Stamstad would have to make do with those ickle 26" wheels as well!

Looks like James Olsen's SPoT is not working, can't imagine he has stopped in the middle of the Basin.

kucebags - I am one of 4, along with Glen who posted earlier, setting out on 15th July.  If Goat Creek trail is closed and even Elkford / Flathead looking likely to be closed should we be seriously thinking of contingencies.  Bus from Calgary to Sparwood / Fernie and down alt route to border?  (We laos have YWCA booking we may have to cancel)

Looking at the pictures the tracks we want to use are not going to be top of any priority list.  Had planned to see how things panned out over next few weeks. TIA.

Hope Kirsten has the kettle on and a supply of Yorkshire tea as Mike is not far away.

Adrienne, thanks for confirming what I suspected.  Myself & Martin called in briefly 2 years ago with Craig & Manny and I recall a fair bit of climbing to the house.  Pleased all well and hope Calgary recovers quickly.  It looked a nice city from what I saw at the time.

Kevin

Looks like Mike is riding through the night to get to Rawlins by the look of it.  65 mile lead and counting.   He will have to stop sometime, continues to be interesting.

Donald: I was near the back as well in 2011.  I know one Irish guy, also UK resident, who is making big noises about riding next year and will go well as he has bags of ability.  Anyway, will add Liam to the watch list.  Éirinn go brách and all that.

Reinhold Mueller has eaten a few pies since 2011 by the look of it ;-)

Just 7 miles between Craig & Mike now!

James Olsen SPoT is working again and he is in a close battle for 4/5/6th, must have been a malfunction or something.

@Mother Radar - James emailed me a few times (amongst others) for advice etc these last months but I have not met him.  He certainly seemed prepared but was not expecting such a performance.  So I am following him closely.

@Canbaroo - was it you who was saying Liam Crowley is Irish but living in Oz?  Did I read that correctly?  Do you know where is he from?  As far as I know I am the only finisher with a Guinness label on my passport!  And I struggled a lot. 

Canbaroo - I have noticed James' SpoT has been quiet for some time and hoping it is SpoT rather than himself. 

James seems to be doing his own thing, seems to have been missed off all the photo's to date and rarely being mentioned.

In 2011 I didn't carry a cell phone and it always felt strange when others used them at stops as were supposed to be alone in an adventure race.  For myself I rarely knew where riders were and I was happy to just pick up bits and pieces at stops.

James Olsen is going well in 4th, he said he was hoping for 25 days so well ahead of that  schedule.

In 2011 besides Kurt & Caroline doing there own race a South African couple Luke Bush and Marian Penso rode together throughout.

I was towards the back in 2011 TD and managed without using any surface water, just by bottles from shops or gas stations.  I had a 4l MSR dromeday, folding 1l bag and 2 x 750ml bidon's.  I would occasionally have additional bottles of juice, coffee when leaving town.  I did take some tablets but never used them.

I never had a problem until New Mexico.  I left Pie Town with loads of water and re-filled at 100 miles later at Forest workstation for the 80 miles into Silver City.  At the road to Sapillo camp ground I believed I had sufficient food and water for the 26 miles into Silver City and it would cost me ~1 hour to go to/from Roberts campground.  3 hours later I had covered 5.5 miles and was getting into a bit of a state.  I did not have the strength to push, carry or get on my bike proerly and then kept falling off if wheel hit anything.  Had a pint of coke and a pint of water at a bar 6 miles from SC and felt fine straight away.

Next day I managed to dring over 10 litres on run to border so was clearly a bit dehydrated.

Next time I would not be too worried except for NM where I would consider taking more.

Glen,

We fly from UK on 13th July and the plan is to start on the morning of the 15th.  If all sorted we may depart evening of 14th July and get a few hours in to give us a head start.  May make decision when we get there.  Issues around broken transatlantic bikes may need sorting and jetlag.

Not sure I should make a decision either way without consulting the other two so will email them later.  PM me your email and I will be in contact.

Kevin

sthig - why did you go for the plug when you stated earlier you have no holes in your forks?  I am asking as I have the same issue of charging 2 items from a Exposure Revo and seen The Plug today.  But i have Niner rigid forks.  Wondered how you got round it.

Here in previous years:

http://tourdivide.org/

But noticed nothing for 2012 and wonder if still required?

Mauro - don't think they were protection Conti Race Kings but can't remember tbh.  All 3 of us got down on one set each.  My rear was looking a bit worn in Salida but to late in town for a new one.  I was late in Silver City as well but tyre lasted the distance with no punctures.  Was fairly new on tubeless and didn't want to risk not getting tyres off/on and inflated unless I had to.
As Stappy said earlier swapping tyres round at Steamboat or Breck would be a good move.

Can't comment on WTB tyres but 3 of us from UK ran Conti Race Kings in 2011 with 1 puncture between us.  That rider reckoned he got it overnight where he left his bike.  All running tubeless, 2 x 29 and 1 x 26 size.  J.E. James advertising them at £14.99 each at the moment as well in 29 x 2.2 flavour!

Modded to 'Race' Kings

North or South bound. Banff start is SoBo.

Have to agree with Cjell re tethering.  I didn't tether mine and lost my gps 80 miles into TD11.  Spent ages looking for it (it was a black/grey model) and never found it. I also had ACA cues and maps and managed fine with those for the rest of the trip. New model is always tethered.

Yes, cue's / narratives are the same thing.

Yukon - you could try ACA directly to see if any updates are due.  Don't believe it is a standard update and not necessarily all at the same time.

Shimano for me.  I had one to many failures with the Crank Bros one's in the past .  The Shimano I used in 2011 (530 I think, lower than xt anyway) had a few years use on them before I started training for TD11. Was going to replace them but did not get round to it and they were fine.

Got a bit sloppy last winter and got 2 more pairs for £60 (~$100) which I expect to last years. (I had a few mtb's and one set of pedals)