In this shot, race leader Matt Lee is already off the screen, past Helena, MT and Salsa Cycles' Joe Meiser is rockin' it in THIRD PLACE on his drop bar Fargo! He's riding alone, but in close viscinity to two other riders -- Kurt Refsnider and Chris Plesko. I think this is the race for the podium that's shaping up and it's gonna' be a good one.See the latest Tour Divide updates on the SPOT Leaderboard.
11 comments:
I'm a HUGE Tour Divide fan & have allows cheered for Dave Nice but since he's running it in reverse this year I'm becoming a Joe Meiser fan. This stuff is just to cool to NOT follow, it's great we can do this too as the chances of me ever pulling off a dream like that are slim & none!
Joe can still take Matt Lee, GO JOE GO!
OH, MG, about your post yesterday, "life's a bed of roses, just watch out for the pricks!"
As far as I can tell your doing a fine job of supporting & promoting "the scene" in Lincoln as well as Wilderness, I'm grateful to have it so close to me to ride when I visit the mother-in-law, keep it up.
Thanks Matt. I really appreciate your thoughts.
It's going to be awesome watching Joe finish the Tour Divide up... I think he's in a great position to potentially win the whole thing, but Matt Lee is looking tough, as always. We'll see if he cracks, because my money is on Joe NOT cracking. He's a ROCK!
Actually, check the times of each of those check points.
I actually think those guys (Plesko, Refsneider and Meiser are all riding together. I believe they sit about 30-40 miles behind Matthew Lee.
I hope they are working together. I think that is a good strategy.
Wow... I guess I hadn't realized they were that close. That's incredible! I mean, they're all amazing in what they're doing, but I'm just sitting here shaking my head... Joe's doing that on a rigid, steel, drop bar bike whose frame retails for under $700... that he designed, no less. That's a darn good story.
Thanks Gnat. Talk to you soon, buddy.
Cheers,
MG
It's a long race, I expect to see some changes in the lead, Lee is strong, but I hear that Joe is a competitor.
How about Chris Plesko, rigid AND single.
Chris is a hard, hard man... but my money's on Joe. I think he's laying in wait.
I'm not the only one that's of that mind... He's like a cat ready to pounce.
Go Joe! I am thinking Joe is being smart, riding within his limits, and waiting.....
I've got a hunch Matt Lee knows they are sitting back there. He's the "rabbit". Running and looking over your shoulder can be a dangerous thing. Still, what Matt is doing is awesome too.
On a Fargo......man! You and I know a little bit about what that is like, don't we? But you have to admit, if you were going to do that route rigid, what better rig than a Fargo to do it on, eh?
So true, Guitar Ted... M. Lee knows what he's doing too. All respect to his skills too. After all, he's the current record holder on that route. That said, I don't know if he's ever come up against direct competition like he's got this year. It's the culmination of years of experience, preparation, training and product evolution. We're on the cusp of witnessing a breakthrough due to this perfect storm, I suspect. Or at the least we're going to witness an awesome race... Heck, we already are. It inspires me to want to ride my bike more. It makes me want to ride harder.
And yeah, the Fargo is an awesome bike to do it on. This is exactly what it was designed to do, so it's clearly in its element and Joe is just about the perfect rider to get the job done. If he keeps his mind in the game, I think he's got a very legitimate shot at the title this year. He's a shoo-in for the podium, I think at this point.
It's too soon to tell. Joe had a TI4 like experience today in the mud. He's down and out today watching others move on. I suspect Joe will move on tomorrow with a temporary derailleur hanger. We'll see.
Fargo, I'm too biased to comment but I sure love mine.
Yeah, that's a bummer about his mud-induced der hanger failure... He's still in a good position. Perhaps not as good as before, but hey, you take it as it comes and learn the lessons the trail has to teach you. He's going to benefit from the perspective he gained from this, just as he did from last year's TIv.4 experience. We all know what happened at TIv.5... ;-)
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