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Thank you Elliot Stoller for the video!

Thank you Elliot Stoller for the photos: https://elliotstoller.smugmug.com/2024/Daves-Tour-Divide/i-3jnH52t

Ambivalent is one of my favorite words – I always think of electrons orbiting nuclei (nerdy – check!): each of the orbits is called a valence, ambi-valent means moving between two orbits. Of course, it also means having more than one emotion at a time. And who-boy, am I having them. I’m excited about this…

My bike is boxed. Note to self on re-assembly:

Good news: the forecast for rain in S.W. New Mexico (Hachita, Silver City) is very low.  That means the chance of peanut butter mud is also low. Bad News: it’s going to be very, very hot. 105 degrees (in Hachita) on Thursday. Maybe a bit lower up in the hills (and forest?). But – really…

Tl:Dr; My bike now moves forward when pedaled. So… Big bike trip. Time to tune up the consumables: new chain. Right? Right. But, the chainring I’ve been running for many thousands of miles is acting… Weird. Like a little weird, then suddenly dropping my chain every 100 feet. Turns out it’s slightly warped. Enough that…

Sargents to Hartsel looks very doable – around 80 miles with a nice break in Salida in the middle. Looks like about a 2100 foot climb pretty early on, then relatively flat to Hartsel. The store closes at 6, which is a bit worisome. There’s a very nice ranch hotel there – very slim chance…

Del Norte to Sargent’s is 110 miles, a bit more to Salida. Seems like a long day. There’s a camp ground at Upper Dome Dam, about 75 miles in that seems most reasonable!

So I don’t think I’ve really settled this; why? Warning: Work In Progress. I just visited the tour divide tracker registration page. It paints a pretty clear picture: this is a race, if you’re not racing sign up on the GDMBR tracker. I’ve thought a lot about this – I’m still conflicted and honestly terrified…