I hope so too. Prevailing winds are generally from the southwest though so odds are not in our favor.

It's unlikely that this fire will burn east to Beaverhead due to a broad area of low fuel in between, but don't get your hopes up for being able to ride the full route through NM. One area in Arizona has already been closed to all public access by the USFS due to high fire danger. It's only a matter of time before more ranger districts follow suit. La Nina years are not good for the traditional Divide racing start dates.

Today I sat in an airplane and stared out the window for a few hours. It was pretty awesome. The San Juans are inundated with smoke blowing north from the enormous fire in the Gila. But The air between me and the descent down Carnero Canyon and into the San Luis Valley looked crystal clear. I could even make out the tiny La Garita store...

Hey, isn't that DH's NOHRSC snow depth compilation? Good to see that reappear...useful tool. Now just add the satellite smoke data from http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm!

A few considerations I'd ponder based on gear lists I've seen here today and elsewhere:

- Imagine how cold it will be if you get stuck riding in cool temps and rain for several days straight. Got sufficient warm clothes for that? Is your rain gear truly waterproof, or does the manufacturer just claim it is?

- Recovery at night is more important than almost anything else. Sleeping on the lightest possible pad might not be the best for your body.

- Don't underestimate all the parts on your bike that can wear out or break, or how abrasive the mud in the West can be. Some stretches are as long as 800 miles in between bike shops. Make sure you've got the parts and tools necessary to fix anything on your bike that could reasonably fail. Just look back to previous years' race discussions for an idea of how common such failures are.

- None of these gear lists posted today really have any minor first-aid kits that I can see. That seems like a bit of oversight in my opinion. A big part of being self-sufficient is having the knowledge and materials to take care of injuries.

- Bear spray: Sleeping next to your bike, smelling of food, a grizz happens upon you. How good are you at fighting a bear as you try to extricate yourself from your cozy sleeping bag and bivy? The odds are slim that this'll ever happen, but how much of a gamble are you willing to take?

My advice: stop counting grams and plan for adversity and challenge of all types, especially if you're new to this sort of event/experience. These kits look acceptable for fair weather and happy bodies, but as soon as something goes to shit (bad weather, bike failure, crash, etc.), things get tough. Not having one crucial replacement part could cost you a day or more on the trail. Not having enough warm clothing for the often cold and miserable mountain weather this often race includes can be a major safety issue. And nothing is more important than doing everything you can to take care of your body.

And keep in mind that the weather we had (at least the leaders) during the 2011 race was about as perfect as it could get, with the exception of the NM heat. Look back to the miserable weather and awful mud from the 2010 and 2009 editions for a reminder of what could be...broken bikes, broken souls, and high attrition rates.

I figure $40 to $50 per day for food, and you'll need at least a few hundred bucks or more for replacement bike parts along the way, so using those numbers, doing it on $1000 is possible if you avoid motels and do it in <20 days. The longer you take, the more it costs, unfortunately.

Following tire tracks is not a viable strategy for this one. There are enough short paved road and bike path stretches sans tracks and rain storms that quickly erase tracks that you're sure to get off course repeatedly. For a first-time rider, I'd strongly recommend having the maps (these show where services are and are not available) and GPS. Missing a section of the course is sufficient for you to be relegated, so it's well worth a bit of money to assure that you have what it need to make sure that doesn't happen.

But if you're thinking of doing it in 30 days and not being competitive, why not just tour it on your own? Then you wouldn't have to worry about route infractions or anything like that, and that alone could save you a few hundred bucks it sounds like since you wouldn't need to buy a GPS.

Wasn't the Great Divide Race the first trans-US bikepacking race? That fact aside, JayP pioneered this idea and I'm glad to see someone trying to build off what he did. It's too bad that the RAAM RD wasn't interested, but in reality, you know that they'd slap on a $2000 entry fee or something like that for the self-supported racers.

Ha, hey Christophe. Good to see you on here. Yup, I'd trust the XTs on the TD, on a DH bike, or on a tandem. My only concern with them right now is that they seem to be a bit more popular than Shimano expected, so Shimano seems to be having trouble keeping up with demand for the pads!

I will second Flounder's praise of the latest XT brakes. I've been using them a ton since the middle of last summer. They blow the Avid Elixir (X0, CR, R) out of the water in both performance and reliability. I had can't count the number of times I've been out bikepacking and Elixirs on my or friends's bikes unexpectedly and unpredictably quit working as an air bubble migrated from somewhere benign to somewhere very problematic. There's nothing worse than being deep in the rugged backcountry with only one working brake. Bleeding the XT brakes is also pretty simple, especially compared to Avid's contrived procedure that still only seems to work half the time. Now we have XTs on three of our bikes, and sitting on my work bench are two more sets to replace the last two sets of Elixirs in the house.

Anyone want to buy some Elixirs? I'll sell 'em real cheap!

Yup, I'd recommend any of the chlorine dioxide tables on the market. They're definitely more expensive than bleach, but I've had good luck with them (and only waiting 30 min rather than 4 hrs). The Steripen works nicely, but for the few times you'll treat water on the Divide, it's not worth the weight or bulk in my opinion.

Chlorine dioxide and iodide also need the the water free of particulates in order to kill all (most) of the harmful bacteria.  The bacteria can get inside soil and organic particles and thereby be unaffected by the treatment.  Even with clear water, chlorine dioxide and iodide need about four hours to do their thing.  So, for the weight of a water filter the trade off is hauling around multiple water bottles up and down hills as the treatment occurs. 

Interesting info from your friend's study in RMNP. As for the 4 hours, that's solely for cryptosporidium cysts. Giardia will be killed by an appropriate amount of chlorine dioxide or iodine (i.e., higher concentrations for silty/organic-laden water) within 30 minutes. If you wait 4 hours, chlorine dioxide should also kill cryptosporidium cysts. Iodine will never kill cryptosporidium, but those cysts are large enough that filtering will easily remove them.

So pick your poison or haul water from town to town...they're never that far apart. I know plenty of people who swear by one method or another, including the 2 drops of bleach, saying "I've never gotten sick!"

I just looked at a govt site and they say 5 drops/L (7 drops if cloudy) and let it sit for 30 min.

Just so you all are aware, these guidelines are for treating municipal water that may have been contaminated in floods. For treating water in the backcountry, bleach should be used in higher concentrations, and any organic matter, iron, or manganese will react with the chlorine in the bleach rapidly, rendering your treatment rather ineffective. So if you do use bleach, you're better off filtering the water first to remove at least the organic matter. That and chlorine alone is relatively ineffective at killing giardia, the most problematic 'bug' in water sources, because of its protein shell when its in the cyst stage. Chlorine dioxide and iodine are far more effective at killing giardia.

Be careful with water treatment out there...it's definitely not worth risking getting giardia just to save a few grams or minutes on your treatment method.

Well, that didn't quite go as hoped. But I can't say I'm not surprised with my body finally reaching it's limit after a month of all sorts of racing. But it was rather incredible to see all three of us succumb to some combination of fatigue and dehydration at more or less the same time. Riding in Sedona yesterday morning was the first day since the first day of the AZT300 that my legs actually felt good. Unfortunately, that lasted until near the Verde River, and then things went downhill quickly as I battled the worst cramping I've ever experienced and a stomach that refused any food. Aaron and Scott soon caught me, and they were both looking rough. We SLOWLY limped up the 5000' climb, struggling to simply make it to Williams. After a big dinner, a cheap motel room, and two breakfasts, we all felt human enough to ride slowly, so we did just that for a while and enjoyed being out there before blasting back to Sedona on pavement since I had to be home this evening. All in all, two days on the bike are hard to beat, but luckily, I only have to experience misery like yesterday's once a year at most.

The moral of the story? None of us are anywhere near recovered from our AZT and subsequent adventures. I think we all knew that yesterday morning, but it's hard to turn down the opportunity for a little adventure.

BTW, donuts will not be provided to the winner until after I finish and have a chance to run to Safeway, so don't finish famished and immediately expecting to find your prize waiting for you at the, uh, finish line

I'll make sure the victor gets a dozen, should they want them. I'd be willing to spring for a big milkshake instead, should the winner desire one instead. But if there's a tie due to late race hand holding, said milkshake must be sipped together through two straws 

Any other takers for this one? Anyone want to start a pool on who's going to complete the loop first and win the box of donuts? 

Sadly, GL is out for me this spring. I've got too much else on my plate. But that's a good problem to have seeing what all these things are! Best of luck out there, Jim. Take some photos to share of the Koski Traverse. And bring along some sugary powder to put in your bladder full of muddy river water to improve the taste.

I know I want to, but I also want to eat a donut but I know that it'll give me terrible gas, so I'm not going to do it. 

You demonstrate some impressive self restraint. I'd eat the entire box of donuts!

Come on, Ez. You know you want to. My legs are thrashed from 3 weekends in a row of racing, but they just keep going apparently! I'm sure yours will too. Don't let LW hold you back 

It appears that there is going to be a very informal last minute Coconino race going down next week. I was going to TT the route this weekend under Supermoon, but after sending a few emails, it seems that there are a few other folks interested in also doing it, namely Coconino thru-ride record holder Aaron Gulley and AZT300 record holder Scott Morris. So we're going to have a friendly little race, and I predict some very fast times and zero naps. If anyone else wants to join in for the fun, please do!

Date: Thursday May 10
Time: 6 am (possibly 5 am?)
Start location: Sedona (more precise location TBD)
Direction: Clockwise

For more info on the loop, go here: http://www.bikepacking.net/routes/coconino-loop/

I'd be interested in how TD veterans have handled being caught in lightening storms. I was in one a few years ago on Brazos ridge in New Mexico and it was the most terrifying experience I've had. Do you shelter in place, ride, get on your knees and pray? All of the above???

Take these storms seriously. I know too many people who have been struck and the long term consequences are simply not something worth risking. Like Eric Lobeck said (and Mike Curiak demonstrated in years gone by), take shelter in a low spot or wait to climb that next pass and make use of the time for eating. With the exception of the big monsoonal thunderstorms that sometimes hit NM, storms in the Rockies do pass quite quickly.