2011 is the latest edition of the maps.  Yes, you have to check the addenda.

If 2011 is the latest edition of the maps, and Scotts Gpx file is based off that, and the narratives are 2011, why would I need to use the addenda buying the most current set of maps/cues?

Sorry I am confused Bob.

I am looking at the Narratives right now. They say Narratives 2011. Do they match up with Scotts 2012 GPX file? Or do I need to look at the addendas for 2011?

Thanks

New option for bailing in the CTR. Get to a trailhead or paved road and call AAA!!

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_25676846/aaa-colorado-expands-roadside-assistance-include-bicycles


This is pretty good news. Not just for the race but for all cyclists traveling roads/trails by day or multi-day.

Scott as you see my Co route has resupply or hotel/motel at:
Platoro
Creede
CT yurt in section 22
Lake CIty 2 mi off route
Mineral Mtn Ranch on LA Garita detour- my secret CTR place. Only one other rider has used in  CTR, 2007, not sure who it was. 60 bucks for a trailer is a steal in the middle of nowhere. I bought a $20 lunch there too it was tasty.
Bill Applewait- but you cant count on him. Apple said I was a hard man last year when I met him for the 5th time. I appreciated the comment coming from him he has seen it all hiking wise.
Monarch Pass restaurant/store
Tin Cup (off route- one restaurant maybe some lodging). The oldest coolest town you will ever check out though. Right out of the 1880's.
Taylor Lake Store is 6-7 miles off route west on Cottonwood Pass Road. Emergency option. Easier to just crest the railroad grade Pass 2-3 miles and roll into Buena.
Buena Vista
Leadville and the awesome Leadville Hostel ask for Wild Bill.
Copper
Breck off route- but hwy 9 gas station 1 mile north is closer
Grant is off route about 5 miles from Hall Valley area. Only one hotel right next to food and soda at the liquor store.
Montezuma- cant remember whats there if there is a store it would be tiny. Keystone is nearby but about 8 miles off route? Easy dirt/pave.
Silver Plume- bakery/rest and a tea house and a lame general store and a bar/rest. Georgetown 2 miles off route.
Winter Park- resort closer to trail town a little farther off route- maybe 1 mile difference on pave.
Devils Thumb- resort near Granby right off High Lonesome Trail
Grand Lake- main town a little off route hwy stuff on route.
Steamboat Springs
Brush mtn lodge- off route ? miles

Next resupply is Rawlins so pack heavy!! It looks like a long stretch

Scott your latest trail tracker shows the CDT going from Sante Fe peak to Argentine pass on the ridge!!!
My guess is this is the actual new route we cant ride it, like the whale peak to sante fe section

Argentine 4wd road to Silver plume railroad grade trail (pavilion point) to Silver plume. Frontage to Herman gulch trail to CDT to Jones Pass to hwy to Berthoud Pass to Rollins pass road to aquaduct road 128 to high lonesome trail to caribou trail to strawberry creek trail 9 to county road 6

Hwy 34
Grand lake
CDT leaving ROcky mtn natl park
CDT to wolverine trail to road 4 to road 456 to bill creek trail to cdt to illinois pass

CDT to not quite buffalo pass ( Fish creek falls trail). fish creek to steamboat springs. This section has some awesome riding like you mentioned, not in any wilderness area for awhile. Poison ridge and arapahoe ridge sections are amazing my local friend has ridden them in a loop they look sweet. IMO descending fish creek is a colorado must do buffalo pass has a trail part the way down on left that goes into town (spring creek) but it is not nearly the technical trail fish creek is

steamboat- north on elk river road 129 to seedhouse road 64 to south fork campground to trail 1100.3a to trail 1100 swamp park trail
to road 443 to three island lake trail to 443 to three island lake trail again to cdt to border

I think that seedhouse rd turn is about 5-6 miles before steamboat lake. I am not really sure where the brush mtn lodge is I assumed it was near the lake I havent got my TD maps yet dont know all that stuff.

That was a brain melter right there. I am gonna see contour lines in my sleep.

i had this:
CDT at border to Cumbres Pass
Divide route to turn off for Platoro Road
Take Hidden Lake trail 734 to trail 720 conejos stock driveway
TO empedrado lake trail 742 to acascosa trail 739 to willow mtn trail 737
To Hot creek stock driveway 708 to sawmill gulch trail 759 to
Platoro

Platoro road fs380 to Elwood Pass -CDT
To WOlf Creek Pass

Hwy 160 to lake fork campground
Lake Fork NSRT 836 to FS 430 to FS 430.6
TO Fs 430.5 to FS 438.2 to 438.1
to GOose Creek ROad to Wagon WHeel Gap
Hwy 149 to Creede

Hwy 149 to miners creek road to miners creek trail to cdt backwards to spring creek pass to cuba gulch trail to cinnamon pass road to backwards on 07-08 CTR la garita detour (lake city 2 miles off route) to CDT at mile 12.2 of CT section 18.

CDT to cottonwood pass. COttonwood pass road to CTR collegiate detour to CDT over hope pass
CDT to CTR leadville detour to CDT to Georgia Pass to CT towards Kenosha Pass (CDT on ridge to Whale Peak and then all the way to Sante Fe Peak new trail off limits to cyclists bullshit if you ask me right in my backyard.)
turn north off CT at fs809 to liniger ditch road to county road 202 to hall valley road to handcart gulch road to webster pass
to Montezuma (town) to Peru gulch road to CDT to Argentine pass


Second half to come
I got that kind of detail from memory for the whole route really, Wyo Mt and Id. Just have to look at some map resources like trackleaders CDT page, wilderness.net, etc to write down the actual roads and trails and such.
Maybe we should just talk by phone it would go way faster.

Very nice bike. I am at the same cross roads for my new XC race bike for NUE races. But I think I will go for the Epic, the swat and two bottle cages are to nice of options not to have.

For the divide I built up a Ti rohloff at a sacrifice at about 3lbs to my carbon hard tail. I am very tempted to just run the carbon bike, but I have never made it more then 2500 miles on a mountain bike carbon frame with out having to replace it for one reason or the other. Weight to bomb-profness a constant debate...

The sad truth is that the Epic S-works world cup version (XX1) doesnt even come with the swat or a cage (only the sram xx model does). And is quite a bit more than the Scott for the same exact bike. My take? An extra $1300 retail for 8-9mm shorter chainstays wasn't worth it, as the Brain powered rear shock fails just a little too often for my sanity in a long race like the Divide. The Scott weighs at least 1/4lb less and has a 1 to 1.5 degree slacker head angle and a slightly shorter wheelbase. And the S-works has a 27.2 seatpost? For a FS bike? Still cant figure that one out. Oh and the Epic is the highest priced bike in industry history for its cost price vs. wholesale ratio. If you tried to run a business selling Epic S-works you would fail before the doors opened!!

What bike did you order?

I got the 2014 Scott Spark 900SL. I was looking at the Scale, as it was less than the Specialized Stumpy S-works. But Scott was out of the Scale I wanted. I havent had a new bike in 4 years. Sold my whole stable to start a biz. Rode a pretty much a beater the last 5 races (Voodoo Canzo 29er). So I went for the lightest FS bike and figure thats what I like to ride and know how to ride.

I dont think I will be any slower on a 21.5 lb fs bike than on a under 20 HT or rigid. But I know I will be way faster than before on a 28 lb bike. And maybe my way of saving energy on the FS and getting stronger as the days go by will even work better on the Scott, which weighs nothing and has a sick dual-shock bar control of the suspension so the pilot can instantly choose climb, traction or descend settings instantly.

This had to be a bike I could finish the triple and train on and ride all the time. So I went for the only better/similar option I had than the Epic S-works, which is simply overpriced.

I had an amazing second-half run in the AZT750 with a crap bike. I was way past due to step into the current age of bikes and get a bad azz one.

When you book the Banff Airporter shuttle ask for the 'Tour Divide' discount. Matt organized this a few years ago and hopefully it is still in place.

Thanks Chris I will try that.

A little birdie just told me that another AZT750 rider is thinking of triple crowns and Tour Divide. It may be a triple crown*, but it would still be a triple crown.

I think we will see another step forward soon. Nice!!

Booked flight to Calgary on june 11!!
Taking shuttle to Banff with Marshal most likely, as we are on the same flight!
Ordered baddest bike I could get my hands on.
Have all gear/maps needed to order in carts ready to pull the plug tonight.
Ready to make a new gas tank and some custom homemade aero arm holders and some summer pogies.
Have a list of 40 other things to do but thats pretty much standard bikepack race stuff.

This  "Who the hell tries a Triple Crown after finishing the AZT and then decides to do it" plan is coming together nicely. I have even been training well and now I have a loaner bike to ride until my bike shows up.

I have been preparing in my mind ever since Goldberg drove me to Kanab in  April 2012 and every other word was "triplecrown"!!

Yes,that's a lot more R-Value than I had envisioned from your earlier post.  The Sol bivy as a 'liner' in a REI bivy with 2 additional Sol's for tarp/blanket/ground cloth  is plenty of layers/options.

On a different note have you lined out a ride to Banff yet?

No. You offering?

Mark, congrats on 4th AZT 750!!  Personally I would recommend you re-think your sleep kit just a bit.  The AZT and TDR have little in common when it comes to required sleep kits.  This is assuming you will camp up at least 50% on the TDR.  Not saying you have to go full bag, tent etc but the 1st half of the TDR is usually more cold than not. Exhaustion and rain will most likely happen.  Speaking from experience, just a bit more sleep kit is the difference between continuing into the rain night and stopping short in a hotel or some other shelter. If I were to go absolute min kit, which I am not, it would include: all clothing + Adventure Medical Kits SOL Escape Bivvy + down jacket in the 12-13 oz range.  Anything less and I feel you risk hypothermia or pulling up short to accommodate weather.  Anyway, just my 2 cents............

Well I am at Sol bivy in Rei bivy- plus 10oz down jacket and all clothes. And Sol groundsheet. And Sol sheet as a tarp with homemade tie outs I can use that as a blanket or low tarp for dew.
I have used this setup 5 times. On Kenosha Pass in 2010 without the down jacket I survived the conditions you speak of, 36 degrees rain all night some snow etc.
Not worried one bit.

I have way more concerns over getting a new bike from my "sponsor" than my rest strategy.

Holy crap, sounds like you're planning for quite the sufferfest! It amazes me the fortitude, determination, and willingness to suffer of so many riders. Good on ya! Good luck; you've got bigger cahone's than me! Craziness.

I dont plan to suffer much at all. If you only sleep a few hours and are used to no gear its really not bad. Its better really as you are faster when lighter and if you have the right clothes who needs real sleep kits. Its a luxury.

The longer I stop the heavier the legs feel. A one hour stop almost is like not stopping. No ibuprofen only using my pain cream and essentail oils that works better moving all the time.

Laying back and sleeping 3 hrs and riding from 11pm-midnight all night is the ticket too. Like that move.

Everyone is different some big engines go fast and sleep hard and kill it just fine. I got no real natural speed uphill gotta ride overtime!!

Les I am trying to make grand depart however since its this late and i dont want to fly finding a ride is looking slim.
But if all else fails I have backup plan to go Northbound.

I will keep that in mind thanks.
Thanks for the ride home from Durango in CTR too that was sweet.

Wait, are you faster than me?

I think you should carry all the maps if you are.

I used to know the answer to that question (no). Since my epiphany in the AZT this year and now looking for a sub-20 lb bike I would say yes I plan to go many hours a day and I aint chilling in motel rooms unless I am near death. Sleep kit is no bag no pad. Wear all clothes.

I plan to carry about as little gear as Mike Hall last year. After AZT and checking out Aaron Denberg's setup I think I think I got it figured out. So no maps for me just the pix on phone.

I am meditating and visualizing great results I dont plan on teaming up or riding in groups unless I am in top 10-20 and it makes sense.
Things have changed for me. I ran hard on the treadmill last night best first workout after AZT/CTR ever. Gonna go big tonight.

I crossed a big mental hurdle in the AZT this year on a heavy bike. Now I have shop sponsor and I am dead serious about killing it.

My take on MYOG is this:
If you are a very analytical person, have small motor skills, see designs in your head 3D and then can engineer/sew them go for it. If you are going to simply copy existing bags from a design standpoint IMO it makes no sense to try to outdo Revelate or Nuke Sunrise or Bolder Bikepack or Phantom Pack or the rest. Your attempts at copying the bags will take many iterations and cost more than just buying those guys bags. And they wont work as well. Sway and wear points will be worse than with stock offerings.

My gear works really well and I have no sway or play and love the performance of my own designs. However I still have wear point issues. Each new model fixes that a bit but without serious extra protective paneling (which requires more complex sewing) I will still have some minor wear issues. Mainly in the seat bag and harness I have those issues. I go for the lighter weight/less complex top stitch designs, which lends itself to wear point issues. The big boys have most of that all figured out with reinforced areas.

My bags weigh a lot less than the usual suspects, but wear out quicker. I am willing to accept that, but if I didnt get materials cheap (wholesale) I wouldnt do it. And remember that buckles, webbing , zippers etc are where the real cost lies, not the material. No wholesale deals there usually.

Everyone who competed in the AZT300 and 750 received an email from the head of the ATA, Matt Nelson.

I just have to say that the ATA is at the head of the class for MTB advocacy. What they are doing for us is groundbreaking and unprecedented.

IMBA should be watching and taking notes. Hell they should hire Matt as a consultant. IMBA never thanked me for anything. Pete Webber once scoffed at me for dogging him on a dirt jumper in Boulder one day. Thats about as close to thanks as I ever got from them. Wouldnt even help me with a freeride park right in their backyard in 2002-3.

Thanks ATA. I will be reupping next year with you guys even if I dont do AZT again. I met the trail steward for Gila to Picketpost at Picketpost. She gave me her card and said to call her if I needed anything up north, as she would get me to a steward or volunteer in those areas. I told her I was self-sufficient but she insisted. A very nice young woman who was going out thru-hiking towards the Superstition Wilderness. The ATA people do care and it shows in how they treat mountain bikers.

More good news. I talked to the trail steward of Colorado Trails Kokomo Pass to Tennessee Pass section last year in the CTR at the Tennessee Pass Jamboree (Dave Kirk the oldest CTR finisher was there digging dirt I stopped to say Hi). He offered me a spot to camp for the night in the rain, fed me and told me the CTF loves mountain bikers. He proceeded to tell me the CTF head guy camped next to 3 CTR racers in 2010 at Tank Seven Creek and was all for us. I told the guy that it was me who camped right next the director. I told him I camped way too close to the guy, made tons of noise and and was surprised he was so happy with us!! So we should all join the CTF too they are advocating for us on the CDT now at least the shared CT/CDT corridor!! I tried to offer them a cash donation that night but they refused me!! Good people.

Now if we could just get those old, crusty, bearded CDT hiker dudes like Jim Wolf to lighten up a bit and share the trail.

I guess I should also add, I had the maps in photo form on my phone.

Otherwise, they would have been a ton of weight….

Thats what I thought. I had all cues maps water tables etc on my phone for AZT750.

Thanks for clarifying that was gonna be my next question!!!

Thanks Big Poppa. I will consider the maps. I just know I dont use anything like that in AZT and CTR, but if my gps fails I either need the maps for reference or a backup gps. I suppose I could Nav with a cyclometer and the cues with no maps if my gps fails, but the maps would help at that point.

Thanks Chris Bennett. I use Garmin Software know it well can easily do the free topos and 10k track load on minutes to my old Vista hcx.



The regular and simplified tracks are here:


http://www.topofusion.com/divide/gps.php

A race will follow if I have anything to do with it as far as organizing an event with you. Even if it is just me the first year. I have dreamed of this since my first ride on the CDT in 2002, when I rode a section that is now the James Peak Wilderness. Back then I was so dumb I thought Stamstead had done the CDT, not the GDMBR, and wondered how he could do it in 19 days when I couldnt ride from Rollins Pass to Berthoud Pass in one day!!

Ahh the good old days!!!
How far we have all come since then!!
Life is good huh??