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 !