Tour Divide 2010

[fneilsimms]

A chilly night (around 30 degree F forecasted low in Island Park) - many of the frontrunners appear to be roughing it tonite. Hope they're equipped for it...

[krefs]

A chilly night (around 30 degree F forecasted low in Island Park) - many of the frontrunners appear to be roughing it tonite. Hope they're equipped for it...

30 should be tolerable for most of them.  With a bivy, 40 degree bag, dry socks, and hopefully an extra insulating layer, it's amazingly easy to sleep for 4-5 hours even when chilled after as many long days in the saddle as they've had.  That being said, there are a couple places between Lima and Red Rocks Pass at the ID border where riders might be able to find a little shelter, and east of the pass, the course gets a bit more developed before Big Springs.

[teamfaeth]

Pete Faeth called me a few minutes ago. He sounds great and he said his body feels good. He isn't sore at all. He did go by the bike shop in Butte and he has a broken spoke. Other than that..looking forward to some long hard rides coming up when the weather clears. Go Petey! We miss you!! All Pete Spot Dot followers better rest up tonight. We will need it for the upcoming days if all goes well..sleep well. C

[DoctorRad]

Hmmm, What if you carry the gear with you and change it yourself? Or have a rear wheel with a gear on each side you can rotate.

I remember at least one European singlespeed race series where you weren't even allow to change ratio between races, you had to do the whole series on the same gear. Changing ratios is against the ethics of the singlespeed ideal. And two rear cogs = two gears, so not a singlespeed.

[DiDaDunlop]

wow, really a hard race this year. Nice to see some pictures besides the dots on the leaderboard..

Meh in my opinion singlespeed is nog being able to change gears on the bike. So dinge et al is singlespeed for me. But thats a whole other discussion..

Hopefully the weather will clear up a bit because it looks horrendous.

[fneilsimms]

Looks like Erik is about to pass Eric - will they ride together?

Matthew and Blaine appear to be sleeping in after their late-nighter's (assuming Blaine has stopped, and turned off his SPOT - but maybe he's gone stealth too!).

[Maelgwn]

Looks like Erik is about to pass Eric - will they ride together?

Matthew and Blaine appear to be sleeping in after their late-nighter's (assuming Blaine has stopped, and turned off his SPOT - but maybe he's gone stealth too!).

Matthew's started moving now (about an hour ago - might have forgotten to reset his SPOT, 24 hours since thursday mornings start?), barely counts as a sleep in in my book!

Erik had a super early night last night, so looks like he started 3 am ish.

[DoctorRad]

Looks like Erik is about to pass Eric - will they ride together?

Nope... Erik's up into third place now, Friday's racing has started 

[bruce.b]

Matt looks pretty good in that picture. He must have hosed off in Lima and the mud has been reasonable today. I'm guessing he's eating at Sawtell and he'll move on shortly. There is a hotel there that's not tooooo expensive but I bet Matt will keep moving tonight unless he knows something about the course ahead that will benefit waiting. He doesn't like to stop early for any reason.

Blaine is moving on as well, nice work! He'll know what's up ahead as a vet and has probably got a plan for the next couple days in his head. We'll see if he tries to catch Matt.

SS minutia ---

Changing gears is a no-no and Jon knows this hence getting all fixed up before the race. Any change is just a really inefficient shift. As to faster or not? In much of the climby divide terrain it's pretty good. Near the end it starts to be a disadvantage with the long road detours and then the final run into the finish beyond Silver City. A SS in the lead over a gearie would be hard pressed to hold a small lead without favorable weather (headwind).

Only 4 racers have ever finished on a SS. Kent, Jenn, Nathan Bay (25+ days so GDR was "over time") and myself. For a fit true multiday racer, I'm certainly convinced it's not much if any of a disadvantage over most good climbing courses but for most people the SS is an added challenge on top of the already very large GDMBR challenge. When it's muddy it sure is nice! You can still break the chain with enough of the really bad mud but if you're careful you should be okay. Drivetrain refreshes are cheaper at least and a Surly SS cog will go the whole race easily so that leaves a chain and cog in Steamboat/Salida (~$40 retail). I also went the whole race on the chain lube I carried from the start which was two small bottles (4oz?). I think I went 300+ miles without a relube near the end, partially just to see how far it would go before it started to squeek. My already old chain tensioner rattled itself to death by Pie Town and the horizontal drop out/QR combo finished up without issue anyway.

As to a fully legit fixie racer (no offense intended to Deanna but her time doesn't really push the boundaries of racing all course deviations aside) I would love to see it. It's certainly possible but their ass better be iron As for me, I'm all for coasting for the foreseeable future.

    Thanks for the TD first hand experience SS comments Chris and others. It's pretty amazing that you can snap your chain on a singlespeed in the mud on the TD course. What kind of mud do you have out there??? Back east in northern NJ I've never felt like there was any possibility of this happening, but most of the trails I ride on tend not to get too muddy plus I avoid riding the muddy sections mostly. Still, I'm amazed at the descriptions from the race.

    I'm a confirmed coaster. I had a fixed cog on the flip side of my wheel for months on my Curtlo. I would force myself to switch to fixed in the woods for 30 minutes or as long as I could stand it. I never got to the point where I enjoyed it and finally took the cog off. I too would love to see some more fixie riders in this race just to see if it's possible to do it in a reasonable amount of time, say 25 days or less?

    Where are the recumbent riders? That would be great fun to watch.

    bruce.b

[caseygreene]

hats off to Erik. cant believe he's in 3rd place after all that mud/broken parts.

[JeffOYB]

It doesn't look like there's a Helmet Rule yet it looks like all riders use em. I'd think there'd be a deviant among these deviants...

(Sans-helmet is simpler, weight-saving, neck-saving... Possibly most world long-distance tourists still don't use 'em...? Etc.)

[ksb]

Looking for professional quality photos of Matthew Lee from this year's race. Preferably of him on the bike. If you have any or know of anyone who has any please PM me.
Thanks.

[JeffOYB]

       Where are the recumbent riders? That would be great fun to watch.

Given the dirt aspect I doubt that going 'bent would help anyone. Would likely hinder everyone. They always weigh a bit more and tend to be less good for: lower speeds, dirt, climbing. ...Check, check, check for this course.

John Nobile did make good use of 'bent-ish fairings in his past win, as I recall. Wonder if he'll use 'em again this time. Hey isn't he supposed to be starting his ITTD today?

[bruce.b]

   Jeff, I've thought about this too. I'm old enough where I rode for years without a helmet so it doesn't seem crazy to me. I believe most people coming from a mountain biking background do think it's nuts.
   bruce.b

[krefs]

(Sans-helmet is simpler, weight-saving, neck-saving... Possibly most world long-distance tourists still don't use 'em...? Etc.)

I think all the racers realize that on a course as remote as much of this one, a bad fall resulting in a head injury could be the end.  There may well not be a single car, moto, or other racer passing by for hours or even days, so riders must plan to be on their own should anything go wrong.  Add sleep deprivation and extreme fatigue into the mix and the likelihood of such a fall increases dramatically.  Nice helmets are down to barely 200 grams, and no Divide racers have yet become afflicted with Sherman's neck, so there's really no excuse for not wearing a helmet.  

[bruce.b]

Given the dirt aspect I doubt that going 'bent would help anyone. Would likely hinder everyone. They always weigh a bit more and tend to be less good for: lower speeds, dirt, climbing. ...Check, check, check for this course.

    Yes, I mostly agree with you..... but it would be fun to watch. My Lightning Cycle Dynamics P-38 was surprisingly capable offroad. I tried most every 'bent available at the time (1994?..... a friend had a 'bent store so I got to ride everything) and the P-38 was better than anything else offroad, in fact it was a lot better. The only place I had a problem was climbing if it was steep and at all technical. Really tight technical singletrack wasn't so good either. I took it down some of the tougher technical hills here in NJ and was able to ride down pretty much anything a regular mountain bike could. On some bumps I'd almost get launched out of the seat. It was great fun.
  
   bruce.b

[MrsPivvay]

Ugg I really dislike riding without a helmet and I mount a light there anyway. I think I'm just so used to it that it feels weird without one. Plus it's warmer. The only exception is that I'll take it off on extended climbs when it's hotter than 85-90F. Of course I love that we all get to make our own choices on the TD so maybe we'll see a helmetless rider sometime.

As to a recumbent...you have fun with that My impression is that they climb like crap which would annoy me to no end if that's true.

My guess is that Matt has eyes on The Place cafe today at the worst and Pinedale/Boulder at the best. The question mark of Togwotee pass looms large. Expect to see him make good time to the summit of the pass, then just over the crest he turns off the hwy and onto the road to Brooks lake lodge where last year we found many many feet of snowpack remaining, followed by mud. A lightning fast downhill once eventually back to the highway leads to Union Pass which was more or less clear last year. Too bad it leads to one of the "worst" downhills in the race that somehow has a ton of climbing in it. haha

[JeffOYB]

My guess is that Matt has eyes on The Place cafe today at the worst and Pinedale/Boulder at the best.

Race Across Convenience Stores!

[JeffOYB]

    Yes, I mostly agree with you..... but it would be fun to watch. My Lightning Cycle Dynamics P-38 was surprisingly capable offroad. I tried most every 'bent available at the time (1994?..... a friend had a 'bent store so I got to ride everything) and the P-38 was better than anything else offroad, in fact it was a lot better. The only place I had a problem was climbing if it was steep and at all technical. Really tight technical singletrack wasn't so good either. I took it down some of the tougher technical hills here in NJ and was able to ride down pretty much anything a regular mountain bike could. On some bumps I'd almost get launched out of the seat. It was great fun.

It all sounds really bad! 

Painful to watch? Intolerable to do?

[ztirffritz]

Wow, Erik is FAST.  He just blew by Eric a bit ago and kept on trucking...that must be humbling for Eric...it's a long race, but wow.