A Tour Divide Fundraiser

This week’s psyche has a fundraising aspect. Buy a copy of the just-released book on the Tour Divide (“the world’s toughest bike race”) and you’ll help support the daughter of a racer who died during the 2010 challenge. The TD is a fully self-supported 2,700 mile dirt adventure along the Continental Divide from Banff, Alberta to the Mexican border. The Cordillera will no doubt become a requirement for any true adventurer’s bookcase. From the bikepacking web site:

For those of you who have missed it the Cordillera is an anthology of the best Divide Racing art, literature and poetry out there. It is a book about ultra-racing along the Divide and I'm sure that everyone who visits Bikepacking.net will find it fascinating.

The Cordillera Volume 2 is a professionally bound soft-cover book with work by Jon Billman (Outside Magazine), Paul Howard (Two Wheels on my Wagon / Eat, Sleep, Ride), Dan Koeppell (New York Times), Eddie Clark (Mountain Flyer) and many others. We also have pictures from Aaron Teasdale and original artwork by Trevor Browne in this year's book.

We have a great story and interview of Kurt Refsnider this year which details the incredible discovery he made on Baffin Island of the bikes and gear left by Divide bicycling pioneers Mike and Dan Moe. It's a story that you'll never forget and there's more information about it in the Cordillera than anywhere else.

The Cordillera is a non-profit effort. All proceeds benefit worthy bikepacking causes and last year we raised over $1,000 for the Adventure Cycling Association. This year all proceeds go directly to the college savings plan for Linnaea Blumenthal. Linnaea is the four year old daughter of Dave Blumenthal who died after a crash in the 2010 Tour Divide race. Purchasing a copy of the Cordillera is a great and tangible way for the bike-packing community to show support for a fallen racer's daughter.
The Cordillera will be available on Amazon.com next month but if you purchase it directly from the printer you'll get it in a few days and twice as much money will be donated to Linnaea's college fund. Here's the link:

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-cordillera/15659154?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/1

To follow this year’s tour check out the Tour Tracker here.
Here’s a link to the main Tour Divide Page. Here are some photos of the course.