Letter of Intent Tour Divide 2015

I first heard about the Great Divide Mt Bike Race in 2007. There was a 3-5 sentence write-up in a Sports & Adventure Racing Magazine talking about a 2700 mile underground mountain bike race along the Continental Divide that ended at the Mexico border. I immediately starting dreaming of the day I would get to the start line. I shared the magazine article with my friend Tracy and said " One Day". Then, the "One Day" idea grew closer after the launch of the Ride the Divide Documentary in 2010. Now the idea was a virus. When can I get myself to Canada for 30 days without interruption or obligations? Having accepted a slot in graduate school to become a Physician Assistant, my race ideas would be delayed another 4 years since my boards were in June of 2013, and I had just started my first position as a PA . Although my friend Tracy went on to race in 2012 with a mutual friend/racing teammate Sara, my dream had yet to materialize. After deep reflection of my professional strengths & weaknesses and getting married to my husband Adam, I decided to resign my position and join Adam for the remaining time of his contract in South Korea. As an enticement to move to Seoul, Adam suggested I come over and train for the Tour Divide 2015. I am pretty sure he did not have to ask me twice! I started my initial training sessions in Dec 2014 on a indoor trainer but, was halted after 2 months of intestinal issues related to eating Korean street food that resolved in 2 weeks after proper diagnosis from a Korean doctor. My hopes of doing a training ride down the entire length of South Korea was also put on hold during this period. I then had another slight set back after changing the pedals on my mountain bike. I wasn't able to unclip fast enough in traffic and tore 3 ligaments in my right foot/ankle. 7 weeks later with the help of rest and accupuncture, I was back on the indoor trainer. By March, I was finally back on a training schedule, obsessing over gear choices, reading blogs, folding and unfolding the maps to locate a town that may hold a hint of some deep race secret spot, and waiting patiently for gear to make it overseas (some of which never made it).  Finally in May, I returned to the US to do a 2 week shakedown training session. I did the first 320 miles (80 x 4 days) solo on roads from NJ to Pittsburgh ( with a lot of help from my brother Dean/ and family on directions), and then met my best friend Jenny and a mutual friend Cindy to ride the 350 mile GAP and C&O trails from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. I learned a lot about my gear /set-up along with reconfirming I have no sense of direction. Based on the above, it is my intent to make my way to Banff, Canada on June 12 to be apart of this amazing journey. I have full intentions on adhering to the race rules and will self relegate if necessary. I did however promise my mother I would hotel it as much as possible (if I am solo at the time of exhaustion) to spare her the worry of me getting attacked by bears, cougars, mountain lions (I don't have a leather or titanium neck gaitor !), pronghorn, rattlesnake, scorpion or stalkers. I look forward to starting the race with both Tracy and Sara (veterans of the race) and Carolyn and Jess (rookies of the race) OHIO FEMALE STRONG !

Oh my Grizzlies

Don't worry mom. By the time I get to the grizzlies, I will smell too bad to be eaten.
I guess I won't be sleeping in the RED !!! Click Here

Race description

Jen will soon be off and biking again in the Tour Divide Race on The Great Divide Bike Route that starts in Banff, AB (Canada) and finishes in Antelorpe Wells, NM (Mexican Border).  This race has over 2800 miles of biking and should take somewhere around 29 days to complete.  Jen will be one of 140 racers and is one of 13 women in the race. (The official count will be updated closer to the race.). The race starts at 8:00 am on June 12 2015.  Tracking Jen's progress and position can be found on tourdivide.org as we get closer to the race and then we'll be glued to the updates as the race goes on.

The image below represents the race course from start to finish.

The Pains of setting up GPS

I can't tell you how many hours I / we have spent trying to get route on Garmin Etrex 30 in order to manipulate route with changes...I won't even discuss the cost of various mapping software etc. I just want to ride my bike...
Please No betting on # of times I am wandering off route!

Test from my phone...

This post is testing that I can from my phone!

Getting my blog ready for my crazy race!

I'm getting my blog ready that documents my journey from Banff, AB (Canada) to Antelope Wells, NM (border of Mexico) starting on June 12th.  I'm so excited (but a bit nervous) to take part in the 2015  Tour Divide Race! Go Jen!