I ran fluid and added 4 oz to each tire in Steamboat.
excessive? probably. worth the piece of mind..no doubt.
but that's just me, I worry a lot. 
I know racers have been fine with less.

Same here. Double the stans in Banff, double the stans with new tires in Salida.

That's what I was planning; loading up on supplies in Cuba before heading out towards Grants, it's just nice to know if there is somewhere to stop and get a coke or something. Also after leaving Grants same thing; load up for Pie town.
If it's possible I'd like to do that stretch (Cuba - Grants) in the early morning hours when it's still cool.

One more thing; I'm thinking of printing my cues on waterproof paper, the stuff is not cheap, is it worth it? Do you need waterproof ink as well? Or will a normal ink-jet printer do?

Thanks guys! 

Yeah, it's a trade off in the time penalty category for sure: frequently stopping for water vs the added weight of extra water.

For cues, I made a condensed set that I cut down and laminated. They held up well. I was worried waterproof paper wouldn't hold up through all the wear and tear. Although I'll say, my cues were in profile sheet format with notations. Standard cues might get a bit heavy if they were all laminated...

Chaco is post Cuba. El Malpais is the alt post Grants. right?
South of Cuba
There are two. both are pseudo grocery stores.
I couldn't tell you the mileage off the top of my head. the first one was closed when I went by(5amish) and the second I stopped at.

South of Grants
Gas station at the interstate exit(subway).
water at the national monument visitor center.
then pie town.

Gah! I always get the name of those two confused.

I only stopped at the Tribal Reservation convenience store, it was 45 miles before Grants. It is basically a little 'stop-and-rob' type place. The people were nice and there was an abundance of soda, ice cream, and junk food.

There is another place listed as a 'store' about halfway between Cuba and the Indian Reservation store but it's really a laundry mat. They have water access and a soda machine. (You can read about it in Jill's blog)

The stretch between Cuba and Grants is rolly and pretty fast. If you load up in Grants, it's almost not worth the time penalty to stop for a re-up vs. the time penalty in extra food/water weight.

Also, it helps to have a good sense of humor. If you can make yourself laugh no matter how much it sucks, you are golden.

No joke I often did what the guy in this video does... You gotta keep it real somehow.

http://youtu.be/F4zEAPZxtBA

Just typing my cues; on the Chaco Alternative is there any services? The ACA maps say that there are a gas station and a mini-mart.

Chaco is post Grants? If so, those two are just as you leave the grants area at the highway crossing.

I rocked the nano's. They worked well but be warned, they have a new compound that is soft and wears faster. I wouldn't plan on 1 set making the entire divide.

I second this

Woody

Awwwwwww schucks.........

I just like to pay it forward. I gleaned tons of advice and utilized every little bit of it.

So...are you guys and gals having the experience that with every ride you focus further and further on the TDR? I pretty much can't stop tooling my bike, trying new carrying methods, noting how much fluid and how many calories a century requires in differing conditions, studying the maps, researching, etc...This is some of the most exciting, and all-consuming, training I've ever done. How are all of you coping with finding the time for long hours in the saddle and still maintaining a career? I've started just riding everywhere, to work, running errands, visiting friends, pedaling to to the crag or boulderfield to climb, etc. I'm loving it; leaving a lessened carbon footprint makes me smile as well. I've even taken to calling it, "integrated training".  
  

Commuting is a perfect way to train! I just talked about that on my blog today....

You guys could start a tour divide loi thread on bikepacking.net....

Side note about Geronimo Trail Guest Ranch.  Do not rely on the Geronimo Trail Guest Ranch for food.  Someone had visited the establishment before I did and got into a ruckus with the hired hand over food.  My information is that they only stock provisions for the scheduled guests and do not have extra food for a bunch of weary bikers.

B-

Isn't that the place that has a freaking huge sign out front that says something like, "Absolutely NO food or water for sale here!!!"?

There is the Toaster house... Through the stop sign, on the right, the house with all the toasters. (I know, I know... Just trust me that it will make sense when you get there.)

Somebody owns the house but nobody lives there. The owner keeps it stocked up with things like peanut butter, bread, and ice cream sandwiches. There is a place to leave donations for food that you take. I'm pretty sure you can sleep there too.

It really is a reliable place but I'd hate to bank my planning on the person stocking it.

I personally timed it so I would get there early morning but after a reasonable time for the cafe to be open. I ordered a few burgers to go. I had brought plenty from grants just in case.

that's the damn truth right there. you'll think, likely like i did, there isn't a particular reason to have such large emotional swings. but they come... they come.

Yes they do.

I just reread my post. It kinda sounds like I'm trying to be a totally bad @$$ or something. That really isn't the case. I guess it's just been my experience that most people neglect their "ST" (what Matthew Lee calls suffering threshold). They forego training their suffering ability for training their physical ability.

Don't get me wrong, I just did a 60 minute tempo session on the trainer last night. That takes some serious ability to suffer (especially in the off season!). However, the kind of suffering that occurs on a multi-day race is on an entirely different level. Yeah, your legs burn and your lungs hurt but your SOUL hurts too. You get hamburger sized saddle sores, cracked lips, half dollar sized blisters on your feet, sores on your tongue, a horribly sore throat, etc.

It just grinds and grinds and grinds on you.

The best approach is putting one foot in front of the other and making yourself smile.

Thanks,

A guy named Tim O'brien, Phantom Pack Systems. Look here for more details.

http://phantompacksystems.com/index.html

Pretty sweet....

Ladies and Gents,
Did you ship resupply gear or whatever to different towns down route? If so, how did it work out for you? Meaning if you shipped resupply gear to whatever town did you hit in during the day? Still trying to figure out that whole "general delivery" thing. I would hate to hit the town after the post office closed and then need to wait till it opened the next day. Or is it better just to plan on buying supplies such has jersey or shorts/bibs if needed.

Thanks,
Woody

I shipped one box to Rawlins. I purposefully choose that spot because I KNEW THERE WAS NO WAY I WOULD HIT IT ON SUNDAY BECAUSE I'M TOO SLOW TO MAKE IT THAT FAR THAT FAST.

Yeah... I hit it on Sunday. I just kept riding and did the entire rest of the race in the one pair of shorts.

Next time I'll ship two or three boxes to a few different cities and hope to hit them during an open day. At least that would up the odds in my favor.

Sounds nice, just after 2500 miles maybe not what a divide racer wants. How long is it?

Just looking at the services available in Mimbres; looks pretty bleak. Looking at the ACA maps the section between Pie Town and Mimbres is the longest stretch of route without services. Besides the coke maschine at the Beaverhead Work Center is there anything else available?

The single track section isn't too terribly long. It's the CDT section before that really kills. It was super steep, mostly hike a bike, and pretty hard to find your way through. Then again, I was hiking at night with a pen light from a gas station to guide me... so maybe I was the only one who couldn't ride it.

You can get water at the church as you cross the highway before the Gilia. (About 60 miles or so before Beaverhead.)

Mimbres is a total freaking crap shoot. The only place that I could have made closed at like 3 pm and they were only open random days of the week (like monday, wednesday, friday or some such lame schedule). Yeah you guessed it, I was there on a day they were closed.

Pie Town can be a crap shoot too. The toaster house tends to be a reliable stock supply. But, I'm not sure I would rely on that. There are two restaurants but the locals said I was lucky to find one of them open. (I might be making a bigger deal out of the reliability of pie town than should be made, it's just my experience.)

Next time I will leave Grants with a crap ton of calories and rely on the stops for water only. The climbing is pretty easy between the two places (at least once you are in tour shape) so the weight penalty would be worth it for me.

Mental endurance is far more important than physical endurance. Don't get me wrong, you have to show up race fit and ready. (IE your tendons and joints need to be ready for the multi-day stress.) However, the mental endurance that you develop in training will be what really carries you through.

Can you ride hard for so long that you start to cry, keep riding, cry again, keep riding, cry again, realize that you've been riding for 8 hours without eating, eat while riding, and then keep riding?

If I hadn't been able to, I would have been out by Holland Lake Lodge on the tour.

Here's a couple pics of my TDR ride; not quite finished though.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33537785@N07/6504038229/#in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33537785@N07/6504037997/#in/photostream/

Nice ride!

Who made those bags?

It is the ~10 miles before Silvercity. Beautiful, amazing, brilliant and completely different than any other section of the trail.

6.5 liters is the amount that I have seen thrown around more than another. I personally took capacity for 6 and then carried an extra chocolate milk or OJ in my jersey pockets.

The hardest stretch for me was from the work center in the Gilia to Silvercity. I left with 6 liters and two cans of lemonade. I was out before I even made it to the Mimbres cutoff. In my defense, it was about 112 degrees. But, that new CDT section between adds a SIGNIFICANT amount of trail time before one hits Silvercity. I think only 1 or 2 riders had enough food and water to make it to Silvercity. I had to find a way to get water in Mimbres before I even thought about hitting up the CDT section.

Keep in mind, it is a real trade off. Water is freaking heavy. A few sections I carried more than I really needed and it slowed me down significantly. I started off the Basin with about 7 liters. I dumped 2 liters before I made it 10 miles. I really ended up only needing maybe 3.

Oh man, I got simply starving today so I stopped into a subway for some quick healthy eats. The combination of tuna, bacon, fresh bread smells and a grumbling stomach brought me right back to Cuba.

It was such a vivid memory!