Tour Divide

It should be, it goes through some very remote communities with no healthcare

see https://www.bikepackingroots.org/news/giving-gateway-communities-space-and-time-during-covid-19

Not TD, but gives you some idea

He's a nutcase, he was NoBo while I was sunbathing on Brazos Ridge. He was in such high spirits and really made my day. Super nice bloke.

http://www.cyclingutah.com/racing/mountain-bike-racing/33-days-14-hours-and-4-minutes-racing-the-tour-divide-on-a-fixed-gear-mountain-bike/

That's this evening sorted then, many thanks!

I chatted to him a few times on facebook years ago...he was always really friendly, enthusiastic, and down to earth.

Looks like the Tour Divide has reached peak mainstream...BBC sport!

Meh. I rode that, and it was deeper than that too.

I just got the Wild West route guide book, I'm really excited to start planning to ride this in the next couple of years. More remote and rugged than Tour Divide, and you're not allowed to race on the route (lots of first nation land etc)

https://bikepacking.com/routes/wild-west-route/
https://www.bikepackingroots.org/wild-west-route.html

Read that during the rest intervals on the turbo today. Ta

Ugh, all your turbo time dude, ugh ugh. You must really hate yourself.

You must really hate yourself.

This.

I went outside in my knicks and jersey yesterday immediately after an indoor sesh and stood in that sliver of sunlight for five minutes, just before it disappeared. That was my outside time.

Be interested to see what you think of the route. One of Kurt Refsnider's so gotta be pretty good.
Speaking of Kurt, he's been on this recently. Havent heard it yet - but gotta be a good listen..

https://www.spreaker.com/user/12049863/ep9

That looks awesome!
I thought it was contributed by Chuck Norris at first glance!

Kurt is the chuck norris of bikepacking

Was good. I find Lewis slightly annoying (it takes him so long to make a coherent sentence) but Kurt is a top chap and has put so much work in to bikepacking roots, real love for it.

I play most podcasts at 1.5-2x normal speed. It's amazing how dopey people sound when I drop it back to 1x.

How did I never notice that spotify has a speed thingy! 1.5x is great!

Same with youtube

aintnobodygottime....

Yeah I knew about youtube. I just listened to some of the interview with Nelson Trees about SRMR and AMR, really interesting, but again, Lewis annoyed the shit out of me with his like, pause for ages (even at 1.5x) like thingy I'm tryna say like what.... Make a sentence man.

Yeah, I've killed off some podcasts because I can't stand the commentator. His was one I never got past the intro of. Maybe I'll revisit though since he's actually got some interesting guests.

I use Castbox on Android which also has a "cut silence" type option which kills deadspots when listening to interviews conducted over shitty Skype connections or listening to people who can't form a sentence to save their lives.

is there any definitive word on the status of the race this year...? assuming it won't go ahead? but it is pretty easy to socially distance out there..!?

its not that. As previously mentioned - limited services out in the sticks.
This wont be happening this year. I would put my mountain bike on it.

Yeah, bit of a dick move riding through small communities on what's clearly not a simple case of getting some exercise.

I doubt Matt Lee will allow it to go ahead. Even if it does, why would you want to go to the US right now ,through airports/transit hubs, etc.

Also, some gateway communities have already been really badly affected by Covid-19 due to lockdown tourists wanting to get away from urban areas.

Even if it did go ahead, many of the resupply points are likely to be closed or have severley reduced service/stock.

Doesn't seem sensible to run it really.