All I could think was what if Apple's not there, out of stuff, busy saving somebody else's ass, whatever.  I wouldn't assume he was even there.

Man, Jay held off some bad dudes in the ITI, regardless of records or conditions.  That would be my vote.

I agree with Kurt on gloves.  I can't stand the tips of my fingers pushing on the end of the gloves, and I find a lot of gloves have pressure points on the back of my hands near my knuckles also.  That can't help.  I've gone to only wearing gloves when it's cold.  My setup is Ergons with 3mm thick neoprene pads that I tape to the grips with athletic tape.  I put several layers of neoprene on for long stuff like the CT or the ITI.

So new bike, old seat pack, rear wheel rubs on seat pack at about 3/4 point of the travel.  Never had this problem on my rigid Strong.  Thinking that A. I don't want to ruin my seat pack and B. I don't want to ride my old bike for 4 days fully loaded on the Colorado Trail.  I think a piece of plastic and some gorilla tape would do the trick.  Or put about 200 psi in the rear shock.

Any thoughts?

Fairly evil. The only other saddle I have is a Selle Anatomica, which I love, but it's just not the right saddle for this route - it's far too wide to be comfortable when screaming downhill

Really?  I would never, ever ride the CTR again on any other saddle.  The ability to sit down - and I mean full weight on the seat without hesitation or doing the scoootch around looking for a non bruised part of my ass -  and take weight off the legs, feet, and hands is super important to me.  

HaHa ... No need to ride Sargents Mesa twice in less than 30 days huh?

Did you just put "ride" and "Sargents Mesa" in the same sentence?

Yeah - I'm gonna delete that post.  Not trying to start a fight.  If it's legal, then he SHOULD do it.  They probably want the business and would like to know if someone is showing up late.

Tim

The problem is riding on interstate is illegal.

I-25 is legal from Cheyenne to just north of Fort Collins.  It's the only alternative until the frontage road starts.

Scott Thigpens call in from Helena mentioned riding through hail. That's got to be painful

When I was in college I played on the hockey team and we used to have, umm, get togethers with the rugby team.  So one time it started hailing HARD and the next thing I knew the there was a pile of clothes on the floor and the whole rugby team was out in the street doing sprints in the hail, naked.  As in no undies.  The hockey team stayed inside, by the keg, with the girls, watching in awe.

It looked painful.

Spots can be twitchy based on where you mount or carry them.  My wife almost drove to the start of the CTR a few years ago because mine showed no movement for about 6 hours.  I think it was totally user error.

I *try* to apply bag balm with the hand that I don't eat with.  But it gets confusing after a couple days...

Awww, so sweet

This can't be helping your sales...

I'm surprised that there is not much talk about Specialized tires.

That's because specialized is the devil...

I hope they don't sue me for saying that.

By the time I got to hwy 114 I was hoping someone would steal my bike...

When I toured it last year my wife and I just strapped helmets, backpacks, and gear straps through the wheels and frames and the closest fence made it into a junk show.  But that works best with 2 or more bikes and packs.  We never left them unguarded in any of the populated areas.  Again - easier with 2 people.

I think a bike could disappear fast in BV, Copper, Leadville.  Not exactly sleepy little mountain towns anymore.

Sargents may be better Northbound. I can't say for sure though. Either direction, there will definitely be some HAB involved. Hopefully these guys will be hard at work this year continuing to dissolve the topsoil . Sargents mesa with Bad company

I was hoping for a happier ending.  Redneck over the bars into a tree without a helmet at about 35.  Oh well.

Isn't Sargents Mesa downhill both ways?

Or getting hit by a car on 285 during the race.  For SURE the most dangerous part of the whole thing.

For sale:

Fat Wheels.
Hadley Hubs.
Speedway 70mm rims.

2 rides, about 15 miles total, took em off, put on clownshoes.

$750.

Real food is good.  I am partial to leftover pizza and chocolate milk on long rides.  I also try to eat anything I find on the trail that people have dropped.  I figure it will toughen up the gut and it grosses my wife out.

Mine doesn't, but its an old bag.  I have a scalpel 29 and there is too much frame and stem up there for me to mount it very cleanly.  I use a mtn feed bag now instead.