I am going to race the 2014 Tour Divide!

Wow, well, I've stated it for the universe to see/read, so I guess I'm definitely going to do it.

What is "it?"  The Tour Divide is many things to many people.  My favorite description of it comes from Mike Kerley who raced it in 2012,

"It is like being homeless for three weeks.  You smell because you don't really shower much and you are riding a bike all the time.  And, you get really comfortable with sleeping in public places."

The boring description is that it is a mountain bike race from Banff, Canada, to the New Mexico/Mexico border.  It lacks things that normal bike races usually have; such as support crews (you only have access to resources along the route that everyone else can access), teams (no drafting, no dividing up gear with a buddy), and prizes (unless you consider hanging out with border guards in the desert a prize).  There are some rules and it is loosely directed by they guy who won it a bunch of times, but you are probably not reading this posting for such information.

I imagine you are here because you fall into one of five categories: 

(1) You are like me, you are racing it for the first time (or thinking about doing it) and want some insights (you may want to find a better source);

(2)  You are a veteran and want to relive all the dumb mistakes a rookie makes;

(3)  You know me personally, think I've made a big mistake, and want more information to talk me out of this.  Or, the race is over and you want to get caught up so you can pretend like you've been listening to me for the last year or so;

(4)  You are a fan of the race (a big hello to all 15 of you out there, obviously no one has introduced you to Netflix);

(5)  Or, you are a big fan of zombies and dove 30,000 pages into a Google search and are now very upset at this waste of time.

Which brings me to my last point in this posting.  I plan on "racing" not "touring."  I'm a middle of the pack guy in most physical activities, and I cannot imagine that will be different here.  But, this is likely my one shot at doing this adventure, so I'd like to push my limits.  A simple way to do that is to imagine zombies are coming.  I do not need to move fast, but I need to keep moving.  They are coming.  Pedal like zombies are coming.