Wow, he is travelling light. No frame bag and no backpack with very little on the handlebars, maybe a could top tube bags.  Really pushing it.

Looks like the no sleep strategy is paying off short term at least.  Looks to be just slightly ahead of record pace even with all of the weather he's had so far, although Jay did catch a couple hours of sleep where Jefe kept riding.  Either way, very fast start and just like Jefe to pull some BIG days.

What are some of the biggest pulls made to date in terms of miles?  Kurt did 360+ through Wyoming in 2011 I think (vs Jefe?).  I'm sure Mike Hall had a few big ones last year but I wasn't following very closely.  Jefe is at 372 as of last ping.

I'd go with gaiters or sealsocks (?) as I've seen them recommended countless times in numerous threads.  As your feet will stay dry inside the socks it won't matter if the boot stays a little damp for longer periods. Maybe?

Anyone know what happened with Jesse Stauffer?  Looks like he had to backtrack a bit and then progressed forwards again.  Mechanical of some sort I presume.

Looks like Jason is very slowly closing the gap, but he's got some climbing coming up while Mike will be descending for quite some time. I'd expect that to yoyo back and forth a bit until Jason clears that last little climb that Mike is on right now.  Then, who knows?  The next 1000 miles (3 days?!) will be very interesting indeed.

I also remember him saying during last year's TD that he wanted the guy behind him to catch up a bit to "push" Mike to go harder.  Maybe that's why the gap is closing little by little?  Just soft pedaling to go hard later?

I'm the type that would SO rather pay someone to sew it correctly.  Other things maybe not so much but even with some experience its just not my bag (haha).

Where do live, even regionally?  Would help with suggestions.  Background in education and?

Just looked at stopped time so far for the leaders.  Mike is stopping just over 4hrs/day.  So if you figure the times he is stopping for food etc that means a miserable amount of sleep. Jason is only stopping a little more at almost 5.5 hrs/day.  Maybe he's getting a little more sleep as he doesn't have to stop as long to refuel (mixing his mix vs shopping/paying/cooking/etc)?  Ed Pickup is stopping about the same amount of time as Jason, so goes to show how fast Jason and Mike are pushing the pace while on the bike.  Either way, that's a lot of physical effort on a growing sleep deficit. Cool to see what they can push the body to accomplish, hope they are staying sane and safe out there. 

Fast pace so far out front.  I wasn't able to track very closely last year.  No record due to fire reroutes right so Jay's still holds form his 2012 ITT?  Looks like they're about on that pace, and an hour behind Mike Halls blistering pace from last year.

Yeah, transcontinental race follows that format.  Makes route choice a pretty big deal.  Ed Pickup had to fight off wild dogs in Bosnia (or somewhere ) when he did it a cpl yes ago, followed a road that became single track etc. Still finished 4th. At 22 y/o I think.

Bummer to see Billy Rice crack his frame, hope he gets a solution sorted to continue.

A cpl more things
- I've counted at least 10 riders that have taken alternates, legit or not. 
- It shouldn't matter if someone is out front or in last place if impropriety is afoot.
- Hard to say if a number of riders with goofy Spots have followed the route (knock yourself out on that one!).
- Spots aren't even required, you could have someone way out front hitching rides overnight blah blah blah.  I choose to think majority of racers are behaving honestly. 
- And of course perhaps the most line in the rules:  "Nothing to win or lose but honor"

Rules are rules, so I don't see how it ruins the credibility of the race, just the credibility of the racer.  It's up to the RD if it ruins the credibility of the race (see the difference?).  Same would go for anyone cutting corners on the Tour Divide (and I'm not saying anyone is cutting corners as I don't know what the alternates are).  I also find it odd you say someone is cutting corners after stating you don't know what the alternates are.  The racers can do whatever they want, but won't be recognized for completing the course if RD feels they cut corners.  I'll leave that to them and enjoy spectating as I don't have a dog in the fight.

The rider you show above is quite the accomplished racer so I can only assume she has done her homework or is "riding her own race" after crashing early on.

On a side note, good luck getting word to every racer to follow the established GPX route.  Who says they are all even using GPS devices?  Lots of ways to navigate these things.

Wow, starting to spread out towards the front.  Still only a ~4 hour gaps, but increasing to ~6+ between Mike and Jason.

Also, Juliana is killing it!  Picked up a handful of spots in the last 24 hours.

Looks like Mike is slowly gained a little on Jason throughout the day.  He must stop for sleep at some point (!?!), but probably has a ~4hr lead now.

Anyone know why there aren't any checkpoints a la the TDR tracker?  Would make it much easier to see splits...

Carbon rigid will help a little with washboards but no replacement for proper suspension.  I go back and forth on this topic a lot, seem to think of I'm in it for leisure the suspension is nice but if I want to go fast the rigid is my choice.  Seems backwards but I feel like if I'm going to suffer anyways may as well as get some speed out of it.  I do get numb hands pretty often as a result...

Don't necessarily need to stop to eat, just need to stop to buy food.  Or drive thru   Will be very cool to see how their strategies play out.  Liquid diet for 13+ days sounds awfully difficult to stomach, from a guy who generally only rides with liquid.

Juliana has a very "interesting" looking track!

Just looks like she's taken two alternates.  Odd how nobody else took the first one?

Ahhh, the classic "know your race" scenario.  The good news is it's a long one   Lots of time to make up a little ground (relatively).

There's no need for crampons/ice axes or any other technical gear - all the official 14ers can be done as walk ups or as 5.easy scrambles by late July - something that's a few major grades lower than what I'm comfortable free soloing - (I've been climbing a lot this past year)

I didn't realize they were *only* that technical.  Sounds like you are well prepared!

I just got done looking through the blog of the duo that did the thru hike last summer.  Some amazing pictures.  Wish I lived there again, had the time, had the fitness/skills, and a wife I could convince to allow such a thing