TD'12 Race Discussion

[Pivvay]

Using a 10000 point GPS track and the cues I never blew a turn more than a couple hundred feet. But you get tired and stop paying attention and it's easy to do.

The climbing and pushing isn't over. Togwotee is coming and every day is full of major climbs or wind unless you get really lucky.

[Pivvay]

From a fatigue perspective, my worst days came south of Salida. I had one sub 100 mile day and one 200 mile one. The rest fell +/-20 from my average really.

[Mauro_N]

Seems like Erick Lobeck hasn't moved in 20 odd hours. Has he suffered with a mechanical?

[caseygreene]

I think someone said yesterday that Erik has some sort of ankle injury

[ridingman1]

Link seems to be broken

Corrected - sorry for the confusion !!

[Woodland]

Picture sent in by TD rider Ryan Correy in Lincoln...

Wow - that is some serious QT with each other!! Do you ever change positions to change things up, or is the rear rider always looking at the others back??

[Pivvay]

Unless the riders are very close to the same size, their positions are their positions. I watched JP and t-race a lot in 2009. Tandem is HARD!

[BigPoppa]

From a fatigue perspective, my worst days came south of Salida. I had one sub 100 mile day and one 200 mile one. The rest fell +/-20 from my average really.

That ain't no joke. The last 1/2 to 1/3 of the course is when the race really heats up. (literally and figuratively!)

[ron]

Thanks Ridingman... I got lost just watching that video!

[AmyL]

TrackLeader question...
I want to filter it so that only SoBo GD Active riders are included.  I can show only NB, I can show only ITT, but I can't figure out how to exclude those two in order to see only SoBo GD racers.  It's not too bad now, since ITT is color coded so I can ignore them and the NoBo group is geographically separated.  But in a few days, when the NoBo and SoBo meet in the middle, it would be great to be able to filter to see only SoBo riders.

Amy

[DenisVTT]

Thanks Ridingman... I got lost just watching that video!

I recognize the place. I changed clothes on the benches! I made it there about 10:30pm at night. Was headed to Lincoln (Nobo).

Re fatigue: i started to gain strength past Steamboat, or about halfway for me. Really started to feel stronger around the Wyoming desert, riding well into the night, which I didn't really do before that. Part of it, as Big Poppa said, is that the race was heating up, I really wanted to catch up the guy in front of me, and I started to sense that I had a chance then.

[ScottM]

TrackLeader question...
I want to filter it so that only SoBo GD Active riders are included.  I can show only NB, I can show only ITT, but I can't figure out how to exclude those two in order to see only SoBo GD racers.  It's not too bad now, since ITT is color coded so I can ignore them and the NoBo group is geographically separated.  But in a few days, when the NoBo and SoBo meet in the middle, it would be great to be able to filter to see only SoBo riders.

Amy

I think last year we had NoBo as teal and maybe a southbound category as well, so you can filter based on them.  I'll figure something out soon by the time the are mixing it up.  Thanks.

[Jilleo]

I'm wondering if some of these riders into Helena are going to start stacking up at Great Divide Cyclery for repairs. In my experience that bike shop wasn't very Tour Divide friendly — they seemed to be more heavily focused on high end road bikes in their inventory, and weren't in a hurry to do anyone favors when I was there. Maybe that's changed, but it seems to me there'd be a strategic advantage to holding off on repairs until the Outdoorsman in Butte. Of course, it's hard to commit to that extra distance if your bike has problems, especially with brakes.

[mcmurv]

Terry's last point is at the Hungry Bear restaurant. Prob trying to get some dinner.

Time for my Hungry Bear story.....Last year, I was riding to Seeley Lake with my Kiwi friend.  The night before, I bought a lot of food at the last resupply stop before Seeley Lake, 100+ miles...thinking it would get me there.  We got about 15 miles down the road and heard these monkeys in the woods. It was DJ and Jake, so we camped with them that night.  I ate a bag of granola that night and thought that a bag of Fig Newtons, 4 King Size Reese Peanut Butter Cups and 4 Nutter Butters (the 4 to a package ones) would get me to Seeley Lake.  That got me about 30 miles and I was out of food and water with about 60 miles to go.  My Kiwi friend had to visit the "office," so I laid down in the middle of the road next to my bike and went to sleep after I finished the fig newtons and my last gulp of water.  

Shortly there after 2 more riders come upon me laying the road and thought I had died or passed out.  One jumped off their bike and starting yelling at me, asking if I was ok.  I was told there is a picture of me like this somewhere, but I have yet to see it.  

Back to the Hungry Bear, it wasn't on the list, but I was so hungry, we rode the mile to the the Hungry Bear and had a massive early lunch of 2 sandwiches, a salad, a bowl of soup and my first piece of Huckleberry pie.  Oh and 4 grilled ham and cheese sandwiches to go.  

[mcmurv]

I'm wondering if some of these riders into Helena are going to start stacking up at Great Divide Cyclery for repairs. In my experience that bike shop wasn't very Tour Divide friendly — they seemed to be more heavily focused on high end road bikes in their inventory, and weren't in a hurry to do anyone favors when I was there. Maybe that's changed, but it seems to me there'd be a strategic advantage to holding off on repairs until the Outdoorsman in Butte. Of course, it's hard to commit to that extra distance if your bike has problems, especially with brakes.

Yea, I stopped in there last year and had a horrible experience or maybe I had lost my sense of humor.  I was having a problem with my forks.  They were saying they would need to send them to Fox and that was their solution.  They were saying there wasn't anything they could do. 

I then grabbed their shock pump and jacked my fork with some extra air, which seemed to fix the problem and I left. 

[ridingman1]

I'm wondering if some of these riders into Helena are going to start stacking up at Great Divide Cyclery for repairs. In my experience that bike shop wasn't very Tour Divide friendly —

I stopped at Big Sky Cyclery in Helena for a few small items and to top off the air in my tires. The guys in their were very friendly and went out of their way to help me. Big Sky Cyclery is the other bike shop in Helena.

Then when I got to The Outdoorsman - the service was so good, I nominated them for Bike Shop of the year for Adventure Cycling.

[JayP]

I'm wondering if some of these riders into Helena are going to start stacking up at Great Divide Cyclery for repairs. In my experience that bike shop wasn't very Tour Divide friendly — they seemed to be more heavily focused on high end road bikes in their inventory, and weren't in a hurry to do anyone favors when I was there. Maybe that's changed, but it seems to me there'd be a strategic advantage to holding off on repairs until the Outdoorsman in Butte. Of course, it's hard to commit to that extra distance if your bike has problems, especially with brakes.

Hate to poo poo a bike shop but I also had a very bad experience there at the Great Divide Cyclery. we pulled in on the tandem and they were not stoked, actually bothered. they wanted to charge me extra for working on it right there, i get the business end, i work a bike shop and if a touring cyclist is coming in we are going to do our best to get them right back out. the other problem was they weren't even busy, then i had to coach them on getting my cable housing correct...blah, blah. i did have an awesome burrito from a killer burrito shop and it was on the house, know that is sweet!!

yes, wait till Outdoorsman...

[mcmurv]

Hate to poo poo a bike shop but I also had a very bad experience there at the Great Divide Cyclery. we pulled in on the tandem and they were not stoked, actually bothered. they wanted to charge me extra for working on it right there, i get the business end, i work a bike shop and if a touring cyclist is coming in we are going to do our best to get them right back out. the other problem was they weren't even busy, then i had to coach them on getting my cable housing correct...blah, blah. i did have an awesome burrito from a killer burrito shop and it was on the house, know that is sweet!!

yes, wait till Outdoorsman...

Ditto, JayP.

[Pdk123]

Looks like Kurt S has finally made his move.  I have been waiting for him to "Go" and am picking him as the one to beat! This guy is tough as nails  . He won the AZT 750 by more than a day. This race is awesome!

[caseygreene]

Here's some pics of the 2 leaders heading thru the 1/8-mile sketchy section below Richmond Peak at around 7am Monday.
We went up on Saturday with ice axes and shovels and wrenched out a small trail. Just as we were finishing, a storm started pounding, and ITTr Warren came through. Went back up Monday morning to check on its condition after all the precip on Saturday night and Sunday. CS and OW ended up catching us at the car's snow line where we were getting ready to head up. Joked around for a few minutes, then they took off. Had to book-it to get there before them.