I use the original skin protectant.
When things have gone south and I'm off the bike I use Burts Bees diaper cream. (I have 2 kids...)

Put the lantiseptic on with a glove... It's tenacious stuff.

I usually pack a packet in my kit for anything longer than a day ride. Or, if you get a tub you can make single serving packs out of ziplock bags. Fold inside out to apply (use the bag as a glove). Then fold it back together to seal it in until you can dispose of it.

Lantiseptic. Medical grade skin protectant.
Comes in small pouches or larger tubes / tubs.
Randonneur approved.

I don't print them. I just did the image.

SRAM Apex served me well on my Fargo, so much that I moved to an X9 rear with Apex on my road rig. I like the shape of the hoods better than Shimano, and have also used Campy.

I just think you should leave the equipment choice out of it... that is all I was trying to say.
Makes no sense to me to make handlebar choice a deciding factor on what is MTB or not.
(And Mr. Tomac would likely disagree that MTB races aren't won on drop bars...)


So, ITI. Its hard because its remote, and on snow. And you've finished it twice.
Is it really a MTB race? 
What is a MTB race? 24 hours, 50 miles, 100? laps? Point to Point? Leadville? Local series at the trail center?
Single track only? (Does ITI count? In that regard?)
On mountains only? In forests only? Does slick rock count?

I insisted that a mountain bike race doesn't happen on dirt roads, and isn't won on drop bars

I don't think whether a rider uses drop bars or flat or alt bars should make a difference if they win.




If you are going to quantify the race by equipment choice thats a whole can of worms. Carbon? What is the minimum tire size? Do you have to carry a bivy? Must you use hydros or can I use rim brakes? Etc. Etc.

This?

td-2014.jpg by Mike, on Flickr

Thats from 2014. If someone is printing them for 2015 and onward, please let me know... I designed the original.

Looking at the post finish photo's of Josh, Neil and Jay I can see that they are all wearing watches. Why?

Everyone is seeming to want to get their gear weight down as light as possible, so why wear a watch when their GPS and/or telephone should be sufficient? There must be a reason as these guys are all top level racers.

Phone stays in bag. Off or in airplane mode, maybe depending on location and terrain. GPS gets turned off at night. Watch - alarm clock... Basic check for daylight hours, basic check to time services, etc.

And when I did some longer randonneuring event I set a reminder alarm for food / drink.

If you look at tandems.. make sure you get one that has a differential so that the stoker can pedal a different cadence than the pilot. Otherwise you'll end up working her when you were trying not to!

Jones Loop and be done. Maybe find someone stateside that can get them to you cheaper.

I run a dyno for my primary bike / light.
On my head I run an Exposure Diablo, which also doubles as a bar light on my other bike as needed. I'd get another of their lights if I needed more battery setups.

I think the higher the bar the more angle you put on it. I have mine a few degrees out of level and like them. Bars are about saddle height or just a bit less.

The extra chunky are nice. Not sure if they make a huge difference, but they seem to work for me.

Tandem Fat... Probably makes more sense than trying to solar charge a battery...

29 plus makes a ton of sense on a rigid tandem with all it's weight. On a fast TD bike probably not so much so. If it were so great then the leaders would be running them.

Looks like JP probably slipped Neil a little sleep aid last night, and when he heard him snoring, got up and left him!

Josh probably is paying for his big move and is quite a ways back as of now (38 miles)

Scott admonished me in 2012 for ditching gear for a  later pickup on the Stagecoach 400 so that is not a cool thing to do. I doubt at this point you are going to save enough time by mailing back gear unless you can do it real fast. They could always donate if to some homeless person! On the AZT 750 I donated my cache pack at the north rim to the park service to use in their trail maintenance program knowing full well I never wanted to repeat that adventure!

i think it really depends on the tire and rim combo. some new +sized stuff coming out thats lighter and potentially nicer than the surly stuff... especially in the rim department.

i really like my 29+ stuff... but I'm on a heavy steel krampus with rohloff... so, its not a carbon race rocket like JP is on. i think all the other stuff plays into a setup for top 10 racing as much as wheels / tires do. overall kit. how fast into and out of sleep setup. how many calories can you cary... how minimal do you go with shelter, etc. i know when i backpack with friends we can burn a ton of time just getting out of camp as everyone setups up differently. racing, thats a whole other setup.

i really liked the WTB Vulpines as a dirt road / limited trail tire in 2.1 or whatever.
and remember, with a 29r rim in the 35-45 range you can run regular old tires. on my rabbit holes i ran 2.3 nicotine studs all winter... the wide rim really spread out the tire. with a WTB scraper or similar a 2.2 and 2.3 would be a nice fit... so you can still run the wide gear, and tune it for the route.

ECR has low bottom bracket compared to Krampus.

Impressive ride by George. I always figured the initial records would be sub 60 hours. But he beat those expectations!

TD someday for me... kids and biz and family have been my focus... but dyno, Rohloff are on my MTB / adventure / camping rig:

Rohloff and drivetrain by Mike, on Flickr

Krampus Cockpit by Mike, on Flickr

Krampus aftermarket for with eyelets///

The fork on the Krampus and ECR is regular spacing.
And I would bet if you get a frame grab one it won't matter much. If you get a wheel grab one it might.

regular rack works fine, assuming you mean the kind where you lock the fork in.
my krampus sits in the tray and the original strap just makes it around the tire... although i usually use a longer velcro strap.