Anyone know what bike Nate Ginzton is riding?  I noticed that at least 3 of the lead 4 bikes are Ti.  Being a big Ti fan myself (Ti Fargo) it is interesting to see such a strong showing after the recent dominance of Cutthroats.

Dominating in finishing, podiumming or starting ?
I'm a ti fan too !

In 2016 Sofiane rode until he fell off (literally). We found him asleep on the track in the Basin at 10am, lying next to his bike....He's gained a heap of experience since then, so I'd say he's got a plan.

Mike Hall slept very little at the start in 16, then had a good kip at High Country lodge on night 4, maybe Sof has that in mind?

Super impressed with Steve H's ride/ strategy so far. Heaps of sleep, fastest moving speed of the front runners. Will he catch Josh Ibbett today?

Hey Brian, where do we see how much sleep time they are getting? I know I used to be able to find it, but I have forgotten what button to click in the tracker! Hope your foot is healing up well.

Does anyone know if the reliability issues with the first generation thru-axle SP hubs have been sorted in later models?

I think this is Rob Davidsons first TD WITHOUT a Rohloff, and he is currently in 3rd....

I am pretty sure they are still failing in watery conditions, and there is no way you want to be off-roading with something with a cut-off beam. Get an exposure or k-lite or go with batteries.

If I wasn't in a big hurry, I would be looking at this.
https://www.sinewavecycles.com/collections/lighting/products/sinewave-cycles-beacon

... or I woud drop Klite Kerry a line and see if he has anything new in the wings, he's always got something on the go.

This is what I started with, but the chinese made 18650 charger/holders are not that robust. On the other hand, neither are any of the power-banks I have heard of so far. They all fail after a while.

http://jeffsbike.blogspot.co.nz/2015/09/dynamo-shizzle-pt-2.html

Steve Halligan tore his derailer off. Di2 xt/r as well. What a bummer. Will be fun catching up when he eventually gets moving again.

Steve Halligan looks like he might have had a mechanical in the mud... stuck at mi 85 for over an hour. Shame as he is the fastest Kiwi on course and I'm picking him to break Ollie's time from 2012...

I hope its tracker and not a mechanical....
How long has he been using Di2 for Brian?
Seems like just another thing to fail to me : (

Here's a bit of a summary of Brian Alders ride. http://jeffsbike.blogspot.co.nz/2016/07/brian-alders-tour-divide-2016-debriefing.html
Also there is a bit on Bikepacking Mag with Chris Plesko's rig. http://bikepackersmagazine.com/readers-rig-chris-plesko-record-setting-singlespeed-ride/

Is Brian Alder the fastest 50+ racer to ever complete the Divide?  The guy was ripping up the course for a fellow north of 50 years.  Gives me hope for the next decade of life.

The best years are yet to come Josh ; ) Apparently the 50+ record was 18 days 8 hours. I am not sure what Brians time was in the end? Hes a meticulous dude tho. I profiled him here before the event. http://jeffsbike.blogspot.co.nz/2016/05/brians-tour-divide-q-a.html

I see Kiwi Brian Alder is currently in 5th place. Does anyone know if any of the other guys in front are over 50 as well?

  Seb had a slight cold that turned really nasty and Rob got attacked by a dog. He has some really bad looking wounds on his lower legs.

Wow, that is foul. Rob Brown has had to pull out. The bites from the dog attack got infected and he got a fever. Can you imagine the time and effort that's gone into this, and to be taken out by a mutt. He was cruising around 11th place with Brian Alder, also from NZ. Keep your eyes peeled, Brian said the mutt was " Was just before Wigwam Campground after a descent off Cabin Pass. Ran out of the outfitters".  Go Brian.

I hope I didn't miss posts on these topics but I am wondering if anyone knows about Seb Dunne or Rob Brown.  Looks like Rob may have gotten a ride into Helena this morning and Seb seems to be stuck at Holland Lake.  I hope Seb just has a spot issue and is still going.  He had such bad luck last year with his fork, I was hoping he would make it through without problems this year. 

Also loved seeing the pics of Hal Russell, he is one of my favorites and his call-ins are always so positive!  Josh's mom is a big fan, Josh jokes that she is rooting for Hal more than Josh. "Green Gloves Guy" looks like he is having a blast as well, does anyone know who he is? 

  Seb had a slight cold that turned really nasty and Rob got attacked by a dog. He has some really bad looking wounds on his lower legs.

Any chance we could get Mike Hall's ghost tracker from 2014 plotted on route?

So we could see how far off from record pace the leaders are.

I did some rough stats yesterday, before she got lost, and had Sarah at 418kms a day, compared to Jesse from last year at 377kms a day. Its early days tho, and I don't know if he started fast and got slower. These were very rough figures.

Its looking like the http://www.touraotearoa.nz/ may well be held again, as an event, its been so well received, possibly in 2018.

Check out a few blogs from this years event. I found it to be an amazing event.

http://jeffsbike.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/tour-aotearoa-2016-bikepacking-length.html
https://slate.adobe.com/cp/Fxmdr/
https://slate.adobe.com/cp/Nbagb/
http://jacobwroberts.blogspot.co.nz/

Cheers
Jeff

Actually, we have a form for this stuff on the Kiwi Brevet, an 1100km dirt brevet.
I've just noticed some real interesting stuff in there !

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zSt9SoHIgxvIW4vVdueXyXeyWYXv6sJkbXTOjSezbUM/edit#gid=0

I'd like to know if the man on the street can expect press fit BB failures like 2 of the top contenders had in this years TD.
Its putting me off using my carbon bike in preference to my 2.5 pound heavier steel one for next years 3000km TourAotearoa

Apologies for my nickname.
A friend from the US gave it to me many many years back before I realised what it meant or who else was using it : )

I agree, but mandatory rest breaks in effect automatically create a multi-stage event, even if the competitors start from different points each day.  Also, what would the parameters be?  Everyone stops from 10pm to 5 am?  Everyone rests for at least 6 consecutive hours in a 24 hour period?  Personally, I think the present "system", where racers monitor their own bodies and make appropriate decisions based on their own abilities is the best plan.

It's not that hard. They've been doing in NZ since 2010. And it will be done in 2016 for http://www.touraotearoa.nz ( length of NZ)  its just a different approach. Theyve never had a sprint finish either FYI. Just a bit different : )
The TD is already pretty inventive I reckon. You can do it from each end, or as an ITT. It's cool.

Multi stage sounds like hard work to me, from an organisational POV.

I proposed this a couple of years ago. My idea was to see if a couple of people wanted to try racing TD with the self imposed rule of having to make a 6 or 8 hour stop in every 24 hour period, say from noon to noon each day. I wanted to see if just a couple of people might like to try it. I got ripped a new one by Toby Gadd, who freaked out at the idea. He basically said that the only people who would want this are those not tough enough to do the real race. He and about two other guys were amazingly insulting about it. I have no idea why or how it challenged their manhood, but they sure got upset. It was a shock to me that a couple of people, mostly Toby, could be this rude over this idea.

Yes, it would change the character of the race. It would be safer and I believe allow people to ride faster when on the bike and perhaps make the race more tactical. You'd lose the sleep deprivation part, which can be compelling to watch. I believe it would make the race a lot more fun to do, but then I proposed the idea because I'm not a fan of the sleep deprivation part of ultra racing. I didn't see the harm in a small number of people trying it out.

That's a bit sad Bruce. Imagine if it was faster to have 5 hours down each night. Mind you I guess as others have said, its an option anyone can take. We just need a "big-hitter" to do it so we can compare!

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of all these guys and these races. I'm still pulling for Marshal to finally slay this demon and I've been glued to my PC as much as possible the last two weeks.

My comment was specific to Eszter's comments regarding sleep deprivation, the relatively small number of repeat racers and the sustainability of the events. There's a difference between racing and knowing you can come back next year lighter/faster/stronger/better geared to try to win your class and the current sleep dep-driven style of racing which has significant health and safety risks that other kinds of racing do not.

TL;DR: personal preference; I like the Kiwi model.

Plus, you don't need to take caffeine to keep going. To date I have never had to take caffeine in a Kiwi Brevet to finish in a reasonably competitive time, not that its a race : ) that worries me a bit, using stimulants to push yourself harder than you would otherwise be going.