And the winner is...

Congratulations to Matthew Lee on victory number 8 in the Tour Divide. It was a fast time but I don't know how it will stack up in terms of a new record as there are some pretty outrageous wildfires burning in New Mexico right now that required some last minute, mandatory detours to be put in place as the Forest Service had shut down much of the route in the area making it a non-official TD route.

Several days ago while eating in the town of Grants, New Mexico there was an interesting incident. A guy approached Matt's bike and began looking it over (which in and of itself isn't really that alarming as a lot of folks do that and then have questions for riders). This particular guy looked in the restaurant (separated from Matt by just a pane of glass, looked back at the bike, and then grabbed it and took off. Matt gave chase on foot but was not able to catch up. He made a phone call to someone (I believe Scott Morris who runs the leaderboard and is a GPS master). The SPOT unit was still in track mode and Scott relayed coordinates to Matt and within 25 minutes, the bike was retrieved and no harm was done.

This has been a stressful TD this year. You can hear the impact of the unfortunate passing of David Blumenthal in everyones voice when they call in. Some cry while others try their best to keep it together. You can watch in the videos done by the guys from juicyfruita.com and see some racers having to take a minute to recompose themselves during the interview.

The bikepacking community/family has lost an excellent man, father, husband, and advocate in Dave Blumenthal. Finishing an event like this is so hard. I can't imagine pushing on through all these added emotions and trying to make sense of it all along the way. Anyone man/woman who lines up for an event like this has my immediate respect.