Tour Divide: Day 17

by Felix Wong | 29 Jun 2008

Ride time: 6:00 a.m.-8:30 p.m. (14.5 hours)
Miles ridden: 107 on-course + 1 off-course = 108
Total on-course miles covered: 1659

MTBCast Call-in

Felix Wong and his Smoother Ride

Submitted by sherry on June 29, 2008 – 7:32 p.m.
Racer update about: Felix Wong

Hi, this is Felix Wong calling on Sunday, June 29th at 6:54 p.m. I’m in Silverthorne, CO. Yesterday, I stopped in Steamboat at the Orange Peel bike shop. The guys, Zack and Assam did an awesome job repairing my bike. They put on new tires, new brake pads, new cables, and even cleaned the bike. The bike rides like new. It is amazing how much smoother it is riding. How much smoother it shifts. How much easier it is to push the shift levers. When I press the brake levers, the bike actually slows pretty well now. So that’s been a joy. The bike even seems faster.

Ever since Steamboat, I’ve been feeling pretty good. The days before that I wasn’t feeling so strong, but my legs are coming back. Yesterday, was a pretty short day for me especially since I got a little lost after Steamboat; that is kind of a long story. I only road 62 miles yesterday. I called it a day early.

I woke up early today and started riding about 6 a.m. and here I am in Silverthorne. I actually got here about 20 minutes ago. Encountered a local named Dave who rode with me for a little bit. Great guy. He met Leighton yesterday. We chatted for a little bit.

Before that it seemed like most of the day, I was going uphill. It was good that my legs were feeling good.

I also encountered John, the leader of the Great Divide race which started a week after the Tour Divide. He seemed to be doing well. He ran into me when I was about to ford a two-feet deep river. I was actually in the river testing the water and there he came up. It was good to see him.

Otherwise, it has been a great day. Spectacular scenery. CO is an awesome state. I’m glad I live here. I’m looking forward to seeing more of it. I’m going to press on more tonight. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.
(recorder time: 2008-06-29 19:58:54 EST)

From the Notebook

• Uphill all day.
• When fording creek, encountered Great Divide Race racer John. Jeff (in the GDR also) was only 1-2 hours behind; now six due to getting to services too late. John planned on riding 180m miles/day from here on out. On a record-setting pace of <16 days (U.S./CA border->Mexico). Saw my note from TD Day 5; he correctly guess who I was.
• Legs felt ok.
• Beautiful scenery.
• Skipped Kremmling services, which were 2 miles off course, to save 45 minutes.
• Instead got creek water and treated with Pure Aqua tablets.
• Seven miles from Silverthorne: met a guy named Dave (from Silverthorne) on bike. His girlfriend did 24 hour and 100-mile mountain bike races. Dave was in landscaping. He followed the TD race, and met/rode with Leighton yesterday. Hence he knew who I was.
• Stopped at Target in Silverthorne for 10 minutes to purchase $60 Polaroid camera, since my Panasonic Lumix’s battery (special Lithium rechargeable battery, which I stupidly did not bring charger for) was dead and I couldn’t take pictures with it.)
• Camped at established site near Frisco. It was the only campsite I paid money for during entire race.