 Show Posts
|
|
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 7
|
|
3
|
Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Tour Divide 2019 Race Discussion
|
on: July 12, 2019, 05:18:08 PM
|
|
Snagged these from Linda Guerrette’s FB feed. I woulda shared the actual post, but not sure exactly how to get that done. So here ya go.
I think a new “Legend” poster might be in order. (paging Mike Dion.)
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Tour Divide 2019 Preparation and Planning Thread
|
on: April 02, 2019, 07:21:51 PM
|
On the start date discussion. Another member here (Dp) and I are training partners. We kiddingly call our August ITT start, the "Smart Depart"
It really makes a lot of sense. I believe there could be enough energy to even have two start dates, 2nd Friday in June and 3rd Friday in August.
In 2014, Riding (walking) Whitefish divide and Red Meadow were an all day deal. In dry conditions it would be a few hour ride. Richmond Peak had just been dumped on the day prior. It had 24 inches of fresh snow, another half day up on that. I wore down prematurely due to conditions I frankly wasn't prepared for.
Being underground, I want my best chance possible. If August is it, thats when I'll line-up. Heck, If I could find ol' Crazy Larry, I'll bet he'd even lead me out to the trailhead.
I'm down with that. The GD is cool, but the "group vibe" lasts until about mid-morning on day one. After that, for the most part, you are on your own. The only real advantage of the GD (besides the long days) is if you get into trouble along the way, odds are someone is going to find you. That, and there's a whole community of dot-stalkers watching the peloton stretch into a line as it snakes its way down the Rockies. JayP posted years ago (after he set the ITT record back in... 2012?) that he favored the late August sobo start. If memory serves, it had to do with a) dry & warm up north, and b) dry & warm down south. No more snow, no more monsoons. Sounds good to me. At this point I just want to finish the darn thing. |
|
|
|
|
6
|
Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Tour Divide 2017 - race discussion thread
|
on: July 04, 2017, 06:59:09 PM
|
Thanks for doing the math, Dave! I hadn't done that yet. As a testament to how social media changes things, however, I think I've seen 400 calls before so times change. MTBCast is evolving and will probably take more of a backseat with social media becoming more the place to get far more timely information. I can only put calls up once I process them (edit, stitch a couple together if necessary, post) and often that is around my day job. I don't put out as many episodes as I used to so maybe that contributes to the slowdown but again, more timely info can be gleaned on FB is part of that. The only thing I see getting lost in this is that racers now target their status to friends and family. So there's less chance of people really getting excited about them and following them. I remember people really getting into other racers just from hearing their status and tracking them. So some of that will be lost as racers target their message on social media. In the end, it is what it is. Technology changes, times change. The only way I see making the race more organic is to put limitations on it. Tighter rules, etc as have been talked about. It may be too late for that, I don't know. FWIW, I post the call links on FB because that's where people are following. I just want to make the calls available to whoever wants to hear them.
Your work is definitely appreciated Joe! -dp |
|
|
|
|
7
|
Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Tour Divide 2017 - race discussion thread
|
on: July 04, 2017, 02:33:45 PM
|
|
So many thoughts.
Been following GDR/TD since John Billman's piece in Outside in 2008. FB groups, like dot stalking, are an unintended consequence. I get that. FB groups (and to some degree forums like this one) are not unlike the sports bar where you watch pro-ball with your buddies. It's not unnatural to want to play a game of flag football after watching the Superbowl. And maybe that's the issue: blokes at the pub would never make the cut in the NFL, so why do people in groups & forums think they have what it takes to challenge the GDMBR ultra-style?
There's no problem with regular folks touring the route: it's free and it's there and adventure is worthwhile for its own sake, so why not? But ultra-style ITT (non)racing? From what I've read thus far, that seems to be the crux. (IMO, FB attracts all kinds, including the wannabes, but I think there's more "damage" done by individuals pushing TD related content out than by FB Groups, especially if those groups are secret, in which case their content is not searchable and is not pushed out to the masses.)
Matt's probably right - most of us don't have what it takes to ultra-style it in the purest sense, for all kinds of reasons. Even after years of anticipation and preparation and training, I had no idea how hard it would be out there.
What to do? Organizers have several options. Here are just a few ideas (feel free to mashup your own):
Possibility 1) Organizers withdraw support, cut ties completely, both here on BP and on TL; take down the TD web page, the FB page, and whatever "official" online presence remains. Dot stalking vanishes (or moves to spotwalla). But remember people, without Matt & Scott, there is no confirmed route recon before the GD. That's a luxury we currently enjoy that we could probably learn to live without, but it would change the event in unpredictable ways. This year, how far would riders have gone before discovering that bridges were out downstream in the Flathead? What about fire re-routes? It's the organizers' relationships with Parks/USFS/BLM/etc. that allow the rest of us to have a "confirmed" route each year. But let's be honest - even if the Organizers disband entirely, riders will still show up in Banff on the 2nd Friday in June.
Possible future 2) Make it so that the GD is staggered - say, vets w/ finish start Friday, vets w/o finish start Saturday, Rookies start Sunday. Anybody with a projected finish time in excess of ## days (25? 28? 30?), show up some other time and challenge the course as an ITT - but not during GD. Gotta earn that. Different waves get different color dots on TL, so stalkers can tell the difference. ITTs could still challenge the course whenever they wanted, so that part really wouldn't change. GD or ITT, it remains an unregulated gentlemen's bet, entered into on one's honor.
Possible future 3) Make the GD a semi-official thing, where there's a registration fee (and a big fat waiver indemnifying the organizers of liability when you ride your bike off Richmond Peak), and this fee gets you a bike/kit suitability check (not unlike what you'd have to submit to at Arrowhead or ITI to prove that at least your gear is up to snuff), Spot registration for TL, and a TD number plate that you actually have to show up in Banff to pick up. Make the GD for registered racers only; seed them in waves as outlined previously; limit the total number of GD racers so that USFS "group event" rules are upheld. Once the gun goes off (figuratively speaking anyway - the GD is in Canada after all), Organizers resume their regularly scheduled TD monitoring activities.
Future 4) Do nothing. Organizers maintain status quo, and settle in for a life playing FB whak-a-mole.
I'm sure there are other possibilities. I'm not suggesting this is an easy nut to crack, but telling people they can't go to the pub to watch the game and chew the fat with their buddies... I just don't think that's the answer. The social element of this "thing" is not going to go away. TD is such a bizarre obsession - how many people in your immediate sphere "get" what you're into or why you love it? Sometimes it's just good to know you're not alone.
Unless you're out on course. In that case, it's just you & the bears.
-dp
|
|
|
|
|
8
|
Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Tour Divide 2017 - race discussion thread
|
on: June 23, 2017, 09:36:37 PM
|
|
Okay, something's up - or is it just my computer. It's June 23, 9:30-ish here in AZ, which means 10:30-ish on the route, and none of the top five have moved in the past 90-plus minutes. They all seem to be stuck as of an hour and a half ago. Is anybody else seeing this?
|
|
|
|
|
18
|
Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Tour Divide 2016 - race discussion thread
|
on: June 12, 2016, 06:06:55 PM
|
|
Hey there! This is David Phillips's wife, I'm seeing he hasn't "pinged" for about 50 minutes and I'm getting a little worried. He is about 45-40 miles north of the Canadian/US border, any advice?
Never mind...just pinged. Oh Lord Keep everyone SAFE! Damn, wives have to worry! But it's all awesome.
|
|
|
|
|
