TD'12 Race Discussion

[Adrienne]

Tori, who did it last year, is a long term close friend.  She departs for round 2 next Tuesday SoBo with some friends after doing it last year more solo.  Started riding later in life, took a little while to pick it up, then was unleashed upon earth with an incomparable drive - solo touring and travel in the blood.  Decided to forgo office life a few years ago in search of more riding, more living life.  Her writeups from last year are neat to match to the areas where people are now, and since she wrote daily, add something gritty that isn't apparent with those blue dots.  Like Craig, has a comedic interpretation of almost everything she sees and everyone she meets in life.  Bottom up from just after Tour d' Afrique finishes (how's that for a double header?): http://www.observatori.ca/2011_06_01_archive.html

I've ridden bikes with Craig for probably near 10 years.  He started with dirt bike racing before discovering a V02... he climbs everything and anything.  At times it's like watching someone twist the throttle on a dirt bike.  I've never really seen it replicated - loose rocks, snow covered off camber wet root steep climbs, frozen ice streams with branches and snow, etc.  Pure power at hand, but dainty in feel to keep the traction.  It's amazing how he never seems to have to dab or dismount.  Ollie's earlier call in about Craig descending like an animal, combined with prior comments about his descending, paint that side of it.

Craig doesn't just ride hard.  He has the patience to mentor people into riding so well.  He's complimentary of anyone who's having a great day, and if discussing his own day, sticks to how fun or cool the trails were over how he finished in front of most other participants.  He donates bike parts selflessly.

He rides lots, and go figure, doesn't seem to fade from it.  We'd go ride in fall/winter/spring and I'd continually get burned by not bringing lights for the way home... the funny part being we'd meet at 9am at a local cycling friendly cafe... cyclocross bikes taken true crosscountry all over the place.  Always wants to add another loop, explore what's "just down this trail I think it branches off to some sweet single track". 

Crazy Larry, whom most of the riders met at the Grand Depart, is another special guy.  What you see now is essentially Larry 2.0 after backtracking from earlier "difficulties" and the tougher side of life.  Perpetually helpful, perpetually friendly, full of energy, caring of others, loves biking, and gives most of his time, effort and money on earth to others.  A bit different, but don't ever let the first chat fool you - world would be a better place with more of him. 

I love all the stories of who do these things... just finishing this thing puts people in a fitness/determination/adventurous section of the population that's very very thinly populated.  Respect to everyone riding...

Thanks for your stories, I loved reading it!

[Pajo 1]

Not to distract anyone from the Rules thread or anything    but I'd love to hear about the riders out on the course, from family, friends, or fans.  Tell us something about your rider, it makes it more fun to follow their dots.  Last year we discovered some interesting things about the riders - unusual occupations, accomplishments in sport (or life) prior to the TD, family ties, motivation for signing up for the TD.  Want to hear about back of the pack, front of the pack, and everyone in between!

Dave Meissner is a friend and as is oft said "An awesome dude" Great family man and all that is good in humanity & humility. He has , like all riders in this great adventure been preparing for this for the last 2 or more years. He has spoken of the  support from his family being the major factor in allowing him to participate in all of this, not to mention the small issue of training.
My common ground with Dave is that I am a fairly avid you could say trail runner and have competed in a handful of trail ultras but about to embark on my first 100 miler in Sep, so we have spent a lot of time talking about nutrition, training and all that goes with it, but the day before he left he asked to do some pacing for/with me in Sep.....What a privilege for me.....Buddy you are somethin' else...We are proud of you here in the Boat.
BTW, he just rolled in slightly north of Steamboat....He called and is in great spirits and feeling great.

[ComoDepot]

I have not been able to keep up with the Posts but Dylan Taylor stopped for Supper and Ryan Correy  knocked on the door at 10.30pm, fed, watered, showered and kit in the washing machine.

I seem to have had a bad year this year, unfortunately the Tour coincide with staff shortage so I have not been able to watch those just passing.

I forgot to mention that we have had Tour Groupies for the first time come up to see the riders passing.

[ComoDepot]

Dylan looking scary.

[ComoDepot]

Dylan looking less scary.

[ComoDepot]

Ryan, with allegedly the first proper opportunity to re hydrate since he started.

[ComoDepot]

Ryan was concerned his bike may be in the way, well if you arrive at 10.30pm and are having Breakfast at 5.30am then there will not be too many people to see!

[Russ Kipp]

Dan H & Cody R spent the night @ Montana High Country Lodge in Polaris.  They took some time to rest and relax watching the NBA Finals.  

[Russ Kipp]

Had to make a business trip to Helena, Montana today so I took my camera along.  I bumped into Jim S. along the Pioneer Mountain Scenic Byway.  Then later in the day as luck would have it when returning from Helena I spotted a TD rider just breaking out into Elk Park between Basin and Butte.  It was Tracy B!  She said she was feeling better and looking forward to increasing her mileage per day.

[RootingforEveryone]

Not to distract anyone from the Rules thread or anything    but I'd love to hear about the riders out on the course, from family, friends, or fans.  Tell us something about your rider, it makes it more fun to follow their dots.  Last year we discovered some interesting things about the riders - unusual occupations, accomplishments in sport (or life) prior to the TD, family ties, motivation for signing up for the TD.  Want to hear about back of the pack, front of the pack, and everyone in between!

Well, Gary Glunt is a co-worker of mine. In the last year, he has gone through an amazing physical transformation. If you look at some of the pictures available on the web, they show him at his "heavy" weight. He's started the biking as he lost the weight. While I do not remember the amount of weight he lost within a year's time, I know it was well over 50 pounds. He is a proud dad & grandpa. I haven't talked to him from when he started the race, but it's my understanding that he took a couple of spills (one that messed his ankle up) & he had to get his bike fixed twice due to the spills. He had to walk the bike for quite a few miles not to mention carrying the bike through the snow at the start. He didn't have shoes that were meant for doing that, so that didn't help much. He is also someone who will help others if needed. While he didn't get very far this go around, he said he was going to do it and followed through - even if he didn't make it to the "finish".

Having not known about this race prior to Gary's participation, I just want to say that it has been a very enjoyable (albeit worrying) experience. The endurance shown by all, the smiles throughout in the pictures, the humorous call-ins, and the emotional call-ins are things I will not forget. I purchased two of the books (volumes 2 & 3) in support of Dave's daughter. In a world where there is all too much negativity, I have enjoyed being a "participant" (even as a 'chair' participant) in this positive event, reading about everyone else, and enjoying the wonderful pictures!!

[Russ Kipp]

We had the first Northbound rider stop in tonight for dinner.  Cjell had a MONSTER day riding from upper Red Rock lake to the Montana High Country Lodge in Polaris.  He rode up to the lodge doing a wheel stand.  Cjell took a shower, had dinner, did a load of laundry, checked the internet and was off for Wise River.  I'm not sure the mileage but my guess is he will be pressing 200 when he gets to Wise River.  

[RootingforEveryone]

I guess I will weigh in on Cjell Money, the Manalope, one of the few northbounders.  I'm his mom.

suezim: I loved reading your post!! I would say that you have done an excellent job in your son. :-) Congratulations on the newest addition to your family as well! I, too, hope there are people cheering him on when he hits his "end" point. One question for you - is he flying back to Minnesota or going to ride back to see his new niece/nephew?

[daleorth]

Anyone know what happened with Adam?  He went backwards to the highway.  Pretty desolate around there, but there is support back at Sargents, but probably no bike help if that is the issue.

[justwant peace]

People have been discussing the rules a lot.  I was wondering if there was a violation of the rules when Brett Stepanik mentioned in his call on 6/19 that he picked up a care package from his wife.

[SimonK]

Not to gross anyone out (though I am sure we have all seen much worse) but I'm just curious if anyone has dealt with this kind of blister-ish thing on their big toe while on the TD or other race of this nature. This is my rider's foot (Ryan Correy) and believe it or not, this is the source of most of the pain he is experiencing right now. Apparently when Ryan intersected Josh S. yesterday, Josh had the same thing, in the same spot. It's obviously a blister of some sort, but he mentioned it starting to look bruised. I'm wondering if there is something he could do to manage the pain better, as he can't put any pressure on it without a lot of pain. Pull up more on each pedal stroke? He's trying to make it to the B&B in Como tonight, but his feet are really bothering him (doesn't help that he has pre-existing foot injuries!)

 Vamtns, I'm sure this isn't the kind of stuff you were interested in learning about the TD riders, sorry! More in tune with what you are asking, here is a bit about Ryan. His very first tour was across Canada with his father when he was 13, and since then, has several races/tours under his belt (as mentioned in a previous post.. I'm a proud girlfriend, can't help it!). His motivation behind TD was to get back to his "touring roots". I think he found the solo, self-supported aspect of this race particularly alluring. It seems he was drawn to the challenge of a truly solo adventure.

Ouch!

Quick fix to relieve pressure would be to chop off the top of the toe area of the shoe.

If you can't bear to do that, check that the big toe nail doesn't need trimming. Also, if the shoe has an inner-sole, chop out the part beneath the blister. [sorry if these suggestions have been given already].

[Jason_G]

So cool that you guys like hearing from Mark.  He is hilarious and always has been a constant source of amusement.  Road trips to races... I could tell some stories.

Even though he is a "rookie", efforts like the GDR are familiar to him.  He has trouble with the gear choices and strategy though.  I am not surprised at all that he is doing this well.  We did our first full century when he was 12 and I was 13.  Some how I kept up with him.  We also did a lot of Jr. racing.  We called him the Farnz for the scenes he would make(kind of like the Fonz).

Mark listened to the call-ins last year and heard a lot of complaining from the riders.  He didn't like that they were venting this way.  Believe me, he is hurting and has some health issues to deal with on the GDR.  But not too bad.  You probably won't hear any of it on the call-ins though.

I guess I'm acting as a "remote director sportif" for him this year.  Go Farnz!  

[suezim]

rootingforgary
Cjell isn't planning to come to Minn. until July for a wedding of a friend and then he'll get to see his new nephew (yup, we know it's a boy).
His transportation back to Vail depends on if his girlfriend makes it up to Banff.  He may be biking part of the way.

[soride]

Dylan looking less scary.

 
David - Obviously the Depot does wonders for the riders - thanks for the before and after como depot pics of Dylan! Of course he's my guy and I'm tracking him and all the racers this year from the Republic of Congo. He was infected with the divide when he breakfasted with a TD rider coming through Whitefish in 2009 and is on track to finish sub 20 this year. He rode BMX as a kid and his first bike tour ever was a trans-am ride right out of college. Last year his spring training was less than ideal for TD#1 as we moved to Vancouver Island from Bozeman via Virginia (Crozet). For TD#2 he put in an incredible amount of basement trainer hours as he worked a wolverine research field crew, but the island provided it's share of snow slogging, black bears, and new TD friends (Go Porcelain Rocket!).

Dylan's never been a cat1/2 level racer but he's found a happy groove and talent with this challenge and occupied himself off bike by finding news ways to strategically reduce kit weight - he cut out all his clothing tags and gleefully measured out the savings down to the gram. Then we extrapolated a study to show 2lbs translated into 30 min over the 2,700+ miles and concluded it was more mental than practical.

In addition to adding my shout out to all the riders, I'd like to give props to the Como Depot, Brush Mountain Lodge, Montana High Country Lodge, and all the other special support stops along the TD that take care of these racers, our friends and family members, at all hours, above and beyond a room or a meal.

[hruss]

I really like the info about the different riders in the race. It's neat to kind of know something about them as your following along from home. I am really hoping to be there next year. Have been worrying about the bike I plan to use, a KHS Team carbon 29er hardtail., it's the one I have and can't afford another one. Bad choice or ok? Any opinions? Good luck to everyone still riding!

[SimonK]

I really like the info about the different riders in the race. It's neat to kind of know something about them as your following along from home. I am really hoping to be there next year. Have been worrying about the bike I plan to use, a KHS Team carbon 29er hardtail., it's the one I have and can't afford another one. Bad choice or ok? Any opinions? Good luck to everyone still riding!

Pretty much any light 29er is a great choice.