So Justin what kind of handlerbars do you have these mounted to?
I bought a pair of these and I have low-rise bars, but the 31.8mm area of the bar is on the low-rise part of the bar and it's too narrow. If I try and mount the TT bar on the upper portion the spaces are not big enough.

Big Poppa - what kind of handlebars are you running as well?

Woody

I used a pair of niner flat bars, of the aluminum variety. I had a really short headset to get the aerobars back and went with flat bars to keep the grips forward more.

I wouldn't dare ride with carbon bars and aero clip ons for fear of breakage on a huge descent. Although, some carbon bar cush would be nice with a rigid front fork!

http://www.syntace.com/index.cfm?pid=3&pk=349

These things freaking rock. Light, comfy, and durable as hell. If they can carry my 230 rear end across the divide, they can carry you!

Are reflectors *really* required in the USA?

I was reading Aidan Harding's blog (http://www.aidanharding.com/2011/06/tour-divide-decompression-begins/) and he comments:

>> As I rode along in the dark, I had my head light on, a flashing rear light and reflectives on my jacket, shoes, and leg-warmers. Nonetheless, I was stopped by a local Sheriff. He told me that reflectors were required in the US and he was concerned about my safety. So he drove me to the county line – It was kind of tense inside his car. I was overheating after the cool of the night and he seemed pretty humourless. When he dropped me off, I tried not to hum anything from The Dukes of Hazzard.


If they are required, what is the minimum one could get away with?

I talked to Aiden just after that during the race. It seems to me that it was more of a jurisdictional thing for that sheriff. Also, Aiden was riding off course to catch up to a spot that he had been at before this frame broke. I have a feeling that this wouldn't really happen on the actual course, it was more a result of being on a main road.

I really think you would be fine with out reflectors. At most, sew one or two onto your bag that hangs behind your seat and you will be fine.

do you regret not using a pad?

I used only a custom torso length neo air that I made. I regret not having a longer one. Sleeping on the rough ground was pretty tough, especially towards the end of the race.

If I do it again, my goal will be to not hotel at all. I would take a longer neo air then. The savings of roughly 4 oz would be worth the weight penalty, since you would gain several extra miles per day by not hoteling it.

Trail mix is probably the best gas station food for TD riders. Seems to have the most calories per unit of weight, it's got carbs, good fat in the nuts (that sounds dirty but it isn't!), it packs small, and most importantly it pretty much doesn't spoil, so if you don't eat it all quickly you just keep it in a pocket somewhere for when you'll need it.

Most convenience and gas station stores usually have a good selection of trail mix, something for every taste in addition to various sizes for different appetites and how long you want it to last!

Trail mix is good but don't rely on it solely. It tends to be a pretty "chew intensive food". Which can be a pretty big deal as your mastication muscles get incredibly tired after eating 15,000 calories per day....

Not that I didn't use it quite a bit but by time I hit Idaho, all I wanted to eat was soft fatty foods because my freaking jaw was so tired!

That second cyclometer is a backup for sure.

The general idea behind the rules of the Tour Divide is that the race should be as self supported as possible and that every racer should have equal footing.

The rule in question is designed to keep each racer on the same level as far as support. It sounds crazy but once you are out there, you will see the multitude of opportunities for the people "in the know" to cache food and/or supplies at places that are technically commercial that others might not know about.

Also, I know that it sounds silly that the commercial system on the divide could be overtaxed but it is a very real concern. Fifty to eighty cyclists coming through a bed and breakfast over the course of two days, when that B and B normally sees 50-80 customers in a year, really does over tax the system. It also lends itself to a pretty entitled spirit.

It's kinda hard to understand from reading about the race on the internet but it really is a different world out there. Things are simple. You ride. You sleep. You eat. You repeat without showering for weeks on end. The solitude, good hearted people, and simple nature of the small out-cropping civilizations are something that we should fight to preserve.

To address your question about who makes the rules... the rules were designed by Matthew Lee and based off of the rules from the original Great Divide Mountain Bike Race. Believe it or not, the TD rules are far more lenient than the GDMBR rules.

People race the divide with all sorts of dietary restrictions; vegan, diabetics, etc. Yes, it is more challenging for those racers but hey, that's part of the game. You can always challenge the route yourself, not under the TD, if you don't agree with the rules. That would even more in line with the self supported spirit.

As a caveat, I'm not related to the running of the Tour Divide. I'm just a veteran of the race and what I've said here is just my opinion. 

I'm a bit confused about the addition of the Gold Dust Trail near Como, CO.  If I understand correctly it was required for southbounders last year, but when I look at Scott's gpx file the track does not take Gold Dust but instead follows the regular ACA route.  Will Gold Dust be part of the race route for 2012?

It was going to be required but snow pack left the trail unmappable (they couldn't get a good GPS track) until very close to the TD start. So, it was left out last year for fairness. I'm sure it will be on the track this year.

Side note: We were given the cues for the trail and allowed to ride it as an option if we wanted to last year.

Although I've offered up some stuff about training, forums are the last place you should seek this kind of advice, including anything I write, as I've only a slight grasp of this stuff myself. If you're really interested I suggest reading some books written by people with PhDs in sports science. Ignore anything touted by energy product manufacturers - 99% of that is absolute crap. Check out the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine http://www.jssm.org for some facts.

However... the basics. I refer to stored fat (Fatty acid metabolism). You have an abundance of it, even if you're a racing whippet. Glycogen, or carbohydrate reserves are limited to about 2000 calories stored in muscles and liver. The concept is that you race at a pace where most, if not practically all, of your power output metabolises your fat store, and only a small percentage of the power output is metabolising glycogen. The fat burns in a glycogen flame, is the best analogy. Everyone from the slowest to the fastest racer is probably using the same amount of glycogen as a percentage of power output. All the rest of the speed comes from the fat metabolising engine, so it's worth training it with those base miles.

Consider the mental demands of a two hour ride. No problem. If after several hours you bonk, that is where you’ve depleted the glycogen stores and are now solely relying on the fat metabolising engine. If this engine is untrained, the speed will drop right off, your muscles will hurt, and mentally things just got ten times worse. If you're well trained and bonk, you can still ride at a fair pace and are able to tick along replenishing just enough carbohydrate with sugary snacks to stoke the fat engine. In this case a 40 minute break for a drink of Coke and some snacks and you can be back up to speed quick. However if you’re relying predominantly on the carbohydrate engine, it can take considerably more time to replenish stores and recover to output sufficient power to travel comfortably. But carbohydrate depletion has so many other bad effects on the body, that recovery becomes a completely different process. Carbohydrate depletion is also very high risk increasing the chance of illness and injury.

I may live at sea level in the UK, but that isn’t my driver in following some kind of structured training. I’m limited by time to train, and I know I can get a lot fitter using less time by applying some proven science, rather than a roll of a dice. To me it is the simpler approach. Also I can take less holiday if I travel faster and finish the event quicker, and really enjoy my time on the route. The other advantage of a structured training plan is that it continually answers the original question - "How do you decide your fitness is sufficient?" Since every weekend is a small step, it's an assessment of present status, and the opportunity is there to do something about it before moving up to the next bigger ride.

I’m bowing out of this one now. Good luck to all, whichever way you want to approach your event.

It is very true that the body relies on stored fat for energy in these types of events. During the tour divide I rarely ingested more than 10,000 calories in a day. (It's just IMPOSSIBLE to eat more. Your body just can't make enough stomach acid and pancreatic digestive enzymes to keep up with the requisite degradation requirements for fuel intake metabolism.)

On the other hand, I was burning roughly 20-25,000 calories a day.

Wonder where the excess calories came from?

Answer, My Fat @$$.


You train your body to burn stored body fat by doing exactly what Steve outlines.

Mail drops:

Catch-22 - the more remote areas where a drop would be nice (Like Polaris, MT) have very limited PO hours while the big towns have better hours but you can get everything you need there anyway.  A big box to Rawlins is a nice idea as they have "big city" PO hours.  New shorts, chain, set of tires.  Of course if you arrive on Sat PM or Sunday you're screwed.

Bob

Totally got there on the weekend this year. Did the whole course in one pair of shorts....!

29ers are really good to go over obstacles so that's not really a factor on the TD.

Personally, I rode a 29er but that's because that's all I got and all I ever ride. I saw plenty of people (including Kurt, the eventual winner, if I'm not mistaken) ride 26ers last year and do just fine.

I rode with Kurt at the start (really just the neutral part of the start and they he shot off like a little psycho). He was on a 29er I'm pretty sure. Also, he lists his bike as the Salsa Mariachi, which only comes in a 29 (at least on their site that is all that's listed).

http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/the-cycle-life-10-questions-with-tour-divide-favorite-kurt-refsnider.html

http://salsacycles.com/bikes/el_mariachi/

Personally, I would go with a 29er. It rides so much better over the washboard and such. That's just personally though. Bikepacking is so individual it's insane.

Thanks Bob, i read about the bike shop on the site, but any information from people that have raced it before is always helpful.
 

I would fly with it and avoid shipping like the devil.

I shipped my bike box back from Banff and just the empty box got stuck in customs for 2 months. I didn't get it until OCTOBER.

Like Matthew Lee says, "It's always better to travel with 'bird in hand'."

I would fly into Calgary and stay the night in Calgary on the day that I arrive. That way, if your bike is delayed by a day you will be right by the airport to get it. Take the Banff Transporter (official transporter of the TD) to the YWCA Lodge. Build up your bike. Take and easy ride and chill for a few days. The day before the race, go to the grocery store and ask for an old box. Put all your street clothing and everything you aren't taking on your bike in there. Mail the box home before the post office closes. (I just wore my riding clothes in the afternoon the day before the race.) Then you are set to go. Head back to the lodge early and get some shut eye.

DO NOT bring a large plastic type bike box. I did just because I was used to traveling with one for triathlons. MISTAKE. It cost ~400 to send that sucker back home!

I rode a full carbon niner, with a carbon front fork. It worked well. It was pretty chattery though, ti would probably be the only other type of frame I would use.

Bike choice is another item that is highly personal. FS bikes IMO are over kill, a good hardtail is all you need, if you go with suspension make sure it's reliable. Overall though I'd say the spearfish is a top bike.

Yeah, full suspension is pretty overkill. Last year I only saw one person at the start with full sus. I could see maybe an automatic lockout system like the Specialized Epic setup. But, even at that I would be seriously worried about a failure. The divide is notorious for rupturing shocks.

I personally prefer the fully rigid setup.

That all being said, personal gear preference is king when you are talking about 20+ days of 18 consecutive hours of saddle time.

The YWCA is a hostel like set up. You can call and reserve a room. Tell them you are racing the divide and they will put you where you need to be. I'm guessing the place is going to be super packed this year so you might want to reserve early....

Drop it!

I know, I KNOOOWWWW!

I'm really excited about the possibility of competing again this year. I can't stop dreaming about the endless dirt...

The only hurdle is that I have a breast cancer research gig this summer. The plus side, it's only for ten weeks and I have a 14 week summer before medical school year two starts. I just need to work it out with my program director to see if I can get those four weeks in the middle of the summer.

Crap.  Looks like Marshal Bird's blog is gone along with all his good advice:

"Sorry, the blog at desertmountaindivide.blogspot.com has been removed."

Yeah, his normal blog is gone too....

I like having my own spot, although they were able to have some rentals last year. The spot let me track my training rides and gave my wife peace of mind when I was out and about for hours/days on end.

I have the spot II. It worked well, the only hard part is learning how to use it correctly. Not that it's really hard, it just takes patience as you keep tryin to get it to work and recheck the website to see if it's tracking.

I'm getting pretty tempted to drop my name in the hat for this year....