I vote that you go for it.

The reason is that tomorrow may just not come. Life has a way of sometimes throwing curve balls at us, and I know of several people who had plans to "do something" and had those plans wiped out by cancer or some other big life altering thing. We never quite know what is coming around the next bend, so if riding this thing appeals to you, then by all means, get out there and do it.

How far from Tucson is the start?

About 75 miles or so from Tucson to Parker Canyon Lake for the 300 start, and another 15 or so down to the border for the 750 start.  ( kinda depends on just where in Tucson you start, it's a bit spread out )

There are lots of places, especially north of Tiger Mine, where the trail is a bit indistinguishable from a cow path.  Following a cow path and then turning around is a PITA.  And then lots of places where you enter a bed of rocks in a wash bottom and the exit on the other side is just not that obvious ( and that's in the daylight ).  The etrex30 is pretty rock solid, holds up in rain, runs on batteries, so you don't have to worry about recharging. About all you have to do is make sure to tie it to your handlebars so if it ever pops off the mount you don't have to go back and look for it ( Seriously !! ).

Somebody lost their shorts on Richmond Peak ... We saw they were spread out on a rock as if to dry. Still there I suppose :-). 

hey trackleaders ... I know several of us are signed up and doing Northbound but the webpage right now shows only 2 ??

That is a much bigger sign !!!  WooHoo !!

I saw a comment on FB under an Adventure Cycling post about the route ...  writer said there were lots of down trees on the Richmond Peak segment from last year's fire ...  any locals been up there ?

I know Josh Kato is in this year.  Seems like Mike Hall is as well.  however, i do not think Jefe is going to throw down this year.......anyone know if Laell Wilcox is coming back this year?

Leal is doing Trans Am 2016 ... starts in a few days

Was wondering about them also ... there's nothing there except for the Horse Springs church.  ( I think there is a gas station about 6 miles east in Old Horse Springs ) 

NM has had some scattered tstorms, but this is still the dry season, if there was mud, I'd expect it to go away in a few hours.

Nicely done !  You have a keen eye for scenery and music and how to tell a story !

So I don't see the individual track data point history showing up on the map for James and Pete doing their ITT's now ...

Then why no announcement here from Trackleaders, or identification on the form?  Smells like weekold fish.

Well, this isn't an official event .... the form is real however and will get you officially signed up on Trackleaders.  Stuff is getting real now !

I'm seeing some references to a store 40 miles outside of Cuba (SoBo).  Does anyone know what this is referencing?  I'm seeing missions along the way.  Are these camping options?  Water options?

TIA!

Chaco Wash is a laundromat about 6 miles or so North of Pueblo Pintado on Hwy 197 ... it's a gas station, laundromat, post office and convenience store ... great microwave burritos, ice cream, etc  ... there is also a small store/gas station/bar closer to Torreon    after Chaco Wash there is nothing until Milan


 

anyone have experience with northbound vs. southbound.  I can't find much on the topic.  I'm pretty sure i want to ride this summer but still not sure on the direction.  Northbound is more aesthetic to me.

Quote from Billy Rice in Cordillera Vol 5 :    "Northbound, or NoBo as its known, is harder. I should know. The route northbound starts at the same elevation as Banff. It's hot and dry. Every day you gain an additional 1000 feet or more, so altitude becomes a real problem for someone who lives at sea level ....."

He talks a bit about high altitude pulmonary edema, and chatted about that with me and Jeff T. when we met Billy and Liana in the Basin last summer.   I didn't worry too much about it, as I live at 2500 feet and get a chance to ride up to 8000 and 9000 around here as much as I want, but I could see where it could be a real problem for someone from lower regions.

Having said all of that, I think it's a bit of a wash either way. You get some great downhills going North and some serious suckage ( Fleecer ), but I think the weather is a little bit better going north, except for some wind in Wyoming.  Northbound again for me :-)

I see it under individual riders but not for all.

under Leaderboard .... on the main page, switch from Main Map to Leaderboard and you can see how long its taking to get to Patagonia, KC, etc

Maybe this isn't the place for it, but as someone who has never ridden any sections of the TD, I'm not quite sure why everyone says 2" or greater tires are necessary. I regularly ride "mountain bike" trails on a cross bike with 38c tires and have no trouble. Is it the rocky ground, or the mud you need to float across, or general bump smoothing, or something else entirely that pushes people to the fatter range of tires?

Thanks!

For a couple thousand miles of TD, I think those tires would be just excellent ! But there are some notable exceptions, ... the rail trail section in Idaho is like riding on the beach, there are sandy sections on Separ Road in NM along with Polvadera Mesa, and soft stuff getting to Brazos Ridge. I know there are others, just not jumping out at me right at the moment.  Anyways, for some of those I wished I had a wider tire and I ran Saguaro 2.2's. ( and that's without any mud ... all bets off then ).

Where do you get the info. to put together an accurate set of TDR cue sheets?  If you start with the ACA cue sheets, you need modifications for alternate ACA routes that are not TDR legal and my understanding is that some of the TDR route is not on the ACA routes.  Where do I find complete info.?  Thanks!

Cues can be problematic. The first thing that happens is you go off route in quest of food and then your mileage is messed up and you are forever trying to do arithmetic in your head until the whole thing resets with the next map sheet. I know some folks didn't care much for the maps, but I really liked them, they gave me a better overview of where I was and what's next vs just following the line on the GPS ( which is like looking through a soda straw in a way )  But GPS is your friend !!

MikeI: just curious when you say that youre getting a lot more than 16 hours from your etrex 30, is the backlight completely off? I've heard that you can get decent, battery life if you keep the backlight on the lowest setting, but havent had a chance to test it myself yet. Any thoughts?

Yes, I had the backlight set on 1 minute or something like that. For lots of the route, you are going to be on a particular road for a long time relatively, and so not being able to see the unit isn't a problem.  Trying to navigate through the bike path around Frisco/Silverthorne at 11pm though, I had it on the whole time, which would chew through battery.  The CDT would be one of those, and a bunch of those little singletrack connectors between roads is another example where you'd want it on almost 100% to keep from getting lost. 

Mmm. I've been looking at the battery life on both, it's supposed to be 16 hrs for the eTrex and 15 for the Edge 1000. I'm on the same boat regarding not running a dynamo b/c of the complexity (as a rookie w/ little time to prepare I have my plate full already!). However, I was thinking about carrying a solar panel and a USB charger to power the Edge. What I'm not sure is if I can use it while it's charging (I know I can do that with the Garmin Fenix 3).

the etrex 30 runs a lot longer than 16 hours on a fresh battery set ( I use the Lithium Ultimates and set the software switch to Lithium vs Alkaline )  ... I think I only changed batteries maybe 3 times, so carrying a few extra wasn't too hard.  You can run the etrex 30 with one of those USB rechargable battery packs, but it's just one more thing to drag along, and I have personally picked up from trails, two solar panels that fell off someone's rig .. ( so mounting is maybe easier said than done :-)

No real need to take topo maps. The ACA maps are ok for getting 'unlost' Tip of the day is to show only the route line on your GPS blank background, no underlay of any maps. Makes route following much easier than looking through all the topo 'clutter'. When you are real tired and your mind resembles the power bar that you just ran over, you need clarity.

Make double darn sure that you download the '10k' version of the route, as the larger one will not work past about 20 miles out of Butte, when the route line suddenly goes blank. Ask me how I know! Fortunately had both versions, (Some recent GPS will work with the larger route version, I had a Garmin Oregon 450).

I did one trip with, and 2015 without, maps as underlays, and will never go back. You really can't get too lost, as all roads go somewhere!

Good luck

there is a GDMBR basemap at:

http://topofusion.com/divide/gps.php   has a GDMBR-basemap-v2.img file that is also useful 



openstreet maps is also a good source for a free background map    ( I copied this from sfuller's post in TD2015 prep )
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If you want free streetmaps for the Etrex, you can look at something called Open Street Maps (OSM). I've downloaded one of the pre-compiled versions and put it on my Dakota 20 and it works fine. This is streets/roads/towns only, and not topographical maps. I've zoomed down in and the fire roads that I road on the North half of the Montana portion of the GDMBR are all on there.

General info is at - http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download

The site I downloaded my copy of the maps from is at - http://www.openmapchest.org/maps/united-states