Meanwhile, farther south on the Tour Divide, leader Sofiane Sehili recently “passed” Mike Hall’s 2016 course record dot overnight. Learn more and check in with the live tracking here…

If you hadn’t yet noticed, Trackleaders has a really cool feature built into it, one that’s especially interesting on the Tour Divide. In addition to following the dots of current racers and riders, you can also follow the recorded rides of course record holders. Those include Alexandera Houchin’s 2019 women’s singlespeed record (18:20:26), Lael Wilcox’s 2015 women’s ITT (15:10:59), Chris Plesko’s 2016 men’s singlespeed record (15:08:04), and of course, the late Mike Hall’s course record ride. Each is marked with a smaller flag, which you can see on our Tracker page.

2016 Mike Hall interview, Tour Divide

Back in 2016, Mike Hall had an incredible, unmatched performance on the 2,750-mile Tour Divide, with an official finish time of 13 days, 22 hours, and 51 minutes (13:22:51). The closest anyone else has ever come to a sub-14-day record was in 2015 when Josh Kato completed the race in 14:11:37.

Albeit sad to see the Mike’s dot traversing southward every year, it’s fascinating to watch. This year, it’s been hard to ignore; Sofiane Sehili’s live tracking dot has been on its heels for the last couple of days. And last night or sometime in the early hours, Sofiane got ahead of Mike’s record ride at Lava Mountain Lodge, where Mike stopped to sleep for the night in 2016. Sofiane kept going and remained ahead of Mike’s dot until around 6 a.m. local time this morning.

As mentioned in the race preview, no official records can be set this year due to the wildfire-related reroutes in New Mexico, so even if Sofiane does make it to Antelope Wells faster than Mike did in 2016, it will simply be recorded as the 2022 win. I suppose that’s okay, as there’s a small part of me that never wants to see Mike’s record fall. However, it’s inspiring to see the next generation of riders pushing what’s possible. Kudos to Sofiane for such a great ride so far despite the conditions up north.

TrackerCheck out the 2022 Tour Divide Tracker page to follow along on the live tracking map, find our Rigs of the Tour Divide roundups, and more event coverage. Find it here.

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