# Speaking of old guys (on Tour Divide)



## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

Pretty proud of my hub. He just finished Tour Divide as a racer in 25 days, 15 hours, 49 minutes. Over 170,000' feet of elevation, 2731 miles.
He did 700 miles last year on his Trance with a BOB and decided to go all out race mode this year on a Salsa Cutthroat with absolute minimal gear. He'd trained since November, did lots of planning prep and here ya go, 48th guy in and second 60+. He had his 6Oth birthday in April.


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## Ladmo (Jan 11, 2013)

I was never very good at math, but I think that translates into an average day being 109 miles and 6,800 ft. For 25 days in a row. Holy yikes to that! Respect!


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

That's fantastic! Way to go Mr formica :thumbsup:


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## Radium (Jan 11, 2019)

Wow. And pulling' a B.O.B. That is awesome!


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## BCsaltchucker (Jan 16, 2014)

two thumbs up to that. amazing. I don't think I could handle being on a bike that long, but maybe a thru hike, in my 50s or 60s (I am 51 now)


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

Radium said:


> Wow. And pulling' a B.O.B. That is awesome!


The BOB was 700 miles last year, touring. No one races it with a bob.


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

Ladmo said:


> I was never very good at math, but I think that translates into an average day being 109 miles and 6,800 ft. For 25 days in a row. Holy yikes to that! Respect!


No kidding! Super cool. Respect x2!
=sParty


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## H0WL (Jan 17, 2007)

Fantastic achievement!


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## bachman1961 (Oct 9, 2013)

Wowzers.
One of the best reasons to post I've seen in a long time. Well deserved applause !




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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

His coach just happened to have a friend who is a pro photographer, in Silver Springs NM. He caught my hub with just 100 miles to go. Last stretch is easy pavement thank god.


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## tfinator (Apr 30, 2009)

formica said:


> His coach just happened to have a friend who is a pro photographer, in Silver Springs NM. He caught my hub with just 100 miles to go. Last stretch is easy pavement thank god.


[email protected]$$!!!

How long after the finish did he get back on a bike? Whenever I do something really limit-pushing I can barely look at my bike for the better part of a week. I've never done anything remotely as difficult as you though, so I can't imagine.

Of course, he's probably just one of those folks that wanted to ride the heat day anyway !

Congratulations to him

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

We went out and did neighborhood errands the next day.

He's pretty cooked. Been eating and napping a lot. His coach wants him to get out and spin but he's not terribly motivated.


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

formica said:


> His coach just happened to have a friend who is a pro photographer, in Silver Springs NM. He caught my hub with just 100 miles to go. Last stretch is easy pavement thank god.


I think that's Silver City? I heard someone was making some sort of documentary about the race, was this photographer involved with that?

Tough ride/race for sure, congrats to your husband and anyone else finishing it.


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

There was a solo elite female (Lael something) who was riding with a documentary crew. Being as it is a 100% self support race,there was a lot of controversy about riding with a film crew following supposedly not interacting. She scratched due to weather in Colorado along with a handful of other elites...5' of snow in the passes that they could not get through


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## bakerjw (Oct 8, 2014)

We were dot watching the Tour Divide that Friday through Sunday. The conditions in the mountains were a deadly combination. 

They were all halted at Brush Mountain Lodge by the mud. The snow in the passes was about 2'. Sofiane Sehili was in the lead and made it up to the pass. He turned back around sometime after midnight in a raging blizzard where he couldn't find the trail even with his 2 GPS units. Josh Kato overtook him and bivied down on the mountain. Josh actually found a cave and went to go into it only to find out that a mountain lion was also taking shelter in it.

Josh and 3 others made it over before it warmed and the road up from MBL turned into some of the worst mud anyone had ever seen. Held up the rest of the pack for a couple of days. Josh got deathly ill and ended up scratching at Del Norte. When his dot stopped at the hospital, we knew something was wrong.


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## bakerjw (Oct 8, 2014)

formica said:


> Pretty proud of my hub. He just finished Tour Divide as a racer in 25 days, 15 hours, 49 minutes. Over 170,000' feet of elevation, 2731 miles.
> He did 700 miles last year on his Trance with a BOB and decided to go all out race mode this year on a Salsa Cutthroat with absolute minimal gear. He'd trained since November, did lots of planning prep and here ya go, 48th guy in and second 60+. He had his 6Oth birthday in April.


I managed 3 100+ mile days up there a few years back. What he did is truly something to be proud of.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

formica said:


> She scratched due to weather in Colorado along with a handful of other elites...5' of snow in the passes that they could not get through


She didn't scratch due to the weather. She decided [my interpretation] to end the BS around the filming of her ride by dropping out of the race and finishing the whole ride without a SPOT tracker. She didn't stop riding.

https://theradavist.com/2019/06/tour-divide-race-part-4/


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## rmac (Oct 26, 2004)

Mind-blowing. I am a chronic over-exerciser on the bike but can't even imagine doing this. Fortunately this sets the bar so high it is out of sight.

Well done.


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

He says his motivation was "to see if he could do it".


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## bakerjw (Oct 8, 2014)

I learned my first year up there that even though it is unbelievably beautiful, the scenery gets old after a while and boredom sets in.

Cyclists are like dogs. Some dogs will chase the darn ball all day long and it never gets old. Some will chase the ball but then decide that it's better to sit down with people and chill out.


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## Radium (Jan 11, 2019)

I'm looking at my BOB Ibex hanging in the garage and imagining far greater things than grocery runs. 
Of course, I'm not trying to play down zero eggs broken in years of those grocery runs. They are amazing too!


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

He made the local news
(link fixed)

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jul/25/at-60-spokane-resident-completes-grueling-2745-mil/


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## Radium (Jan 11, 2019)

formica said:


> He made the local news
> https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jul/26/at-60-spokane-resident-completes-grueling-2745-mil/


I looked on the link you provided but just got a "sorry" message...no content. The problem is, all of this false moralizing concerning a female rider who simply outrides everybody else, almost all of the time, makes this entire "community" look petty and vindictive. I would never have anything to do with them, now. Lael deserves far better than this.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

Radium said:


> I looked on the link you provided but just got a "sorry" message...no content. The problem is, all of this false moralizing concerning a female rider who simply outrides everybody else, almost all of the time, makes this entire "community" look petty and vindictive. I would never have anything to do with them, now. Lael deserves far better than this.


To be fair there are a handful of individuals causing the issue in a community of thousands. It sucks 100%, but it's the extreme minority opinion.


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

Here's the story again, sorry about that
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jul/25/at-60-spokane-resident-completes-grueling-2745-mil/


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## bsieb (Aug 23, 2003)

^Your hub is bad ass! Sad the way things worked out with filming Lael. Those old bastards are vicious!


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## careyj1 (May 12, 2017)

Great job and thanks for sharing. I never heard of this event and they should get the word out more.


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

vikb said:


> She didn't scratch due to the weather. She decided [my interpretation] to end the BS around the filming of her ride by dropping out of the race and finishing the whole ride without a SPOT tracker. She didn't stop riding.
> 
> https://theradavist.com/2019/06/tour-divide-race-part-4/


It's all friggin nonsense, rides like these always start out simple; does anyone remember the early days of the Divide ride? Then someone decides to see how fast they can do it, then the ride becomes a race, seriously, humans are so stoopid.

Congrats to Mr Formica, that's a long time in the saddle doing some serious work.


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