Tracking the 2023 Tour Divide (Part 2): Council of Legends

Picking up where I left off in my first report that covered last week, after leaving Ulrich Bartholmoes (aka Uba) and Justinas Leveika south of Wamsutter, Wyoming, I unplugged from the Tour Divide for a couple prior commitments and a whole lot of photo editing. On Sunday night at midnight, I rolled up to Brush Mountain Lodge and crawled into the back of my truck to sleep for the night. My timing was perfect, and the next day would be spectacular.

I got out of my slumber just as Sacha Dowell was preparing her bike to leave. Sacha is riding the Tour Divide to raise awareness and funds for Free the Bears, a non-profit with a mission to free bears from Asian bile farming. It’s also why she has a bear helmet cover on.

Hannah Simon was giving her bike the deluxe treatment, as any pro bike mechanic would, which she happens to be.

April Drage and Gail Brown converse and Alexandera Houchin’s bike sits in the foreground.

April Drage making final departure preparations.

In case you missed the monumental day in Tour Divide history, Monday, June 19, 2023, was the day that the largest ever congregation of badass Tour Divide women occurred. Present from left to right were 2012 Tour Divide champion and former record holder Eszter Horanyi; honorary Tour Divide veteran, Brush Mountain Lodge and Outpost proprietor, and official Tour Divide hug giver Kirsten Henrickson; 2010 Tour Divide veteran Cricket Butler; two-time Tour Divide champion and women’s singlespeed record holder Alexandera Houchin; Trans AM and TD veteran Simone Bailey; and 2023 women’s top-ten racers April Drage and Gail Brown.

Alexandera Houchin heads out with a happy heart and big smile.

Former Canadian World Tour road racer Marie-Soleil Blais was having a great time on the Tour Divide, and it seems the bikepacking hook is well set.

Remi Ray gets a proper Brush Mountain send-off with all the cow bells.

With a grip of replacement spokes, Alex Howes heads out on the adventure he has been greatly enjoying despite all the setbacks he’s incurred along the way.

Needless to say it was an amazing next day being around so many strong amazing women at Brush Mountain Lodge. After wrapping up my editing commitments, I hit the road on Tuesday and pointed it south.

As I rolled down the course, I came across this pair of bears who quickly skedaddled once I started taking photos. For all the well-intentioned trail angels, please do not leave unlocked/unattended coolers on the side of the course, as it will ultimately lead to the demise of bears (and wildlife) when they start to associate humans with food. Without the wildlife in wild places, the Tour Divide would not exist as we know it, and that would be a real travesty.

Sacha Dowell on the climb up Boreas Pass outside of Breckenridge.

I’d normally spend a lot more time in Colorado, but you all have probably seen a good bit of it. Regardless, it’s been a wet year, and Colorado is about as green as we’ve ever seen it, so this photo will have to do, as I had many miles to cover to get back to the pointy end of the race.

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I spent my next night at the Penitente Canyon Campground just north of Del Norte to set myself up for the next day, as I wasn’t exactly sure where the racers would be. There’s internet access and toilets there, which makes it an easy stay. I’ve stayed in the Cochetopa Hills in this stage of the race before, but they’re haunted for real, there’s no internet, and I wasn’t ready to revisit those spirits from my last stay there in 2018. Luckily, it worked out, and I got a few nice photos of Katya Rakhmatulina on the climb to Carnero Pass (above right).

After getting photos of Katya Rakhmatulina, I engaged cruise control warp mode and made my way to Grants, New Mexico. I just missed sunset light photos of Uba but managed to still enjoy a splendid sunset over the El Malpais National Conservation Area. I continued driving long into the night and rolled into Pie Town to get ahead of Ulrich. Thankfully, there is free camping in the tiny eclectic town, and I grabbed a nice six-hour sleep before waking up to check Trackleaders and resuming my hunt for photos of Uba.

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Before rolling out, I stopped by the Toaster House to see about Justinas Leveika, who was a new morning arrival. Instead of bothering him while he potentially slept, I grabbed a quick photo of his bike and quietly rolled out of town.

In 2012, I first photographed Eszter Horanyi in the southern end of the Plains of San Agustin before she entered the Gila, which I’d previously promised myself to never drive through again. Like much of New Mexico, the dirt roads are brutally rough, basically 60+ miles of hot, remote washboard. Not much has changed, and admittedly I think New Mexico is by far the most difficult and challenging part of the Tour Divide. It’s never been easy for me, anyway.

I caught up with Uba just as he was changing layers for the warmer late morning weather. He was still in good spirits but lamented the beatings the weather has provided for him with the cold rain turned hot headwinds.

I couldn’t bring myself to comment on the state of Uba’s rear tire, as I didn’t want to jinx him or give him something else to worry about on his last two days of the route. Some things are better left unsaid.

While waiting for Uba, this northbound racer came cruising by. I don’t know who it was, but I could hear that rear disc wheel from a long way away. Surely it must be a liability with the extreme winds? Editors note: This is Andrew Kulmatiski, who restarted from Antelope Wells on June 21st after scratching from the grand depart due to severe stomach illness.

Uba on the aero bars and putting down the power to try and take the win.

After grabbing some photos of Uba I’d thought about since 2012, I headed back up course to find Justinas. But first I made some coffee and breakfast, which is usually the first thing I do in the morning, but this was an early one, and I wasn’t about to squander an 800-mile drive for a cup of coffee. The things I do…

I caught up with Justinas a couple of hours later, and like always, he was in quite good spirits despite the adversity he’d been dealing with.

Which one of these things does not belong? For the last couple days Justinas has been riding with a pedal that detached from its spindle. Also, he’s had to resort to getting off his bike and pushing the derailleur into a usable gear any time he needs to change gears. It’s not a dead battery, it just quit working.

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Oh yeah, Justinas is also on a wobbly back wheel from a spoke that broke a few days ago! No Tour Divide finisher will ever tell you this race is easy.

Further Reading

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