not much for food for awhile after Helena. basin is ok if they're open. otherwise wise river.
he doesn't sleep,  must be he doesn't eat much either
is lava mountain sill a thing?

Tom Anderson here in Eureka. I'm scratching from the race.

i would urge you to GET BACK OUT THERE!
take a day and regroup. you've put so much effort to even get here. another shot may never happen-believe me.
you're likely over the worst stretch. nothing lasts forever out there. there's a new form of misery every day!
DONT SCRATCH!
finishing is priceless.
you can do this!

Even when he goes off course he goes far.
i usually went off course on long downhills with long grinds back up.  rarely uphill.

Anybody else out there for anti-planning? Winging it?

I like doing things cold. I find it more challenging and interesting to tackle events without detailed plans.  In an event like the TD its so hard to know what you will encounter, when, where etc seems to me you're better off having a full toolkit and just dealing with stuff as it pops up. I had my GPS track but rarely knew exactly where I was or how far it was to the next place or even what was coming next beyond my daily map study and rough mileage goals. Yeah I went hungry, slept in some crappy places and suffered unnecessarily.  But I absolutely love it this way! You can only ever do it cold one time.  A true adventure and an exploration in discovery. A true test of your abilities to deal with unknowns and make decisions on the fly. Why wreck it with detailed plans? 

My preparation began years before the GD.
My planning ended when I checked in to the Youth Hostel in Banff.

Less is more!!

(Unfortunately I had to resume planning upon arriving in AW.)

The Toby Gadd threads should be required reading before any TD attempt. I still enjoy reading those.
The early TD pioneers set a high bar. It has slipped.
And speaking of records, didn't John Stamstead do it in like 20 days with only cue sheets and maps? Beat that one!
Would love to see Lael win it. She's as close to Mike Hall as they come.

Thanks for posting. I love reading through the start list and seeing where everyone is from and what their goals are. Such a wide variety! Lots of international riders-as always. Hats off to them. Major effort to get here and compete. Most of them do well too. A few familiar names: Hal Russel at age 70!! Marty Johnson at 64.  And past winner Josh Kato -with no time goal, right. And on the women's side TD cheerleader Bonnie Gagnon at 29 days-good luck Bonnie! Alexandra Houchin at 17 days-a serious goal. For the men 23yr old Dylan Gonda is shooting for 16 days which is the lowest listed. These two are veterans so they know what they signed up for.
Mother nature bats last so goals are goals. Thinking this could go down as an epic year given the heavy winter over basically the entire route. Cant wait for the GD!

I met Dave at the Y on Banff in 2010 - absolutely incredible guy.  Just to clarify, though, the report I recall is that Dave was going downhill at a good clip and swerved around a puddle.  The truck had seen him and was stopped when he hit it.

“What happened was they were on a narrow mountain dirt road, and he was riding in the opposite lane and collided with the side of a pickup that was coming in the opposite direction on a curve.” … [Police] determined Blumenthal was riding in the opposite lane based on where the bicycle, Blumenthal and the truck came to rest.

only witness was the driver....

Don't forget Dave Blumenthal killed by a truck in 2010. The only TD causality-so far. Although Josh Kato had a narrow escape last year with a truck that apparently targeted him. It messed his knee up which seems to be still bothering him. Sad. Everyone is scared of bears. Should be scared of vehicles and kitted out accordingly-bright colors, reflective patches/strips and blinky lights. America is a deadly place for cyclists and will most likely remain so-even in the back country. Being seen is job 1.

Long live the Forum! I too have been trying to put my finger on just why I prefer race coverage on the Forum vs Facebook but can't come up with any one thing. I do notice that FB seems to have been hijacked by a just a couple personalities and when following the comments there I'm not sure if its the Tour Divide or the Special Olympics!  The comments here on the Forum seem much more insightful, relevant and informative.  But maybe that's just me. God knows I spend to much time on FB though....

Back to the race...What a great year this is turning out to be! A little bit of everything-bad weather, reroutes, broken bikes, strange ailments and with maybe some forest fires yet in the Carson? Epic year!

For the ladies also watch Marketa Peggy Marvanova . Peggy for short. I rode with her for the first couple days in 2015 before she dropped me like a rock. I think she did 21 or 22 days in 2015. She is a strong rider.

My 2 cents:

Tent vs. Bivy: Tent hands down. Being able to get a good night’s sleep anywhere under any conditions? Priceless. I used a Tarp Tent and loved it. No condensation issues at all. Roomy and bug proof too. Lots of amazing places to camp out there. And some equally horrible ones….My sleep setup is the one luxury I would not skimp on.

Tires: I used a Seguaro TNT 29 x 2.0 in the rear and an ICON EXO 29 x 2.2 up front both with Stan’s Sealant. Both tires went the distance. Had only one flat due to operator error-front pressure too low for high speed encounter with a large rock-of which there are legion. Blew the bead, crashed, bled. Put in a tube at that point and never touched it again. I rarely had to even add any air. I would not hesitate to use the identical setup again. It’s incredibly rough country. Long, fast descents in the rocks are an everyday occasion. No place for light weight tires.

Bears: Over rated. Forget the bear spray. Do take a whistle and have a bell on your bike. Bears don’t want to be seen.  They are very shy creatures. They have poor eyesight, fair hearing and incredible noses. When you start seeing bear sign let them know where you are and what you are. Make noise, ring the bell, blow the whistle-sing even. Be especially alert at dawn and dusk and don’t do stupid stuff like cook in your tent and you will be fine. I found this technique to work well with all the cattle on the trail as well. Personally I think the cattle are way more dangerous than the bears. And outnumber them 10,000:1. Scariest encounter for me was in Montana with the biggest, blackest, meanest bull I have ever seen half in the road looking straight at me. He was not happy. I think I saw cattle everyday-mostly in the road-from Montana to Mexico. I did not see a bear although I think I saw just about everything else.

Drive train: 2x10 with a 34t granny and a 11/36 cassette worked perfect for me. I could ride just about everything and rarely had to walk-Lava Mountain trail notwithstanding. I saw lots of folks having troubles with the 1x setups. Especially in the heavy mud which derailed the chain in a heartbeat. Seems like the extra gears, better performance in adverse conditions and only a marginal increase in weight makes a 2x10 setup the better choice. I used a KMC chain that also went the distance.

GPS: Don’t even think about riding this thing with only maps and cues. I had trouble enough staying on route with GPS and maps! I actually considered not taking maps. This would have been an equally serious mistake. Tons of information on the maps as well as the route. I carried only half of the maps at a time and switched sets in Steamboat where I sent my self a drop package.

Dyno hub: I used a SP front dyno hub but not for lighting. I prefer a separate light with back up batteries for lighting. Dynos don’t work when you’re walking or stopped. Or going less than 6mph which is pretty frequent for me anyway. I used the hub to charge my stuff and run the GPS and for this it worked great. Although I don’t think I would take it again. You have to carry batteries anyway and there are plenty of places to plug in a charger. Best to keep it simple.

Assuming I can actually get to AW I plan on leaving as soon as possible. I dont see any advantage to waiting until a certain time to start. I would actually prefer to start at sunrise if possible.

For the NB folks: What are options for getting to AW from nearest airport? And what exactly is the nearest airport?
thanks.

Hi Everyone.
Wondering how many are planning a NB trip and what the start dates of people so inclined might be.
As for me I am still on the fence NB vs SB but would probably try for the same start date as the SB folks.