TD'11 Race Discussion

[Georg66]

will be interesting to guess, when and where NoBos and SoBos will meet, and especially who will be the first to meet each other ... unless they pass by at Boreas pass 

[flatfishy]

To be fair pollyhound, you and Kev live in seperate houses during the week, just like me and my Mrs, except I get the kids and want to escape on a weekend.

Rooting for Kev all the way.

[Mental-Miles]

Who knows where to see first pics of the start .... setting here in the office and wondering what the crowd is gonna look like!

Cheers

[mtbcast]

ITT Rider Rob Roberts called in. He headed out early this morning ahead of the pack!

[mikepro]

What time are they actually setting off?  I thought it was 7am but nothing seems to be happening on leaderboard.  Thanks

Looks like the race is on!  Definitely some sort of 7am-ish scattered start, based on the way everyone is so spreadout so quickly, and that Aidan is 15 miles up the trail at 10mph.  Maybe 2min or 5min intervals to alleviate the "group ride" start to stay within CA park rules or something.  Nobo's same thing - already a good 10 to 15 miles up the road, so guessing it was a 7am-ish start down there too.

And 3 more riders switched to ITT status starting today instead of GD status.  Interesting.  This will only get better with each passing day.  I'm looking for some veterans to crush this thing, and for some seriously fast rookie and female times to be set.

[riverfever]

Does anyone know if Ethan Passant is SPOTless?

[mtbcast]

Yeah the start is look a little chaotic. I'm not sure who all is wait until Noon. Scott, will you be converting them to yellow's?

I know Karlos is likely still bikeless. He had the same issue Jeff Kerby had where his bike didn't go on his bus.

[Pollyhound]

To be fair pollyhound, you and Kev live in seperate houses during the week, just like me and my Mrs, except I get the kids and want to escape on a weekend.

Rooting for Kev all the way.

And I only fight battles I can win! I just hope he comes back in one piece and ENJOYS HIMSELF.  Your chance will come flatfishy. 

This tracker thingy is very addictive, I've spent the whole afternoon watching. 

[Pollyhound]

Looks like the race is on! 

Thanks mikepro. 

[budbob66]

Hopefully there will be some start pics or video links posted here soon.  Good luck to all the riders, clear sky's and a nice tail wind.

[ChrisS]

Northbound folks will have some nasty conditions as they encounter the plume of forest fire smoke from the Wallow Fire, depending on the winds.  Here's a link to a pic I took Wed. evening in Albuquerque.  We still have ash falling from the sky periodically.
http://stagewest.wordpress.com/

[Dumpster Juice]

It is really hard sitting of the East coast watching the leader board when I had hopes of being there. For some reason this thing called work got in the way...Good luck to all the racers!!!

[Mathewsen]

Does anyone know if Ethan Passant is SPOTless?

Ethan's SPOT was dead at the start line according to a report from bystander Canmore resident Will Gadd ( http://www.willgadd.com ). In a stroke of incredible generosity towards Ethan (old ski acquaintence) and TD organizers, Will jetted back home to Canmore, rounded up an unregistered new unit from a friend, activated it on his own CC and has rushed it 25miles out to the course to try and trade out Ethan's busted unit.

Perhaps Ethan already paddled a little too much high water with his SPOT this spring? Anyway, as soon as the hand-off occurs on route, we'll plug Ethan's new feed into the live map. Thank-you Will Gadd! Not only is Ethan likely to animate the front of the race, his wife Dawn is expecting their first child in Aug/Sept, so i'm sure Ethan's blue dot will help her pass the time.

[LyndaW]

P.S. Anybody here who has an idea how to convince my wife for my 2013 attempt??

How about take her with you? She can do TD too! That option would work for me ;-)

[DoctorRad]

Looks like Rob Colliver is at the US border 

[DoctorRad]

Looks like the ITT rider times have reset to the start of the race: we can no longer see the starts of their rides on the distance / speed and time / speed plots.

[Mathewsen]

Looks like the ITT rider times have reset to the start of the race: we can no longer see the starts of their rides on the distance / speed and time / speed plots.

Part of the nature of having them participate on the Grand Depart tracker. their data will be will be restored, not to worry.

[caseygreene]

Those Gadds seem like they're good people Awesome Will!

This should be interesting to see how the next 36 hrs pan out. Historically, its where the race has been won (I know yer strategy Matt). But, with these reroutes, who knows.

oh, Mike Dion has been posting pics on facebook of the start.

[Done]

Ethan's SPOT was dead at the start line according to a report from bystander Canmore resident Will Gadd ( http://www.willgadd.com ). In a stroke of incredible generosity towards Ethan (old ski acquaintence) and TD organizers, Will jetted back home to Canmore, rounded up an unregistered new unit from a friend, activated it on his own CC and has rushed it 25miles out to the course to try and trade out Ethan's busted unit.

Nice one, Will! FYI, Will's blog is good fun: http://gravsports.blogspot.com/
And yes, he's my brother. Dylan Taylor, a TD rider this year, is our cousin. I've got a fun family for sure!

[mtbcast]

More calls!
Russ McBride is stopped with Dennis, Paul, and Frank for a break. He's Spotless probably due to Karlos' waiting for his bike. Also Kevin Hall called in from Canmore. He's at the Canmore Bike Shop with a mechanic 17mi in. He should be heading out soon.