I'm starting a day early for two reasons.  1) I'm maximizing all of my vacation time.  2) I'm going to buy every single bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms in Elkford.  Every. Single. Bag. 

But that's just me.  I'm sure he has his own reasons.

Thanks for the G-2 on the route.  Hope the conditions hold out!

Just wanted to say a big thank you to Scott for the basemap and GPX files.  What a huge asset.  Thank you for providing those!

Specs from REI's website:

Check in with your professional and social networks, send custom text messages and let others track your real-time location via Google Maps

In an emergency, transmit an SOS with your exact location to GEOS Emergency Response Coordination Center to activate a rescue

Tracking options let you choose the capture rate that best suits your movement: 2.5-, 5-, 10-, 30- or 60-minute increments

With Motion Activated Tracking, SPOT Gen3 knows when you’re moving and when you stop to make camp; it stops sending tracking info until you start moving again

Weighing only 3.2 oz. with batteries, the compact SPOT Gen3 packs easily for traveling fast and light

Contoured shape with dual attachment points makes it easy to fasten the SPOT Gen3 Satellite GPS Messenger to your pack, bag, boat or vehicle

Power options include single-use AAA lithium batteries (included), rechargeable batteries (sold separately), or line-in power via the unit's USB port

Comes with 4 AAA lithium batteries, USB cord, carrying strap and carabiner clip

Sounds good, but the SPOT II price dropped to $80 because of this.  If you're looking for one you're only going to use a few times a year, I'd probably go with the SPOT II, but the USB charging option sure opens things up.

WHOA!  I missed the 1120 gram part.  That's just a pound short of my entire camping kit (bag, bivy, pad) and it's not particularly light.

That's not a rainshell, that's a ski jacket.  That thing weighs a half pound more than my jacket wrapped around a full water bottle.  Wow.  Yeah, I'd definitely look for a replacement!

Even more wow is the weight of the offroad trike on Doc's website is 41 pounds!!  Holy sh!t!!  I can't imagine trying to push that thing on a hike-a-bike or over deadfall.  Not just because of the weight, but also the shape of it has to be incredibly awkward!  As another poster said earlier, you're the man if you do this! 

I saw this in our local paper about online sewing classes and thought some might be interested.

http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/article_63466a40-c7d2-11e2-91dd-10604b9f6eda.html

The Emporia Gazette | 0 comments
Flint Hills Technical College offers a unique online course this summer.
Eric W. Stiles Sr., a master tailor and designer with more than 35 years of professional experience, will be teaching classes in the following:

Online sewing/construction class
Online pattern drafting (pant, skirt or shirt) classes
Online fashion garment draping class
Online alteration-repair classes
Online hat- and bag-making classes

Stiles was supervisor and head tailor/fitter for Giorgio Armani, Polo Ralph Lauren and many others. He created and taught fashion designing courses from 1990 to 1995 at 10 Illinois colleges, and now offers his instruction via the internet.
These online classes begin June 24. For more information, call Flint Hills Technical College at 341-1392 or 800-711-6947. Learn more about Stiles at ewsacademy.org.

*I have no affiliation with either the instructor or FHTC, just thought some might be interested.

Looks like the assistance rule has reverted back again:

In the event of a serious mechanical that renders one's bike unrideable, a rider may be assisted[3] by motor vehicle in moving backwards or directly off the route, but never forward on route. A rider may also receive assistance returning back to the location they left the GDMBR, however, the moment they rejoin the route, any forward assistance is prohibited, even if a rider has already ridden that stretch prior to leaving the route. The intent of this rule is to encourage riders to exhaust self-rescue options first, and ensure any rider who must hitchhike will still always ride the entire TD course (+ a few penalty miles). Again, any assistance moving forward on the route, in any circumstance, is forbidden.

http://tourdivide.org/the_rules

After reading the specs on this thing, I think you'd be hard-pressed to justify it for bikepacking, especially multi-day trips.  According to the website it produces "5V @ up to 500mA".  The standard iPhone charger is 5V @ 1A.  Basically that means that at maximum output, it will take twice as long to charge your phone as plugging it in.  That's not bad necessarily, but the key phrase is "up to." For bikepacking, especially if you're climbing, I would cut that estimate by at LEAST half.  The other variables not mentioned are how much drag it creates.  My guess is probably at least a noticable amount.  The battery it comes with is a 1300mAh battery, smaller than an iPhone.  Basically what you are buying is an external USB battery with a bike powered charger that takes ~7hours to charge at maximum speed, and again, for bikepacking, probably at least double that time.

That's the secret behind most of these so-called "chargers."  The "charger" is just a gimmick to add on to the battery and increase the price.  If you actually use these/do the math, most of these chargers will take forever to charge up the battery part. IE - If the battery part of the charger is completely drained, it would take many hours or even days for the charger to completely recharge the battery.  This goes for solar chargers, the stove chargers, kinetic energy chargers, etc.  There's a reason the dyno hubs are so expensive - they actually work.  

For a phone, your best bet is just an external battery that can be recharged with a wall or USB charger, or a AA to USB charger.  For a GPS, I get around 30 hours of use out of Energizer Lithiums and 24 hours out of regular AAs.  I think bringing an extra set or two would work better.

The only time this MIGHT be beneficial would be on 2-week+ totally unsupported trips, but it sure doesn't look near reliable enough for that.  If you're doing that, however, you'll definitely want a dyno-hub.  Also, it would be good for hipsters who want to be "green" when they charge their phones.

Yeah, these MTBR forums can get really heated someti... Ohh, I thought I was somewhere else.  My bad.

Tour Divide Insomnia Data (US only)

Here's the US breakdown of the Tour Divide Start List:

California x 11
Colorado x 10
Texas x 6
Ohio x 6
Arizona x 6
Virginia x 4
Florida x 4
Oregon x 3
New York x 3
Iowa x 3
Vermont x 3
Utah x 3
Illinois x 2
Pennsylvania x 2

States with one racer:
Alabama
South Carolina
Missouri
New Jersey
North Carolina
Kentucky
Washington
Maryland
Tennessee
Kansas
Nevada
Tennessee
New Hampshire

Curiously, the only state on the route with racers is Colorado.  Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and New Mexico are all absent.  Ok, I'm going to try the bed thing again.

You have mail.  What an awesome service!

If you're debating between an eTrex 20 and 30, spend the money and go with the 30, if for nothing else other than the built in compass and here's why. 

On your track settings, you have two options.  Track up and north up.  With the north up setting, north is always at the top of the screen.  If you're SB, that means every turn is going to be backwards.  IE- if the GPS is showing a turn to the right, it's actually a left turn, because it's backward.  I get it confused when I'm well rested, so I know it'd be a nightmare when you're tired, cold, wet, hungry and pissed off.

The track up setting means the arrow allows follows the track.  A right turn on screen is actually a right turn on the route.  HOWEVER, on the eTrex 20, because it doesn't have a built in compass, it automatically reverts to north up when you stop.  It might seem minor, but mine almost graduated airborne school off the side of a mountain on the Vapor Trail last year because of it.  I've called Garmin, and they said they would look at the problem, but no updates have fixed it yet.  the best way I found to deal with it was if I needed to stop and check bearings, I'd just push the bike a little to keep the track orientation right. 

Spend the extra and get the 30.  I'm not looking forward to dealing with this on the Dvide, but I think Ill manage.

I'm running 700x40c Vee Rubber XCX's tubeless for my gravel riding tire, and was curious about the same.  I had no problem setting it up tubeless.  I've ridden part of the TD around Salida on cross tires with no problems, nor have I had any flats riding Dirty Kanza roads either (notorious for flats). You won't be able to get a cross tire to reseat tubeless without a compressor or CO2, but most 29x2.?? won't either.

Right now I'm planning to run Nanoraptors, but I'd be interested in getting other vet's opinions as to the feasibility of running tubeless cross-tires (700x40c) in this thing.  Those Vee Rubber tires have a very aggressive tread, but at 700x40, still roll great, plus they are lighter, and so are spare tubes.  Haha, in summary, would 700x40c tires work for this route, or is it a little too rough?

If it has more than 10,000 track points, you'll have to split it.  Most GPS units will cut off a GPX track at 10k points.  I haven't used Topofusion before, but on Garmin's Basecamp program, there's a "split track" feature at the bottom.  It's really easy.

Ahh, thank you sir.  Good to know.

Question for everyone: I emailed the TD site, and haven't heard anything back yet as far as registering a SPOT or anything else for that matter.  Has anyone else gotten a reply, or did it just go to my spam folder (likely)?

Paxton, thanks for the info, looks interesting!  Another option is the Henry Survival Rifle.  Everything breaks down and stores in the buttstock, plus it floats.  The only drawback is that it would take a couple of minutes to assemble, whereas the new 10-22 looks like it goes together rather quickly.  Give and take, but both are fine .22s.

I wouldn't think a GPS would have any effect on it, because a GPS is a receiver and not a transmitter.  I tried setting my bike computer up inside, and couldn't get it to work.  I was out on a ride a few days later, and tried it again, and it worked perfectly.  Got home and again, nothing.  After going through this a couple of times, a (dim) light clicked and I unplugged my wireless router and it worked fine.

I hope he's not talking about the bags Matthew Lee had in Ride the Divide, but I have a sneaky suspicion he is...  If so, that was custom embroidered to commemorate the Buffalo Soldiers of the 25th Infantry (Colored).  They were America's first bicycle troops, and also some of the first "bike packers."  They did a cross-country ride from Missoula to St. Louis in I believe (but may be wrong) 1885.  It's a pretty cool story!  Here's the link:  http://bicyclecorps.blogspot.com

As far as the actual bag, I believe it was a Revelate Designs bag, but I'm not 100% for sure.

I used a steri-pen during a 4 day canoe trip in the Boundary Waters, and got about 10 liters of water on a set of batteries.  I have the one that uses CR123 batteries.  Don't know how well the others work.  The Sawyer filter is definitely the way to go, IMO.  I'm also carrying tablets as a backup.  They don't weigh anything, and you don't have to mess with filtering before bed.  Just fill your bladder, drop tablets, and crash.