July 2, 2007

Great Divide Race Winner Shatters Course Record

New records for speed, participation set in world's most challenging bike race

In an unprecedented display of fitness, strength, and nation-spanning bravado, Jay Petervary, a 35-year-old from Jackson, Wyoming, has won the fourth annual Great Divide Race, decimating the course record with an astoundingly fast time of 15 days, 4 hours, and 18 minutes. Thought unbeatable by many, the previous record of 16 days, 57 minutes, was set in 2004 by current race organizer Mike Curiak. Following Adventure Cycling's 2,490-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, riders in the Great Divide Race navigate jeep roads down the spine of the continent through some of the most remote country in North America, climbing over 200,000 feet and crossing the Continental Divide 28 times.

"I had planned to get photos of every rider pedaling the route," said Adventure Cycling's Aaron Teasdale — whose photo gallery from the first day of the race can be seen here: www.adventurecycling.org/gdrgallery2007 — "but JP shot by me so fast I didn't even have time to get my camera out of the pack. He was red-faced and pumping like he was sprinting for the finish line — and this was two hours into a two-week race."

Cannondale-sponsored rider Matthew Lee, winner of the previous two GDRs, finally achieved his goal of breaking Curiak's record but, in a twist, did not win the race. In the 36 hours before the race, Lee rode the 221-mile Canadian Extension of the Great Divide Route as a "prologue," making his time of 15 days, 22 hours, and 40 minutes, extraordinary in its own right.

This year's race has delivered the kind of backcountry adventure the Great Divide Route is known for, with one rider having a close encounter with a moose, another group caught in a high-mountain June snowstorm, and two riders in remote southern Colorado reporting a close-range UFO sighting. A record 24 GDR riders lined up at the start line, with 11 riders still on the course (and 11 pulling out along the way), including a yet-to-be-determined third-place finisher.

The Great Divide Race is a unique event in the world of sport — there is no entry fee and no outside support — with riders carrying everything they need (food, water, supplies) on their bikes and backs. Petervary wins no prize for his accomplishment, other than the satisfaction of knowing that no other human being has ever ridden the mammoth route faster.

"Mountain biking has a new hero," said Teasdale, "and his name is Jay Petervary."

To learn more about the Great Divide Race go to www.greatdividerace.com. To follow the riders still in this year's race, go here: www.greatdividerace.blogspot.com.

Adventure Cycling Association is the premier bicycle travel organization in North America with nearly 43,000 members. A nonprofit organization, our mission is to inspire people of all ages to travel by bicycle. We produce routes and maps for cycling in North America, organize more than 30 tours annually, and publish the best bicycle travel information anywhere, including Adventure Cyclist magazine and The Cyclists' Yellow Pages. For more information, please visit www.adventurecycling.org. To request an Adventure Cycling press kit or learn more about the Great Divide Route, contact Aaron Teasdale, media liaison, at 800-755-2453 x237 or .

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