Following Thursday’s screening of “Ride the Divide” in Carrboro, endurance mountain bike racer Matthew Lee answered questions about the race. Some quick highlights:
The Cannondale bike he rode for 2,700 miles (200,000 total feet of climbing) weighed just 35 pounds. “Just,” because the Ride the Divide is a self-supported race — Lee had to carry everything he would need on the race.
Lee won the 2008 RTD, the focus of the film, finishing in 17 days and 20 hours.
He averaged about 150 miles a day.
His typical day: Wake up at 4:30 a.m., ride until just after dark. In the northerly lattitudes of Canada, that didn’t occur until around 11 p.m.
Fifteen racers started the 2008 Ride the Divide, six finished.
About 40 racers are signed up for this year’s RTD.
Since the race started in 1999, a total of 100 riders have started, 40 have finished.
The RTD route is not “super technical,” says Lee, who is also the race organizer, though more singletrack trail may be added in the future.
Lee has won the race four times.
“The heavy headwinds will drive you crazy.”
Lee’s goal for this year’s race: 16 days.
If he does this year’s race in 16 days, he says he’ll probably retire.
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There’s one key difference between “Race Across the Sky,” last year’s documentary on the Leadville 100, an epic mountain bike race two miles above sea level, and the just-released “Ride the Divide,” which chronicles a lesser-known, 2,700-mile race that follows the Continental Divide from Banff, Alberta, Canada, south to the Mexican border. I’ll get to that difference in a sec. read more
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