We got the Ride the Divide movie around Christmas time and I was 'saving' it for an indoor training session on the bike. The knee seems to be feeling better so I decided to do an easy spin on the trainer and fired up the Ride the Divide movie.
The Ride the Divide is a documentary based on the Tour Divide which has to be the hardest bike event in the world. If you click through to the link, take the time to check out the Route Photos as they are amazing...back to the 'race': It is a self supported, repeat, self supported 2700+ mile race starting in Banff and ending in Mexico. This is not like 'le tour' where you have mechanics at the ready to fix your bike or team cars to load up on water or calories, or someone to massage you post race, or a nice soft bed to sleep in, etc. You are responsible for feeding yourself and fixing anything that might break on your own. It follows the Continental Divide and has somewhere around 200,000 ft of elevation gain throughout. 2,700 mile and 200,000 ft of climbing...INSANE! The insanity is that they pass through all kinds of terrain - anything from high mountain passes where grizzly sightings are common to the long barren plains in Wyoming where water is scarce.
You have to be a physical freak and a little coocoo in the coconut to even think about undertaking this endeavor but alas there are people who are both and there are people who thrive for these events. Matthew Lee is the unheralded king of this event having won it multiple times and in the process breaking his own race record. To put it in perspective, his record is 17 days 21 hrs...this means he averages over 150 miles a day. This is all the more impressive when you consider that there are sections where it takes multiple hrs to traverse sections where you are hike a biking through snow, etc. This is not easy to terrain to ride through and this crew is just TOUGH TOUGH TOUGH.
The other point of interest for this event is that it actually passes through Butte and so during the summer there are a few days where the riders swing through town, load up on food, fix any mechanicals, etc...So there is a local link to the event which is fun to plug into when they are rolling through town.
It is a great documentary that really makes the mind wander to the wilderness and gives a little insight into the suffering these lunatics go through. I will certainly be putting this back into the DVD player for inspiration while spinning indoors....mad respect to these folks who toe in at the starting line!
The Ride the Divide is a documentary based on the Tour Divide which has to be the hardest bike event in the world. If you click through to the link, take the time to check out the Route Photos as they are amazing...back to the 'race': It is a self supported, repeat, self supported 2700+ mile race starting in Banff and ending in Mexico. This is not like 'le tour' where you have mechanics at the ready to fix your bike or team cars to load up on water or calories, or someone to massage you post race, or a nice soft bed to sleep in, etc. You are responsible for feeding yourself and fixing anything that might break on your own. It follows the Continental Divide and has somewhere around 200,000 ft of elevation gain throughout. 2,700 mile and 200,000 ft of climbing...INSANE! The insanity is that they pass through all kinds of terrain - anything from high mountain passes where grizzly sightings are common to the long barren plains in Wyoming where water is scarce.
You have to be a physical freak and a little coocoo in the coconut to even think about undertaking this endeavor but alas there are people who are both and there are people who thrive for these events. Matthew Lee is the unheralded king of this event having won it multiple times and in the process breaking his own race record. To put it in perspective, his record is 17 days 21 hrs...this means he averages over 150 miles a day. This is all the more impressive when you consider that there are sections where it takes multiple hrs to traverse sections where you are hike a biking through snow, etc. This is not easy to terrain to ride through and this crew is just TOUGH TOUGH TOUGH.
The other point of interest for this event is that it actually passes through Butte and so during the summer there are a few days where the riders swing through town, load up on food, fix any mechanicals, etc...So there is a local link to the event which is fun to plug into when they are rolling through town.
It is a great documentary that really makes the mind wander to the wilderness and gives a little insight into the suffering these lunatics go through. I will certainly be putting this back into the DVD player for inspiration while spinning indoors....mad respect to these folks who toe in at the starting line!
