TD 2016 scratch club

[seabiscuit]

Hey fellow td'ers... I'd love to hear the story of how you almost finished. Sincerely interested, and I expect to post my story here soon enough. It's great to hear the drama, and will also help us all learn from each other. Hope this isn't a double post.

Dave Reeck/seabiscuit/the postmaster live from Lima

[seabiscuit]

Not the most popular topic, I see, but I still think this will be valuable.
I'll start:
  - I scratched 28 days after the Grand Depart. The main reason for leaving was because my time was up - I'd negotiated 30 days away from my family (Wife and kids), and Steamboat was the most reasonable location to leave from. I could have ridden on for a couple more days but Steamboat seemed like the right spot. I would have preferred to get to Salida (spanish for 'exit') for story telling purposes but life doesn't always work out that way.
 - Other issues
   - My derailure hanger was cracked, and I was running only 10 gears from Whitefish down to Colorado. Getting a replacement was hard because I have a small manufacturer bike (Jones). Lesson learned: if you've got unique gear, bring backups! (I did bring a backup D. hanger, but that one was already cracked). Also: consider bringing some jbweld.
   - it's hard (for me)  to recover momentum from early mechanical issues. Lesson learned: when you're knocked off track, you don't just need to repair the mechanical issue, you need to repair your mindset as well. Don't give in to 'oh well, screwed that pooch' thinking.
   - Mornings were hard for me, and I spent way too much time procrastinating. Figure out what's hard for you and make a plan to deal with it ("I've got 1 hr to get going in the morning").

Anybody else? Bueller?

[Mojomondo]

Randy Neill Longmont Colorado
I was always a scratch with a time limit. My vacation goal was to make silverthorne however rookie issues and external factors ended my ride in Helena.
I was planning to do what I term as a Sandwich of the GDMTBR - Banff to Silverthorne then later Antelope Wells to Silverthorne.
The first day was really challenging with the cold relentless rain and it left me very wet and tired at Bolton campground. Lesson to the wise - waterproof your bags and invest in the best rain gear. lesson 2 study the maps everyday and stretch for daily mileage goals or destinations. Lesson 3 enjoy opportunities to ride with another person that can provide two way motivation.
Sometimes the solo days were good and sometimes the solo days were fraught with uncertainty and doubt.
Lesson 4 - I should have attended to my left Achilles soreness more diligently as by Seeley Lake I had a very weak ankle.
I know this sounds like a lot but I learned invaluable methods to help me next year yes next year!

I learned to pedal softer on long inclines and I became a better peak climber. The trail is amazing and I became very much in tune with forests and less afraid of the wild creatures though I never let my guard down.
I loved the riders although one was a complainer - note to be gentle and kind - I just put miles between me and that attitude.😎
I was full and of gratitude for town's folks and trail Angels.

Lastly I appreciate my ultra bikepacking community and the people who are our fans.

I want to ride my bicycle until I die and I want to go to Heaven and praise my Creator and ride my bike there also.

[kato]

Interesting topic seabiscuit.  I'm 1 for 3 in this race.  Guess one more go might get me back to a 50/50 finish/scratch ratio.

Day 2 - I was headed up Grave Creek road just outside of Eureka Montana.  I was eating a tasty burrito I had procured at a gas station about an hour before.  I was on the paved section of the climb getting near to where it changes to dirt.  I had just come around a corner and was on a straight stretch of the road.  I looked down to my right at Grave Creek far below wondering if the fishing was any good down there.  Ahead of me a white, full-size Ford truck with a black bull bar on the front came down the road.  The truck veered directly at me, I could hear the truck accelerate a bit as it did so.  The road on that stretch is good pavement, I was on my side of the road, maybe 3 feet from the edge.  It was morning, a bit overcast as I recall, good light but not shining in the eyes of the driver.  I believe I saw the driver looking at me and swerve to my side of the road.  I had no option but to head off the roadway to my right.  There is no shoulder there.  It is a rather steep drop to the creek below.  The hillside is built up near the roadway with large rocks to prevent erosion.  I went off into the rocks and attempted to not fall down the canyon.  My left foot became somewhat wedged in the rocks and I was able to hold the bike upright but my leg twisted quite severely around the knee.  I then slowly fell to my right side, head downhill, bike above me. I could hear the truck accelerate away.  I was able to get back to the road quickly and got back on the bike after turning on my phone, no service.  Pain to my left knee immediately set in and I tried to take it easy so as to rest it a bit.  Problem on the Divide at race pace is there isn't much recovery.  By Butte it was pretty evident I was done.  I could barely pedal at 10mph with a tailwind on the flats.  About a week after dropping out I was able to walk OK and 3 weeks later I was able to get back on the bike and pedal OK.
I'd have been fine if dropping out came at my terms or by my own fault.  Trying so hard I ruined my body or crashing due to my own misjudgment would have been fine with me.  This incident really has me wanting another go at the Divide.  I do think the driver was purposely trying to run me down.  Why, I'll never know.  My garishly orangish helmet made it nearly impossible not to see me and I was on my side of the road well to the edge.  There is no phone service there so I can't imagine the driver was texting.  A year of prep down the drains due to the actions of another person.  Yes, it makes me angry.  I felt like I was in the best shape of my adult life.  My kit and bike were prime and my mind was in a great place.  I really wanted this to be my last go at racing the Divide so I could focus on a few other items in life and perhaps some other races.  For now, the road of recovery and the thought of getting another finish in will occupy me.

[Mojomondo]

Kati
That is an unfortunate occurrence and we know  there are cruel people out there - it is sad our world has it _ thankful that you are ok and wish to see you next time with more angels of protection

[sheilar]

Also 1 for 3.
Right knee pain day 2 and only got worse.   Still not on the bike at 4 weeks.  See ortho tomorrow.  #bikegatheringdust

[cloudrider]

As the elder member of this years Tour Divide, at age 69, I feel some duty to contribute to the discussion on ‘how to’ prepare and ‘race’ the Tour Divide. This year was my second start [previous in 2014] and I again failed to complete the distance. So for me it’s TD 2 Me 0. This bothers me not.

In the context of this discussion, ‘helpful and useless ideas on how to complete the Tour Divide’, I can give you some insight into the process of preparing and racing as a senior racer. You will all get there one day [age 69] if you hang in long enough but my secret tip is …. don’t wait till then, do it now, the older you get the harder it will get!! First up i’ll disabuse you of the notion that you get smarter as you get older so a few more years of maturity will be good value for you… I’ve had remarkable success at making dumb arse mistakes well into my 60’s and continued right through to TD16.

Prime requirement as a senior racer is to be delusional as to your capacity to achieve the distance to Antelope Wells. I’m a champion couch surfer and with a lifetime history of delusional ideas/behaviour so adding my name to the TD start list spreadsheet was the least demanding task of the entire ride.

The fundamentals of getting to AW fast, are to ride fast… I came to this irrefutable conclusion in 2014 after riding very slow for almost 3000k. This is not rocket science but, with little wriggle room at age 69, things had to change! If I ditched some gear, weight, got fitter/faster ….  then AW was an achievable goal.

Gear changes following TD14 included eliminating my sleeping bag, matt, thud-buster seat post [for a carbon post] 3 litre bladder and lightweight race backpack, dynamo hub, K Lite1000, Sinewave USB hub, top-cap switch and stand-light. The dynamo setup was all but useless for my leg power other than descents or road surfaces that allowed 15kph+ speeds. How much night riding are you going to do? How fast can you ride at night over slow cobbled/washboard road conditions that pin you back to 6-8kph or climb 3-6+% at a similar pace for 2-3-4 hours? Spending $6-700 on this gear and lacing up a front wheel hub is a complete waste of money unless you plan on riding endless night hours and believe you have the leg watts to push this gear to generate enough power to light up a christmas tree.

The other major change to my riding setup was the adoption of a very mid-sole cleat position. For the past 12 months i’ve re-drilled my cleats 1.5cm further back than the max rear position on the standard cleat slide and dropped my seat post probably a good 3cm. All of this is in the interests of activating my glutes in particular but also getting the hams and quads to work more efficiently for ultra endurance riding and climbing in particular. I believe this has played a significant part in my capacity to ride comfortably for 20-30 hours and achieve significant fatigue reduction and post ride recovery. For more information, Google bike-fitter Steve Hogg and watch some of his discussions on YouTube. He has a very generous amount of free information available and in my view it makes a lot of sense for the style of multi-day endurance riding we do. I’ve not had a single joint, tendon, muscle issue over thousands of kilometres of riding and attribute this to the logic that Steve Hogg articulates.

You may have not realised yet but your major challenge to speed on bike as you age becomes, your lactate threshold …. fast as you may want to pedal, the limits of your speed are going to be determined by your capacity to push oxygen through your heart. With a heart rate around 150-160bpm your lactate threshold is going to be down in the 130’s…… try riding for 14-16-18 hours just under this level and see how your aerobic systems work. We’re all different, you may be super efficient and do this like a 40 year old.  Figure this out before you start. Don’t delude yourself with 3-6 hour rides.

After six months of long slow multi day base riding I did a two month high intensity [HI] rep and tempo training program [Today’s Plan] leading into the 3000k Tour Aotearoa [TA] in NZ in February. I was off alcohol for three months. I was fit [for a 60yo] but concluded post race that in spite of my hugely impressive [well I was impressed] training program, absence of alcohol and lightweight rig that the ageing process was accelerating in direct opposite proportion to the gains I was making in health and fitness i.e.; I was still dead slow on a bike!  I announced I would not attempt the TD again.

A few weeks passed and with the resumption of alcohol and an equally helpful dose of ‘bikepacking amnesia’ [attributed to Neil Beltchenko] I concluded that I needed some serious longer tempo hours in the saddle and success in the TD was possible. Load the bike up and go for 14-16-18 hours … and do it again the next day. Put away 200k with 2-3,000Vm, throw in a bit of shit weather some 60kph head winds and suck it up. I did all this and was happy.

The offset to lugging around wads of sleeping kit was to hit a bed each night. Warmth, shower, sleep, light/power … better recovery, easy! My total dry bike weight was 13.7kg, I just had to crank it each day [light & fast] to carve out 200-250k and the result would fall into place……. sure there were some longer legs, particularly down south and I had my SOL Emergency Bivvy to catch a few hours of sleep on those longer legs to get me through when a bed didn’t fit the ride agenda……. never imagined I’d have it out at 3:00am on day two under a tree in the rain, but there you go, make plans and mix with custard.

Switching from dreamtime to realtime in Banff was quite painless. And so at 8:00am on Friday 10 June we were all off on our way, each with a common purpose but different strategy and eta. I can report that my cavalier plan was more miss than hit! Well before Del Norte my final retirement stop, I had arrived at my previous irrefutable conclusion that ’speed’ was of the essence and it was in desperate short supply for me!  Add to that, inconsiderate motel owners who won’t get out of bed at 3:00am, summer holiday tourists booking the only cabins on route, my phone having a terminal fail after two hours [with months of prep notes, food, accommodation options] and life on a slow bike becomes seriously compromised.

Oh well back to the couch …… I’ll drink to that!

Steve Watson

[bakerjw]

Well, I didn't ride out with the grand depart but rather a week later. I wanted to experience the route while still putting in good mileage each day and to see what I was capable of doing. I proved to myself that I can do 100+ mile days which was the best thing that I came away with on the ride.

I banged a knee on day 2 before Sparwood. I continued on with no discomfort and everything felt great. When I stopped in Sparwood and took my first step, it became apparent that something was not quite right. I ran into the guy who I had left Banff with the day before and he was doing the Fernie alternate. I opted for that as well so that I could get to Eureka, get a room and give the knee some down time.

The knee did give me some grief going over Whitefish Divide. I was aware that was where Josh had gotten run off the road, but vehicles were nonexistent. The knee was fine on Red Meadow Lake pass, but another problem surfaced.

What got me though was my backside. Not a saddle sore, but a heat rash? in an area that makes sitting on a saddle impossible. My saddle was comfortable for 8 hours but once I was on it past 10 hours, things turned bad. Interestingly, most cyclists rarely sit on their saddle for more than 6 hours. In a search for a new saddle, I am trying a Selle Anatomica which so far is looking very good.

My legs felt great every day. I still huffed and puffed in the higher elevation. My knee was manageable. But I just couldn't sit on the saddle any more. It was disheartening.

[krefs]

Also 1 for 3.
Right knee pain day 2 and only got worse.   Still not on the bike at 4 weeks.  See ortho tomorrow.  #bikegatheringdust

Sheila, what have you learned about your knee? It's interesting to hear that the pain started up on the second day (so soon!) after all your training. Had you had any problems with that knee in the past?

[sheilar]

Sheila, what have you learned about your knee? It's interesting to hear that the pain started up on the second day (so soon!) after all your training. Had you had any problems with that knee in the past?

No lie - after all that training!  My only clue as to why so soon is that my saddle slipped down a bit.  Not much (1/16) but maybe enough?  Who knows.  I rested for a week then started  ART, rolling, stretching.... a month out now and not really much better.   Can't ride at all without pain (patellar).  Saw my ortho Friday who said a lot of words - the take away was off the bike for about another month and keep doing what I'm doing. 
Thank goodness for house projects and a small fleet of race canoes. 

[dp]

Alright, here's my post TD ride report. I made it as far as Holland Lake. By then, knee and ankle pain, as well as an overwhelming lack of experience, did me in. Still, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything!

Enjoy!

http://davidjamesphillips.blogspot.com/2016/07/2016-tour-divide-recap.html

-dp