TD'11 Race Discussion

[Marshal]

Did Franck take a wrong turn ?

maybe-- but my guess he is just biving as he has been there for 2 hours, plus he is only a little off route and it looks like his only choice in the morning is to go back down to rejoin the correct route

[Cosmo K]

It looks like Justin has been under the Wisconsin Ave bridge in whitefish for quite some time.  I hope all is ok with him.  

Danalibound - - thanks for the clarification.  I read the rule incorrectly.

[FernieTeam]

Franck is OK .....he is looking for a WATER point ,  suffering a lot from the heat...I think he found a reservoir of some kind and is camping there for the night

[Woodland]

edit-- satellite view shows a clear road the way DB is headed --but there is wilderness area-- where it might be closed?? any one with on the ground knowledge know?

That N. Valley road does look clear all the way through. But what will he do once he gets back to the route - assuming that he can that way? Would have to go back to the river crossing in order to stay in the running right?

I wonder what Jefe will do when he gets to that river crossing, will be interesting to see...

- edit: as i was typing looks like DB has gotten back to route...we'll see now what he does!!

[sanjuanrider]

Russ McBride returned to the course at the same point he left it, but in order to have gotten from that point to Santa Fe, he would have had to make forward progress on course by vehicle.  Am I seeing this correctly?  Please tell me it's not so.

It looks to me like his Spot shows he goes South to Sante Fe then returns to the same spot he left.  Since he is a NOBO it appears he hasn't violated any rules since he didn't do forward progress.

[Marshal]

David Goldberg and Justin Voss are over Fleecer and will soon be in Wise River--might still be a bar open for some type of re-supply.  Reguardless of re-supplie opportunities this late at night I suspect clearing Fleecer Ridge in the dark will help them put a big gap on the forming pack behind them

[Marshal]

It looks to me like his Spot shows he goes South to Sande Fe then returns to the same spot he left.  Since he is a NOBO it appears he hasn't violated any rules since he didn't do forward progress.

man I hate this illogical rule-- technically (per his spot) it appears to me that he may have moved a whole 2 miles 'forward' on the route

time will tell how this one plays out

[SlowDave]

From the Tour Divide web site FAQs:

"'Off-route' means lateral movement on a side road or trail away from the designated route. Occasionally off-route movement is more advantageous than backwards movement. At the point your bike is not rideable, it's all going to be a crap-shoot. It may be faster to hoof it forward to the next possible town or available off-route road than to hitchhike backwards.

This rule can be a bit problematic to think about in the depths of trailside fatigue so it's important to be clear on it. How well one chooses can be the difference in hours or days of time lost and even relegation--or not. FWIW, the original intent of prohibiting forward (on-route) hitchhiking is A) to ensure a challenger rides the entire GDMBR (one cannot cheat, i.e. fudge a re-start when only hitchhiking backwards), B) to prevent the reconnaissance of the route ahead and C) to penalize a rider for getting in a car."

The last sentence of the first paragraph sounds on point to me.  Of course we don't have the facts.

[dkirk]

 

man I hate this illogical rule-- technically (per his spot) it appears to me that he may have moved a whole 2 miles 'forward' on the route

time will tell how this one plays out

So will he get two asterisks after his name instead of one if he finishes?

[CathyP]

Another sister of JP Evans here...with a Justin Simoni report!  Yesterday I sent him a donation and I just got a quick thank-you email.  He said all the enthusiastic support is really helping him keep a positive mental attitude, so I wanted to pass that along.  He didn't say why his SPOT hasn't moved in a while, but he said he was about to get some sleep and seemed to be in good spirits.  Parting words were "Onward to Mexico!"

[Marshal]

ahh I see JB was able to stay on route and is now past/over the Red Rock River crossing, of course maybe he is just a good swimmer

[CathyP]

And it looks like Jefe finally stopped for the night...not sure who's crazier, JB or JS.

[aplummer]

would it not be more accurate to compare the miles covers against the % of elevation covered for the entire route. just a thought.

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.

[Pollyhound]

Another sister of JP Evans here...with a Justin Simoni report!  Yesterday I sent him a donation and I just got a quick thank-you email.  He said all the enthusiastic support is really helping him keep a positive mental attitude, so I wanted to pass that along.  He didn't say why his SPOT hasn't moved in a while, but he said he was about to get some sleep and seemed to be in good spirits.  Parting words were "Onward to Mexico!"

Great to hear!  He's also been on Twitter - sounding very positive. "@justinesimoni BIG THANK YOU for all the donations for food and U.S.E.D. Incredible how much food it takes to ride and recover the TD! http://t.co/6MgLZiO"   "All your excitement while you're following my Tour Divide makes me feel like I can do anything. Thanks for all the positive energy!"

[SimonK]

Got to give it up for Caroline. She's rockin' a 20 day finish projection? Anyone have the women's record handy.

Great site, great race. Been lurking the past few weeks but can't seem to contain my obsession any longer. Go JS. Love the spirit.

Looks like there will be some records set this year, but not for the same course as previous.
Would be interesting to see some stats on the difference in total climbing, distance and technical riding.
Still Banff to Antelope Wells, so still awesome (but different).

[Pelican Peloton]

On Tuesday June 14 between Jefferson City & Basin, my brother Jeff found Matt Porembski on the side of the path with heat stroke.  They got into Basin. Has anybody heard if Matt is ok?  

[SandPine]

Karlos is finally on the NoBo route! Greyhound lost is bike on his trip out there last week. Fortunately, the bike finally made it, but the box with his front wheel did not. But with the help of several generous people in the mtb community across the country, he began his dream ride a short while ago as a ITT NoBo. It should be quite the adventure!  Go Karlos!

Go Naked Indian aka SingleTrack Samurai Karlos....   Hey, what does he have to do to turn from a nobo light blue blimp to a yellow ITT rider?  He did start 4 days after the GC.

[SandPine]

Mining for little diamonds of information ...

NOTE: what I just described is only as accurate as the captured/listed diamond icons.  Many times there are missing diamonds but hey, for armchair quarterbacking it’s good enough.

Now can you show me how we make their SPOT vibrate as in a way of telling them to get going or you going the wrong way... y/k :-)  On my way to become a better TD stalker now... Thank You...

[Cateran]

Howdy all, i'm a mechanic at Glacier cyclery in whitefish mt.  we all enjoy the race each year as it comes through town and love to help out the riders.  Had been wondering what was going to happen with all the snow we still have.  We were all stoked to see justin yesterday afternoon in the shop.  seemed to have an excellent attitude, especially considering his slog through the snow.  wish everyone luck!

[Marshal]

MM/RK and SB (and maybe BC?) all made it over Fleecer late late last night and into Wise River.  Quite impressive!.  Now there is a big pack fighting for that 10th place position

And 1st place NB Paul Attalla was on route by 3:30am--he be racing hard