Yes, the Pollock creek bridge is fixed, but word is Matt likes KoKo so its expected to still be on the TDR.

Handlebar choice. Would running a regular MTB riser bar be an act of stupidity? Are aerobars or just the ability to vary the grip essential? I know that it´ s a preference thing as well, but wanted to hear thoughts and experiences. Thanks.

Jones bars are popular on the TDR as well. Going aero is nice- and the Jones allow you to do that if the bar is properly padded. But a more upright position is more comfortable, and comfort is a pretty big deal going long distances- less chance of Shermer's Neck and discomfort in your hands. Of course the bike setup is everything and if its a little off, the distances involved will exacerbate every little thing that can mess with your body! Plus its all inter-related; its not just saddle height, setback and angle that can affect your hands; your cleat position on your pedals can affect your hands too (hint: get your cleats further back). Its a really good idea to really have your fit dialed in!

I've read a number of accounts of people finishing the TDR; all of the top finishers stayed at a hotel sooner or later. The Cordilleria is a good thing; the latest is out now:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/christopher-bennett/the-cordillera-volume-10/paperback/product-23948842.html

You can push yourself and only do 3 hours a night but that has a way of catching up with you over 2700 miles. In the meantime, the battery does catch a charge just sitting outside. I can leave mine by a window at my house and it charges up.

If you are doing a shorter race, its nearly a non-issue. if only 1200 km or the like there won't be any need to recharge it at all.

Battery capacity techniques improve about 2% a year, just like computer power. About 3-4 years ago it got to the point that it made dyno hubs nearly obsolete. Last year and this, it cinched it. You have to do things differently of course- carry a USB charger with dual outputs for example, but in total one is really challenged to kill one of these things. I carry a smaller battery cache just in case, but I've never used it. The battery in my light can go about 18 hours in low; it has 4 settings and so I can run it as long as I need and generally don't need to recharge until about a week or so into the race.

The batteries for a Spot have to be lithium ion and a set of those are good in a Spot for over 2 weeks. My Garmin Edge only takes an hour to recharge so its so light on the main battery that I expect I can recharge it from stone dead about 20 times. I'll hit an AC outlet in the US long before that.

I've done exactly that. But a lot depends on what time of year and where you are. For example, in Banff at the Grand Depart of the Tour Divide Race, it really doesn't get dark until about 10:PM so if riding at night, you don't need the light on all that long. Being a bit older, I like my sleep so it seems prudent to me to have found a place to crash by about midnight or so. My battery has held up fine under that condition- but I do manage to get to a town every couple of days so it gets a recharge. I don't know of a race that pushes much harder than that- at least not in the US.

If you follow the TDR one thing that you commonly hear about is hub failure. 2700 miles of dust, rain, mud and whatnot seems to be harder on dyno hubs as opposed to regular hubs.

Actually Jeff recommends about 11 degrees. Steeper than that and you start to get too much pressure on your hands. But The Jones bike have a really upright riding position, very similar to an old British 3-speed. He is adamant that unless you are doing crits or the like, you've got no business with dropped handlebars. For endurance stuff I think he's on to something- when you're younger, it might be that you can tolerate more aggressive positions but as you get older they can be a problem.

^^ Yes, they are rare. I'm not in the bicycle service industry, but in servicing some friend's MTBs I've encountered frozen calipers and master cylinders several times. In one case the brakes were covered by warranty- the bike was only a year old. Other than that case, the usual problem is dust getting past the seals, and if you are on something like the Tour Divide, its going to happen; whether its enough to cause a failure is a different matter.

But many of these ultra endurance courses put you out in the middle of nowhere (if not often you can see it from where you are); if you really did have a problem you might rethink whether going hydro was worth it. On my last build I used 203mm rotors as generally the brake pads run cooler and so last longer; if you are planning a hydro system I would go with the larger rotors. But I'm conservative about these sort of things.

Seat height, setback and angle all affect hand tingling and other issues.

Handlebar height, reach and angle do too.

Pedal cleat position affects hands as well.

They all inter-relate!  Jeff Jones is adamant that the grip could be concrete if the bike is set up right and you would not have hand problems. I set my Jones Plus up over a period of 2 months, just small tweaks. After riding 3 weeks continuously I had no hand problems.

I'm not going to deny the comfort of a nice grip though    The Jones bars are the most comfortable I've used.

Are you sure your bib was washed before use?

They make 30 amp-hour batteries for less than $30 that are lighter than a hub and are recharged by solar or mini USB. They are the size of an iPhone. One of those without a recharge can keep your GPS, cell, lights and GoPro going for a week no worries. They are waterproof, have dual USB outputs, a built-in light and charge indicator. In two weeks of riding, I never saw it get even down to 75% of full charge, despite recharging my GPS every day.

The main thing though is that they weigh less and have less drag. I can't sort out why anyone would want an alternator hub anymore.

You probably won't run into hydro problems on a day trip unless you don't keep them serviced.

There are three issues you can run into: seizure of the caliper, seizure of the master cylinder, and boiling the fluid. I just read of a guy on the TDR (2016 Corderilla) that had his caliper seized. My GF broke a rib in the Tetons a year and half ago due to a seized master cylinder. I boiled the fluid on a long rough descent on Colorado... In these three cases luck played a huge role in things not being a whole lot worse!

My current build has cable operated brakes and I will never do hydro again.  Each his own...

Yuk!! OK now I have...

The Divide likes to eat suspensions.

There was one guy that had a Lauf fail while on top of Fleecer Ridge. The thing about the Divide is that you can really for sure absolutely be in the middle of nowhere (or you can see it from where you are) when things go south. IIRC that is not the only Lauf to have died on the Divide; I've not heard of any rigid fork failures FWIW...

As far as hand numbness goes, that has nothing to do with the fork and everything to do with how well your bike is set up: seat height, how far forward or back, what angle, stem height and length and as well, cleat position (if you are running cleats). Put another way, if the bike is poorly set up, you'll still get hand numbness no matter what suspension fork you have! Its worth it to spend the time to sort out the correct setup on your bike.

Take a look!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKmr6Qep3gU

I do, but once empty I get it off my back. Most people I've seen with backpacks don't get to take them off since they don't get emptied as part of the pack's daily function. That's how I see the two as distinct. The TDR has several places where its hard to carry enough water on your bike so a Camelback or the like helps sort that out; a regular backpack usually isn't set up to carry much water.

@Woodland

Do you consider a hydration system to be a backpack?

^^ +1

^^Sort of- that's a hydration system. It doesn't weigh much when empty; but at that point I stow it on the bike just so I'm not as hot.

If you think you need a backpack, you really do need to look at how you are packing your bike.

Something not mentioned yet- a pack will mean that you can't get aero on descents are dealing with headwinds- as soon as you try to get more aero, the drag of the pack becomes more profound.

Its also additional weight on your butt. Its hard to have a seat be comfortable all day long as it is!

The trick here is really to sort out what you **don't** need on the trip and don't bring it. If you are racing, this likely means not much in the way of extra clothing other than layers and often a bivy rather than a tent. Room for food and water is important, and a water purification system is a good idea, but you are better off with excess room than you are with things that you simply didn't use the entire trip! If you're not racing, traveling light is still a good idea- it will make the trip a lot more enjoyable since HAB is a fact of life; lifting a 40 pound load is a lot easier than a 70 pound load.

The ZPaks probably hold up better...

Start by downloading the map and gpx.

You should be able to connect the Garmin to your Mac- make sure that the cable used is for data, not just power or nothing will happen!

Once the Garmin is connected, it will look like a file system; you just move the maps into the appropriate folders. I don't have an etrex, so consult its manual. Once uploaded, run it and see if you can display the route along with your location and so on.

You can find the GPX file on http://topofusion.com/divide/gps.php

If you are racing, wait until about 3 weeks before the Grand Depart as it looks like there is a route change.