TD'11 Race Discussion

[Marshal]

After 10 days the Eurotrain has finally broken.  Markus is about 5 miles off the front of the train now. (10am MDT).

could be, but around 1 hour lead is not much, it could be as little as two/three of the following--a stop to put on or off a jacket, dig out a buried candy bar, slap on or off the ear phones, fiddle with the chain, find a bush, not eat for a while, not like the particular slope/road section, flat tire and on and on

watch to see Markus's (and the following spots) in/out times at Brush Mtn Lodge, 30 miles away from now.  If the weather is still rainy and cold they all may bunch back up at the lodge. But if Markus pushes on over the climb to Steamboat and the others stop at the lodge--ahh then thats a real break that could last

[sunset1123]

Good news is that it's Solstice tomorrow around noon - so HOW could there be fresh snow in the Rockies?

Met with incredulity or matter-of-fact resignation, the weather in the Rockies is one of nature's little eye openers. I used to live in Summit County, CO and spent the first year I was there wondering if it ever really stopped snowing over the high passes. A few years later, I had become more comfortable with the idea. There was the year where the 4th of July fireworks were cancelled on account of a blizzard, another year where we got 2 feet of snow on a sunny May afternoon and another 2 feet on a brisk June morning. I had to run through 4 inches of fresh with zero visibility on top of Red Buffalo pass on August 13th.

The upside to this is that when it stops snowing it is generally sunny, 60-something degrees, with a cooling breeze. May all the riders be blessed with the best CO has to offer in this regard.

[Roland Sturm]

And while the peloton of the NOBOs is not moving today due to snow, some more stories from last week [OK, peloton sounds funny given that it's just 3 of us that are somewhat bunched together, but with the astonishing attrition rate among NOBOs, we actually the big group)

As I wrote yesterday, day 1 for NOBO was pretty hellish, very hard to recover from and some people never did (it took me a few days to get it out of my system).  

Day 2 started much nicer, Silver City is higher, which takes the unbearable sting out of the heat. After a short road climb, on to single track. I very much enjoyed it, although it is best enjoyed in the morning after a breakfast. Even for single track, it can be a bit tedious and it is not exactly prime quality single track that you'd pick for a fun ride. Don't do it at the end of the day because the slow speed and effort will be frustrating. Then the rest of the day is a lot of climbing up and down, serious ups and downs and these are high ups (close to 8000). Nice clean air - at least until we came to a turn shortly before Beaverhead and saw a big wall of dark smoke ahead. So it makes for a hard day as well and few people got as far as they planned. Bring lots of water and food as it is a 180 mile stretch between SC and Pie Town. I found one little pathetic dribble to filter water, but that was it until Beaverhead. Overall, a hard, but good ride.

Day 3 takes us through some desert again (Plains of San Agustin) and I was in a hurry to get to Pietown before closing. Another hot and tough day, but Pie Town was nice and I got out of the sun for a few hours hanging out at the toaster house. Sun, wind, and heat are really tough, good move to ride late into the night instead. Despite all the discussion about fires, we had a reasonably good window. Kathy from the Pie-O-Neer Bakery e-mailed me two days earlier that she couldn't see the other side and the other cafe was even closed. However, it was ok by the time the racers came through (not great, but ok).

[ComoDepot]

Ross is uming and arring, will wait and see if the weather breaks. The sun has come out.

Ethan just left heading south.

[saintbazza]

Hi all from the UK,loving the race first year that i have seen or heard of this.cant belive how much the front runners are killing the miles.AWESOME!!!

Any ideas whats happening to Aidan he seems to be going back on a different route.

[Marshal]

Hi all from the UK,loving the race first year that i have seen or heard of this.cant belive how much the front runners are killing the miles.AWESOME!!!

Any ideas whats happening to Aidan he seems to be going back on a different route.

he is fine, there is a flooded creek crossing that he is going (edit--went) around

[mikepro]

Hi all from the UK,loving the race first year that i have seen or heard of this.cant belive how much the front runners are killing the miles.AWESOME!!!

Any ideas whats happening to Aidan he seems to be going back on a different route.

Aidan's doing the same bypass around Little Rock Creek that all other riders have been doing.  To spare you the time of reading back up-thread, there's a high-water creek in the area he's in now that has a nearby road as a safe bypass.  Racers are 'required' to pedal up to the creek in the direction they are racing, assess the level of the creek, and if impassable, to ride around on the road, and then come back to the creek from the other side to touch the opposite side of the bank, and then continue on.

[ComoDepot]

Apparently 8ft deep and fast flowing.

And just above freezing.

[saintbazza]

thanks for the answer guys, most helpful

[mikepro]

And NoBo leader Paul A takes the detour ...

[moosevt]

I never planned to have campfires - but Pete Faeth convinced me otherwise... said it would helps to lift my spirits.  He was carrying a full bottle of white gas in one of his cages... crazy I thought but I wasn't about to second guess a former marine.  And he proved right... had some great times sitting around TD campfires drying my socks.    I hope Pete is having high spirits on his north-bound race this year.

Dave, When are you headed back out there? What is it like watching after doing it?

Wil

[SlowDave]

With the SoBos getting closer to NM it is time for a Spanish lesson.  Repeat after me:

Hole-la!

Good, Good, you have the idea, now try:

Cerveza fria por favor.

After you have repeated the above 3 or 4 times in a place of public refreshment try:

Quanta para la nina?

As you get closer to AW make sure you stop at the Hatchita rest stop for a photo op.

[Marshal]

I wonder is someone should let Kurt know that Caroline is hammering it out in 22nd place.  Ha, and that she has about 8 other racers (all guys bty) paceing right along with her across the basin into Rawlins.

go Caroline

[DaveH]

It would be interesting to see Paul take the same set of detours as the sobos.  IIRC the detours are not the same for the nobos.

The mileage gap between north and south leaders at one point was well over 200 miles, but Paul has whittled that down as he hits faster terrain and the sobo leaders hit the slowdowns (snow, high water) near steamboat.  With a big fat section of pavement in Paul's immediate future that should continue to come down.  

It sure looks like KR is hitting his stride.  I thought based on Ethan's rapid closure of a 70 mile gap the other day he was just cruising all along and would kill it at the end, but it sounds like that was caffeine??  Kurt's mojo is building, it's hard to imagine he will be caught again but we shall see!  He sure did shake the pointy end up with that all night ride in Wyoming.

And, with Caroline riding a stellar race, it could be a couples podium!

[sportsman]

Una cerveza, por favor

[SlowDave]

"Una" as in one?  It is more fun not to count them.  Live large.  BTW, the internet is a wonderful thing, look what I just found:  http://www.summitpost.org/hachita-rest-stop/376181

[Mathewsen]

It would be interesting to see Paul take the same set of detours as the sobos.  IIRC the detours are not the same for the nobos.

I never expected it would be necessary to make all detours bidirectional--the goal is always to ride as much of the main route as possible. But, from the sound of Justin's highly anticipated report of the main route, it looks like nearly all will need to be in play. The earth is just really cold in NW MT! Perhaps there will be a fairly straight-up comparison of Paul A's ride after all. We'll see what he wants to do. He told me by phone from Atlantic City he really wants to try and ride the Canadian Flathead if at all possible.

Hey Matt!

Vroom Vroom!

Re: reroutes for the NoBos, you can probably allow them to take the route
between Helena and Butte, it's snow-free enough to allow you to get
through without snowshoes, but I found this section, more than any other
section the most difficult to get through, since it's pretty ripped up,
even for a 4x4 track. Lots of mud, lots of downed trees, lots of rocky
ascents/descents - lots of just nasty stuff. Everything else is a defiant
NO -

Lincoln to Helena is completley snow-free, although again, some of the
route is pretty ripped up, especially leaving Helena up Stemple Pass - the
creeks are over their limits and go into the road. I was able to navigate
Lincoln to Helena almost all by night, only getting lost for a few minutes
at Stemple Pass itself (easy enough to find the route, though) Everything
else is a defiant NO -

Huck pass is no real big deal. Snow on the east side, but it's real packed
down - again, didn't use snowshoes. Probably ~2-3 miles of packed down
snow. Did it in the afternoon (double-check my Spot, as my IQ is a little
down from the miles), so it may not be necessary to what till morning to
siege it.

Everything else is a defiant NO - Richmond Peak is a mountaineering
traverse - very dangerous - my bike slid down while I was cutting steps
and then I slipped down while retrieving the bike. Lots of snow on the
east side. Eureka to Whitefish is impassable because of snow without a
huge snowshoe trudge. Whitefish is another snow traverse - extremely
beautiful though and Red Meadow Lake is a Winter Wonderland. I had to
bivvy up there, as I lost the track and didn't want to keplunk into the
Lake itself. Long long long slog.

Canada... The Flathead section was probably a highlight of my entire year
and a major highlight of my career of riding bikes, but it's also very
snowed in. That cabin was incredible. I was so glad there was dry wood and
a huge axe to chop it.

Elk Pass was no problem except for the mud, the snow there should be gone
really soon.

I'm really really glad you decided to make these reroutes - especially
Flathead in Canada - the amount of carnage of 70 cyclists going through
that would have been not-so-much fun for anyone. For me, alone, it was
just incredible.

Hope that helps,

Justin

[Mathewsen]

"Una" as in one?  It is more fun not to count them.

That's true of the final 65 miles of lonely highway to AW. It's marked with mile markers but it's absolute torture to look at them.

BTW, the internet is a wonderful thing, look what I just found:  http://www.summitpost.org/hachita-rest-stop/376181

Hey, we have that pic on TD.org too! http://www.tourdivide.org/photos/new_mexico#697

[Marshal]

Jon Pettit and Daniel Bayley in their call in’s to mtbcast.com both mentioned the nasty mud coming out of Lima.  In many (most, well all actually) ways thick sticky mud is the absolute worst thing that can happen to a TDR racer.  It sucks away your resolve, slows you to a slow hard walk, destroys your drive train, gets in your food, clothing, gloves, socks and anything you touch—be careful now or else, gums up the zippers on your bags etc etc.

Hopefully the ‘mini peloton’ of JP, DB (and I think JU, LD & TF) will get some good weather across WY.  If so look to see them up their daily miles a bit.  They now have some pavement for a while, so that will help also.

They are all reaching that point in time where the ol body is now into it’s daily TDR routine and if the body is holding on—well then with some uplifting sun and a growing sense of just how long/far it still is to AW they may soon start talking amongst themselves about – how might they up the pace, not necessarily by riding ‘harder’ but by trying to be more efficient with their time.

It is much easier to push longer into the night with a clear sky on the horizon.

Go mini peloton go

and may the mud demons look the other way when you get back on the dirt

[ComoDepot]

And Ross is away heading for Boreas.

Pictures on the blog.