Afterwards I realized you can get nearly everything off USPS.com and it's normally official and current.  But it was cool to call some places on route, especially the tiny ones.  I made some edits to the original.

Domino's in Atlantic City?

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=18005916082696605869&hl=en&ved=0CAoQ2QY&sa=X&ei=tJK7TcvYHZbstAPB4ZSrDw

Is this for real?  I am calling in the morning.

Edit:

I think this is just a labeling mistake.  I think I asked at the bar in atl city about it and they gave me a confused look, not sure though, I was pretty out of it that evening.  I called and the number is disconnected.

For anyone who's interested, here's postal info as of current as of 4/28/11.  These are for the pickup windows only.

300 North Harris Street, Helena, MT (406) 443-3304 mf 8-6 sat 9-12 1.7 miles off route
701 Dewey Boulevard, Butte, MT (406) 494-2107 18002758777 8:30-5mf sat 9-1Pm 1.3 miles off route
65209 Mt Highway 43, MT (WISE RIVER) mf 8-12 1-145 sat 815 945
700 Peat Street, Lima, MT (406) 276-3515 mf 8 - 1 and 1:30 - 4:00 sat 9:30 10:45
413 Pine St, Pinedale, WY (307) 367-2650 mf 8:45 -4:45 sat 9-11
106 5th Street, Rawlins, WY (307) 324-3521 mf 8 - 5 sat 9-12
200 Lincoln Avenue, Steamboat Spgs, CO (970) 870-3001 8:30 - 5 mf sat 9-12
500 Lake Dillon Drive, Dillon, CO (970) 513-8282 mf 9-5 SAT 10-12:30
305 South Ridge Street, Breckenridge, CO (970) 547-0347 mf 8-5 sat 10-1
310 D Street, Salida, CO (719) 539-2548 mf 7:30 - 5 sat 8:30 - 12
590 Columbia Avenue, Del Norte, CO (719) 657-3155 mf 9-4:30 sat 9-12
4 Palvadera Road, Abiquiu, NM 5056854460 mf 6-5:30 sat 6-10
6358 Main Street, Cuba, NM 87013 (575) 289-3426 mf 8 - 4:30 sat 10-11:30

My view of threats on the divide in the following order.

1. cars, just because they weigh so much
2. cows, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE
3. cats, bears, wolves (I saw a lone wolf at my camp and a baby bear cub)

Cows really irritate me though, they are everywhere and you just want them to MOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!  

Matt lee seemed to indicate that the "old" td track on topofusion was "certified" official in Feb in the thread here.

http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=1666.0

But then I believe there are two small changes and then a bigger one in the gila.

I'm hoping Scott feels like updating a fresh GPX file, if not my plan is to take the aca gpx and add in the silver city re-route as I think that's the only change from the ACA, (I could be wrong altogether here).

Why a keg when you can just buy a 6-pack hanger! Easier to recharge, and it looks cool when you stop at one of the numerous strip joints I hope are dotting the route (being careful not to overwhelm them, of course.)   

I sense another form of divide racing a brewing, Tour De Bauchery? 

Anyword if Joe Polk is considering coming out of mtb cast retirement to do some shows due large showing of divide racers this year?

Normally the answer to this question is 'No, SPOTs must all be on the same account to be viewable on the same map', however, Scott Morris from Trackleaders.com has some crack code that makes this merge possible. You will be provided a link soon that will walk you thru the private SPOT info submission process.

So I'm guessing we get these trackers the morning of?  Is there anyway I could figure out what the ESN is before I show up?  I like to output my tracker into google earth so people can get in on the 3D globe action, namely my Dad.

what about Lance? Will he appear at the start now he is retired from professional cycling?

Let him go for RAAM, he can stay away from the divide as far as I'm concerned! </SNARK>

I'm just going to leave this here.

http://nukularsuiciders.com/RAAM/

Some stoke for 2011.

Speaking of shaving weight, I'm thinking I might ditch the passport and get one of these: http://travel.state.gov/passport/ppt_card/ppt_card_3926.html.

Actually, I'm just kind of attached to my visa pages and feel like it'd be worth $30 to not have to worry about losing them along the route.

The card is the way to go, plus it's cheap!  I'm doing the same.

This is the only pic of the bike fully loaded I have and OMG.  I'm pretty sure it was about 85 pounds total, and I'm not exaggerating in the least, I had at least 15 pounds of food in the packs.  Extra r. derailleur, chain, cook kit.  You can see I got extra cross tires strapped on both sides of the fork, the gallon of water.  There's the two pannier bags and a trunk bag, completely loaded.  A seat bag is hiding in there too.  There are two thornproof cross tubes in the framebag.  I even had a garmin cd so I could do the whole gps update thing on route, (only had it for a week at that point, supernoob).  If you look closely you can see I've got a v-brake on the front as well as the disc (this was ultra-rad though, no regrets there).  The backpack of course is totally loaded, another gallon and a half of water in there and crammed with food.  I was kicking myself before I even got to Eureka, like friggin 6 miles away from the start but I humored it even over the snow at red meadow pass.  3 regular tubes, 2 slimed tubes.  Yeah, couple miles of snow hiking with an 85 pound bike, sounds stupid huh?  Maybe if I were in Alaska.  It took me till about seeley lake and I realized I wasn't going to be able to emulate Curiak's self supported iditabike.  I probably got it down to 50 pounds after I dropped everything and then I figure in salida when I "reformatted" I dropped another 8 pounds of crap.  Threw my surplus store rain gear away and dropped another couple pounds in grants.  

To you carnivores out there my self supported setup might have seemed ludicrous, but I'm a vegan and I need my nutrition and I did end up going into a severe nutrition deficit by the end.  Had I been able to keep my food and cook kit I would have been "fresh as a daisy" by the end if it weren't for the weight.  In the end I realized you don't need jack out there except for the motivation to ride. Most things past food, water, hygiene, repair kit, and bivy/bag are a luxurious burden.  I lost my bivy by day two and my air pad was flat for a week before I had the peace of mind to fix it.  Sometimes I feel like it would be possible to go out there on a modified cross bike with some beefy tires and a frame bag and just do a psycho sprint for 12 days like the RAAM riders do, except without the support fleet.  Obviously you'd be beat but think about all the vacation time that you'd have left over?  

So I know it's been done on singlespeeds and on fixies, but has anybody ever attempted this thing on a cross bike? Or at least on cross tires?

What would be the downsides?

Smaller wheels
Less tire = less rubber to wear down as the days go on
Worse handing (downhills, washboard)  And divide washboard is BAD.
Easier pinch flats
They aren't cushy like the MTB tires!

I sure as hell wouldn't do it, but I've always been and always will be a bruiser and cross tires just wouldn't make it for me.  It would be rad on the hills, and especially in the mud FUBAR sections.  I would say a 1.75 on the rear and 1.95 on the front would be my personal limits on width.  I ran 2.4 conti mountain kings to Steamboat, then ran 2.0 Stan's The Crow to Mexico.  I will most likely show up this year with a fresh set of Mountain Kings as I only flatted once with them and that was a pinch flat from what I swear was the most perfectly placed rock ever imagined.   I would like to reinforce that I was on a full rigid as well if the 2.4's seem a little large to you.

Nathan

How many people ride with maps VS a GPS. Also if I have a GPS failure (which I have had before) can I make it off of cues only? I almost never ride with a map and hoping on not starting now, so I would like to carry the cues as back up. Can I buy the CUES only or do I have to buy the map set to get the them?

THANKS

Cues!

http://www.adventurecycling.org/store/index.cfm/product/566_11/great-divide-mountain-bike-route-narratives.cfm

I don't think Matt's the one to dole out the bar info, maybe I'm wrong.  

I happened to down a few while on route though.

Let's see, the bar in Atlantic City has some fairly hospitable folks (for being in bfe wyoming) and I remember they had a pretty decent selection of beer, it was impressive actually.  Though I'm not sure if the edge of the divide basin is really the best spot for that sort of thing.  They did have a full stock of gatorade there though.  I drank three of them and then had one beer just because I felt awkward being at a bar and not drinking.

I'm sure there are several bars in Salida, I stopped at one that was a part of a pizza place called Pizzaphilia.  I remember the beers were fairly priced and they had an average selection of drafts, maybe 10 choices.  Not bad pizza either, and fries too... double helping.  I met a moto-tourer on the route and we swapped stories there.  I ended up taking the next day off in Salida though, it's a cool town to wanna just stop in for a while.

Those were my only bar stops, however I did manage to pick up the last sixer of Deschutes Porter from the Wal-Mart in Grants, NM.  I killed four of those that night, felt I had earned it.  Probably not the best way to prep for the Gila either but sometimes you just need some beer.

All this said, I'm on day 29 of no booze!  

I blew the whistle too much on day one and was a little deafened by day two.  In the end the whistle seemed to work best for stopping dogs which is why I still keep it on my backpack for commuting.  I left the bear bell on as well, it's a little more subtle than a bike bell and seems to get the pedestrians out the way just as easily.  I don't bring my bear spray on the commute though, maybe that's the one thing my kit is missing.

Yeah I've submitted mine a few times.  Wondering if it's a sign I should wait another year, ITT, or go back to the GDR. 

Yeah, this is probably gonna have to have till April, if at all, thanks for the advice.  Looks like I'm going to be pedaling around the Willamette Valley all winter, again! 

I made it through the GDR fully rigid this year, my main concern was riding a blown out shock for miles.  In future years, I plan to drop the cash for some front suspension, with coil springs as I'm a little bigger guy and would expect an air cartridge to blow.  I'm also looking long and hard at a soft-tail moots or salsa.   

Glad I did it rigid, right choice for the first time for me I believe.  Hopefully I won't do it again that way though.  I would say if you're a light rider, go full suspension, if not, you got some thinking to do! 

I will more than happily renew the domain name and host the site if that means I can finally have some bragging rights on the interweb and possibly keep said GDR alive!  Scott?