Good luck to Ben dealing with that frame.  Lots of rough sections to go but I'm especially wondering how the washboard between Grants and Pie Town will affect it.  Anybody have any idea if/how he's patched it? 

It's inspiring to see so many riders taking the bad conditions and twists of fate in stride.  Chapeau, folks!  A real display of patience and presence.  Of course, that's a bit of what we're asking for doing this thing, finding out how deep our well of acceptance goes.  Living in two modes at the same time, misery and ecstasy, and trying to keep one's attention on the latter as much as possible.  But I didn't have a drivetrain (or fork) rip off in the middle of nowhere (thanks Rohloff, anvil of a beast that you are) so I can only imagine that scenario.  Just a lot of amazing people in the world and it seems a lot of them show up in Banff in June.  I also think Crazy Larry infuses everyone with something that says "I got this."  Love that guy.  One of the least crazy people I know.  Proud to have any connection with all who have done or will do this thing. 

Awesome ride, Alice!

   How much do you think the excellent weather and conditions played into all the fast times this year, or are there just more fast riders? The records are being crushed. Any short reports from the finishers yet?

Weather is everything so far this year, plus the fact that a few points along the route were cleared of debris that we had to literally scramble/carry through last year in the rain/snow.  Whitefish Divide was transited at less than 1mph last year and this year everybody seems to have basically just ridden through it.  But lack of snowpack and generally more genial weather in the first week seems to have made most of the difference across the whole field so far.  For example, only SIX finishers got to AW in less than 21 days last year.  The projections for this year (at this point) show that 26 or so will finish under that mark.  26th place last year was over 27 days.  Last year my finishing time was 15th place and the top 50+ time by over a day.  This year, as of right now, that would be 48th place and mid-pack for the gray team, a few of them returners from 2014.  Totally different year; different race.  That's why it's kind of hard to get too caught up in the whole "record" thing aside from the amazing accomplishment of finishing the route at such a fast pace.  It's a different race every year and things like time splits and so forth that make sense in other races are so subject to vagaries of this course from year to year that they don't mean as much.  Having said that, "number" goals are good from a motivation standpoint, though I encountered more than one racer last year that ended up scratching who was very discouraged by the fact that they were way off the time split goals they'd set for themselves.  That's part of what makes the Grand Depart a useful way to TT the route: you've got competition on a relatively level playing field (at least for the first week) that can be powerful incentive to hurry along.  I wonder how this year's top 3 would have clocked out if they'd all done ITTs.  I suspect it might not have been quite so fast but who knows?  If it was last year's race, I'm not so sure we see that record come down at all.

What is the total race distance?  Trying to figure out exactly how many miles are left for Josh.

13, about the point I realized that for the first time in a long time there was no need to worry about where/when I was going to have to resupply.  Liberation!  What a finish!

Josh just flew through Separ with enough time to fill up his water bottles and then gone. What will Jay and Neil do - isn't this the last food/water stop apart form the drinks machine at Hachita? (I know the ACA maps put a store in Hachita but many posts seem to say that Separ is the last stop).

No drink machine anymore but a tap on the side of a community building with a hose on it.  

this looks mostly downhill.  anyone know the drivetrains of the 3?

The last 60 miles or so is a very gradual rise to AW.  A steady grind all the way to the end.

Is the stretch from White Signal to Separ the last of the dirt? Pavement until White Signal & pavement after Separ all the way to the border?

Wayne

Hartop all the way, except that one bit.  I tried playing with the buzz of my tires on the road to see if I could hold it humming at the same pitch on the rises in the road.  These three will have more to keep them occupied, though.

That quartering sidewind is turning into a headwind as they hit the pavement above Silver.

http://hint.fm/wind/

Let's stop here to take a moment to remember Mike and Dan Moe, the two guys who ultimately started this whole thing back in 1984.  Mike was a good and inspiring friend and I dedicated my last year's ride to him (30th anniversary).  Check out this article between screen refreshes.

http://tourdivide.org/GDMBR_origin

Skid Lids, I know.  These two were awesome.  

Going up to 92 in AW (4PM or so).  Right now the wind is out of the west 5-10, likely a little higher as the day warms up.  Water in Hachita again, it's assumed.  At least at the gas station on I10, but the hose is faster.  Whew.  

Anyone have an guess on what time these guys will finish?

The winner will roll up to the Antelope Wells gate at 9:03:27 tonight MDT, just as twilight fades into darkness, look around and try to let what they just did sink in.  Those two podium girls may or may not be there, depending on just how sleep-drunk that worthy fellow happens to be.  This will be repeated in some fashion over the next couple of weeks.  

All three pushing along on the CDT.  Couldn't have crafted a much better script up to this point.  Anybody got the last page handy?  No, wait.  Save it.  

Thanks for bringing up JayP's "holier than thou" rant from a couple of years ago Scott. I have found it interesting that he has ridden with Neil for so long in this years event after ranting on about how bad it was that Ollie and Craig seemed to ride together that year.
It has certainly been exciting to watch this year with such close racing.
Carry on

They did ride together for a while there but JP has spent most of the race since Montana regularly putting a gap of between 2 and 30 miles between himself and Neil, and having/letting it close again late.  That looks like attacking to me, in the weird, slo-mo, hour-hand watching way that this race unfolds.  A ten mile lead in a bike race between well-matched, alert competitors is enormous, actually, but it's hard to remember that when you're looking at a map of the whole continent. Seems negligible but it still means somebody got dropped by a lot.  And some of bike racing is about marking the competition, anyway, even if only to assess their condition, so it'd be interesting to know what that's been about.  It looks to me like JP is coming out most days and just driving the pace, making the others try to match it and creating gaps.  Just going through his race plan?  What I wonder is why Neil hasn't/isn't/cant' attack.  Strategy?  Trying to ride his own tempo to even out energy expenditure until a big jump?  Does he hit the jets at Silver City?  Really interesting stuff.  Fantastic athletes.  Wow.  

Great, now I'm going to have more nightmares about the miles and miles of NM washboard that can suck the life right out of you.

Guess if you had 29+ tires, that's where they would shine. After 2000 miles of riding, you get to be a little more comfy than the rest of the pack.

Results will vary of course, but for me the magic number was about 16lbs of pressure (2.2 tires) and go light over the cattle guards.  Made 70% of it mostly vanish (and faster).  That and hands waaaay out at the ends of the bars (w-chprs).  In the dark.  With a lone headlamp very occasionally visible behind me (how far??).  Spookiest night ever on a bike, but magic.  Then: behold, Toaster House.  

The Plains of San Agustin, below Pie Town was some of the most spectacular scenery of the route, for me (or what was left of me by then).  Loved this stretch.  It's where I decided to come back again.

And now for some washboard and sand!

I noticed the Billy Rice facebook comment "29+ rocks!! Rail trail, what rail trail???"

I'm thinking of a 29+ for TD2016 but cant finds one out my way to test ride, has anyone else had experience on them?

Last year I rode a lot with Montana Miller who finished 9th on a Krampus running Knards and flat pedals (singlespeed, no less).  Lots of suspension and they absolutely crush going downhill (sounded a bit like a truck overtaking me).  Probably depends on how the pressure is dialed to find the sweet spot between supple and bouncy.  They obviously work for some.  New Mexico would be where they'd especially shine (washboards, sand pits, ogre-tooth road surfaces, etc.).

I'm a little torn between envy for the good conditions/track this year and feeling lucky to watch all this play out on the dot board (hard to do while drooling along hunched over aerobars in the middle of nowhere). Just a classic contest.

This section between Abiquiu and Cuba is pretty hard with the broken-rock-slab/sand tango danced on top of the mesas.  Some of it's really tiring riding.

So for those that have done it, how much does knowing the course help in the last 3rd?

Knowing what to expect and when is critical.  There are some long empty stretches in NM and the roads get worse (some are worse when wet, some badly washboarded, some are harder at night).  On the other hand, knowing about the washboard stretch north of Pie Town isn't necessarily so good for one's morale and so that might not be so helpful.  Resupply is sketchy depending on time of day so the more resources you're aware of, the more options there are.  New Mexico is really hard.  You're tired and the terrain doesn't relent until the last day. 

Interesting tires on JP's bike.  Blades on the sidewalls for side-cut protection and low profile.  Front tire says "Sparwood" on it.  Anybody know what these are? Nano-something-ish.

Feel like I'm being treated to not only one of the best TDRs (from a racing standpoint) ever, but one of the best races of any kind in a long time.  Great show.