TD'11 Race Discussion

[mooseb]

How do you know how the nobo riders are doing compared to the sobo riders ? There doesn't seem to be much chatter about the nobo group.

[Woodland]

We've got a Nobo in Colorado! Must be a big boost to cross a state line...

[mtbcast]

We've got a Sobo in Colorado! Must be a big boost to cross a state line...

No doubt! NM is such a long stretch it's probably a relief to get it behind you.

[Done]

Justin Simoni is almost out of the snow - think he'll be able to make up some ground now?

Justin has spirit, for sure. He's made it to the road, but hasn't moved for a bit. Maybe he got so used to snowshoes that he's forgotten how to ride a bike?

[SlowDave]

Compared to what is ahead NM looks like a dream.  Paul looks like he is entering the Conejos area which is stunningly beautiful.  A great place to camp.  The thing about CO is it is generally higher elevations than NM.  The general rule of thumb is one day to adjust for each 1000 feet.  I believe the CO riders will have a great advantage since they train at those elevations.  It will be interesting to see what a rested Russ does to close the 100 mile gap between him and Paul.

This is amazing racing both ways, super human.

[Marshal]

Justin Simoni is almost out of the snow - think he'll be able to make up some ground now?

Don’t expect Justin to make up much, if any ground.  1st he might need a bit of extra ‘recovery’ time, but more important is the upcoming Richmond Peak (it’s just after Holland Lake, before Seeley). Then Huckleberry pass between Ovando and Lincoln—etc etc

Of all the snow areas, Justin’s next one- Richmond Peak, would be the one I would skip if I were Justin as there might be true ‘slip & fall to your death or real injury’ potential along one traverse I distinctly remember.  At the minimum he should hit the top of this section in daylight only.

Anyway look to see Justin fall further and further behind as what he is attempting is at least one (probably two) magnitude greater in effort!!

[Jilleo]

Given what Justin set out to do, I'm guessing he's prepared for the steep snowfields of Richmond Peak. Even if he hits the crust early in the morning, the crampons embedded in most snowshoes should be enough to give him traction along that section, as long as he's careful. If I were traversing that ridge on crust, I would probably turn my bike on its side and prop it as a sort of ice ax to leverage against slips on the worst sections, with a big stick to dig into the snow on the downslope for balance (and also use as a self-arrest object if needed.) Take two steps and drag the bike forward, never letting go of the handlebars. It would be tedious and amazingly slow, but rolling the bike on its wheels along a hard-packed 45-degree sideslope seems too risky to me. One slip could send the bike careening down the mountain, or worse.

Personally I'm enamored with Justin's mountaineering/bikepacking adventure. Can't believe no one else thought this sounded like a fun idea. ;-)

[Marshal]

Marshall- I really appreciate your racer's perspective and first hand knowledge of the route.  It helps to put this great ride into more of a strategic race format and lessens the fast touring mentality that they just have to keep riding along.  Would you care to elaborate or comment on the upcoming days ahead for the leaders and also talk more about the mid pack?

Well gosh that’s nice but you should entice Matthew Lee’s commentary (or some of the other more experience racers) for the better perspective, especially on the front runners.  

But I will toss out a comment or two.  
I am following David Goldberg’s Spot quite closely this yr.  He and I have ridden/raced two events together and tend to leap frog each other so I imagine myself being somewhere near him as he races along.  He is a stronger rider than I am but I tend to put in more hours to make up for it.  
The pace Dave is setting is an example of what one can do with either talent/strength (his way) or shear perseverance (my way). (I like to think Jefe’s style is a combination of the two).  I hope to see Dave maintain or maybe even increase his ride hours just a bit once he passes the ½ way mark around Rawlins WY.  If he does he should move up a few places.

I am also watching Aidan.  Last yr Aidan used a style of “recover just a bit more-longer” and “eat-refuel properly so as to not walk the SS up the hills”.  IE: a go hard and fast but recover better strategy.  He knows how he wants to race and will most likely stick to his plan the entire race--so watch to see Aidan maintain his current pacing as others around him might fade a bit.

GO Dave
GO Aidan

Oh, and the drop out rate is very low so far-less climbing, more resupply points etc (better overall prep?)—this is good but will probably change dramatically before everyone reaches Idaho

[Pollyhound]

When KC went off to do 'this thingy' I thought I would just be checking the tracker occasionally to see how things were going, little did I know less than a week ago that my life would become that of an addict!  I look at KC, then JS, MW, JV, the leaders, the women, the NOBOs, Twitter, MTBCast, PushPedalCrank - THEN I START DOING IT ALL AGAIN!!   _{*whispers* I don't even ride a bike.}

Seriously - big thanks to the those on here who have been there or know the areas, your comments really do add interest for those of us who are rookie followers.  AND JS has reached Whitefish!

[Cosmo K]

Scott - Thanks for the moving average data!  I think Mike Hall is looking good.  Additional sleep but higher average mph.  I think after a couple weeks of pushing, a little more sleep is going to be the key to maintaining the higher mph until the end.  At least it would for a normal guy like me but these guys...who knows...

[Marshal]

Given what Justin set out to do, I'm guessing he's prepared for the steep snowfields of Richmond Peak. Even if he hits the crust early in the morning, the crampons embedded in most snowshoes should be enough to give him traction along that section, as long as he's careful. If I were traversing that ridge on crust, I would probably turn my bike on its side and prop it as a sort of ice ax to leverage against slips on the worst sections, with a big stick to dig into the snow on the downslope for balance (and also use as a self-arrest object if needed.) Take two steps and drag the bike forward, never letting go of the handlebars. It would be tedious and amazingly slow, but rolling the bike on its wheels along a hard-packed 45-degree sideslope seems too risky to me. One slip could send the bike careening down the mountain, or worse.

Personally I'm enamored with Justin's mountaineering/bikepacking adventure. Can't believe no one else thought this sounded like a fun idea. ;-)

I am a bit in awe of what Justin is attempting.  Way over my head.  His next call-in could be reveling; hopefully he is still game for his plan to skip the snow detours.  And if he hits Richmond in daylight he will most likely do as you commented or he might very well ‘see’ a logical way to hump up and around some of the worst traverse sections.  At the minimum he might get up above the road cut and put some trees between himself and the fall line.

[Rob Colliver]

Made it to Butte about 1 hour ago- done domestic bits- now for the stats.... Day one was harder than 7 days of Trans Rockies. Two dead teeth on small chain ring. More mud on thew bike than I could carry on the way down Elk. 12 miles of track cutting above Whitefish - you can all leave beer on the bar for me! 5 bears in the first 5 days and walked in Griz tracks on Elk (I assume they were griz tracks as they were wider than my snow shoes!)
Getting ready for an early start tomorrow. Hope I didn't do too small a detour after ovando - seemed to be on H200 very quickly...

Stay safe all.

[SlowDave]

It looks like Paul has stopped at the little store where the Conejos River crosses the highway.  There is another store up the river a few miles in a campground which is a nice last chance place for a soda or ice cream.

[ScottM]

Scott - will past events be available too?
I'll have to update and take a look. Love my TopoFusion!

Yep, almost all past events are available for replay.  Only some of the first events we did (such as TD09, unfortunately) are not available.  Check it out.

[ChuckK]

Probably everybody knew this but me, but on Race Tracker there's a Map Layers tab on the side that shows the snow routes and weather radar.
Nice tool!

The first wave of the RAAM started today.  Routes cross in Del Norte, Co. (they're on 160).  I wonder if there's a chance that they'll see each other.

[SandPine]

Morning start & end of day stop times are critical to building leads or catching up.  Also break durations add up.  Jefe just spent 1 hour at the only re-supply store between him and Lima.  KR/EP are at 30 min and counting in Wise River

New TD-addict/stalker here so excuse my noob question...  How do I see the start and end stop times?  I am following on trackleaders.com with the whole group and individual riders.  On individual riders map layers, I see time splits option but it doesn't show start/stop times.  The graphs (speed plot, speed vs time) not showing data. I do see current elevation, route dist / day, rout avg speed, etc... but no stop times.  Do I need to be following with topofusion pro?  I only have the freebie one :-(   Thanks.

[elobeck]

I'm anxiously awaiting the moment Ethan and Kurt stop holding hands.......it's good they enjoy each others company...but I still want to see some gamesmanship in the 2nd and 3rd slots. Looks like the leaders are enjoying a dry ride to Lima. Given the clay content of that soil and its density once attached to a bicycle this is HUGE.

[caseygreene]

Cadet is heading to Missoula?

[DaveH]

Once everybody got started it became obvious bluedot needed a way to filter riders and set up some custom displays.  So, while trying to bake some of that in I also have a set of stats that might be useful.  

It's really hard to compare the SoBos with the NoBos, and in my experience cooler is almost always faster than hotter even if muddy conditions come with the cool.  That said I'm not sure how record snowpack & floods fit into that equation

Anyway - I've ordered all Grand Depart riders (nobo and sobo) according to mileage covered as of 5:45 PM MT on Tuesday 6/14.  NoBos get some yellow highlighting to the right.  The first 18 are below, the rest can be viewed starting here https://picasaweb.google.com/116269168437480100507/Bluedot#5618226505809656706.  I'll eventually have this and other stuff available online but I'm not quite there yet.

Note:  ITTs, riders that appear off-route, and scratched riders are not included this list.  Also, the mileages shown are prolly about 5% low as they are based on a simplified track.

[SlowDave]

There are worse places to go.  Picture a cold beer or two at one of those out door places down town on a nice summer evening.  Remember, Missoula is a college town.