TD'12 Race Discussion

[spcabin75]

Tracy P  Congratulations!! The women have been rocking the course.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Thanks goes out to Aaron of Salida and his wonderful family for the ride from A.Wells back to Salida! An incredible act of kindness!

[fahrenbd]

Update on Tyson Fahrenbruck, he went through rain and hail today for about 40+ miles, took a long time as it was so cold and of course, he shipped his warm clothing home:-(

Congrats to all the finishers today.  I love what Serge said too and it made it seem as special as it must have been.  Stay safe to all the riders still riding.

I was wondering what happened to this site as it was unavailable to us all day, wondering where everyone was!!

Take care,
Diana

[mtbcast]

There are several new calls up on MTBCast that I couldn't post here earlier. Tracey P's final call and others.

[mtbcast]

Joe Polk... I don't know how you were able to transcribe all MTBCast calls back in the day!  I thought I'd give it a try with Serge Chiasson's final call...

Well I didn't. We had some folks who were gracious enough to do it. Not easy, though, is it!? :p

[RonDog]

Tracy P  Congratulations!! The women have been rocking the course.

It probably wasn't the race you wanted but I'd say you definitely rocked it. Your call ins always were upbeat even when dealing with adversity. I for one admired how you just dealt with it and keep rolling along. And you still came in under Jill's old record time. Congrads again.

[RootingforEveryone]

Congratulations to all who finished today!! I have to tell you, being an addicted blue spot stalker wasn't easy today when I couldn't get on to "check" on everyone!!! Whew... hope everyone is doing ok! Ryan's Mom - thanks for the updates! Hope he's doing ok!

[ScottM]

This thread and site seem to be back after an all day absence.  The Trackleaders page also.  Seems to be a result of a change in the servers.  Great to be back seeing things.  Hopefully Trackleaders will soon follow!

Yep, sorry folks, we had to migrate to better hardware and the downtime was much longer than our host advertised.  Did not expect an all day outage.  Unfortunately both bp.net and tl.com are on the same server, so if one is down, so is the other. Thanks for the patience.

Gotta say "way to go Max."  Congrats on wrapping it up in AW!

[AmyL]

Prentice Campbell is riding the (non-alternate) dirt route between Cuba and Grants!  That's beautiful country, but slow going on roads that are often rutted and/or sandy.  He missed a turn near Ojo Frio Spring, but backtracked and regained the course - lost about 90 minutes.  As I write this, he's exactly 60 miles into the 120 mile stretch from Cuba to Grants, 1 mile before the Rincon Grande Tank where there is good campsite and probably water.  His speed for the past hour has been 3-5 mph, but I remember that crummy stretch of road, and the ACA map says "Road surface deteriorates; some severe erosional problems over the next few miles."

I'm always interested in folks who come from overseas, so I've been watching Jon Cox's dot move south.  But his SPOT data is a few days old now, maybe a dead battery or his SPOT tracker failed.  He hasn't been calling in, and his friends and family haven't chimed in here, so for me he remains the mysterious British Paratrooper with a beautiful red dog and a Rohloff hub.

Updating the overall status of the SoBo Grand Departers.
5 finished with MPD >150
9 finished with MPD between 125 and 150
11 have already finished with MPD between 100 and 125
10 more are staged to comfortably finish with MPD between 100 and 125.
7 more are right on the edge of making it to Antelope Wells by Thursday evening to squeak in with 100 MPD averages.  (GL, JC, EM, MC, JH, RW, SD [assumes JC is progressing even though his dot isn't moving]).  I'm rooting for you all!!!  Hoping for tailwinds, no mud, no mechanicals, and good health.
18 more riders are still mightily moving south!

Curious about the scratch pattern.  Sometimes there's no call-in clarifying when the rider decided to stop racing, in those cases I've read between the dots to make a guess the date.  I think this is a pretty close approximation:
1 scratch on June 9
4 scratch on June 10
4 scratch on June 11
2 scratch on June 12
1 scratch on June 13
3 scratch on June 14
3 scratch on June 15
0 scratch on June 16, 17
3 scratch on June 18
3 scratch on June 19
3 scratch on June 20
1 scratch on June 21
0 scratch on June 22
1 scratch on June 23
2 scratch on June 24
0 scratch on June 25
1 scratch on June 26
0 scratch on June 27
1 scratch on June 28
0 scratch on June 29, 30, July 1
1 scratch on July 2

[Jilleo]

AmyL: I've enjoyed your detailed race analysis. The numbers are interesting. Just this evening, I was researching touring routes in Northern California and came across this: http://northwestcalloop.blogspot.com. I'm assuming this is yours; I recognized the avatar photo. I did a short tour near the Lost Coast last week and am intrigued by the idea of trying something longer in that region. Thanks for posting all the info.

Also, I missed the last week of Spot dot stalking, but I wanted to offer my own congrats to all the amazing ladies in this year's Tour Divide. The sheer speed of the leaders and never-quit attitude of others is inspiring.

[phil_rad]

Prentice Campbell is also pushing a very big gear; 60 gear inches is what he said, what is that? 38-16 on a 29er?! I saw him on Whitefish Divide, He was literally standing on the pedals riding up that hill! He talked about switching to a smaller one, I wonder if he did? Anyways, another amazing person out there toughing it out. Hats off to you bro for tackling the original route and not taking the easier alternative! 

[Herbert]

Prentice Campbell is riding the (non-alternate) dirt route between Cuba and Grants!  That's beautiful country, but slow going on roads that are often rutted and/or sandy.  He missed a turn near Ojo Frio Spring, but backtracked and regained the course - lost about 90 minutes.  As I write this, he's exactly 60 miles into the 120 mile stretch from Cuba to Grants, 1 mile before the Rincon Grande Tank where there is good campsite and probably water.  His speed for the past hour has been 3-5 mph, but I remember that crummy stretch of road, and the ACA map says "Road surface deteriorates; some severe erosional problems over the next few miles."

I'm always interested in folks who come from overseas, so I've been watching Jon Cox's dot move south.  But his SPOT data is a few days old now, maybe a dead battery or his SPOT tracker failed.  He hasn't been calling in, and his friends and family haven't chimed in here, so for me he remains the mysterious British Paratrooper with a beautiful red dog and a Rohloff hub.

Updating the overall status of the SoBo Grand Departers.
5 finished with MPD >150
9 finished with MPD between 125 and 150
11 have already finished with MPD between 100 and 125
10 more are staged to comfortably finish with MPD between 100 and 125.
7 more are right on the edge of making it to Antelope Wells by Thursday evening to squeak in with 100 MPD averages.  (GL, JC, EM, MC, JH, RW, SD [assumes JC is progressing even though his dot isn't moving]).  I'm rooting for you all!!!  Hoping for tailwinds, no mud, no mechanicals, and good health.
18 more riders are still mightily moving south!

Curious about the scratch pattern.  Sometimes there's no call-in clarifying when the rider decided to stop racing, in those cases I've read between the dots to make a guess the date.  I think this is a pretty close approximation:
1 scratch on June 9
4 scratch on June 10
4 scratch on June 11
2 scratch on June 12
1 scratch on June 13
3 scratch on June 14
3 scratch on June 15
0 scratch on June 16, 17
3 scratch on June 18
3 scratch on June 19
3 scratch on June 20
1 scratch on June 21
0 scratch on June 22
1 scratch on June 23
2 scratch on June 24
0 scratch on June 25
1 scratch on June 26
0 scratch on June 27
1 scratch on June 28
0 scratch on June 29, 30, July 1
1 scratch on July 2

Hi There. I know Jon - lives in the same town as me - Wivenhoe, Essex UK.  I've been following his spot - it stopped previously for a day or two just before he entered Colorado so maybe he's got a problem with his tracker.  I'll try to get in touch with his wife to see if she's heard from him.  His dog is indeed beautiful if a little young and manic!

[sdrffpp]

Sara D informed me that the official race cue sheet instructed her to take the route Prentiss is now taking out of Cuba, though the redline on her gps directed her to the Chaco Alternate route.  She looked back through all of her pre-race briefing materials and found nothing about the Chaco Alternate.  Needless to say, she was thrilled when she realized that was an alternate.  It's unfortunate Prentiss went with the cue sheet, instead.

[phil_rad]

Sara D informed me that the official race cue sheet instructed her to take the route Prentiss is now taking out of Cuba, though the redline on her gps directed her to the Chaco Alternate route.  She looked back through all of her pre-race briefing materials and found nothing about the Chaco Alternate.  Needless to say, she was thrilled when she realized that was an alternate.  It's unfortunate Prentiss went with the cue sheet, instead.

Unfortunate? Maybe he wanted to do the whole route with no alternatives. It's slower and harder but certainly more beautiful and remote. He's seeing country that none of the other racers will.

[krefs]

Sara D informed me that the official race cue sheet instructed her to take the route Prentiss is now taking out of Cuba, though the redline on her gps directed her to the Chaco Alternate route.  She looked back through all of her pre-race briefing materials and found nothing about the Chaco Alternate.  Needless to say, she was thrilled when she realized that was an alternate.  It's unfortunate Prentiss went with the cue sheet, instead.

Caroline and I carried along the NM map this year because I wanted to ride the non-paved sections between Cuba and Pie Town. We ended up skipping them since we were fried and Caroline was sick, but I'm a bit envious of Prentiss. We're probably going to head back there at some point and ride these sections as a loop just to see them!

As for knowing which way is TD legal to take, the rules on the website (Rule 3) and the pre-race email that Matthew sent out very clearly specify the options. There really shouldn't be any confusion on these. It was also unfortunate to see that a few riders missed Gold Dust and/or the Sapillo CDT segment.

[Ofan]

ZK and JP are closed to the finish line

They ride for more than 24 hours without any proper rest
Braves guys
ZK is the first Israeli to finish the TD ever. He made TD familiar for us Israeli MTBs.
Expect the Israeli invasion in the coming years.

A lot of respect to all those rider that start and try this huge challenge. 
 
 
 

[AdamHale]

Prentiss is the man.  He also crossed all of the snowy passes in his Chuck Taylors.  Badass.

I bailed from the route at the WY/CO line after moving slow for the first bit due to some bad saddle sores, and then getting brutalized by the hot, dry winds in Montana and Wyoming.  Ran out of time and money, just tried to take it easy and enjoy the last few days on the route.

I was really glad to be able to ride with many of you, and I would like to congratulate you all on your efforts.  This course is a truly amazing test, and dropping out this year makes me want to come back and complete it in 2014, especially if I can forget how much I enjoyed Wyoming...

It has also got me to thinking that the Pacific Northwest is a great place to organize a similar Grand Tour.  I am imagining a great loop through BC, Washington and Oregon.  Both sides of the Cascades, the Olympic Peninsula, Vancouver Island, miles of dirt roads and choice singletrack.  If anyone is interested in that sort of thing, look me up!  Also, come on out for a ride!  I can offer some excellent camping and can recommend some very nice places to ride a bike.

Best of luck to everyone still out there, congrats to the finishers, and a heartfelt GET IT TOGETHER to all the other drop-outs!

Adam Hale

[mgasman]

Tom and Nathan will finish by dusk. He probably planned it for the best pictures!  His wife is hunkered down in Lordsberg waiting for his word to move out for the finish.  A cooler day down there today with storms forcasted for the next few days.

Zohar is finished.     He rode with TT and NM for a few days early on but pulled ahead by a day on the route.  I have been tracking Toms neighbors and I am also wondering about John Cox.  Thanks Herbert for sharing your information.

Here is a picture of Zohar from the Grasshopper Valley - posted earlier.  Congratulations!

[Georg66]

ZK and JP are closed to the finish line

They ride for more than 24 hours without any proper rest
Braves guys
ZK is the first Israeli to finish the TD ever. He made TD familiar for us Israeli MTBs.
Expect the Israeli invasion in the coming years.

A lot of respect to all those rider that start and try this huge challenge. 
 

Great, Zohar and John, watching you finishing. Both are very nice guys, I spent some time in Banff with them before the race and we had a lot of fun.
Now you are both "well done". Congratulations!!
Georg

[phil_rad]

Prentiss is the man.  He also crossed all of the snowy passes in his Chuck Taylors.  Badass.

Amen!

Adam, you're not a drop out; most probably don't know that you rode from Olympia WA to Banff before the race, so count in those 850 or so miles to your ride. Puts your total almost as much as the entire TDR route.

It was good riding with you for a few miles in Montana.

Phil