2,500 Mile Mountain Bike race/ride

[sizlinseagulsoup]

For all interested parties, I’m heading out to the Great Divide Race (http://www.greatdividerace.com) tomorrow morning and start racing Friday at noon. As I know a decent amount of people on the forum, I figured you might be interested in this. Anyways, there will be text updates (http://greatdividerace.blogspot.com) and audio updates (Thanks to MTBcast.com) (http://mtbcast.com) on the internet for the race, and I've also asked some friends and family to keep some personal updates on my blog (http://www.thestaticnetwork.com/monty).

See ya’ll in a few weeks.

My bike, ready to go!
http://www.spokefolks.com/images/user/full/sizlinseagulsoup_1150859584.jpg

[splat]

good luck kevin

[Ben-O]

I was just browsing the GDR website--wow!

Good luck and have a blast. After all that dirt, I doubt your bike will ever be that clean again!

[Superb Man]

Awesome! Does Stamstad still do those epic races??

What a cool event.

Liam

[MissJean]

Good luck!

Beth & I met some of Great Divide racers last year when we were riding out there on the Montana section of the Divide. They rode unbelievably light, with just the most bare essentials.
They were very interesting people, very friendly, but a tiny bit nuts (in a good way :)) One guy rode his bike to the race from Washington state!

[AA]

Good luck Kevin, make sure to take lots of pictures. The GDR is an adventure of a lifetime for sure..... oh yea dont forget the Grizzly spray :o

[pk]

Good for you, Kevin!!!

I current SingleTracks has an article about riding the Continental Divide. It looks amazing!

pk

[radair]

Hey, good luck and have a blast.

How long do you anticipate you will be riding? It would seem like close to a month would not be unreasonable...

[Jisch]

Wow, good luck! Take good notes and save up those stories. We wanna hear them...

John

[Slider]

Only one question. How evenly spaced are the hot tubs and massage stations? I wouldn't want to hit a 20 mile stretch without either or both. You ought to check with the promoters. ;D

Slider

[ArmOnFire]

I was on the GDR blog and saw *this* (http://greatdividerace.blogspot.com/2006/06/527-pm-mdt-june-25-2006-06-25-232704.html)

Someone also had their bike stolen!

This should provide for some interested reading for weeks to come.

**Great Divide Race blog** (http://www.greatdividerace.blogspot.com/)

[Slider]

Hang in there Kevin!

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[Slider]

Your blog posts sound promising, Kevin. Glad the knee hasn't given it up yet. Best luck.

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[Scott O]

Sounds like Kevin's knee is not slowing him down too much at this point.


I love this quote from the blog today from one of the other riders:

"I'm still sick, so I did a short day today, just whatever 45-50 miles."

Nothing like a "short" 50 miler when you're sick.

[Slider]

Yeah, but this post really brings home just how much FUN these endurance events are. ;D

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1:05 PM MDT June 28 (2006-06-28 19:05:03 GMT) - Hey this is Matt Chester in Basin, Montana. As Rudi mentioned earlier, I've had to drop out of the race for quite a few reasons actually. On of which, I actually twisted my forks uh, twisted both the blades and one dropout pretty far out of plane, actually when I dropped the bike in order to throw up. This whole deal has been quite an eye-opener for me. It's been really really really difficult. I've basically been battling issues from the start, mostly since day two. I've got two badly infect saddle sores. When I was filtering water on day two I fell in the creek and soaked my shoes. I was running skate shoes with Suntour XC Pro clip and strap pedals, which pretty much blew out the midsoles of my shoes. So, both of my big toes are badly bruised. My feet are badly bruised. Both my achilles are super swollen up to the point where it's difficult to walk. And I've just had two days of complete bodily shutdown. I mean uh, coming into this race I should have probably been a little bit fitter, uh, cuz it's just an unbelievable workload doing this on a fixed gear. I'll talk more about that. I'm going to hitch a lift to Butte on the highway and once I get stuff situated there a little bit more I'll give everybody a little insight on what it's like trying to ride this route direct drive. It's uh, pretty incredible really. That's it, and I'll call you guys soon. Bye.

[heckler]

Yeah, when i saw that guy was doing it on a fixie I had to wonder what he was taking! Even an SS would be insane but a fixie? Way bigger cahones than I can even imagine.

[SuspectDevice]

Kevin is by far the coolest person I ever worked with in a bikeshop. What an awesome opportunity. I just hope he doesn't hate his bike by the end of it!

[ArmOnFire]

I have never met Kevin, but it is pretty cool to have someone we "know" updating on the blog.

He is even donating money to the guy who had his bike stolen, and wore out the back tire.
link (http://greatdividerace.blogspot.com/2006/06/602-pm-mdt-june-29-2006-06-30-000246.html)

[radair]

So here's one thing that struck me: Matt Chester builds custom ti frames (http://www.mattchester.com/index.php). Do you think it's good press for him to say he totally bent his fork and is dropping out?

It's cool to follow the progress anyway.

[splat]

I have never met Kevin, but it is pretty cool to have someone we "know" updating on the blog.

He is even donating money to the guy who had his bike stolen, and wore out the back tire.
link (http://greatdividerace.blogspot.com/2006/06/602-pm-mdt-june-29-2006-06-30-000246.html)


I have ridden with Kevin Many times , Great Guy ! wish him all the best.

[Slider]

Kevin, in 2nd, 300 miles back as of noon Friday. Yeah!

We know you can outsprint that fellow wheelsucking you, Kevin. ;D

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[Slider]

So here's one thing that struck me: Matt Chester builds custom ti frames (http://www.mattchester.com/index.php). Do you think it's good press for him to say he totally bent his fork and is dropping out?

It's cool to follow the progress anyway.


Prolly a case of "stupid light." Must be tempting to push the limits on a race like this one.

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[Slider]

Sorry to see that you had to end it, Kevin. I hope those knees come around soon. If nothing else, you'll have a better grasp of what you need to do next time around.

Nice job!

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[sizlinseagulsoup]

Yep, unfortunately I had to drop. I took 230 pictures of the mere 1,000 miles I accomplished--I hope to get those up in a few days.

I'm going to start up a pretty hard-core training schedule for next year. I only have 3 days of classes next semester, so I'm going to try to do 1,500-2,000 miles a month (weather/rest periods depending)

Should be ready for next year! Those knees better get whipped into shape!

[Jisch]

I'm not a vegan, but I am a vegetarian (I eat dairy and eggs), I couldn't imagine changing my diet that drastically and trying to do a race like that. It must have been difficult/impossible. Kudos to you for making it as far as you did. Amazing.

John