2011 Tour Divide

[wookieone]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I have always used Shimano's but I also break the ratchets on them on a monthly basis, and they are heavier to boot. I have to start trying stuff out, just don't have tons of cash to try too much stuff, plus it is still butt as cold in Gunni. Back to Experimentation!!!(thanks Marshall your words of advice ring in my head as I plan and plan) Jefe

[pro_out]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I have always used Shimano's but I also break the ratchets on them on a monthly basis, and they are heavier to boot. I have to start trying stuff out, just don't have tons of cash to try too much stuff, plus it is still butt as cold in Gunni. Back to Experimentation!!!(thanks Marshall your words of advice ring in my head as I plan and plan) Jefe

 

I have replaced the ratchets on Shimano, Bontrager and now on my X-Alps with Sidi ratchets. The Sidi shoes were worn out but the ratchets just keep on going.

[Mathewsen]

I think the "skin out" weight is the key.  The guys with the sub-30 pound setups are probably not counting the clothes they are wearing, etc.

correct. my 31.9 lb weigh-in from the absolute bikes last year did not see me strip down nor remove my 10oz shell, knee warmers, arm warmers, winter gloves from my rear jersey pockets. helmet was on my head too.

[Marshal]

I just did a full pack and I am at 47 lbs skin out, soup to nuts, spares, everything but food and water.  Curious where you folks are.  (typical ti 29er hardtail with fox fork, no backpack) These 40 lb reports have me wondering if I am off target. I do have a very light tent istead of a bivy, but that costs me 1lb tops.  and I do have a SB instead of a quilt (marmot atom)  And I am going to carry all maps and cue sheets.....say 10 oz. So where is the weight? Is it the kitchen sink in my camping kit?

You seem to be in the ball park----

I did so many pack and re-packs I sort of forgot what my final weight was so I looked at my blog files

from my blog --Dry it weighs 38.4 lbs. (I can carry up to 6 L of water as needed) By the time I add all the stuff I wear I will come in at about 42 lbs total. I could get it down to 40 but would have to give up the aero bars, bear spray, some odd bits and pieces and of course the extra socks.

Including my 'wear' items I think I wound up about 43 lbs with my final final pack out.  So if you give up the tent, maps etc etc you could get to my final weight but the real question is should you?  Only you can answer that and you have plenty of time to test and trial different combos.

In retrospect I would have made a few minor 'weight gaining' changes to my sleep system and left a few things home.

Oh and in the end I left the extra socks home--I carried zero extra/spare clothing items

[Nathan Jones]

This is the only pic of the bike fully loaded I have and OMG.  I'm pretty sure it was about 85 pounds total, and I'm not exaggerating in the least, I had at least 15 pounds of food in the packs.  Extra r. derailleur, chain, cook kit.  You can see I got extra cross tires strapped on both sides of the fork, the gallon of water.  There's the two pannier bags and a trunk bag, completely loaded.  A seat bag is hiding in there too.  There are two thornproof cross tubes in the framebag.  I even had a garmin cd so I could do the whole gps update thing on route, (only had it for a week at that point, supernoob).  If you look closely you can see I've got a v-brake on the front as well as the disc (this was ultra-rad though, no regrets there).  The backpack of course is totally loaded, another gallon and a half of water in there and crammed with food.  I was kicking myself before I even got to Eureka, like friggin 6 miles away from the start but I humored it even over the snow at red meadow pass.  3 regular tubes, 2 slimed tubes.  Yeah, couple miles of snow hiking with an 85 pound bike, sounds stupid huh?  Maybe if I were in Alaska.  It took me till about seeley lake and I realized I wasn't going to be able to emulate Curiak's self supported iditabike.  I probably got it down to 50 pounds after I dropped everything and then I figure in salida when I "reformatted" I dropped another 8 pounds of crap.  Threw my surplus store rain gear away and dropped another couple pounds in grants.  

To you carnivores out there my self supported setup might have seemed ludicrous, but I'm a vegan and I need my nutrition and I did end up going into a severe nutrition deficit by the end.  Had I been able to keep my food and cook kit I would have been "fresh as a daisy" by the end if it weren't for the weight.  In the end I realized you don't need jack out there except for the motivation to ride. Most things past food, water, hygiene, repair kit, and bivy/bag are a luxurious burden.  I lost my bivy by day two and my air pad was flat for a week before I had the peace of mind to fix it.  Sometimes I feel like it would be possible to go out there on a modified cross bike with some beefy tires and a frame bag and just do a psycho sprint for 12 days like the RAAM riders do, except without the support fleet.  Obviously you'd be beat but think about all the vacation time that you'd have left over?  

[6thElement]

Something I'm pondering at the moment, sintered or organic brake pads? I'm thinking because of all the mud and the duration of the ride, the harder wearing sintered pads are probably the better option.

[Slowerthensnot]

Something I'm pondering at the moment, sintered or organic brake pads? I'm thinking because of all the mud and the duration of the ride, the harder wearing sintered pads are probably the better option.

YUP! you well eat up organic pads at least 3 times as fast

[6thElement]

That was my thinking, thanks Mr Nice!

[Slowerthensnot]

dry wight is just a tick under 35... waiting on a few things to show that may drop it a bit father

[BigPoppa]

Dry weight for me, including everything except rider is about 34.

[Marshal]

dry wight is just a tick under 35... waiting on a few things to show that may drop it a bit father

humm, rigid fixed has to help in the ol weight race

[BigPoppa]

humm, rigid fixed has to help in the ol weight race

Even just going with a carbon front fork saves close to three pounds.... Too bad I don't have the legs for a fixie!

[BigPoppa]

I'm itching for my bags to be made by Revelate so I can load up and see what I've got to lose from the load.

It's tough to wait for the bags but ooooohhhhh sssssoooooo worth it.

[Slowerthensnot]

humm, rigid fixed has to help in the ol weight race

does help =)  bike should be in the 20-23 lb range with no stupid lite parts

[BigPoppa]

I'm debating between carbon and ti for handle bars and seat post. Carbon would be good because it's light and it's what I usually use. Ti would likely be better because it will likely hold up better, i.e. it won't break if I take a major header.

I've personally never had problems with carbon breakage but I've seen some epic fails.

Thoughts?

[wookieone]

Damn, Nathan!! That might be the craziest set up I have seen?! You are a horse of a rider, very impressive.

I am thinking carbon bars myself, there just are not many Titanium bars that I like and aren't really really expensive, and I have broken Ti bars! It happens, Carbon mostly breaks when folks over torque the stem bolts, use a torque wrench, and don't scratch them should be fine.

Weight is a funny thing, even when I feel like I am packing really light I seem to have a heavy load. I never really know cause I don't want the number in my head making me crazy during the race. When I see those light numbers I get very envious and go home and begin to think, "What can I live without?" One problem is my own bike mechanic paranoia that refuses to use light stuff, ie wheels, hubs, frames etc. Plus I am poor and have to make due with some cheaper stuff and use what I have, etc. But 31.9? damn, but then again Matt doesn't take anything, I mean Three Water Bottles!? How is that possible? I plan to have capacity for 6 liters. Plus something to keep my bum dry, the 2010 CTR taught me a leason there. Just can't seem to get much lighter without spending the money I need to do the race. Oh well. AS long as I can do the race......Jefe

[ClimberBoy]

Jefe- What are some good ideas for keeping the ole bum dry? Thanks...

[wookieone]

Well my comment was to the fact that Matt doesn't take any sort of rain pants, knickers, shorts, etc, just chammie shorts and knee warmers, I am pretty sure anyways. I have been using patagonia traverse pants for a while, they are not water proof but keep most of the water from soaking your chammie. They are comfy to wear. But this year in the CTR I got soaked to the bone on the first night and swore to take water proof something for now on. My chammie turned from orange to brown and was never too nice the rest of the ride, even after washing them in a shower. I am amazed that Matt can deal with this for that long, I mean it rains a lot out there, it really points to his toughness. I am gonna take something, not sure what yet, rain pants, knickers, it is just too easy to get hosed pretty quick and suffer for days for it, it really comes down to what you can stand. I went with just knee warmers in the 2007 CTR and somehow lived, but man I was cold, plus I was younger and dumber. But back to weight, that is why some folks have a sub 40# baseweight, you leave some things out! Jefe

[wookieone]

Another veteran question, does 6 liters seem like enough? Looks like most have that as max capacity, but I read an older Plesko interview or something and he said 5.5 was good, but 9 could be possible? Also MikeC claims to had 320 oz cpacity, although in the pics it seems impossible. I would hope 6 would be close to enough, with some flexiblity. Jefe

[Marshal]

Clothing

I took home-modified knicker style goretex rain pants.  I did use them maybe 3 times.  Really only ‘needed’ them maybe one time for 2-3 hours.  I would not bring them again if there was a next time.  Compared to the CTR, the much lower altitudes, greater distances covered each day and more ‘steady’ riding style all work to keep the body warm.  

If you add up all the possible core body layers you will be able always maintain your key core body temp

Under shirt
+ Jersey
+ Wind vest or jacket
+ Rain jacket
Down Vest (+) can be added if you get close to being truly ‘chilled’

Anyway, you are going to get cold sometimes no matter what you bring—But if you are willing to suffer a tiny bit more, for relatively short periods of time--You can “be like Matt’ and get by with the above list plus a set of knee and arm warmers plus:

Keep your head/ears warm with a simple scull cap + a headband that can be pulled over the ears.
Keep your fingers semi warm with some type of long fingered, “wind-proof” gloves.
Keep your toes warm with a set of minimal toe shields.

Water:
If you know the water sources and can do the miles you can easily use a 3 water bottle system.  Remember, even with a 3 bottle system it easy to slip a extra disposable bottle or two in a pocket for certain sections.  The key to a minimal water system is of course is to pre-study and even better pre-ride the route.  Rookies are always at a huge disadvantage in this water/food/shelter game.  

Note: A 2 bladder 4-6L system, without the bottles and bottle racks can be lighter (dry) than a 3 water bottle set up.