Those are perfect...if they were gloves not mitts... :/

I actually just got a pair, but haven't really tested them much yet. They are just a thin shell, so you still have basically the same dexterity as you would with a glove (possibly even better than bulky goretex winter gloves). I can grip the bar, use the brake lever with one or two fingers, and pick stuff up ok with them on.

But footwear has me in a tizzy.  I want to be prepared to finish happy even if it is a deluge like last year.  I vacillate on regular shoes (d2 custom - so comfy) and carrying waterproof shoe covers.  Or going another route like PI goretex shoes from the word go (with maybe a gaiter to prevent h2o entrance).

I've been considering this as well. Seems to me it would make sense to use the same strategy to keep your feet dry as the rest of your body: add a waterproof layer over the top when it is raining (which will inevitably trap some degree of sweat against your body while you are wearing it) and then remove that layer when it's dry to give maximum breathability to dry out again. I've never worn goretex/event shoes so I'm not sure if breathability is really a problem or if they are fine to wear all day on warmish days.

Mountain Laurel Designs' eVENT Rain Mitts seem like the perfect solution to simply pop over the top of your riding gloves when it starts raining (or gets cold) - again keeping with the same strategy as rain jacket/pants.

A trailer is a relatively low-hassle solution. As you suggest it could be perfect to tow your camping gear over moderate terrain to your "base-camp" where you could do some more challenging loops from.

The main problem is they are heavy themselves, and encourage you to pack heavy. So great for flat riding, but once it gets hilly.. less fun.

Theoretical problem #1: climbing traction. When climbing mass added to a passive trailing wheel will contribute to the force of gravity pulling you down-slope, but only a fraction of that mass will contribute additional normal force to your rear tire - which translates to less traction compared to having the weight on-bike. This might make it harder to climb steep or loose stuff without slipping the rear tire. You might be hiking anyway before that point, so maybe it's not actually a problem?

Theoretical problem #2: descending. Again only a fraction of the added mass will be contributing to normal force on braked wheels resulting in less braking traction compared to having the weight on-bike. If the trailer tire breaks loose in a corner things might get interesting.

Theoretical problem #3: suspension: being attached at one end to the rear tire the trailer load will increase the unsprung mass of the rear suspension system which theoretically decreases the performance advantage of suspension. More mass has to accelerate and decelerate for the rear suspension to move, so the suspension will not track over terrain as well. This should theoretically be an even bigger problem for panniers attached to the fork lowers or the rear suspension because all the added mass is on the unsprung part of the suspension.

Handlebar, seat, and frame bags (besides being considerably lighter) don't have these problems because the additional mass is added to to the suspended portion of the bike, and is not being supported by a passive tire. You just have to increase the air pressure to compensate. Write down your original air and sag measurement, load the bike, increase air pressures until original sag is attained again, write down new pressure*

*Tip for setting suspension pressures: Write down your measurements before you detach the pump. When you attach the pump air flows out of the shock to fill the pump hose and gauge, and because the air volume is quite small the reading will be lower than before you attached the pump. This confuses a lot of people at first.

The Garmin eTrex Vista HCx seems pretty popular. It's reasonably priced, has all the features you need, good battery life, and uses replaceable AA batteries. There is an arbitrary 500 point track file limit for some reason which is rather annoying. It is a little outdated and the user interface is really horribly designed. It works, and you "figure it out" eventually, but jeez did they do any UI testing at all? I haven't used anything else so I don't know if there is anything better.

I had a 25L pack on my back with basically everything but my sleeping bag and water in it.

How much water capacity is needed / how long between water sources? Were three 24oz bottles enough for you?

Like the idea of avoiding carrying a bunch of heavy water on my back. I seem to drink about 12oz per hour during a 24 hour race (when the weather is not hot).

I agree. Use Rock N Role most of the time, but anything beyond 8 hours (or in wet conditions) it seems there is no choice but to give up on keeping an immaculate chain and switch something more substantial.

The effort it takes to hold that form, and the limit it places on power application to the pedals

I'm my opinion generally efficient form for mountain biking (and biking in general) is the same as form that limits fork bob: smooth pedal strokes and a still upper body. If your fork is rigid any force that would go into compressing it would simply go into doing "push-ups" on the bike instead. This just moves your body up and down: wasted work that isn't moving you forward.

I remember a few years back hearing about some testing done by one of those German mountain bike magazines that found the efficiency gain due to lockouts on mountain bikes to be negligible regardless of form, which is more qualitative evidence than I have ever seen in favor of lockouts.

I think lockouts are a pointless "feature." I bet the effort spent engaging and disengaging the silly thing is more than it could possibly save, not to mention the additional wear on your body and the suspension components that occur when it is engaged. Have you ever seen any quantitative data backing up the use of lockouts? Nope. Just hype. If the fork is bobbing up and down like crazy it's not the fork's fault, it's the rider's inefficient form, which is just as inefficient (but less noticeable) with lockout engaged.

I'd stay away from all that travel adjustment nonsense. Winding the U-turn knob in and out all the time gets old fast. It is a cute way to make your bike heavier and your wallet lighter though. For a hardtail just go with the standard 4" travel fork the frame geometry was designed around.

I'm pretty impressed with RockShox's air forks, not so much with Marzocchi (forks with the "tst" damping were horrible, maybe they've fixed them by now).

Air has the benefit of allowing you to increase the spring rate when you are riding with a load (don't forget to increase the rebound damping as well). Coil is nice because it "just works" and is usually "close enough" unless you are a particularly heavy or light person, in which case you have to buy and install the correct spring.

I am very interested to say the least...

I'll try to post some pictures and ideas of things I thought were essential and things I would have left behind. I did realize that every ounce is essential to shed off the bike for a race of this nature but also take the essential gear to make it through the weather and high alltitude conditions.

That would be great. I'm seriously considering doing this thing next year, so any tips things that really worked well, or really sucked would be wonderful! The only thing better than learning from your mistakes is learning from other people's mistakes

I've been watching Eszter's progress in awe. Her line on the time/distance chart shows an impressively steady pace, with reasonable looking amounts of sleep included even! Very nicely done.

Anyone know how to swim a river with your bike?

Packraft! https://www.alpackaraft.com/store/index.cfm?ProductID=66&do=detail

I think it comes down to pedaling style/technique. I personally have moved to a pedal stroke with smooth transition into/out of the downstroke, and keep my body still while pedaling. Using a smooth even pedal stroke (rather than snapping at the pedals) reduces a lot of the "bob" that you would get at each sharp power-stroke, and by keeping your body as still as possible (not bobbing your torso up and doing little mini pushups with each pedal stroke) eliminates a lot of "bob" as well, especially in the fork. I really do not understand why people feel the need to lock their fork out: any force compressing the fork wouldn't be going into propelling you forward anyway...

No matter what technique you use there is always going to be some weight transfer to and from the rear wheel due to the uneven acceleration that comes with each pedal stroke which will cause a tiny movement in the rear suspension, and a completely undetectable movement in the fork. Bike manufactures have always claimed that their particular suspension design is somehow counteracting this, but never quantify the amount of power that they are saving...

No one seems to have ever quantified how much energy would actually be lost due to suspension compression (could be easily measured using pedal and hub mounted power meters...) so I am of the opinion that work lost due to suspension compression under a reasonably smooth pedaling rider is negligible.

I can personally pedal my 42lb 8" travel Turner DHR uphill with absolutely zero movement in the fork, and extremely small movement in the rear suspension. However this style might not work for everyone, some people work better with an more "active" style which causes the suspension to compress as they move their weight around. There are certainly many very experienced pro riders with very active styles, although usually more side-to-side movement while still keeping their body level.

Sean Allan called his Wife this morning @ 7:00 AM. Sean repaired his bike & desided to resume his race !!!!!

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!

You can view his personal SPOT tracking page here in the meantime: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0gXdcH3fea4u8a6F52bUOrPRPRkmIL1fk

Hahaha you've got to get a SPOT on that crazy dude: this is a great spectator sport! Maybe they could make a tiny implantable one...

Any word on Sean Allen?  Looks like he had to bail into Salida, hope it's not bike trouble related :S

I think he was camped out at the bike shop in Frisco Tuesday night before making tracks from there all the way to Mt. Princeton Wednesday. Looks like he is at the bike shop in Salida. Hope he can get the bike in order and back on the trail.

Ethan missed a turn in the dark and did a few bonus miles
Lost less than 45min and is back on track, still in the lead!

Looks like Jesse and Ethan are still going! I'm excited to follow Sean Allan's progress as I have raced against him in the past and it sounds like he is going for a similar pace/sleep strategy as I would go for. I'm very interested in doing this next year.