These are some of the issues I just talked to my eye doctor about. I was worried that handling my contacts on a daily basis during the TD would render my eyes infected, as they are wont to do. She suggested dailies, which weren't working out with my eyes and doesn't solve many problems since you're still touching your eyes at least 2x day.

A friend suggested *monthlies*, which allows you to only take the contacts out (and throw away) once a month. The doc wasn't really into that idea, but also pointed to the fact I can wear what I usually wear (biofinity) a week at a time, only *needing* to take them out once a week. So, my plan is to only take out my contacts when my hands are nice and clean - when a bathroom w/soap is available. Give my eyes a rest while eating lunch by taking them out and putting on my glasses. It may be worth to give different brands a try and see what works best for you. I've only had a contact eject out of my eye going Mach 3 down a hill, once, which is nice.

Bringing along a small thing of saline solution and probably something like Clear Eyes (which should also be easy enough to find in gas stations en route) and maybe some eye antibiotics just in case. Eye infections are crippling - if you've never had one, consider yourself lucky. Redness and intense sensitivity to light. If it's not treated, it's pretty easy to go blind.

I've had little trouble myself with Colorado dryness and my contacts. My biggest nemesis is when my generously applied sunscreen gets into my eyes. That's, I'm guessing the cause of most of my historical eye infections. Keep a cycling cap on at all times, to minimize the sun on my gigantic forehead (and minimize the need to slather sunscreen on it) is been what I've needed to do. And make sure not to get too much sunscreen in my eyebrows.

Rereading JayP's initial start of this thread, many of the questions are ones to ask yourself. It's a good barometer - if you can't be honest with yourself, this course looks like a big DNF. I, like many in this thread that are lining up this year (I'm betting), took everything JayP said to heart, coming from a true veteran in so many ways/shapes/forms - if only looking at this course alone. It's a good wake up call. JayP - you are one to be looked up to, your attitude is ace.

I think it's good to remember that humans are not well-equipped to cognitively understand distances this large. It's easy to look at a map and go, "no sweat! (well, maybe a little)", it's quite another to have "view" the information at 1:1 scale, the ETA measured in weeks and the means being a bicycle.

If someone, even in this year's running goes, "WHOA! Was Not Ready!" and bails, I'm not going to personally fault them, that's for sure - I'll commend them for taking a chance, if it's anything like my own chance, it's coming with a huge investment in time, money and a gigantic strain everything else in my life - with absolutely no guarantees that bad luck won't hit on day #1 and dash all this work. There's parts of this course I'm personally and sincerely scared of and there's parts I'm more or less custom-made to blunder about in by my wits alone, while singing a song.

But, what I'm not prepared to do any more (really) is prove to anyone else I'll be ready to race in June.  I don't want qualifiers, I don't want categories. One of the master strokes when masterminding this race was the Letter of Intent, where you know, I stated my intentions (I think I even put a personal goal of days). I can't be any clearer, ja? But what was most important about writing, and rewriting the LOI (for me), was doing the double and triple-check that this is what I wanted to do. If my LOI was simply, "BOOZE CRUISE!", I'd probably save the bother and just join the local Tuesday cruiser group. Denver's got great beer  

Anyways, I can't wait to meet everyone for real - especially all the unknowns that haven't really made a public peep to anyone. I am super optimistic that there's going to be a great line up of super-ready, super-positive people, willing to work with the resources of the race course and agree upon the best way to get it done. I'm having a hard time thinking that this race really truly and honestly attracts a, "me too" crowd when so much physical and mental pain and discomfort is involved, for such a long time. Really. I think the character that finds this type of adventure attractive has a mindset to also race it while being honest with their own abilities in check. (Or, maybe I"m wrong, it's not like I hang out at ultra-enduro events psycho-analyzing anyone)

awesome thanks a ton! these can be used for 2011 correct? they have matthew's current updates?

From what I understand (and please anyone correct me if I'm wrong), the cartographers at Adventure Cycling have just completed the 2011 versions of the map, which would have newish cues and those should be on this narrative - but ask ACA to be sure.

The Tour Divide should follow the route fairly closely, although there was talk of going off-route to minimize boring (and/or dangerous) road and up the single-trackiness. The parts mentioned were the Gold Dust trail, on Boreas Pass and a part in NM, BUT, I don't know if that has all been finalized. If memory serves me, it wasn't until 2 weeks before the start of TD that the Flathead re-route was announced in previous editions of the TD.

Either way, the alts. for Tour Divide won't be on the ACA narratives. So, if the narratives are for 2011, you got that part down.

It's worth starting this thread from the beginning and getting to the end - there's so much good information, the signal-to-noise is a little high, but it's a super good resource to get oneself prepared. Veteran advice, galore.

im new to this and cant figure out where to find the cues on adventure cycling. are they updated and what everyone will be using for the june TD? any help would be awesome so i can get them printed. thanks for the help guys!

I think this is what you're looking for:

http://www.adventurecycling.org/store/index.cfm/product/566_11/great-divide-mountain-bike-route-narratives.cfm

You'll also want to think about looking at some of the influences of Randonneuring and old-style randonneur bikes, what with their Brooks saddles with places to put straps through, specifically for seat bags, comme ça:



As an outsider, I didn't know there was a sport called, "bikepacking", until I was doing it without my knowledge. I just called it, "Riding my touring bike, where I know I shouldn't". I look at my, "bikepacking" rig and my touring bike, side by side, it's like one is a bi-plane and the other is the Bell X-1. Bikepacking just seems like it's new-school extremely interesting bike touring.

This seems like a way to maybe get back to the roots of the TD, and not have the overwhelming impact that the race may have this summer.  Just a bunch of guys and girls getting together to ride a long ways, really fast...

I'm currently in a coffee shop and the coffee shop has more people in it, than is going to be at the "start" line in Banff, right now. I can def. understand wanting to be nice to the Canadian Authorities, as we go through their National Park system and will go along with anyone's rational plans on how we can lower the impact of our spontaneous collective of people, all doing individual time trials that just so happen to start at the same time, but just looking at the trackleaders playbacks of the SPOT meanderings,

after day 3

, there's a spread of around 150 miles between Malliot Juane and Lantern Rouge. How much impact is that going to really be?

I think the Grand Départ really has a draw - I can potentially see knowing that there are other people on the course having a positive effect on my speed and willingness to keep going on the legal course. I think the only caveat is, "As long as no one is a real jerk about it"

But the ITT is always an option to anyone, no? And I think you're right - who says someone can't spearhead a, "TD July!" with minimal planning and prep. Although, I think there's more organization that goes on, than we may think...

Paul Howard's book is cute and fun. Perfect decomp reading after pouring over the GDMBR guidebook all day. And the maps. And the bike. Oh, and riding the bike. Etc.

His humour is so exceptionally British, I had my former British roommate's voice in my head, the entire time I was reading it. Intrepid European views of America  - especially the west, are quite interesting insights. 'mericans have landmarks like The Effeil Tower to pilgrimage towards, Europeans want to see Route 66 (from my own unscientific research).

I love humans.
 

I've contemplated what JayP is throwing down quite a bit myself. I'm going for a personal best, whatever that turns out to be. It's not going to be 16 days, unless I surprise myself (and everyone in the world), but it's not going to be touring, or, "fast" touring, I'm not going to be throwing in the towel because it's snowing or the route seems impassable, or the bike breaks or whatever - I'll drag that thing with a broken arm and dysentery across the Great Basin if I need to. It's going to up before the sun, pedaling until it gets dark and passing out in a bivvy sack wherever it is I'm passing out. The goal is A.W. as fast as possible.

I'm looking at my personal training and what I've said above is being reflected in what I'm putting in: working my ass off to get faster, leaner and more efficient. The pounds and the heart rate are certainly dropping, I'm staying healthy, feeling positive, alive, happy and stoked for June. I know my personal strengths (sustained riding, climbing, high pain/annoyance threshold, love of being dirty and stinky, love of solitude) enough to leverage them.

I'm really looking forward to the mass start, but the only thing I'm competing with is the clock - it's a Time Trial and no one lining up with me is someone I'm trying to beat - they're honestly just someone else trying to same thing I'm trying and by coincidence, at the same time. Everyone is on the same team, as hippy-dippy as that sounds. Knowing me, I'll push myself to between the real leaders and the Middle of the Pack and I won't see anyone for hundreds and hundreds of miles. Just know it

My completely unresearched speculation is that the starting line in June is going to be padded with some major heavy hitting riders that are going to put in an amazing time - it's going to be quite a show. But, on the other side, it'll be padded with people who may not have trained adequately and perhaps trying to leverage a little too much of the research on their rig, thinking that's enough and not putting in enough miles.  

I forget where this was said and who had said this - but paraphrasing: at the BBQ the day before the race, I think we'll all get a good idea who's going to do what in this grand experiment The look on people's faces: fear, excitement, confusion, etc will speak volumes. I for one cannot wait to see everyone's lack of fear and over-abundance of excitement, as we all get confused at how the SPOTs work

But who knows until June - it may be that TD turns into everyone wanting to climb Everest, without first climbing something a little more introductory.

[Yvon Chouinard]

Same goes for people who haven't saved enough money and plan to "dirt bag" the race.  Leaving lousy tips in restaurants or bike shops hurts everybody else in the race (and future races) that is counting on those services.   If you are too weak, or unaware of the camping etiquette, that requires you to pack in and pack out your trash - again it is a black eye for the event.

Ouch! "Dirtbag" should only be used as a term of endearment and not as an pejorative. A true dirtbag makes it work, regardless of standing of personal income. Being a dirtbag means making due with what you have and perhaps making it up as you go along. That doesn't mean ripping up of the fine server at a restaurant, but it may mean forgoing a hot, prepared meal for something a little more economical, when the situations allows. A true dirtbag does not get caught up with the fanciest this or flashiest that, knowing well-enough that the most important thing is the CPU (yer brain), the engine (yer legs) and your heart (yer heart). Being a dirtbag means making intelligent, educated decisions, it means doing it yourself, or making it yourself. Sometimes this means inventing and reinventing and sometimes the methods are insanity and sometimes insanity works. It certainly means, in this "race", learnin' to sew, learnin' to wrench and learning to live without before the race to be able *to* race. That may mean that there's no home to go to, after the race. The true dirtbag accepts this as a part of life and would have it no other way.

Dirtbags to look up to: Yvon Chouinard, who didn't climb Fitz Roy by laying seige to it with an expedition army, nor by drilling bolts throughout the face, but rather by reinventing mountaineering tools, who became so successful at his business, he now helps vast parts of Patagonia become National Parks. Emil Zátopek, whose training regime while in the army was absolutely crazy, but incredibly effective. Göran Kropp, who rode his freakin' bicycle to Mt. Everest, *climbed* it, solo, without oxygen or sherpas, while *fifteen* perished that same year, many of them paying guides (who were among those who perished) 10's of thousands of dollars to be pushed/pulled by sherpas to the top.

I think someone who abuses the ethos of the Tour Divide because of lack of planning would be called something a little more harsher, than, "dirtbag" - just, "lousy" would suffice. Dirtbags are the heart and soul of Tour Divide(s). I 100% identify as being a dirtbag, but in no way, shape or form would I do any of the things you list. Yvon (and company) are my copilots!

Sorry to take such offense (and so much space), but I don't want people getting the wrong idea when I purposely and repeatedly use this phrase!

Heh, speaking of, uh,  "soft" records, has the route been officially yo-yo raced? My body hurts just thinking about it. The Continental Divide Trail has been yo-yo hiked:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/continental_divide_trail_seven_myths.html

So it's not completely out of the realm of possibility

do you think a 32 degree down bag will be good along the divide? if not i gotta purchase a new one. thanks!

I think around 25 is what's recommended - the 20 degrees bag I have is a good 3 season Colorado rating -  but the rating system on bags is somewhat subjective. Is it a good, light bag that stuffs well? If so, think about augmenting the rating with a liner, they usually give you +8 - +10 degrees more and keep your bag a little cleaner. WAY easier to wash/dry the liner than the entire bag, which I'd doubt you'd want to do en route, anyways. Also, what's your comfort level when it comes to cold?

that blog post is a bit dated, but Brendan still makes and sells them.

Has anyone been able to get in touch with them? I emailed a few days ago, and haven't gotten a reply. Hopefully, they're out riding!

Here, I will extrapolate:

You know, sometimes it's incredibly fun and ultimately worthwhile to go all Kerouac and just take on an adventure, with little preparation and flag down the first car that is going the direction you've coin-flipped chosen just the minute before, with no idea what you'll find, see, experience - just blown that horn, man! You won't exactly where you'll even end up! Ultimately, you're life will have changed and your personality, shifted.

I'm not sure if the Tour Divide is like that. It *can* be like that (and if memory serves me, it has!), but I'd say that if you're serious on racing the thing, whatever that means, it's going to be a whole hell of a lot more FUN if you are Boy-Scout prepared. People are putting in months of prep for this, with exceptional commitment in time and money. I think as the Tour Divide site says, don't make this challenge your first foray into ultra endurance events. I can tell you there's enough little emergencies that happen in a simple rambling tour through the French countryside - you don't want to be borderline hypothermic, with a broken something-or-other in the middle of nothin' but rednecks. Well, I dunno, with time comes humility and hilarity.

Back in being serious: I would consider writing a draft of your own Letter of Intent and then see if that Intent is truly honest.

Also remember the challenge can be done any time you want as the ITT! And I do believe it'll be around in some way/shape/form next year to await you and others.

But whatever you chose, I send good luck your way. Whatever I do for my own personal training, I never think it's enough. Never-ever.

DO IT!

But with much fewer hours than you, I'll try to make up with intensity, especially on days where I just have an hour or even less. Oddly enough, the only time I got really sore (not just tired) was from a 20 min day. Warm up/cool down and 6x 30 secs full out intervals, that was it, yet 2 days of sore quads. So my legs found those 3 minutes harder than a 200 mile ride, funny how narrow training specificity can be. Hopefully improves some relevant fitness even though there is not much use for sprints in TD.

Indeed! Your training differs very much in mine, which I think is fine. Even though my, "long" rides are between 12 and 16 hours, I have yet to break through 200 miles. The longest ride so far has been 170 miles, on a road bike and I believe that took >13 hours, not including a 2 hour break before the last 3-4 hours. You are riding much more intensely than I am and I think the idea of maybe being more interested in time spend, or time spend over distance would be a better indicator then just purely distance.

Although, a good chunk of my longer rides are in the mountains. For example, the 136 miler yesterday had a total of almost 20,000 feet of elevation gain. That could be why it took 10 1/2 to finish! (also this is not a typical ride - it was a def. a Personal Challenge Day)

But, other than the Merckx-ian, "Ride Lots" advice, intensity is a good idea. One of the ways, as you've shown, to ride far in a realistic way is to ride it fast. Unless you're beginning from no base, you're going to see more results by starting fast and going longer than the reverse in terms of speed and distance. Or, that's the theory!

I'm personally playing with the idea that: I'm starting out as a slow-poke and there's only a few things I can work at with the amount of time I've got until the start, so I've chosen climbing as the vector that will give the best payback. Helps that it's also my favorite thing to do on a bike. Some people are going to be way faster at me at just blowing through things like the Great Basin and that's cool. I'm personally a Billy Goat.

Back to intensity and saving time and even weight training: I also do think it's a good idea to do lifts that aren't bike-specific. There's the theory that if you don't mix it up, your muscles get used to the type of training you do and they don't respond well to your training - you don't make gains and you're wasting your time. That may well be. I'm nothing but a enthusiast when it comes to having my body perform crazy things, so I won't contest that part, but also think about injury-prevention. What has side-lined me in the past has been IT Band Syndrome, which I was giving funky exercises to do, to help regain some muscle balance. 

Along with injury prevention, also think about getting your core in shape, since the hours on the bike are so long, if you grow uncomfortable with your position, you're not going to want to ride. If those small core muscles get fatigued, your body will call upon ever larger muscle groups to keep going, until you're just a mess of fatigued muscles on a bike. I can go through details of what I do, if you want. I think some technical single tracking could help on this, as well Also think about things you can't control: what if you get horrible saddle sores and you have to ride the majority of the day without sitting? Are you able to survive a day like that? Remember there's potentially parts that of the route that will be too-muddy to ride and almost too muddy to push, unless you want your drivetrain destroyed. Got the endurance to carry that machine for a few short (or long?) stretches? All sorts of unknowns that if you aren't prepared can sap up time. The time adds up.

And if you really want to fatigue your muscles in a relatively short amount of time, as I said before: plyometrics! But DO NOT DO THEM, if you have not trained with weights before. < 2 months before the Tour Divide is not a time to start that path. Even being used to them myself, I'll feel <20 minutes of plyometric work 3 days afterward. No Joke - if you have no readied yourself, you can terribly injure yourself doing them. But boy are they incredible!

Oh, don't everyone forget there's that "roughin' it" part of the race. Get out there and do some sub-24s, over-nighters and long weekend rides. "Shake Down" is not what you want to do - you gotta get that gear, "Quake-downed". April is going to be a phase for me where I'm leaving the road bike for the randonneur rides only and being on the MTB as much as possible. In my sub-24's/overnighters, I'm just going to bring some choices of gear that I think may work and try as many possibilities of things I already have, to see what works. That just means and extra backpack of Stuff, but I'm curious to what works the best for bivvy sleeping. I'm really curious on perhaps a tarp setup and protecting my whole head from cold - may try a thin balaclava. My current bivvy isn't too fun to zip up completely.

Delta? Try $300 to Europe. Each way. Cripes.

For travel expenses, it does pay to do your homework, as different airlines will charge different prices.

There's also going to be the problem of getting home. Basically, if you're flying with your bike, you'll need to box it back up to take it back on the plane. This can be as easy as finding a very friendly bike shop to lend you another bike. If you're unsure of what type of resources could be available to you, you may want to try this: Get a bike box from your LBS, as well as a foldable, soft bike bag and pack the soft bike bag in the box, with the bike. Then, uh, hide the bike bag - works in a few places, not so well in others.

If you have that UPS hookup, that could be an interesting option to just send it to another distribution center - double check that they allow that, though.

I don't know if the, "Art Supplies" idea is going to work. I think the airlines are more concerned about the dimensions and the weight of what you're trying to fly with - it would be interesting to see how this effects the plane's efficiency in flying and if this has something to do with charging an arm and a leg.

Another idea is to just break your bike into multiple boxes. Most likely, you'll have to pay for extra baggage still (airlines are charging for everything these days), but it won't be as exorbitant as if you had a huge bike box with you.

Another dirt-bag technique is this: if you can't NOT fly with a huge bike box, make sure to stuff as much as possible in it, so it's just the box and a carry on.   I've run into problems with destroying ProLite sleeping pads this way, so be careful, but sometimes the rest of your gear can make good cushioning as well.

These picks are mostly for touring, but:

++Shimano Dura Ace 9 speed barcons
Surly's Crosscheck Frame has been incredible to me, so many countries its past through!
Sugino's Double Cranks - I think I have the XD 650? Workhorse.
Velo Orange's Grand Cru bottom brackets have been the best Square Taper BB I've ever used. Super simple to set up.
The boat anchor of a Deore 9speed rear derailer I use has never, ever let me down, same with the Tiagra front derailer.

Some other picks would be Surly's DingleCog - love that thing.

Some hall of shamers would be Crank Bro's pedals - Somehow they got onto all my bike and would break all the time. I'm interested in seeing if any of their new designs are better than their old (and willing, sigh, to invest some money in purchasing a pair again) and maybe I should buy a little higher end on their components, but it's been less than a happy marriage for me.

I'm researching snow shoes.

Heh, snowshoes may be a bit much but something like microspikes, or even the coiled springs that attached to the soles of your foot with a flexible rubber and a strap may be good enough to help get some traction on some ice/snow passes - would be cleat-compatible, too. Well under a pound of extra baggage and you could send them home after the last major pass w/snow or something.

Was hoping to good view from a high point in Breck yesterday but, uh,



Ran into a snow shower. South Park looks pretty much dry, but there's enough snow in Breck around 11,000 feet to post hole up to my neck in the drifts.

Nice tarp idea with using your wheel to get some elevation in the tarp to put things under, uh like yourself! How's bivvy sleeping? I've gotten "lost" in the REI bivvy attempting to wake up, before

Very impressive, and 1200 miles this month will get your legs into shape! Otherwise you'll have to refund donations if you don't make it that far!

Heh, indeed. My not-so-secret plan is to give all the money to the non-profit org, if I fail, but something tells me I'll make it with a little bit of padding. Saying that, I'm 6 days in, with only 146 miles, but those miles are all from the same day!

That adds up to what? 20-25 hours a week (including off the bike training)?

It was around 39 hours this week. That is quite a bit and it's becoming a game of prioritizing my time and not being wasteful. In fact, this whole project has been an exercise in being mindfulness, working on economizing everything and being very frugal with my resources. Don't forget to train the mind. I'm lucky to have a very flexible work situation and a very understanding ladyfriend.

From what I'm starting to feel, the amount of training one does for this type of thing is really going to vary wildly and there's def. smarter ways to train than others. I don't know if 40 hours a week is really needed, but these hours include easy days and high intensity days.