The cat's out of the bag for the most part on this one, but I've decided to give the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route another go, this time as an individual time trial. On the morning of Saturday, August 23rd, I'll begin descending the North American continent with my Salsa Dos-Niner and a small bundle of supplies. After all the planning and training that went into this years failed race, I feel that I have an obligation to myself to go out and do this before I move on to another junction in my life this fall.
Despite the potential insanity that surrounds this effort, especially after how much I messed up my heal two months ago, I'm more excited for this attempt than I have been in the past. 3 weeks of truly being out there: no other racers to ride with, no mass of spectators on the web and the occasional local driving out to the route to meet the blue dots descending down a digital map, and very little pressure. The ITT is the lost-yet-not-forgotten form of divide racing that, to my knowledge, has only seen one finisher (John Stamstad '99) and only a single attempt in the new millennium (Mike Curiak, '03). I can only imagine that the divide depression will set in sooner, the rain will seem to fall harder, and the nights will feel colder without the comfort of having fellow racers nearby; but maybe that makes this more enticing.
