Scooter's training plan sounds fairly similar to what I did for The Dirty Kanza last year, and similar to what I plan on doing for TI this year. Not sure on the bad weather training, it will depend on how bad "bad" is. I might try and substitute a snow bike ride in here and there to keep my sanity.

Steve

Wind briefs definitely help me out. I also have a pair of Swobo german wool knickers that I wear a lot on fall/winter rides. They really block the wind "down there" too

Personally, I'm good down to about 10F or so before I start questioning if it's worth it to go outside. A lot of it depends on the wind chill. It's taken me a few years to figure out what clothing layers to wear at a particular temperature, but I've got that down now. Just about everything but my innermost layer has a half or a full zip so I can open or close layers to adjust my temp. My biggest issue still seems to be getting my head covering right. Long stops also end up making for a miserable few minutes until I get moving and get the micro-climate between my skin and clothing warmed up again.

FatBob - Thanks for the info! Here's a better photo of the Moloko Bar from Guitar Ted's Website. A little straighter across the front, but that's not necessarily a bad thing

I like the hand positions and the sweep and am very grateful that Jeff is constantly tweaking the design, however $140 for a Asian made aluminum bar is a little steep, especially where there are so many alternate bars out there. I didn't want to wait or spend that kind of $ on a bar that Jeff isn't even making himself anymore.

Out of curiousity, when did the production of the Al bar move to APAC? I'm giving strong thought to either an H or the Moloko bar for my Mukluk. The photo of the Moloko from Surly's site doesn't really show how much like the loop bar it really is IMO.

Steve

Steve

A silk inner liner made my 40F down bag warmer on a 28F camp in a single wall Nemo bivy last weekend. I had a reflective sunscreen between my bag and my old air filled thermarest. Combined with a hat, and some other merino clothes I was perfectly comfortable all night (even a bit warm).

have to say i'm not a fan after 4 of them breaking on the divide and one putting me on my face, however i do like carrying small loads on the fork legs, working on a divide worthy fork leg rack on my own design

I'm really hoping that this is maybe bad weld prep or a QC issue more than anything. I'm finding it hard to believe that the Salsa crew didn't run into this during testing as much as they tend to abuse things when they are riding.

Update #2 - My right Anything Cage broke right where one of the hoop welds connects to the main mounting portion. Bike slid at work the other day and there's a good chance that the cage took a pop when that occurred. The break looks pretty clean, and it still is solid enough to hold a dry bag with my Nemo bivy in it. I'll take a closer look at it this weekend when I get back from my S24O.

Gdillon - I saw a bunch of these at the Triple D this year. Fits in an anything cage and keeps things from freezing.

http://www.outdoorresearch.com/en/water-bottle-parka.html

Mine survived 10 days and about 750 miles of riding just fine. Mostly pavement, but some gravel/B roads as well. I had two 5L Outdoor Research dry bags in them with my clothing for the week, so they weren't heavily loaded. The bike was layed down on it's side a bunch and the LH cage seems to be no worse for that (so far).  FWIW, I think Salsa's site rates their capacity at 4 lbs.

For pack size's sake, however, I'm trying out a Nemo bivy - packs small, is light, no poles but still stays off your face (small inflatable "Airbeam").  Haven't taken it on a trip yet, but camping out in the yard seems quite good, and I even turned the hose on it with no ill effects... looking forward to having time for an actual trip on which to use the thing.

I bought a Nemo Gogo bivy used from a friend and have taken it out on a couple of overnight sandbar camps the last two weeks. Setup and teardown is quick. I used 5 stakes for setup the first night. This last time, I used one more stake and a line to help hold the hoop up and keep the top from sagging down.

There's enough room up in the beak to store a small bag if necessary. I spent one night in it while there was some light rain. I stayed dry, but like any bivy, seems like condensation was an issue with the rain fly closed. I think it will be a good choice for fall camps for me. For summer, definitely not enough ventilation. I'm still working out my tarp/bivy setup for warmer weather

I have the GPX for the 2011 route sitting on my computer at home. I'll toss it up some place that you can get to it, or I can email it to you.

Regarding tire selection - I ran a Fargo with Nanoraptors and everything was fine for the first 400 miles or so. We had fairly dry conditions that year (until the 4th day). Lots of chipseal and gravel for the first 200 - 300 miles. Some sugar sand on the ATV trails near black riverfalls. The single track near Cable/Hayward shouldn't require a really aggressive tire either. Scout the route and maps well, take a small stove and always have some sort of food on you would be my other suggestions.

First year was actually a south-north cross state ride on the TWAT. The second year started more towards Hayward and stayed in the north-central part of the state.

Payton,

Do you want the route from the first year (2010) or the second year (2011)?

Steve

The start point has changed over the years, and has included Decorah, Williamsburg, and Grinnell since TI V4,  but the City of Grinnell has really embraced and supported the event over the last few years. Whether or not V9 (if it happens) will start in Grinnell is up to Guitar Ted.

I'm wondering if a person can rig up some straps with velcro or something to go AROUND the aero bars themself then put the sling straps through those.

That was kind of where I was thinking about going with this going forward. I have access to some velcro loop for tying up cables that I might try. My other option may be to just use a couple of nylon straps in an X pattern and tie a drybag to the handlebars that way. It seems like the sling may not be optimal for this particular bike/handlebar combo. I might have to just resign myself to limiting it to use on my Mukluk instead.

I may look into the Fred Bars, but from a fit standpoint, it's going to either change my aero bar position, handlebar position or both. I have my seating and hand positions pretty well dialed in so that would be a last resort.

I'm running profile aero bars on my Fargo for a second hand position, mounted to the stock drop bars. The mounts on my Revelate sling align with the aerobars such that I can't mount the sling centered within the drops. I looked at moving the aerobar mounts further out from the stem, but that places them on the thinner part of the bars and I can't tighten them down (even with the included shims). Thoughts on how to solve this issue, or do I just need to look for a new set of bars with a constant diameter?

I'm guessing that those of us that have bought them are really happy with them.

I'm sure part of the reason for the early start time is so that the event doesn't drag later into Sunday.

Attempted it twice, photographed it twice, volunteered at a checkpoint once.

Lots of reasons for people not finishing.
Undertraining - How hard could 320 miles of gravel be? Gravel can be smooth and fast, slow and chunky, or you could be riding in mud.
Underestimating how hilly Iowa is. - I heard someone describe the course as "death by a 1000 papercuts".
Navigation - You get cue sheets, but the course is not marked. Unmarked roads at night. 4 AM start. You get the idea.
Weather - Late April weather can be wet, windy or both.
Mechanical issues - Flats. Derailleurs forcibly removed by mud. Broken spokes. (two guys this year finished without derailleurs on their bikes and coasted in)

A cross bike is generally lighter/faster. That said, people have finished on mountain bikes.

Race history is at http://guitarted1961.wordpress.com/

Hope this helps some.