I have literally just touched down back in Denver, but while I was racing, there was an intense interest in my race, no doubt because I decided to take the standard, completely snowed-in route – and completed every part of the race that was rerouted because of snow. To find out there was so much inspiration developed from following such a folley while racing was a total surprise. Until I can reasonably collect my thoughts, here’s a link dump of some of the articles/blog posts/etc written about the race I road. Thank yous are on the way,
Cycling News listed all Tour Divide Grand Départ Riders
Being mentioned on Cycling News seemed pretty rad.
Jill Homer gives some perspective on how and why I took the reroute,
On the second day of the race, while everyone else turned south on the
highway reroute in British Columbia, Justin set out alone toward
the remote and rugged Flathead Valley. When the muddy track of
the official course became clogged with snow, he strapped on his
snowshoes and continued on foot. When he encountered roaring stream
crossings, he removed all of his footwear and hoisted his bike through
the rushing water. He crossed into Montana and triumphantly
tweeted, “Traversed Flathead safely and in style in the first annual
Tour Divide Mountaineering-Bikepacking Super Challenge! Next:
Whitefish Divide!” He was already officially in last position.
Kent Peterson has written quite a bit about this year’s Tour Divide and
offers some more perspective in a few articles he’s written:
This year’s Tour Divide Race has the largest number of racers ever and epic snow levels lead to the decision to allow the racers to follow an alternate route,
bypassing the snow-choked passes of the Flathead Region. All racers but
one, speeding southward, chose the Fernie Alternate Route, bypassing
the Flathead Region. The one exception, Justin Simoni from Denver Colorado, is taking the long way, the hard way through the snow.
Kent also mentioned me in an article about Technology and the Tour Divide,
My god some of the conditions this year are horrible!
Justin
Simoni is one brave, smart, stylish, tough dude. See the picture at the
top of this page? Picture it covered with snow. That’s the ridge along
the edge of Richmond Peak, and I’m pretty sure that’s about the spot
where Justin and his bike tumbled down the mountain. BTW, it’s steeper
than it looks in the picture. Justin climbed back up and carried on.
Several days later when he climbed Union Pass to find that the top of
the mountain was a dazzling white undifferentiated snow, he wisely
retreated to get better maps and some sunglasses. And then he went back
up and over, barely paused at Pinedale and pushed on into the Basin.
Sitting here in the world where hot coffee is at my fingertips and my
main effort is clicking a mouse to refresh a screen filled with blue
dots, I can only say “Well played, Mr. Simoni, well played!”
I’ll be talking to Kent some more in the coming days for an after-Tour Divide question/answer session
My riding also inspired help with another fundraiser, this time to help a scholarship fund for a daughter of a rider that sadly, lost his life last year. An anonymous donor was matching funds raised by the selling of a book on Tour Divide riders writings,
Yesterday I was contacted by a fan of the Tour Divide Race who has
offered up a Cordillera sales matching challenge to the entire
Bikepacking community!For every Cordillera Volume 2 sold from now until the day that
Justin Simoni reaches Antelope Wells (or quits) the donor will make an
equal donation to Linnaea Blumenthal’s college fund. He’s matching the
full $15 purchase price for each book sold!This is incredible! Now, thanks to this generous match over $21 from
each and every Cordillera Volume 2 sold will go directly into Linnaea
Blumenthal’s college 529 savings plan.There is no maximum donation. The donor is prepared to lay out some
serious cash to help Linnaea but he’s challenging all of us pull a
little harder too. So please everyone, even if you have purchased a
copy of the Cordillera please buy another copy or two. They make great
gifts and have been getting terrific reviews so I know your friends and
family will want their own copy.If you don’t know about the Cordillera Volume 2 check out this thread: http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,2096.0.html
Purchase your copy here: https://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-cordillera/15659154
A most amazing surprise.
I’ll add more articles/posts when I find them/they find me,
