I raced the TD on a Trek Boone 9 CX bike this year. There were pros and cons but I agree that it's just a bike race. It doesn't matter what kind of bike you do it on as long as it's only powered by the rider. I had the advantage on smoother terrain, but the rough stuff really slowed me down. That being said, I'd ride it on a CX bike again.

My feeling is that you would be crazy to do this race on flat bars. Drop bars or a Jones loop give you so many different hand positions and lets be real, this race is 99.9% dirt roads. Look at what the top three rode.
 I would be worried about the speed/impacts on CX wheels versus mtb wheels but otherwise you just need a bike that you can comfortably sit on for 15+ hours a day for three weeks. I heard that there was a nasty CX accident on Day 1 this year due wheel failure. I could be wrong but there was definitely EMS services, looking for someone,  filtering through the pack prior to Elkford.

Coming from living at sea level (and having never ridden a bike above 3000ft before) , I was surprised that I really didn't notice the altitude at all. I guess it just varies person to person.

Also, huge thanks to Marshal and his wife who saved me from a long and depressing ride back from the border.

I'd second that. I did notice it in Banff when I first got there but after that didn't notice it. The only place I felt "flat" was on Indiana Pass and Summitville but that could have been the 2000 miles I already had in the legs and not just the 11 920'.

Rest and recovery will be your friend. It will probably take a few months to fully recover. I've scheduled no races through the end of the year, and plan on just riding my bike for the sheer enjoyment of it and to catch up on all of the riding time with friends that I missed over the last two years.

Hear, hear. I am just starting to feel a bit normal but am still sleeping very deeply. Riding with mates and the kids is my priority for the rest of the year.

On another note, I have started putting my experience in this year's race down in print. I would like to thank all of you whom I met, either in Banff or out on the trail for making my Tour Divide race such a special experience and helping create a memory that will last forever..or until alzheimers kicks in. 
My words begin here - http://dave-livingthedream.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/where-to-start-epic-tale.html

I and another rider from Tahiti slept in the Post Office lobby in Vallecitos this year. We got on the road about 6 AM and had no issues with the dogs either. Heard them barking, but that was about it. Ran into a couple in Del Rito, but they were just looking for a friendly scratch behind the ears.

I was all wound up about going through Vallecitos from all the stories. When I went through Vallecitos at about 7:30am I didn't have a dog even bark at me let alone chase me. Maybe riders have hit them with pepper spray a few times and they don't chase riders any more?

We want to be in Separ when our husbands go through. How long will it take for them to get to Separ from Silver City? They are riding at a 28 day pace, Peter Yerger and John Bowers. We were going to stay at Lordsburg but don't know when to get there. They are 61 miles north of Silver City at 5:00 pm Thursday. Anyone who has done the race or picked up that can help us out, that would be great! We are both 5 hours away from Lordsburg. Nancy

Hi Nancy. I was on 20 day pace and that 61miles was the hardest day of the tour. It took me all day to get through the Gila to Silver City so if your guys are doing 28 day pace you have plenty of time. Silver to Separ was about 3.5 hours with a tail wind.

Mrs. Flyboy, not sure if you already got the info you needed. If you're coming from Tucson, Lordsburg is the closest town to AW. As far as what to do/not to do, here's my take:

Once he gets to Separ and I-10, take pictures, videos, and let him know you're there supporting him. At that point, he's going to finish so the fact that you happen to be there doesn't truly break any rules, in my opinion. You're travelling a very long way so don't wait until the finish to see him. As long as you don't give him food/water/drinks and he doesn't draft off of you, get some more pictures/videos of him on his way to AW.

Whatever you do, make sure you're at the finish in plenty of time to catch the actual finish and have your kids cheering on dad. It's a special moment that you'll all remember forever.

Thanks AndyAmick, thats all very helpful. I hadn't thought of meeting up with him along the road towards the end, so that's an excellent idea, providing it won't disqualify him. I'd hate for him to make it that far then be disqualified right at the end!

Mrs Flyboy here. Not sure if this is the right spot to ask this, but I have a question for the wives/partners of TD riders who have met, or have arranged to meet, their partners at the finish line in Antelope Wells. I'm heading over with our 2 children to meet Flyboy at the finish line. We'll be flying into LAX and will then fly to Phoenix or Tucson. More likely to be Tucson to shorten the drive to AW. Just looking for tips/advice on what to do, what not to do, where to stay, etc.

Hi from sunny Helena.
A summary of my race so far. Day 1 and 2 went to plan.  Day 3 provably went a bit too big miles wise and I developed a twinge in my left Achilles.
Day 4 I nursed it up Richmond Peak and I am glad I did because the views and the decent were so worth it.  I grovelled into Ovando to find the Stray Bullet Cafe closed, so ate at the bar on the highway.  That is where Angler took her photo.
I stealth camped about 10 miles out of Ovando to ice my ankle in the river which seemed to work wonders.  I felt good up Huckleberry Pass and into Lincoln this morning but the three passes to Helena worked the ankle some more so I am staying in Helena to rest and ice it some more. I will crawl to AW on my lips if I have to (but would prefer to pedal).
I just want to say there are some awesome people out there both in the race and along route. It has been an amazing ride so far.

Cheers
Dave H.

Matt is still sending out the Trackleaders reg emails, just received mine at 6:00 AM Eastern.. Totally pumped!

Just got mine as well and I am all signed up.

Just wondering if a senior member(or someone appropriate) might like to open a 2015 Race thread so that those of us coming from international locations can set up our families and friends with the thread link?
It is getting real now!

I'm leaving as a SOBO ITT in about 30 minutes so assume that I'll see them show up in email before I need them in Wyoming.

Good luck and enjoy!

I was wondering what others got for the milage difference near Fish Lake Mtn re-route. I calculated 8.8 less miles then if we were to go over Union Pass.

I got about the same but the new route had about 500m(1500ft) more climbing Well, thats what Basecamp told me.
Did anyone see Billy's video from the new section? Interesting(sorry, I can't paste it into here on the iPad)

Yep, the map should be enabled by default(at least it is on my eTrex20 which is what I tested the img on when I built it), so really you should just have to remove the -v1 image file from the Garmin directory and replace it with -v2 image file. It should show up in settings as GDMBR-basemap-v2.

Thanks SlowRide, I have it all sorted now. 

4 hours, yep.

FYI - thanks to John Fairbairn, we have a "v2" of the garmin .img file for basemaps.  A couple of tiles were added to the original v1 file to cover the Wamsutter reroute.  Thanks John!


It's on my topofusion/divide gps page (same place for the GPX).

Scott, do we just download it then drop it into the Garmin folder on the  eTrex, then Enable the map in the settings? Thanks. Dave

Union Pass felt kinda wierd last year. It was a good switch back climb ( up and up and up!) but paved and with very expensive suburban-spaced summer homes on either side. I didn't feel comfortable there. Especially since it was getting dark, I was looking for somewhere to sleep and it felt like security alarms were going to go off if I even looked the wrong way at a promising spot. I won't miss Union Pass.

Fair enough. Thanks for the replies. The new route looks a bit shorter but has more climbing to even things out by the look of it.

from 1st hand experience--10,000 point file is more than sufficient detail for the TDR route.  You will NOT miss a turn due to file size. 

Side note: Sections that are overlaid on a map and in essence drawn by hand & then transferred to a gpx file (not sure if this applies to any of the new sections) are the ones that can be confusing.  Even then, if you know how to use a trail style GPS a hand drawn track is usually no more than a minor inconvenience at worst.

Thanks Marshal. I will stop over thinking it now.

Looks like about 67 miles from Wamsutter to the CO State Line and another 14 to Brush Mtn for about 81. And about 97 miles from Atlantic City to Wamsutter.

Does anyone know if there will be "official" cues for the two new sections or do we have to sort them ourselves?

Obviously, Rawlins is being bypassed due to construction. I may have missed the reason, but I haven't read why the original route up Union Pass is being bypassed. Anyone know a reason?

Thanks guys, and I just found this on Counter Assault's website (bear spray manufacturer):

11. Can I carry Counter Assault onto an airplane?

FAA regulations do not allow transportation of more than 4 ounces of pepper spray packed in your luggage. You may call us for local dealers in the area you are going or we can drop-ship to your destination.

Inkerpok, you are essentially in a pressurised can when in an aeroplane and that bear spray WILL get recirculated again and again if it leaks. You can imagine what it will do to everyone in that can. Especially the drivers....why risk it?

Flyboy, et al,

I had trouble downloading the detailed file to my Garmin eTrex 30. It only accepted the first 700 miles or so. Then I downloaded the 10,000 point file without trouble. All 2648.7 miles, there for the riding.

MD, is the 10 000 point file detailed enough? That is only ~2 points per kilometre(~3 per mile). Is it worth breaking down the full sized file into smaller portions or am I just overthinking this? I don't want to miss some of those TD gems where you ride along a muddy trail just metres(yards) off the side of a nice paved road.

Flyboy, I have the eTrex 30 and the North America chip and yes the Tour Divide gps track works fine on that.

Thanks MDSeaburg. Do you put the TD .gpx on the sd card with the maps or put it into the eTrex internal memory?

Wow, thanks for that quick info!  Really helpful!

As a general comment from a rookie,  this kind of anecdotal info from experienced riders is really useful and certainly helps with planning.

I am not trying to take away from the "adventure" part of the race, but I know it's an accomplishment just to finish.

Little nuggets like this are golden....

Tom

Tom, I am doing the same at the moment and you are right, these little nuggets are golden.
Thanks for sharing your hard won knowledge folks!

Hello All
I am wondering what base map is being used for TD15
Scott has the GDMBR 2013 map on topo fusion ?
Is this map still relevant and the one to use or are there others out there which are more relevant.
cheers and thanks
simon

Following on from Simon's question, has anyone tried running the Garmin USA roadmapset on a micro sd with the TD .gpx loaded as well? Can the Etrex process/handle the two?

Hi everyone,

I believe this is how things go: Booked my room at the Y. My Letter of Intent: whatirideby.com

Been doing a lot of reading on here and a lot of riding out there. Looking forward to meeting you all in person in a month!

Lynne

Hi Lynn and welcome aboard this crazy ride! SoBo?

A late reply but reading a few pages back this reminded me of one of the most unpleasant and unforseen problems I had on the TDR, I've not seen it mentioned so thought it's worth highlighting. I'm from the UK so the dry, hot air from the Baisin onwards messed up my sinuses pretty badly, I felt pretty dried out but it wasn't a dehydrated lack of water feeling. I awoke in my bivi with a mouth like dry leather due to a blocked nose, rode on with a nosebleed too many times and it became painful to eat. I had prep for chapped lips but there wasn't much I could do about the dry air. I made something a bit like a surgeon's facemask from a bit of rag I had and some tarp cord and tried to keep it damp, or at least wet it when I drank. A bit of a PITA but preferable to blood loss, a few days in CO and NM using this helped me recover to a more normal state of discomfort

Good point James. I too am from a humid, subtropical area and noticed dry/cracked nasal passages after just 4 days in the high/cold air during a recent training ride in what we call "mountains" here in Oz. I will be taking some cream that can hopefully cope with saddle rash and double as a general moisturiser.

Flinch and Han, thank you for listing those AW pick up options. I was originally having my family pick me up but the plans have changed and I now have to try to get myself to LAX. That will save me a lot of research.

On tyres, I have been running a 2.2 Maxxis Ikon EXO on the back and a 2.2 Specialized Fast Track Control on the front. They seem to roll well and have plenty of grip in our conditions but it might be best to go with what previous racers have used?