(update 7/8/16 – 11:45am) Hal Russell, 67 from Osceola, MO finished his 4th straight Tour Divide yesterday. Hal is 67, and easily the oldest finisher this year. In fact he was 7 years older than the next finisher. A huge congrats to Hal and his will and determination to take on the Tour Divide year after year. His finishing call in shares his gratitude to his family, followers and fellow tour divide racers. Listen to it here…
(update 7/7/16 – 8:15) An update on Facebook from Larry Melnik— “here it is…This is what I found out ~ from a guest Rancher /Owner.via direct phone call. Connor rode into the Heart Six Guest Ranch…late last night. He wanted a place to stay. They were outta cabins. So being a NEW owner, and hearing about there are going to be more and more riders coming through…he STILL wanted to be nice and so gave him the tepee at the back of the property. Connor hit the Ranch Cafe; he gave him some towels; soap and things so at least he could take a shower. HE didn’t look good he said. His face, looked swollen and he just didn’t look good. probably not; he just bolted and caught Mike Hall’s W.R. pace time. + 1hr and a few. So someone offered to bring him to the hospital as he requested to go to one. So he said he would like to see his mom and go to the Salt Lake City hospital but pass right by his mom’s house before doing so. So they gave him a ride; allowed him to keep his bike and things right on site. So THAT is the reason why his GPS SPOT is STILL tracking. He’s already left the area to go to a hospital but before doing so…see his mom; as she was leaving to go somewhere’s ? Re: a trip or something. So they went and left the Ranch.” Not sure what to make of it all, but it seems like Connor is not in a good place. (update 7/7/16 – 4:30pm) First and foremost, congrats to everyone that has participated in this year’s Tour Divide. We are coming up on the 30 day marker meaning the race is nearing an end. It was an exciting year with more records, stories, and broken bike parts. We will be back with our final thoughts next week. O’Leary’s Progress We have not updated much on Connor O’Leary’s progress since he started on July 1st. He was rocking a wicked fast pace, even ahead of Mike Hall’s time from last month. Yesterday he made it through Idaho, and past Jackson Lake in record time. Last night around 8:00pm MDT, we looked at the tracker and noticed he had not been moving for roughly 50 minutes. We didn’t really think much of it, just that he was either eating or resting early. This afternoon a friend mentioned that he had not moved for a good while. We looked at the tracker and noticed he had been in that same spot for 20 hours. It looked like he backtracked on route to a teepee behind Heart Six Guest Ranch.67 year old Hal Russell with an awesome finish call in after his 4th straight #tourdivide. https://t.co/haqgH8CtDb
— Bikepackers Magazine (@BikepackersMag) July 8, 2016


Giving the 2,754 mile Tour Divide another go, this time raising money for Testicular Cancer. Please donate/RETWEET. https://t.co/CcAPffEMuH — Connor O’Leary (@Coleary00) June 24, 2016His Trackleaders profile shows his goal of 14 days, a mighty big feat for basically a first timer down the divide, but Connor has plenty of cycling experience competing in road biking on the national level. It should be interesting to watch his splits compared to Mike Hall in the next few days to get a good idea of his intentions. Here is a video from last year before he took off. Follow the CO dot here… http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide16 (update 6/30/16 – 8:30am) A big congrats goes out to Australian Jackie Bernardi for winning the women’s race of the Tour Divide. Jackie was as consistent as she could be, finishing in just under 20 days. In a year where the woman racers were few and far between, Jackie held her own beating the majority of the men down the continent. We wish Jackie the best of luck with her recovery and hope to see her again soon.

MTBCast: Tour Divide ’16 – Bonnie Gagnon called in from near Teton https://t.co/qD7J4hJbW6 — Bikepackers Magazine (@BikepackersMag) June 30, 2016<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>MTBCast: Tour Divide '16 – Bonnie Gagnon called in from near Teton <a href=”https://t.co/qD7J4hJbW6″>https://t.co/qD7J4hJbW6</a></p>— Bikepackers Magazine (@BikepackersMag) <a href=”https://twitter.com/BikepackersMag/status/748375340494557184″>June 30, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script> (update 6/28/17 – 12:00pm) Past Tour Divide participant, Jesse Carlsson is stoked for his boy Gareth Pellas. (update 6/28/16 7:00am) After what is arguably the best performance in Tour Divide history, we caught up with the record holder himself, Mike Hall, to get the scoop from his extremely clean run down the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
Profile: We caught up with Mike Hall(@Normally_Human) after a few #tourdivide recovery days.https://t.co/la1C2UgXeM pic.twitter.com/KdZsraa8Rd — Bikepackers Magazine (@BikepackersMag) June 30, 2016(update 6/27/16 – 6:00pm) As racers start to finish and we hear back from them, we will be introduced to stories and how racers are getting back into civilization. Recover is difficult, but the body gets so used to cycling for weeks on end, when you stop, there is certainly some frustrations. This in from Chris Plesko earlier today.
It’s (very) good to be home. I alternate between feeling sort of normal and totally destroyed. Ridiculous eating. Need to sleep more. Unpacking and cleaning is sort of underway. I want to do more but sometimes I cannot get up from where I’m sitting.3rd Place is a tie! A huge congrats to these two for taking a gentleman’s tie for 3rd place. Kevin was 2nd in the singlespeed category and Sofiane wore the best jersey of the divide this year. Congrats boys! (update 6/26/16 – 10:00am) Linda Guerrette has been out taking some fantastic photos since racers approached Colorado, a big thanks to her for these awesome images, be sure to give here a like on facebook to check out a lot of fantastic mountain bike photos in the state of Colorado and beyond.
(update 6/25/16 – 11:00am) This update is coming a bit premature as I will be busy with my sisters wedding. As I speak, Guy Martin is nearing the finish wnd will have a finishing time in the 18 day range. More importantly, the man of the hour or the next few hours will be Chris Plesko. Chris is projected to finish in roughly 10 hours. We are really excited for chris as he will most certainly be breaking his own single speed record. Congrats, Chris! (update 6/25/16 – 7:30am) Mike Hall made his last MTBCast call in last night. He thanked all of his supporters and the Pivot folks for picking him up. He also spoke about issues he had with his tires.Two friends enjoying some pedal time in wide open spaces. #tourdivide2016 #tourdivide #salsacycles #salsacutthroat #gravelisyourfriend #gravel #gravelasfarasyoucansee #rockymountainendurance #coloradolive #unlearnpavement #bikes #bikeracing #bikestagram @bikepackersmag @salsacycles #coloradobiking #coloradogravel A photo posted by @lindaguerrettephotography on
MTBCast: Tour Divide ’16 – Mike Hall called in with his finish call! https://t.co/4y2ohdXXxF — Bikepackers Magazine (@BikepackersMag) June 25, 2016Rookie Andrew Kulmatiski Out Quitting just to quit is one thing, quitting for a mechanical is another. The latter happened to rookie Andrew Kulmatiski a day ago. As a result he had to call it in northern New Mexico. here is what he said on Facebook.
It was a great race, ended prematurely due to a blown rear derailleur after over 2000 mi of racing. Only 550 mi to the finish, but I was out of time on my schedule and losing more than a day for repairs wasn’t going to work. Time to go play with Otter.(update 6/25/15 – 9:30am) And here is some more fun coverage from Pivot Cycles. (update 6/24/16 – 9:00AM) Mike Podium photos. Mike was picked up by the Pivot Cycles crew, big shoutout to Rachel Byus for these photos.











Chris was feeling good. He was getting lube before hitting the road. He was getting some food. Got a once over of the bike. He wanted to make the most of the last shop. He is tired and he really wants to get this done. Definitely feeling the wear and tear.










Stories of the Tour Divide The divide is not always kind, but it gives back when it can. Listen to the story from our friend Bobby Wintle…
MTBCast: Tour Divide ’16 – Bobby Wintle called in from Lima – Great story here…https://t.co/eMPAqhh9mF — Bikepackers Magazine (@BikepackersMag) June 19, 2016(update 6/17/16 2:51PM) Looks like Terry Smith, AKA Guy Martin is a bit off route. It looks like he is taking the easy way into Clark, Colorado which will bypass The Brush Mt. Lodge. http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide16i.php?name=Terry_Smith




The soil has turned to that peanut butter sort of mud that sticks and sticks and makes your bike nothing but a big messy anchor. I try to rally my forces and push hard, but the mud shuts me down. I scrape the mud off, wash the bike in streams. I feel a scream of pure desperation gathering in my throat. I try and use the energy to just keep pushing, dragging the bike through the mud. Then is starts to snow, again. I swear I was as close to cracking right then and there, as ever before in my life. I muttered to myself “what do I do, what do I do?” only there is no answer forth coming. only more mud, more snow, more wind. In a move of pure heated frustration I hurl myself and my bike into the sage brush in mad sprint for release.

MTBCast: Tour Divide ’16 – Mike Hall called in from Lima https://t.co/bL8kLnmazp — Bikepackers Magazine (@BikepackersMag) June 15, 2016Mike will soon be making his way through Wyoming and into the Great Basin eventually, where wind will play a huge factor. Russ Kipp reported this just after Mike left the High Country Lodge Yesterday.
Mike looked pretty tired when he arrived last night, the food, shower and bed did him good. He looked much stronger this morning although he has a cough; which I understand many riders do because of the rain and cold in Canada.


Weather Unlike last year’s opening day drench, this year the rain seemed to hold off until more recently. The past few days have been wet for racers, Randy Neill is reporting he got snowed on up on Whitefish yesterday, furthermore he ran into a number of bears and had quite the night. If you have a spare 4 minutes, I think it’s worth listening to the emotion of his call-in. It goes without saying that the Tour Divide is one “Epic” experience, as he says.
MTBCast: Tour Divide ’16 – Randy Neill called in from Whitefish https://t.co/iaO8lDgBgy — Bikepackers Magazine (@BikepackersMag) June 15, 2016Looking at the forecast for the next few days along the route, it looks like more rain, and a slight chance of snow at higher elevations through Montana. It looks like the further south down the route, the better off riders are as far as precipitation is concerned. While precipitation may fade, winds will be a big factor into Wyoming. Winds will continue to gust high from the southwest in Idaho and Wyoming the next few days, which will certainly frustrate some of the leaders, especially once they hit the unprotected Great Basin.

Notable Drops Many times people drop because they have no idea what they are getting involved with, other times, it’s because of injury or even worse, a rider/vehicle accident on route. This year, a lot of veterans have pulled from the race. Josh Kato – Words from Josh on Bikepacking.net
I’m out of contention for the first rider to pie. Since my encounter with a motorist who wanted to make a grave marker out of a cyclist on the Grave Creek Road after Eureka, MT I’ve been unable to properly race. When the truck driver aimed at me I had no choice but to head off the road. Anyone that has been on that road knows that the right side drops a long ways down into Grave Creek. Basically, to keep myself and bike from ending up at the bottom of the canyon my legs/feet were twisted in the rocks on the hillside. There is only so fast a guy can go while eating Aleve and Advil like M&M’s (plus I don’t professionally recommend it at all). My left knee took the brunt of the twisting and while I could ocassinally go quickish things kept declining. By the time I got just past Helena I couldnt go more than 10mph on the flats with a tailwind. Lots of stuff can happen out there. Dropping out because of a self-sustained injury like crashing in mud or pushing my body too hard would be painful but acceptable. Ending my race, while feeling in the best physical condition of my life, because of an act of another person is unacceptable. This was going to be the last of my racing. I’ve never been all about records or first place. It’s always been the journey. Now… I’ll be backSeb Dunne Liam Crowley
Where is that famous guy? Some seem to care, others don’t, but we will share this mystery in any event. It appears that Guy Martin is not on the tracker, but there are reports that he is out there. This is from Kathy from Ovando on Bikepacking.net talking about possibly seeing this mysterious man down route.
I have been reading all the stuff about a Guy Martin. I do know it is not Greg May, as photo to be posted soon will verify. HOWEVER…. there was an interesting man in Ovando yesterday (6/13/16) who left around 6pm. Longish brown hair, beard, average height, lanky, wearing dark glasses and a straw hat [the hat is what got my attention] riding a yellow bike. Not on trackleaders. Didn’t get a name. Didn’t stick around long and didn’t get anything to eat.If anyone has any concrete details on a possible elias name or know if he is NOT on the tracker, make sure to leave it in the comments below. In the meantime, you can watch the trailer of the movie he was in.
(Updated 6/11/16 12:17AM MST) The Start – 6/11/16

Tour Divide Preview – Wednesday, June 8th – http://bikepackersmagazine.com/2016-tour-divide-preview/

Rigs of the Tour Divide – Tuesday, June 7th – http://bikepackersmagazine.com/2016-tour-divide-rigs/
14 Comments