Journey to the Grande Depart

The Tour Divide 2011

It is a long story, but hey, its a long ride.

Sometime in the spring of 2009 my friend Robyn C. asked me to do a race with her in 2010 called the Tour Divide, http://tourdivide.org/.   She explained that it was a race down the Continental Divide from Banff Canada to Antelope Wells New Mexico.  A distance of some 2700 mostly off-road miles.  It would be expected that over 1/2 of the starting field would not finish.
Well.  What an offer.  I had been having some as yet un-diagnosed problems with my hips and was not really able to train.  I told her that even if I figured out what the trouble was, I'd never be able to train up in time for a race of that length in just a few months.  She agreed to wait until 2011 if I was in.  I was. 
As it turned out, that fall I had surgery on both hips but was able to begin training by early spring 2011 so I called her up.  But she was not going to be able to get away.  Done.  Idea put to bed.
Just a few weeks later, I am with Sheila Torres Blank and she mentions she wants to do this same insane race.  A race I'd never heard of and now I've had 2 offers.  In once more.  It was fate after all.  
In the mean time, the Ride The Divide documentary about the race was released.  The largest ever field would be participating in the Grand Depart on June 10th 2011.  The Sheilas as we would come to be called would be there. 
http://tourdivide.org/2011_start_list 

I've decided to write about what it was like, much like other race reports, how I prepared, noting the route of each day, and  I hope find some meaning in the telling.  Just another race?  Life changing experience?  We'll see. 
So, what follows is a recounting of the preparation and the race.  What did I take, how did I train, what was I riding....  All questions I wanted answers from, from other women as I took stock of how to do this.  S

Blog note - to read in order, go down to the first June 2011 entry.  then read up.  Yeah, its a blog thing.

Racers gather in front of the Banff YMCA on the Spray River Trail - Waiting for someone to say Go!