I've gotten luck in that spring finally appears to be arriving here. 9 hours of outside riding from Saturday to Monday. It felt really good to not be confined to the hamster wheel in the corner of the basement.

What about tire slippage and inaccurate OD numbers ? Are you resetting the second OD to zero at ACA turns ?

I might buy inaccurate OD numbers, but when using a regular computer, I tend to set mine via rollout. They might be off a little bit, but not enough to make me worry too much.
Tire slippage is generally not an issue as for a dumb cycle computer, I put the sensor on the front wheel.

I'd guess my mileage would be off more just from the occasional off route excursion for food/water/camping than anything.

The 10 MPH average for each leg should still hold for this year.

Poster's ACA question was are the ACA maps adequate in themselves. I haven't ridden the trail but read  thru a volume of written advice telling me that 'No, is best using a GPS.'

I've been looking at the ACA maps in preparation for riding the GDMBR and everything you need for successful navigation of the route is there. All of the towns and each turn plus the mileage. Probably not as handy to use on a bike as a GPS, but they will definitely do the job.

Busch and Muller makes a light that runs off the dynamo AND the light has a USB output. I've never used it so can't say whether or not it would work to power a GPS or not. But you can investigate.

If nothing else, you can charge an intermediate battery and then use that to charge the GPS.

The short answer is no. You're going to need some sort of circuit to convert the power from the dyno to something the Garmin can use. Many options out there besides The Plug. There are some that you can build yourself with some basic soldering skills and electronics knowledge.

I can't remember if it was in this thread or another electronics one, but there was some discussion about running the wire from a dynamo hub up through one of the new Salsa Firestarter carbon forks for use with one of the steertube mounted USB ports.  I think it's going to be impossible to do, as the steerer is carbon and the compression plug won't allow for any wires to pass through. I haven't removed the compression plug on mine yet but the crown area of the fork seems fairly solid as well.


Followup: I pulled the compression plug tonight and the crown of the fork appears to be hollow. There was a little bit of epoxy blocking off a good view from the top of the steer tube. You might be able to snake a wire in, but you'll still need to get it past the compression plug somehow. That or something like the Plug light be able to substitute for one.

When it starts getting super cold and windy around here (IA), I start wearing a set of ski goggles as well. I do still have some issues with fogging if I have my regular glasses on the inside as they are almost sealed a little too well around my face.

Got another question for you guys. I would like to compare my gear list to as many others as possible. I have really liked combing through yours Chris. Does anyone have a link to TD specific gear lists of the past or even ones for this year? I've been reviewing all of last year's threads and haven't found too many yet.

Vol 5 of The Cordillera (from the 2013 TD) has a gear survey as the last chapter. It's well worth perusing.

Alum is going to be less $, a bit more robust but heavier than carbon...so you get to pick your compromises, Ha--just like with all gear choices

Oddly enough, if you look at the weight differences on the T2+ and T3+ aero bars, the aluminum ones are actually quite a bit lighter. Probably due to the molded hand grips on the carbon ones.

I thought I might be able to run electrics up through one of the three "anything cage" attachment points. You might want to check and see if they go all the way through…shine a light down the steerer tube or stick a small allen wrench through the insert and see if it can be used as a passage into the fork leg.

That's a really good idea. Based on a couple of photos I've taken of the fork when the Salsa demo truck was here, I won't hold out a ton of hope that it will work, but it's definitely worth investigating. Hoping to find out this week.

I just purchased the maps!... Are they coming out with new ones, thus making my "new" ones obsolete?!

Rumor had it that they would be reprinting sometime this year. Based on their previous republishing schedules, they were about due.

Nothing yet in the Rules.  Anyone know if Matthew (or anyone else) is actively administering this "event"?

Seems like the rules basically state that the route follows whatever the latest published route from Adventure Cycling Association is, with a couple of standard exceptions. I'm guessing that whenever the maps are published, that will be the route.

My $0.02 worth

I used to PlugII.  Actually in the middle of the race last year I emailed the makers of it and cussed them out because it fried one gadget and wouldn't charge another.  They said "we're sorry, known issue" then they sent me a part 2 days after I got done with Antelope Wells

I ended up buying one of the Kemo M172N charging circuits on recommendation of Kerry from klite.com.au. It doesn't fit inside of the steer tube like the Plug's do, but the Salsa Firestarter fork doesn't have any way to get a wire up into the steer tube, so I was going to need to try something different anyway. Still working out where to mount it up yet. 2015 will be here before we know it.

Have you looked at the Thermarest NeoAir Xlite? Slightly better R value, packs a couple of inches smaller, and a few oz lighter in the R size. It can be a bit noisy tho.

Thanks guys. Looking to build something with about a 3 - 4 week use lifetime for a Tour Divide attempt. Hoping to keep the wind/rain off of a pair of liner gloves. I will take a peek at the links you all listed.

Looking to make some light, waterproof/windproof outer gloves/gauntlets. Anyone done this before and have links to patterns or helpful hints on what materials to use? I was thinking about tyvek or some sort of dwr fabric. Not sure how well that will work tho.

I'm in the process of getting myself ready for a 2015 TD attempt. I'm in Iowa. It's slightly hilly here, but there's definitely not mountainous and I don't have any 3+ mile climbs to test myself on. Right now, my TACX trainer is my friend to simulate extended climbing efforts. I can set it to simulate a certain amount of slope and adjust my gearing so I can ride a long climb, or I can tell it that I need to maintain a certain power output no matter what gear I'm in. I'm also planning on taking a trip out west to get some additional altitude training in this summer.

I haven't used those particular tires. I had no issues running 42c Marathon Mondials last year. Resistance was nothing untoward.

I came up with the concept to Pack everything I can on the bike for those 120. Lots and lots of....food!

Remember that most people's stomachs can only process about 300 calories or so per hour. It's also important to bring a variety of food with you. Last year, what I was eating earlier in the day was very unappetizing during the overnight hours.