So stopping for food and eating two pizzas (let's say for a total of about 1,500+ calories), your body can only process 200-300 of that in the next hour, efficiently. Seems like the better way to go is to eat small, regularly, therefore limiting time spent stopping for/eating large meals, and keeping your system efficient. Personally, I can't imagine stopping mid effort and downing a large meal, and then getting back on the bike and get back into effort. After a nap, maybe.

Honestly, that sounds fair. I would experiment before you try it out though, as it may be culturally strange to not have a few large meals throughout the day and switch to, "constant graze" mode. But if that works well for you, it works well for you.

On the flip side, 300 cals x 24 hours is 7,200 cals/day, which is quite a lot of cals. Think of how many hours/day you plan on being on the move. Is it around 18? So, 6 of the hours x 300 is 1800. That's one sit down meal, which by your estimate would fulfill the digesting ability for an athlete for those 6 hours. Sounds like eating a meal, right before you sleep then, eh?

From experience though, I kinda wouldn't worry about it. One of the benefits of this race is that you can literally eat whatever you want, whenever you want. And if you want to play it safe, eat MORE than you think you need to. My problem is that long days of riding are actually a hunger *suppressor*, so if not kept in check, I can just forget to eat enough, I don't bonk, I just lose a ton of weight, quickly. Easy way to do that is to have a big meal/meals, then snack when it's convenient.

You may also experience the rudeness of finally stopping and having to re-adjust to normal eating modes, where you cannot just shovel food in your face, and fresh things are more readily available.

Anyways, whatever you would like to do, experiment WELL BEFORE the race. And even then, expect surprises. I would not want to be a picky eater on this race!

I hate to be "the guy" but I'm gonna do it:

The San Juans have been really freakin' dry this winter - less (way less) than 50% or the average snow fell this Winter. What does this mean? Anyone's guess, but anticipate:

* People are guessing that the entire San Juans will be melted out by the end of May
* some water sources in the CT guidebook not flowing. Perhaps camel up a bit more in town. Molas Pass to Durango usually has good sources of water. Getting into Silverton may be a little sparse. Who knows after Monarch Crest... Consider your purification system carefully. If "good" sources are dry, are you willing to risk it with a less than ideal source (cow'd out)
* fires could be a big problem
* Could the Monster Monsoon make a reappearance like it did last year? Perhaps a super dry winter means a super wet summer. Who knows.

 The CT FB page could be a good place to keep on top of eyes on the ground info from thru hikers, who will be dealing with a lot of these issues, too. Official:

https://www.facebook.com/ColoradoTrailFoundation/

Unofficial:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/156927181553021/

Riding here on the Front Range has been insane. It was as if the season was extended for like 5 months. Some wet weeks, but a lot of trails and parks remained open. I hit snow today on the Front Range at around 10,000 feet. But trails at 9,000'+ were completely dry.

This will be my first attempt at the TD and I was curious as to why you recommend not sending ones bike ahead of time? My plan was to send it to the FedEx facility in Calgary so that it arrived a day prior to me arriving. Saves me the hassle of lugging around an awkward size box through the airport.

Lots of sad stories of gear getting stuck in customs.

Ride to Everest Basecamp before the climb, or it doesn't count!



Having made up a few of my own ridiculous routes, and tried to do them for time, I can wholly agree it's a different experience than the TD, even when I first did the TD 7 years ago, when the starting line was more like 75.

Things change, that's OK. Having small towns observe cycling tourist traffic and react to it by offering amenities to them, is like: the future I love to see. The size of the starting line is a bit much for someone like me that once a little solace from crowds, but I think NoBo would work for me just fine. I like the (relatively) less "figured out" the course would be when it comes to resup, etc. But still not completely out there. I would just hope they let me in Canada! 

Guh, I hate the Everest comparison. People spend huge chunks of money on things like the TD, but it's not some requirement. ML would talk about doing the race spending just a few hundred dollars en route. Having a flashy kit is fun, but nail the basics and keep the rest of everything simple.

I moved full-time bivy because of the TD, and in 7 years, haven't looked back. The only change I've made really is the addition of a simple waterproof tarp, and moving from a bivy that's mostly waterproof, to one that's mostly not - this stops me from waking up soaked in my own perspiration. The idea is that if you don't need to put up the tarp: DON'T. Even without a tarp, it usually wasn't impossible to find some sort of natural shelter (pine trees) to keep the worst of it from hitting me. If you're trying to move fast, I really think this is the way to go. If the weather is completely terrible, a choice could be to just ride right through it, until shelter is found/the weather lets up - that's sort of the Blitzkrieg way of going about things. My bivy is 200 grams, and the tarp is 300 grams.

If you go SB, the weather will get increasingly more warmer and drier, so if you think you require a shelter, I would bring it for the beginning, with an eye to mail it back ~Salida or so. Same with the sleeping bag - start with maybe a  an additional sleeping bag liner, then decide if the extra heat it gives you is required, or even wanted. But, if you want to go really fast, just suffer at the beginning.

And honestly, I say just go for it.

In CO it could be very snowy above 9,000 feet, so a pass like Indiana could very well be impassable, even at that late date. Far too early to know right now. The snowpack is sensationally low this year, 30% of normal in some parts of the state, but that could all change. A late blizzard in May could bury passes like Indiana, Marshall, Boreas. Very, very hard to guess. I've been on Boreas on May 28th on recon, and it was snowshoe territory.

To get an idea, here's two charts to check out:

https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/data/water/wcs/gis/maps/co_swepctnormal_update.pdf

https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/data/water/wcs/basinsweplots/co/basinplotco18.gif

It seems the big snow dumps are happening later and later in the year, and it gets me nervous when it's been SO dry. Either it'll dump way later in the year this year to make a somewhat normal year precip-wise, or it'll be SO dry, forest fires become a big concern for the summer.

Different story up north of CO, where snowfall seems a bit more normal.

Love the idea, for sure. I don't own a car, and doing more wandering trips using a 29Plus ECR in the shoulder seasons in CO has been pretty fun. The Polish gearbox is super intruiging, especially since any other gear box is $$$.


Anyways, great photo essay, for sure.

I've done the TD on a single speed. If I ever do it again, I'd def. do it with a single speed once more. Single speeding gets you friggin' strong!

Chainline going to be different from the 142 wheelset and the 148 wheelset?

This goes without saying, as you're all fine gentle-people, but it bears a reminder: treat your bike shop peeps with respect (goes for all shop employees, locals, etc). Riding/Racing the route is a privilege, so be courteous, even if you're in a rush. They know what's going on (they can follow your blue dot online, too!), and they'll do their best to help y'all out. It's really cool when they go that extra distance - example: give you a stand to self-wrench on, but that's just another privilege. Be the best version of yourself out there, always. It's easy to be stressed out. If you are, relax, take a deep breath, and compose yourself (and get a little perspective), before going to get service/help.

And never make the decision to quit the route on a bad day! Sleep on it! If the bike can roll, keep going! Now's the time to work on any weaknesses/injuries in yourself!

and whatever you do, do not send your bike ahead.

Also suggest removing disk rotors, and putting a spacer between the brake pads themselves (especially hydros). Doesn't hurt to bring a few extra bits of hardware you can toss/donate/mail back in case you lose something. Don't check in your helmet (obv.) and bring copies of your passport, etc. May want to look into insurance, depending on your bike, if things to hit the fan. If a destroyed bike cancels your plans, at least you can get compensated. Part of travel insurance - I use Roam Right myself. It's really cheap for a little piece of mind.

You may want to bring a pair of town clothes you don't mind sending back/tossing just to be comfortable before you go and keep your riding stuff just a little more cleaner before starting.

You mentioned wanting a dynamo taillight - the one to get is the B&M Secula

Nice. that's far more reasonable in price than what I was looking at. If I can't replace a battery-powered blinky light with something comparable and in the same ballpark price-wise, it's a big block, IMHO.

Looks like there's also two models, the Secula, and Secula Plus - the "Plus"  is the dynamo-powered one.

Thanks everyone for their help in this thread. In the end, I went with a SON 28 hub, and a Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ2 Luxos U Senso for the core of my electronics kit. Here's the full rundown:

http://longranger.justinsimoni.com/2017/10/29/electronics-kit-list-for-the-tour-of-the-highest-hundred/

Winter in general is a pretty crappy time to tour off road in the mountains in the Rockies (at least). Any route you try will have a ton of unconsolidated snow to deal with. Days are short and the nights are very, very cold. Ski resorts are trying to open up.

Wait until Spring Bandini, and go to Alaska.

Thanks, Mike. 

Here's some press!

https://www.climbing.com/news/justin-simoni-summits-colorados-100-highest-peaks-in-60-days-self-powered/

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2017/09/guy-just-rode-climbed-colorados-100-highest-peaks-self-supported-non-stop/

Howdy all, Long Ranger here-
I'm about at the midpoint of my newest bikepacking/peak bagging tour, this time for the highest 100 peaks of Colorado!

I'd love it if you could follow along, there is currently no self powered, self supported record for this (I'm using rules very much inspired by the TD) but Rob Barlow has a supported record of 71 days. I'm hoping to do it in 60. Here are the details:

http://highesthundred.com

Long may you range!