Who are we? We are our stories.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Tour Divide

Regular readers of 1410 may be familiar with the Tour Divide which starts tomorrow. I'll be following 51 year old Kent Peterson through Kent's Bike Blog which is being maintained in his absence by his wife and a friend. He has a tracker so we can follow him on his epic journey. Kent has just ridden from the Seattle area to Banff as his own personnel prologue. Kent will not win this thing. He is riding a steel single-speed bicycle and is, by his own admission, "slow". Keep in mind that of 42 starters last year, only 16 finished the race. Kent will grind it out and, barring an injury, he will be near the front of the pack when they straggle in to the Mexican border. Kent is representing all the slow riders of the world who ever turned a pedal. That shouldn't be too much additional weight on his shoulders.

I have an emotional investment in Kent. I gave him a couple of bucks to help defray his expenses. So, good luck and I'll be counting on a cut of the purse. Oh, never mind. There is no purse.


Jack asked for specs on Kent's bike. It is a Redline Monocog Flight 29er.  It has knobby tires and is muddy. Or will be.

5 comments:

Silk Hope said...

Gunnar:

Ok I him locked and loaded on my "Favorites". Let Rock.

Yahooo.

Jack

PS; you can put a link on your site to that blog you know.

Anonymous said...

you seem to know some really interesting bike characters.

mw

Gunnar Berg said...

Never met him. He's Minnesota born and bred, but went to the coast. He's just a name on the computer. Like you.

Gunnar Berg said...

(I think Taylor could beat him.)

Mimbres Man said...

I'm pulling for Matthew Lee breaking his own record. Also I've become e-friends with Tony Huston from Houston. So Go Tony!

BTW, I've bailed on this year ITTD bid due to my wife getting her new Venezuela passport and wanting to take her on a special trip. Marriage is about give and take they tell me. Meanwhile the Überbike waits in NM to be assembled.