TD'12 Race Discussion

[mbeardsl]

Big Blue made up a ton of ground yesterday.  The Rohloff is great and is likely giving them some very small gears for the climbing but will be even greater when they get to use gears 11-14 and feel much more efficient putting down some quick miles. 

I'd expect they'd have a great run through the basin in Wyoming and most of NM?  I remember ML saying how impressive/scary it was to see Jay and Tracey make up significant ground on the leaders in certain parts back in 2009.  Those splits WOULD be fun to compare.

[chriskmurray]

didnt even hit the good stuff yet - CLAY - not till after Polaris...

Clay is a riders worst nightmare and a bike shops best friend...  If I get to make a divide run next year that is one thing I am not looking forward to

[Pivvay]

Funny talking about the records JP, I am rooting for someone to break the SS record as well. I hope we have some challengers this year and no major reroutes. It is certainly soft as I could have taken 8 hours easily out of it on the last night alone but I wanted to dodge some storms and save Marni the trouble of picking me up in the middle of the night after her long drive down from CO. Watching every year makes me think about another shot at the overall record. We'll see now that grad school is 19 days from finishing up and I will have a full summer vacation in the future. Some time away from the sport has definitely built some new skills in other areas that I definitely needed.

Then again, the last 450 miles on a singlespeed pretty much suck. haha

[puerzer]

Yes, would like to see the splits of previous record holders times of all classes.
Here's a link to Matt's '09 race as well as  Jay and Craig's '11 ITT runs:   http://trackleaders.com/touritt     (scroll down to Leaderboard).  

[threepin]

at 9:00 am Ollie and Craig passed my driveway, they seemed in Ok spirits, looking for "food and a fire"
said the snow sucked- i imagine that it did not firm up overnight so it would have been softer than normal.

temp about 39 F with light rain

will post a couple of snaps

[Roland Sturm]

temp about 39 F with light rain

I'm with Denis - for an early June Grand Depart, northbound seems a bit more attractive (which, of course, is what we did last year). Don't you locals think of June as a second January anyway?

[mbeardsl]

Funny talking about the records JP, I am rooting for someone to break the SS record as well. I hope we have some challengers this year and no major reroutes. It is certainly soft as I could have taken 8 hours easily out of it on the last night alone but I wanted to dodge some storms and save Marni the trouble of picking me up in the middle of the night after her long drive down from CO. Watching every year makes me think about another shot at the overall record.

Then again, the last 450 miles on a singlespeed pretty much suck. haha

Not likely this year.  I can't tell how quick Dave Nice's pace is with the NoBo stats not reading correctly in Trackleaders, but as for SoBo, the first place SSer so far is Mark Farnsworth.  He changed his outlook from 25 days to 21 days after an early few weeks of great training in NC/VA but it's a long race so not sure how that may change for him.  He toughed out a difficult day yesterday, getting low on supplies about 50 miles out of the US border but still riding until 2am into Eureka.  He is one tough dude and has the mental fortitude to keep going when it has gone way past sucky.  I can't recall what he finanlly decided on for gearing (36x20?) but he can also spin like a roadie so WY/NM may not be so bad for him.

[threepin]

pics

[Pivvay]

I ran 32x17 for gearing (29er) and everything south of Cuba was tough. Spun out city overall. I predicted my finish time in AW within 15 minutes once I hit the lonely highway because I knew exactly what pace I could do on that terrain. Then again didn't Jefe run 32x18 29er last year?

I'll be cheering Mark on!

[threepin]

Don't you locals think of June as a second January anyway?

Yep its called Junuary for a reason- I was told yesterday that that snowfall earlier this week was our top 24hr total for the year at 22 inches

July august and sept are typically perfect however and we rarely get the monsoon moisture

[mbeardsl]

NoBo rider Cjell Money (and Chip Andrus not far behind) has gone a little over 400 miles so far?  Is that right?  The non-dirt reroute certainly helps but with the heat that is impressive for 2 days in.

[ridingman1]

Crazy Larry posted a YouTube video of the group assembling for the start at the YWCA.

http://youtu.be/8h4xPTvguHU

[threepin]

looks like breakfast at Loula's for the boys, well deserved
Eric looks like he will be coming by here soon

[chriskmurray]

Crazy Larry posted a YouTube video of the group assembling for the start at the YWCA.

http://youtu.be/8h4xPTvguHU

there is always one who has to moon the camera...lets hope those good spirits carry on throughout the ride.

[ride MT]

I am also surprised at running the race this early in the year. I live in Montana, and it is a guarantee of snow up high and crap weather in June.  I think south of MT it will be a different story with the ultra low snowpack in CO and elsewhere. We just got a bunch of snow in my area two weeks ago and it is snowing again yesterday and today up high. Earlier this year I asked Mr. Lee about the early start date, and he cited the solstice and long daylight hours as a major reason, and that

"Given a normal winter (i.e one that subsides on schedule, not in late may), snow is not an issue. The past 4 editions of the grand depart suffered unusually late winters and late spring storms."

I would debate that statement. Normal winter in the high country around nearly ALWAYS lasts through May. I think the "unusually late winters" are actually the norm. There is no consistent weather pattern in this part of the country in the spring or fall. It is HIGHLY variable with potential winter conditions. It was snowing at 5000 feet yesterday on my drive into Bozeman! I just worry that someone is going to get hypothermic and have a major problem at some point, specifically someone coming to the race from a warm climate and unprepared for the extreme conditions.

I would have the race in the fall, like September when it is dry and more consistent the whole length of the course.  

But maybe it is part of the plan, hit the rookies with the worst conditions right out of the gate and weed out the folks with less conviction and/or skills early on.

[Pivvay]

The short days of the fall, monsoons in July in CO and heat in the southern half of the course make any start date a compromise. If you want to race with the group, June seems to give people a lot of options though it could bump back a week perhaps. If you want to cherry pick weather, ITT the course and be ready to go when conditions look prime.

[chriskmurray]

The beauty of the tour divide is you can choose to do the race at whatever date you would prefer and still have your time count.

On the worrying about hypothermia, if a rider does not know what it is like to spend all day in the saddle when it is 40 and raining outside, or is not prepared for it, chances are they should not be at the start line quite yet anyways.  I know there are certainly exceptions to this but for the most part, come prepared for anything, over pack if you are unsure of the weather or your ability to handle it and mail stuff back as needed.  You are right though, the only certainty of weather in mountains is that it is not predictable.

[FernieTeam]

Last night we met Eszter in Eureka, she looked cold and tired but still motivated...
This morning we saw John Smith who apparently took a dive in a creek during day 2 and now looking for a hot breakfast.

[ScottM]

Scott M - In the past I know you posted up a split chart with the records, something I use to hate, now I want to see those comparisons. Do you plan to show that at all?

Seem to remember you speaking strongly against SPOT tracking as well.   

Unfortunately the split locations have varied a bit from year to year, so it's a bit trickier than it could be to drop record times in.  But I'll see what I can do in the next few days.

Enjoying the pics and stories here... this is good stuff.

I scratch my head every year about the early June start, too.  GDR always started later (still does, technically), though even a week or two later is still Junuary.

[Pivvay]

The start date strongly represents Matt's feelings about it however the race can realistically start whenever. All it takes is a gentleman's agreement among the racers as to the desired date. While anyone can ITT the route, there are definite advantages to the "race" start. Literal rabbits and chasing wolves instead of just split times plus some company certain ease some of the pain of starting out on the route and increase motivation for many many people.