I'm in for the 300

I'm in. Astoria to Yorktown. It will be awesome.

Re: passports. I plan to bring my real passport then mail it back home in Eureka, along with the Canada map. Dropping weight  I have a pre-stamped mailer ready to go since Eureka travel will hopefully be over the weekend.

Flyboy, et al,

I had trouble downloading the detailed file to my Garmin eTrex 30. It only accepted the first 700 miles or so. Then I downloaded the 10,000 point file without trouble. All 2648.7 miles, there for the riding.

Flyboy, I have the eTrex 30 and the North America chip and yes the Tour Divide gps track works fine on that.

Bear Spray - where to carry?

Hi,

I'm looking at racing in 2016, and I'm going to carry bear spray. (As they say, "you pack your fears", and I'm scared of bears.)

Can someone with experience of riding with bear spray please give me a heads up of the best locations to carry? In a handlebar bag? On a harness?

Cheers,

Dave



I had mine strapped onto my handle bar, presuming I would have easy access. On the way down from Richmond Peak apparently the safety latch came off and when I hit a bump, it sprayed directly into my face. As I was writhing on the ground in excruciating pain, the fellow who had been riding with me told me to HTFU. He said it would make a good story some day. After about an hour I was able to slowly roll down into Sealey Lake to get cleaned up at the gas station. Had to buy new gloves too. It was all over me.

I won't be bringing bear spray the next time. I'll just blow my whistle. Bears hate whistles.

Take this with a grain of salt because it's from a race non-completer. But I must say that the new route from Basin to Butte is very nice. The scenery is gorgeous. The hill climbing up to the continental divide crossing is pretty gradual. And the downhill on the other side is fun. It beats riding on the interstate.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iyXrTvW-9Ev5PBdRTN2N41C_QHs1clo-ZkFdDBZfja0/pubhtml#

Weights... I am at 42 lbs. After looking at posts, pics and websites about all the snow this year, and since I plan on camping a lot, I am unwilling to go with less clothes and sleeping/camping gear. If I don't sleep well, I don't ride well. Hope to ditch some cold weather stuff after getting through Montana. But, it is snowing right now as I write this in Silverton CO, and I took note of the Boreas Pass pic from the Long Ranger. At least I can guarantee that New Mexico will be warm!

cobbnat, I'm with you. It could be pretty cold out there. My loaded rig weighs 41 pounds. I hope to get rid of some warm stuff down south but maybe not until after Boreas Pass.

I see several discussions here re: GPS devices. For those of us without dyno hubs, what do you folks think: Garmin 800 / 810 which needs recharging, or Garmin e-Trex / Oregon, etc, which has replaceable batteries?

For those of you who use the non-cycling specific Garmin GPS, such as the Oregon or the E-trex, how do you attach it to the handlebars? The 800 comes with a handlebar mount but I don't see that with the others. Please advise.

jnos, I agree with james-o. Though I have not yet raced the Tour Divide, I have bikepacked along it. The ACA maps and cues are very good. You can purchase the cues in narrative form on-line for download from the ACA, then format them any way you like. Use a GPS for backup and you're good to go.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/cyclosource-store/route-maps/downloadable-route-maps/great-divide-narratives/

Hi, I've been lurking on this site, hoping to race the TD next year. Where is the list of 2013 participants? All I see on the TD website is information from a couple of years ago. Thanks and good luck to all of you.