Nice! Thanks! Wow!

Does anyone know what happened with the tricycle dude?
Did he complete the course?

I just figured that was a joke. Never saw a trike in any of the photos.

I would prefer shorter cutoffs for the females, aber the males should make their cutoffs around knee length.

Daisy and Biff?

Could someone send me a link showing exactly where this climb is located? I'll use Google Earth to figure out altitude of start/finish and total distance. This story will be submitted for V5 of Cordillera.

I don't know how these "minimalist" types do it.  One liter of water wouldn't get me from La Manga to the Las Lagunitas camp ground.  Seriously. I've done that ride and one liter won't do me.  No way....  And he made it to vallecitos?  Ugh!  Good gawd.

"Impressive" doesn't begin to cover it.

Since I just spent 18 hours driving him back home, I learned more to the story. He was riding with Chris Culos at the time. I also picked up Chris and Peter Maindonald at the border and took them to Las Cruces to rent a car the next day. Chris started up the hill and was wondering what Peter was up to because Peter had stopped at the bottom. Peter was looking at the map and noticed that a town was up ahead so he decided to dump all his Gatorade and planned on refilling at the town (sorry - no map in front of me). He stretched, put some rockin' tunes on his phone, started the stopwatch, and took off. Chris said it sounded like a car coming up from behind with all the noise he was making. Peter was very pleased with his time. After La Manga, when he got to where he'd turn off route to get water he decided it was too far out of the way so he never had a chance to get more water.

I will be coming from Florida to meet a TD racer (Michael Mead) and wondering what the closest city to fly into is with a major airport?  Can anyone help?

Depends on what you consider a major airport. El Paso and Tucson aren't too far from here. There is a small airport in Deming.

I have arrived in Deming with an 8-passenger SUV that will have four people and two bikes on a cheesy 4-bike rack. I have room in case someone needs a ride north on I-25 tomorrow. We're staying at La Quinta and have the rear window marked TDR. The SUV is next to two Texas cars, one with a bike rack. FYI, owners of the black SUV, your front passenger window is open!

This is unrelated, but some may find it amusing....

I was over half way up La Manga today – labored breathing, but not gasping, when some kind of flying insect flew up my right nostril.  I was in mid-inhale, so he went way up there somewhere and then went spread eagle in an effort to not be consumed.
 
I exhaled as hard as I could and the thing wouldn’t budge.  He had a death grip on something up in my nasal cavity.  I erupted into a fit of uncontrollable sneezing – one right after the other – as I tried to blow him out.  He just wouldn’t budge at all.  I had to stop and unclip, but the fit of raging and uncontrollable sneezing made it very hard.  On one massive inhale in preparation for a big sneeze I was finally able to snork him down.  I wanted to spit him out, but I just wasn’t in full control of the insides of my head at that point and I ended up swallowing him.
 
I just stood there for a minute – eyes watering, nose running, now gasping, hoping I wouldn't vomit....  Ugh!

Great story for your grandkids!

Peter D. Haile reports a blindingly fast time of 32:56.  

He said he dumped half his water, ate a light meal, eliminated all extraneous thoughts, and pushed very hard to try to win the challenge. His Facebook page says he paid dearly for it because he ended up riding the next 70 miles on one liter of water and a granola bar. He's traveling light anyway and doesn't carry much food, no tent, minimal extra clothing, no spare parts, rigid fork/frame, etc.

Antelope Wells is about 65 miles south of I-10 and the exit is pretty well marked.

Thank you for your description of the port. I'll make sure the gas tank and water jugs are full before making that last run to the border. We'll have fruit and vegetables and iced drinks in the car. I shall assume at this point that all cyclists already have planned for someone to pick them up and I don't need to bring the big SUV.

Getting down to the end here. I'll be picking up two riders and bikes on Friday and I have no idea what to expect. The satellite view of the border crossing doesn't show much of a place to pull off to the side of the road to wait. Antelope Wells seems to refer to a set of water wells to be used by antelopes. What should I expect?

David, As a suggestion for your earlier post. You can try Ridewithgps.com. It's very handy plotting routes and getting an overview of elevations/gradients etc.

Good idea! I have a ridewithgps account that I haven't used in a long time.

Ralph Yukon is using the new ultralight camelbak insulated carbon 1 gallon handlebar bottles....where do you get those? He must be sponsored

Ralph Yukon? I thought his name was Post Office! (Look at the photo to get the joke)

How does one click two separate spots on the route that a rider has passed today and get the mileage between the spots? I could add up 400 10-minute estimates but there might be an easier way.

I had 2 stay last night, Ron and Peter.

Peter stayed for almost 24 hours trying to get over the norovirus. I guess it worked because he's been on his way since 10am.

New TDR signs - good or bad idea?

Don't know if I have the ability to follow through with this idea but I'll put it out there anyway. The company that I work for has a very nice large automated laser cutter. We usually work with normal steel but use stainless steel for 5-10% of the projects. They also don't mind if employees have small projects that can fit into the scrap sections of a large cutting project. The steel sheets are around 8 feet wide by 16 feet long. A sheet can weigh several thousand pounds depending on thickness. The operator just keeps a little library on the side (Solidworks) and inserts designs as space becomes available on a sheet. One guy made signs for a local church camp. I was thinking about the occasional wrong turn plus considering that the basic TDR is likely to continue for many years like the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Trail, etc. I could make signs out of sheet stainless steel and send them out to people who live along the route for installation. I could personally handle putting up signs in most of Wyoming in a long weekend starting at the turn on Togwotee Pass. The signs wouldn't mark every single turn - just the ones that are easily missed. All signs would be the same and could be Any design if someone wants to work something up. Maybe it would be TDR in 8 inch high letters. I'd have our friend in Cora, WY put one on his gate to indicate that it was a welcome place to camp.

This company has given my son a few bucks this year towards getting ready for the TDR so Management is already aware of it. So many people are following his progress here that I should take advantage of the TDR publicity and present the idea when he arrives back in town.

Good idea? Does it rub people, purists, the wrong way?

I was so inspired by her ride that I went out for the first time in several years and raced our local short track series last night (and got my butt kicked by a handful of skinny college girls too) because her doing the TD means I can't use being 44 as an excuse anymore.

because a 20 minute short track race is exactly like the TD... bahaha 

I've been inspired as well and did a local road time trial race last Wednesday. I came in last, of course, but I was faster than anyone who didn't do it!

Another year where I hope it makes everyone think that June is not necessarily the best time to do the route???

Grand Depart, Grand Defart whatever...go and ride when YOU think it is best.

If I were to compare my 2 June departures vs my 2 Fall departures both Fall departures were much more enjoyable. Not saying they were perfect but I can attest to less rain, snow and heat.

I really encourage people to think about this to help spread the love of TD riders all season long. Riding the TD has a season, not a particular date.

I'd hate to be caught in a blizzard on a bike! You'd have to watch the weather more carefully in the fall because of the chance of big snowstorms that come through the TDR area. At least in June you can almost rule out snowstorms. Bad weather is usually just cold freezing drizzly irritating rain and wind and lightning and hail and hungry bears.

It's OK for him as he wouldn't be breaking any laws, but it would be horrible for the racers, since they would have to refuse his help or risk relegation.  Please do not put the riders in that position!

EDIT:  Since he lives on the route, he is certainly free to pick and choose which riders he comes out to the road and cheers for - most riders do appreciate that.

I've investigated a little more. I think his land borders the route but his house is too far back to be useful. I will suggest that next year he puts up a sign and possibly maintain a water source to tell TDR riders that they are welcome to camp on his land. He said he was herding cows down the road and they split around a TDR rider in a tent who was very worried that his bike was going to get trampled.

There are no rules about borrowing a bike, however, it it is against the rules to fish for help via a forum. No broadcasting for help via MTB cast for BP.net. Sorry to be a party pooper but this disadvantages a pure ITTer riding the route without the profile of a grand depart rider. Help along the way is acceptable from bystanders only. Bystander is defined as a person who happens to witness a problem simply because they live along or are recreating along the route.

Along that same line of thought, we have a friend who lives in Cora, WY right along the route. He didn't know about the race until it was too late to help. However, I've given some thought to developing him into being a Trail Angel for riders in the future. I shall assume that is OK. But - here's the question for the TDR 2013 group - If he doesn't want to help everyone but instead wants to pick and choose, is that OK since he is right next to the road?