Mike Curiak Wednesday, late Abiquiu
I've got about 575 miles until this thing is done. I've had an unbelievably epic trip from Del Norte with thunderstorms and snow and lightning going into Platoro. I've got a little bit of sleep and headed out at 5am this morning. I rode into the most scenic and stunning part of the race by far. Beautiful Ponderosa pines and huge peaks and flowing hills and grasses. For a change, I didn't have thunderstorms breathing down my neck so I was able to enjoy the scenery a bit.

That was all great but with 30 miles to go to Abiquiu, my right pedal spindle just broke in half. I had the bright idea of supergluing it back together and that lasted about a hundred yards. It happened on a climb so I had to walk a bit. I then rode 1-legged on the mostly downhill 26 miles. Unfortunately, there's no bike shops here so I'll probably have to get flat pedals from someone's beater bike and hopefully make it with that to the next bike shop 100 miles away.

June 30 - Highlights

By: Jan Kopka� June 30 9am(Note: Read in a thick slavic tongue OR Ahhnud Schwarzenegger accent.)
Hi , here is Jan, Great Divide Racer. It's wed 9am. I'm in Silverthorn. Yesterday, I met two countrymen from Czech Republic and we had a great time. We had some booze together and was good. Today morning I met --- Barker who I know from the Alaska race. Maybe I will meet him today evening. In the beginning I was very upset since I loose my way many times. It is still happening until now but I now start to more enjoy this race. More stops for beer, more stops for taking pictures but I still try to keep good pace. Goodbye.

By: Mike Curiak � Del Norte, Colorado June 30 1 pm
June 30 at 1pm at Del Norte in Southern Colorado with 765 miles left to race. I'd be lying if I said I'm looking forward to it. I'm tired and sore and worn out from sleeping in the dirt. To be honest, the only part of my body not giving me trouble right now is my legs. There hasn't been a day yet where I've had to stop since I couldn't pedal anymore. I've had to deal with constant fatigue though from looking at the map and checking the route, constantly making sure I'm not running over thorns and sticks, constantly monitoring the weather. Yesterday, I had to go on an all out sprint to beat an incoming storm that Pete got caught in.

Right now, I'm standing here in a convenience store and topped off the bike with about 4 lbs. of junk food. And now I have to go out in the rain to do a 23 mile climb. And it's 200 miles to the next services.

I know that a long time from now I'm going to be very happy about this accomplishment but right now I'm really not looking forward to this.

I'm back in Del Norte. I got 10 miles up the climb and when I stopped to take a leak I noticed the left side of my bottom bracket had worked it's way loose. I had to go back into town. Since there's no bike shops here, I made the quick decision to go to Napa Auto Parts and buy some superglue. I then fixed my bottom bracket by tightening it with needlenose pliers and with lots of superglue. It's 250 miles to the next bike shop so I hope this holds til then. I hope the old adage 'a crossed thread is a strong thread' holds true.

Right when I got back here, I saw Pete roll into town. His bike computer broke down in the last stretch so he experienced a lot of frustration navigating the trail. He broke his pedal too so he'll be spending some time working on these serious issues.

By: Pete Basinger � Del Norte, Colorado June 30 2:30 pm
I got into Del Norte at 2:30. I have 2 speedometers and they're both broken now so I'm waiting for some other speedometers to arrive here from another town. So I'll probably be here all day. I also broke a pedal so I have to take care of that.

By: Jan Kopka � June 30 5pm
Here is jan, great divide racer. It is tuesday I hope 5pm. I'm in Greml--n. I was in thunderstorm. Now it looks better and I start to continue. Have a nice day. Bye.

By: Matthew Lee� June 30 5pm
Hey , this is Matthew Lee pressing on but stuck in a heinous storm in Union Pass. Hail, Pelting rain and peanut butter trail conditions all day. A trail angel couple took me in and have given me a couch for the day. I'll get going in the morning and try to get beyond Pinedale by doing a day and a half of riding in one day. The weather is trying to break us.