truth to the rumors that you and former GDR record holder Mike Curiak may race it as a tandem team in 2010? Who'd captain, who'd stoke?
ML: HaHa! We might have to schedule counseling along the way. I think maybe Mike only knows how to captain. In all seriousness, I don't see myself staying away. I'd like to ride more of the bike-legal CDT sections as well. I'd like to do the GDMBR on a motorcycle too, and carry the kitchen sink. A long-term goal of mine is to continue to work with Adventure Cycling Association to improve small sections of the route--like the Flathead addition to this year's race. There are places where slightly more remote alternates can slowly be introduced to the existing route to improve the wildness of the route. As you know development is rampant along the Divide so fighting for that remote feeling is a work in progress.
--Jon Billman
Picture: Matthew Lee prepares to cross a washed-out bridge, North Fork of the Flathead, Montana. (Andrew Geiger)
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Awesome interview; having dabbled in long-distance self-supported biking, I loved this: "You exist beyond. You think circles. You turn circles. You fly away on pedal cadence." Matthew Lee is, indeed, the Poet Laureate of the Continental Divide.
Posted by: Jonny Waldman | July 02, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Thanks Jon & Matthew for putting this together. Very insightful.
And congrats to the undisputed king of the Tour, Matthew Lee, on another winning finish;)
Posted by: RichNYC | July 02, 2009 at 07:05 PM
Nice Article. Must be one heck of a race.
Posted by: john clotfelter | July 04, 2009 at 04:37 AM
Great job with this blog and the interview Jon- I loved following the leaderboard and reading your take along the way...too bad Jeff had suck a crappy time in MT, huh?
-Chauncey
Posted by: Chaunceu Matthews | July 07, 2009 at 02:44 PM
Congratulations Matthew! I really enjoyed reading this and hearing of your win! I met you two years ago in Banff when you came into the bike shop I was working, ever since I have been inspired to ride this trail! I'm now back in Banff and starting to plan a three week tour along the CDT mid August! So excited about what this trip will reveal, and thank you for your inspiration!
Posted by: Mat | July 13, 2009 at 11:58 AM