2016 Tour Divide Preparation

[sfuller]

I used the MSR Dromlite bags, 2 L.  Durable, fits in frame bag or an anything bag. http://www.cascadedesigns.com/msr/water/storage/dromlite-bags/product

Ditto, but I use the 2L vs the 3L.

[sfuller]

I used EPDM on a roof a few years back and had a lot left over. So I made some tongue shaped straps with 1/2" holes in them. They wrap into the bottle holders and then slip over the top of the bottles. Even with all of the rough downhills that I've done, no bottles have come out. I will post pics in the DIY section.

I had good luck with the Topeak Java cages this year. No straps and my 1L bottles stayed in place the entire race. Nice thing is that they can be expanded to hold different shaped bottles if necessary.

[hrtpmpr]

I had good luck with the Topeak Java cages this year. No straps and my 1L bottles stayed in place the entire race. Nice thing is that they can be expanded to hold different shaped bottles if necessary.

Did you mount the Topeak Java cages on your forks?

[ComoDepot]

Certainly in Colorado we have had a mild winter, reasonable amount of snow but a lot has melted.

Now of course anything can happen between then and now but when the ground has a chance fresh show is less likely to stick.

I do not think I have come across anybody who started with too little, a lot who have discarded stuff as they headed south.

[cliffordbarnabus]

what gps/mounting system would you get?

what bivy would you buy?

what would you splurge on in terms of gear in order to make you the most competitive?

hypothetically winning the lottery,
cb

[BobM]

what gps/mounting system would you get?

what bivy would you buy?

what would you splurge on in terms of gear in order to make you the most competitive?

hypothetically winning the lottery,
cb

Theoretical splurges would be a light bike with a belt drive Rohloff and top-of-the-line rain gear.

Even more theoretical would be a 6 ounce tent that sets itself up and helium-filled water bottles that weigh nothing when filled.

[flyboy]

what gps/mounting system would you get?

what bivy would you buy?

what would you splurge on in terms of gear in order to make you the most competitive?




hypothetically winning the lottery,
cb

Ride your bike A LOT. That costs nearly nothing yet will make you competitive.
Sometimes no amount of money can buy what you need. Thats why I like ultra endurance bikepacking.

[GregMay]

Ride your bike A LOT. That costs nearly nothing yet will make you competitive.
Sometimes no amount of money can buy what you need. Thats why I like ultra endurance bikepacking.

Well said.

“Don’t buy upgrades, ride up grades”  –  Eddy Merckx

[cliffordbarnabus]

what gps/mounting system would you get?

what bivy would you buy?

what would you splurge on in terms of gear in order to make you the most competitive?

hypothetically winning the lottery,
cb

thanks for your replies.  does anyone have any practical answers to the questions?  that would be much appreciated!

thanks,
cb

[GregMay]

*cough*

There may be a subtle subtext to the content of the replies.

*cough*

Have a read through the forum - I'm sure you'll find the answers you seek.

[sheilar]

what gps/mounting system would you get?

what bivy would you buy?

what would you splurge on in terms of gear in order to make you the most competitive?

hypothetically winning the lottery,
cb

thanks for your replies.  does anyone have any practical answers to the questions?  that would be much appreciated!

thanks,
cb

GPS mounting - I have an Etrex30 and use the regular Garmin bike mount (with a lanyard)
The areas I spent big were:
Sleep bag - bought for TD2011 and see no reason to replace - Western Mountaineering Summerlite
Glasses - progressive + transition lenses are very expensive.  Have used for years.  No swapping pairs day to night and can read cues...
Dynamo/Klite - this is new to me.  I replace "competitive" with successful.  I found I did not see well at night with my EOS (ran handlebar and helmet EOS in 2011).  I don't know how much riding at night I'll do, but maybe this time I'll see the dogs 1st

Best of luck.
sr

[BobM]

what gps/mounting system would you get?

what bivy would you buy?

what would you splurge on in terms of gear in order to make you the most competitive?

hypothetically winning the lottery,
cb

thanks for your replies.  does anyone have any practical answers to the questions?  that would be much appreciated!

thanks,
cb

The other answers you got WERE serious answers to the part of your question that specified "to make you the most competitive."  Fact is, gear will not do that.  Riding for the first 300+ miles without a rest and then repeating through the race made some past racers more competitive.  Otherwise:

Belt drive Rohloff IS a practical answer.

GPS/mounting is not a splurge - just use whatever mounting system fits your bike and cockpit configuration best.

Bivy - Whatever one you get, you will be damp in the morning and you will be miserable/inconvenienced in the rain unless you have a tarp or other covering.  Beyond that, it's personal preference - does having fabric right above your face bug you - then get one with support poles.

[ComoDepot]

The people at the front seem to have certain common traits.

Ability to cycle for 20 hours a day.

To not need to carry very much, what they do have has been carefully thought out and meets their individual needs.

Ability to sleep with little protection in all temperatures where they happen to stop, seemingly at 1pm.

Strong constitution.

Good attitude

and of course good luck.

[kiwidave]

what would you splurge on in terms of gear in order to make you the most competitive?

hypothetically winning the lottery,
cb

Hi CB - I was in your situation about two years ago when I started planning for the 2016 TD. I started from ground zero and built up. The best source of info is to read here all the prior years TD Preparation threads. LOADS of information there. Google some gear lists:

Olly Whalley (http://www.driven2divide.com/2012/06/27/ollie-whalleys-tour-divide-gear-list-setup-tour-divide-2012/

Josh Kato: http://www.bikepacking.com/gear/josh-kato-tour-divide-pack-list/

Neil Beltchenko: http://bikepackersmagazine.com/tour-divide-rig/

Read some blogs, like Marshall Birds: http://bikedrifting.blogspot.cz/ or Dave Hoswell's (he's Flyboy above ... blog under his post - excellent read)

But, without reading the prior years threads it is just some data with no colour or understanding of how different strategies work.

What worked for me was to split the gear into categories (sleep / ride / warm / wet / tools & spares / health & safety / electronics) and take notes on the pros & cons of each. I looked at many forums and also used outdoorgearlab.com to get great gear reviews.

Bike - your level of mechanical skills may determine that a bit. I've none, so went with a Rohloff hub with a chain - the belt was explained to me by a bunch of bike builders as "a solution looking for a problem". Why? Hard to replace so you carry a spare and "puff" goes the weight savings. And with a Rohloff the chain does not need to flex laterally so chain breakages are incredibly rare, and if they do you can fix it and any chain will fit it. Penalty is that it is heavy. Bike considerations involve: drive train / frame material / wheel set / forks - you can get a good overview of each by reading a lot - there is no one correct answer. Matt Lee won on a Lefty, Jefe Branham came second on a single speed ...

GPS - your bike build will determine that a little - if you are running a dynamo hub then perhaps take a light Garmin such as a 810. You also can run a K-lite. If you're running with batteries then Etrex seems popular. I'm using a 800 with an out in front mount off my handlebars connected under my aerobar pads because I have no room between my aerobars.

The old forums are a great pace to review and get a good understanding of different approaches to racing the TD.

Good luck.

[cliffordbarnabus]

kiwidave,

awesome.  exactly what i needed.  really appreciate the input.  so much more solid than a "google it" type reply.

fyi, a couple years ago, i finished a 5.5 year world bike ride yanking a trailer.  i began in vanuatu.  assuming, perhaps wrongly, you're from new z, it was a highlight of my trip.  not only for the beauty.  but, i mean, are there any mean people there?

so yes, i've got experience on riding in all sorts of kazakhstan and cambodian conditions and and waking up with guns on me and all the "heroic" stories.  and of course i'm currently riding.  ~275 miles per week and running ~20 miles per week and yoga every evening and lifting weights and blah blah.  so i get that.  but.  i'm an ignoramus when it comes to tech stuff.  i don't even have a cell phone.  hence my questions.

anyhow, money answer buddy.  gracias.

[kiwidave]

CB - yeah, I'm from NZ ... glad you liked it there. I forgot to mention above that there is a Question and Answer forum here too, so have a look on that for some discussions also.

Are you racing in 2016? How many days are you looking at? I'm aiming for 24.

[Ailuropoda]

Forgive me for asking a question that may have been answered.

1.  How does the Spot tracker work?  I mean, where do we get one and how do we get "registered" to be on the tracker.  I know it's mot necessary to do the race but I'd like to.

2.  What about letters of intent?  Who do we send them to this year and is there some kind of "official list."


I want to thank everybody for their courteous and very useful advice.  I essentially started from scratch a year ago for the Tour Divide.  I've been training for a year and followed diligently the obvious and common-sense advice to ride a lot with my loaded bike.  When I started, a thirty-mile ride was a major undertaking; now I'm not even warmed up by then and am easily and routinely riding 40 miles a day and 60-100 when I have some days off.    I can't train as much as I'd like because of work and other responsibilities but I even changed jobs (going from twelve hour shifts to tens) so I could have more time to ride.

Plus I'm in Louisiana so mountain training is not possible.  I hit as many hills as I can and I even have a thirty mile "hill course" that gives me about 3000 feet of vertical ascent but I know it's not the same thing.  I'll just have to suck it up.

[Pampa]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a rookie from NJ. Let me first thanks all the people that have answered questions on these thread (I read all 19 pages . I do have a couple of questions on Navigation that I didn't find in this thread (if there are in another one on the board, please let me know).

Garmin 24K Topo maps (North Central & South West): Is anyone using these? Can they be handy? They are pretty expensive ($130 each) but being a rookie with no navigation skills basically I thought these should help in case I get lost. Another option would be to but the "t" version of the eTrex that comes with the 100K Topo maps for all US for $50 more than the bare bones version. Any thoughts?

Is this the right set of ACA maps to buy? -> https://www.adventurecycling.org/cyclosource-store/route-maps/great-divide-mountain-bike-route/sp/adventure-cycling-association-great-divide-canada-map-set/

Approximately, how big is the GPS file that we will have to upload in our GPS? The one I downloaded (I think it's last years) is only 1.9 Mb. Are we talking of Mb or Gb? I want to know because I want to see if I can upload it to a Garmin watch (910XT) as a GPS backup.

Thank you in advance!

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Hi All.  Just finished some tests of different dynamo-USB options that you may be interested in:

https://triduffer.wordpress.com/2016/03/25/the-great-dynamo-usb-power-run-off/

[metalartgate]

You can get last years gpx track TourDivide2015_v2_10k AND a base map of the route here http://topofusion.com/divide/gps.php  the 10k version has been reduced to fit on your gps as one file rather than splitting it up.
If you are interested in other base maps for the garmin WITHOUT spending lots of $$ check out gpsfiledepot.com

-Gary

Hi Everyone,

I'm a rookie from NJ. Let me first thanks all the people that have answered questions on these thread (I read all 19 pages . I do have a couple of questions on Navigation that I didn't find in this thread (if there are in another one on the board, please let me know).

Garmin 24K Topo maps (North Central & South West): Is anyone using these? Can they be handy? They are pretty expensive ($130 each) but being a rookie with no navigation skills basically I thought these should help in case I get lost. Another option would be to but the "t" version of the eTrex that comes with the 100K Topo maps for all US for $50 more than the bare bones version. Any thoughts?

Is this the right set of ACA maps to buy? -> https://www.adventurecycling.org/cyclosource-store/route-maps/great-divide-mountain-bike-route/sp/adventure-cycling-association-great-divide-canada-map-set/

Approximately, how big is the GPS file that we will have to upload in our GPS? The one I downloaded (I think it's last years) is only 1.9 Mb. Are we talking of Mb or Gb? I want to know because I want to see if I can upload it to a Garmin watch (910XT) as a GPS backup.

Thank you in advance!