The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Fundraiser for Crested Butte Avalanche Center
The Tour Divide is the mother of all self-supported bike races, at least in our part of the world, and Crested Butte resident Josh Shifferly is jumping into the hazy fray.
The Tour Divide race follows a 2,745-mile labyrinth of roads, mixing in mostly dirt with some pavement, from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, N.M. on the U.S./ Mexican border.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” says Shifferly.
Riders will climb an estimated 200,000 vertical feet along the way, encountering snow, rain, sun and wind at various points along the course. The race can take anywhere from 17 to 26 days to complete.
Last year Gunnison local Jefe Branham took second place on a singlespeed and Crested Butte rider Ethan Passant finished in third place.
Shifferly has ridden the course before in two stages. He rode from Antelope Wells to Crested Butte once and from Banff to Del Norte during the 2011 race.
This year, he’s going for the whole thing, with experience on his side.
“It’s really hard,” says Shifferly. “It’s hard to feel so broken and do it again three or four hours later. But, it’s way better than working. Nothing beats being able to ride all day.”
Shifferly put his time in on skis, as he always does, this past winter, determined to hit 100 days in the backcountry before getting on his bike. He reached that in the first week of March and has been putting in long trips on his bike ever since.
“I’ve been really pumped,” says Shifferly. “The Tour Divide has given me the opportunity to bike tour. It’s a little more motivation.”
He’s put in a handful of 160-mile days, some 150-mile days and a bunch of 130-mile-long bike tour days. He estimates that he has ridden more than 3,000 miles in the past two months to prepare for the Tour Divide.
“My legs didn’t feel that good but I was able to do it and wake up and do it again,” he says.
While some participants mail food supplies to various points along the racecourse prior to the race and predetermine their daily caloric intake, Shifferly opts for a different tactic.
“I eat like garbage,” admits Shifferly. “I do not eat very good. You just have to eat a lot. I just like to get a hot meal in me once a day.”
To resupply, Shifferly will mix in convenience store stops and restaurant breaks when possible. While clean water is abundant in some places, it can be scarce in others, at which point he mixes in a couple drops of bleach for the “wild water.”
He’ll be riding a 29-inch rigid bike with a seat bag, frame bag and his sleeping rig in a stuff sac on his handlebars.
One major change from last year will be the addition of a GPS, though he’ll pack the traditional maps as a back-up. After riding with someone last year who had one, he realized the huge benefit of the device for the race.
“You’d be screaming down a hill for 10 miles and think, man I hope I’m going the right way,” explains Shifferly. “Now it’s just keep the triangle on the line.”
Sleep, while necessary, can happen anywhere from town dog parks to the deep woods and is dramatically curtailed for the entire race. Shifferly does have a goal in mind and hopes to average somewhere between 160 and 180 miles per day.
“I do better with a regimen,” says Shifferly.
While big highs are a part of any endurance race—especially when you’re rocketing across Wyoming with a 30 mph tailwind or riding through the Great Basin surrounded by a herd of antelope—so are deep lows. Shifferly admits he doesn’t have any one thing in mind that gets him through the dark times.
“I just keep rolling,” says Shifferly. “I can’t say I get this inner drive. Food would probably be the biggest thing.”
Shifferly does have a cause this year at the Tour Divide. He’s trying to raise money for the Crested Butte Avalanche Center (CBAC). As an avid backcountry skier, Shifferly appreciates the benefit of the CBAC and has been using it as well as contributing to it since its inception.
“We had a tough winter, lost some friends,” explains Shifferly. “I thought it was a good avenue for raising funds. It’s a valuable tool.”
He hopes to raise as much as $1,000 for the CBAC through pledges per mile. Pledges can be made on his website, joshshifferly.com.
Shifferly will head up to Banff on June 4 with two other Gunnison Valley residents, Eszter Horanyi and Jarral Ryter, who are also riding in the Tour Divide. The race starts on Friday, June 8.
“I’m just psyched to get on the road and ride,” says Shifferly. “My gear is dialed. I’m antsy to get to Banff and start riding.”
