Do you have to reverse the GPX somehow when you download it or is the current version on the CTR site already south to north. I have the original north to south from prior rides but figured somehow we would have to reverse it this year.

So is the current GPX with the Taryall detour and that is the route unless changed before the official start?

Did not realize so many over 60 were giving it a try- perhaps there should be different classes like at cross country races- 50-60, 60-70, >70-this race just gets bigger and bigger-amazing- first  year I rode it I turned 50 on the day I finished and we had I think 14 official finishers- I heard something like 150 starters this year? Wow

not so sure -- I am 52 and in 3 finishes I rode 21-22-22 days and had major mechanicals all 3 years that cost me time and one major physical that cost me a day-just gotta keep moving from sunup to sundown and wind up where you wind up--

For those interested in joining myself and a couple others riding ITT's on the AlCan Highway next month--or still thinking about it-yes it will happen even if it winds up just being one of us-

START-June 21 where highways 2 and 3 collide in Fairbanks at 2:58 AM (sunup) Fairbanks
(See website for map and details)

FINISH-Dawson Creek at the Welcome to the AlCan Highway sign

TRACKING-live tracking on website will be provided by trackleaders - please go to site and give them a donation and send your share page to Scott or Matt or me and I will forward.

Hope to see some of you up there where the sun never really sets-and best of luck to the masses heading to Banff for the TDR-after 3 years it seems a bit strange not riding the divide but change is good-and with all you fast riders I would be afraid the stores would be out of swiss rolls by the time I hit the towns.

That is the historically correct way to ride it competitively and those finishing beyond the first place rider's time by percentage are unofficial finishers. If history means anything to those riding it should probably remain the same-keeps you riding later and getting up earlier to know you have a time limit you are pushing rather than just touring it.

ANYONE HEADING OVER FRM THE FRONT RANGE HAVE ROOM FOR ME & A MY BIKE? PLEASE CONTACT ON OR OFF SITE-WILL SPLIT GAS, DRIVING BEER--ETC


-beardog1960@mn.com

Only your wheels must be off the ground-- I disassembled only by taking off the front wheel laying the bike and front pedal on an internal frame pack (with padded waist strap) and lashed it on with two pieces of webbing I drop shipped to the GC Post office with my shorts and hiking shoes. Others tried to carry it on camelbacks or on their shoulders (I think Mark C wound up that way) and walked in their bike shoes with the cleats taken out. I opted for comfort--well worth the little bit of extra weight. 

I stopped at Fantom for some lemonade (DO NOT COUNT ON FOOD UNLESS YOU BOOK A ROOM THERE) and weighed the whole pack with water and gear at 75 pounds. I have a picture somewhere that a hiker took and e mailed to me but have no clue on how to make it small enough to fit on this website. Just be sure to get ready for the endless dumb questions from the tourists---might want to think about typing up a small sign that says something like "yes I know it would be quicker to ride but the park service prohibits it"

I rode last year with simple cues and topofusion AZT GPS over a basic AZ map from the Garmin programs - never got lost-highly reccommend it-

The main water problem in my view is the stretch from Flag to GC--the tank has very little water and I carried snow from the backside of the peaks but ran out and was forced to drink cow tank green sludge filtered through a bandanna to make it all the way to Tuczion. This year from what locals tell me is as lean a snow year as we are having here in CO so I would not expect much in the tanks again. The only other problem I think people had last year was at the water stash that is at the road head during the 300 - not much after that so drink hearty and carry at least 2 extra bottles--- I carried 5 at all times on the AZT for fear of running out.

For comfort I highly reccommend drop shiping trail shoes and pack to GC post office-- open everyday but Sun. Makes the hike a much more comfortable experience and you can carry it out to the finish with no problems.


Another unsolicited comment on this thread -- DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE the time it takes to do from Pine to the Rim--I slept about 10 miles from Pine an the final 10 are not easy, great breakfast place just in town and then on to the Highline which is way overgrown with Manzanita and the like and not rideable AT ALL, likely will be flagged for the Zane Grey 50 mile run -- I was wearing my leg and arm warmers and it was like 80 degrees to keep the blood to a minimum --by the time you get through it and to the rideable stretch (where there is a dependable stream by the way) you are beat and strugglling--the last section dragging your bike up the boulder field to the rim is a struggle as well and once you get to the cabin you will be tempted to sleep there but remember that there is raging hanta virus in northern AZ and the cabin is full of mouse shit (it is where I stopped to duct tape my broken derailleur together and realized this as I was falling asleep). This section took me in total like 12 hours but I had a broken rear derailleur -- so am sure the rest of you studs/studettes will do much faster.

Good luck to all --

I put together a simple website for those intrested in joining us - carpooling from Anchorage to Fairbanks and Dawson Creek to Edmonton (I am riding on to Seattle) --site is at http://alcanbikerace.com

Cheers

Any 3 are tough enough - trust me-last year I began this mess and after wearing the wrong shoes on the TDR and a day later biking the length of Vietnam had to bail on the CTR cause I could not even walk let alone thinking about getting on a bike-with the TDR added in it is a lot of time no matter who you are in a bike shoe that is not the most forgiving on the toes-good luck to all who try Kurt's times are gonna be hard to beat--I am only doing 2 this year - my new race that Jay P and I have dreamed up from Fairbanks to Dawson Creek I am calling the AlCan Bike Race (see ultrarace and alcan threads) --then heading over to Seattle in tour mode with the wife - and a week later the backwards CTR (which I think will actually be harder than the conventional way)-- unless you count the vapor trail 125 - 2 will be plenty for me this year. Good luck on the AZT - hopefully someone out there did a bit of trail maintenance on the Highline (I doubt it)

Scott, please post the following additional race with link for the first running of the AlCanBike Racehttp://alcanbikerace.com for sunrise on June 21, 2013 in Fairbanks, Alaska- total ride will be 1450 miles to Dawson Creek, AB--ITT's are of course welcome. For the moment it is myself and Jay P. but I expect the list and SPOT interest will grow in the next 6 months.

David

I am all in whethe it is 4 am or earlier, but was wondering why we will not ride the new 80miles (or whatever is nonwilderness of it) just added? New tracks, new records and more miles!

Scott, I am planning on holding an informal race on the AlCan Highway likely start date is June 21st in Fairbanks with finish in Dawson Creek. At the moment it is myself and Jay P. who are committed to riding it but hope it will grow into an annual event and many others will join us this year. Please add it to the calandar. I also posted up a new thread on it and once I have a website up and running will post the link. This will be much simpler and beautiful then doing a solo self supported RAAM. We will need SPOT support from you folks with maybe a half dozen checkpoints. Thinking the record (Jay I imagine) will be sub 6 days and for us in the over 50 crowd around 7 days (1440 miles with lots of ups and downs).

To those out there in bikepacking land looking for a challenging race this summer I am loosely "organizing" a solo self supported race on the AlCan Highway starting in Fairbanks and ending at Dawson Creek (about 1440 miles paved primarily). Start date will be either 6/14 or 6/21 (longest day of year). I am currently assured that at least Jay P. will be joining me perhaps with a few of his friends and tryng to break 6 days. I am 52 so will be shooting for 7 days myself. There will be a website at some point in January once I have time to put it together and like all these rides no prizes, t shirts, entry fee or related BS. This is a very remote route with limited resupply opportunities, lots of bears and moose so should be pretty amazing. To my limited knowledge there was once a supported race when the Canadian section was unpaved but have found very little info at this point. The rules will be very simple - 1) ride whole exact route on your own without support, 2) no hitching unless to get a part (not sure where that would be as there appears to be very few bike shops) and you must return to the same spot, 3) NO DRAFTING, AND 4) ride on a SPOT. Please chime in if you are interested or contact me off the thread if you have suggestions. This could be a fun alternative for those of you without enough time to ride TDR, or not enough money and friends to ride RAAM or those of us who have ridden the TDR too many times at this point in time (all apply to me). Hope to see many of you in Fairbanks in June.

just ride as far as you can each day-have extra food and sleep where you bonk-I have finised this 3 times all around the same 21-22 day time frames but slept in completely different spots each year except maybe the first day you should push past Elkford to Sparwood -it is an easy extra 20 miles with minimal climb. You will have 200 mile days and also 90 mile days so don't overplan it-just ride it as it comes.

A few questions for those who have raced it-do most ride a cross bike with drop down bars or mtb? are there checkpoint places to drop bags or resupply or do you pretty much carry what you need frm the start?

You are still my only hero on this thread - (no offense lone ranger even though you are the reiging ss tdr champ). Aren't you biking around the world yet? If not maybe you want to join me riding self supported RAAM behind the offiial RAAM riders on 6/2 or 3? It is only like 3200 miles of black top. 

The moto route looks promising but personally getting rolled up on by a throttle jockey when grunting up a hill has always been irritating to me- a steady diet of that would drive me nuts-a couple years ago at 24 Hr Moab a bunch of bikers decided to crash the party only to bog down on sand hill behind us spinnin up on our mtbs and then have to push their heavy bikes up it. Some say that is KARMA. RAAM does announce its route each year but its records do not change since they reduced the mileage a little back about 10 years ago. It is always the same start and finish. At least for 2013 I am bent on riding the RAAM route solo self supported-you can sleep anywhere (ask Jay P) and do not have to hotel up-during TDR at times you are forced to sleep in less than desirerable bivvy spots-my worst was under a rr bridge somewhere to get out of the rain on a pile of rocks. In the not to distant future (say 2014-15) I am dreaming of a race Mathew Lee and I discssed once on dirt from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Any cartographers out there?? And yes work is a 4 letter word - but a means to an end not the other way round.

One of the reasons I like riding all of these races is the solitude and challenge of riding it ALONE. On the official RAAM ®© website the RD advises that a solo rider should expect to spend at least $20,000 to ride the 3000 miles that make up the official RAAM route across the US. This is plus I believe an entry fee around $3000 (for timing station and officials, etc). I have qualified and asked the RD if he wouldconsider letting me and ohers riding it self supported. Other than Jay P last year the RD does not seem intested in allowing those of us who simply want to try to ride the route solo self supported and who do no have 7 friends or family members, $20K and a van for up to 14 days to slow puruse us (and spew CO2 in the atmosphere). So, I am posting this to get input from all of those out there interested in joining me likely June 1, 2013 in Long Beach to race self supported to Maryland on the official RAAM ®© route. This will be under rules similar to the TDR, AZT, CTR etc--ie. One bike - SPOT tracking - NO HELP whatsoever from anyone-can only hitch backwards to get a part. The current record appears to be Jay P's last year for men (12 days 23 hours 30 minutes) and I am unaware of any "official" female record. After I finish my races this year in the TDR and CTR I am planning on putting together a website and pick a name and date - likely June 1 (to avoid the heat of the deserts and the "official" RAAM start in mid-June.) I was thinking about TUSSBR ("Trans United States Self Supported Bikepacking Race") but does not exactly roll off the tongue. Please either post up here or e mail me personally (beardog1960@msn.com) if you are interested in racing - organizing- etc. This could be a good campaign for ridiing with a minimal carbon footprint or just plain fun!!