Tour Divide 2010

[Bral]

What's next for the amazing Marshal Bird?  Congratulations!

[Tacoma]

One of the Mountain Turtle's long-time audience here and just wanted to pass on my thanks for everyone's efforts in putting on the TD. My thoughts are with Dave's family. We are all still following all the riders on course and rooting for you to finish. Great job. Go Cricket!

[Marshal]

Before I post more let me again express my heart felt condolences to Dave Blumenthal’s family.  Dave and I did not know each other but shared blog links and some comments in the run up to the TDR.  We shook hands at the start and introduced ourselves.  On day one I briefly caught up to Dave only because he rejoined the route after missing a turn.  He followed me through that short single track section and then I watched in amazement as he easily motored up the steepest pitch of the whole day with out using his lowest gear.  Eric Nelson was right behind Dave, he to cleaned that climb but I think we both were a bit intimidated by how fast and smooth such a big man just floated up that wall.  I remember thinking, if those two could climb this pitch then so by golly could I, even if I had to do in my lowest gear and almost toppled over from my slow wobbly effort.  I also knew that I would not be seeing much of Dave as he was going to be out front with the big boys.  Climb on Dave, ever on………

[Marshal]

So..been home for a few hours, all caught up on sleep etc.  Just read all the posts.  Haven’t listened to the call in’s yet.  I plan to write up a full day by day account in the near future, it will be on my TDR blog  http://desertmountaindivide.blogspot.com/  for any who might be interested in all the trivia

My over riding goal was to stay focused and ‘race’ to my personal limits. And to use my experience in multi-day racing and my extensive TDR pre-prep to out race some of the stronger, faster racers around me.  To a large degree I feel I achieved my main goal.  Over the course of many days I made mostly good ‘race’ decisions mixed in with a few small tactical errors but by and large gained more time than I lost. 

However I suffered hugely from day 2 onward with severe saddle sore issues. I will blog up all the gory details but will say 90% of the problem could have been avoided, ie it was my fault and not necessarily the saddle I used.  Anyway the constant pain colored the entire experience.  I will say that the time I lost to this issue was extensive but had I been a little further down the route time wise I would have lost as much if not more time to mud.  So my real complaint isn’t time lost or finish position (everyone had stuff happen to them that cost time and I think I achieved the highest position personally possible) but that my one and only TDR experience could have been more complete. 

I am not sure if I am conveying my meaning very well so let me try again.  For me there became two types of suffering I endured, one good, one bad.  The good was the aching, sore legs at the end of a long hard day with lots of earned miles.  That beep of the alarm followed by the crawl out of the warm bed or bivy for the early “I’m still racing” start.  Setting off in the dark cold rain because the road was paved at that point and to wait would mean I wasn’t ‘racing’.  I enjoyed these types of ‘suffering’, small surmountable challenges.  But the bad suffering, oh man, think about deliberately burning yourself with a cigarette butt.  Every morning you burn yourself and then several times during the day you repeat the process.  I was able to make adjustments and modification to my saddle and riding style/position to somewhat control the situation, but like I said, it colored the whole experience.  It could have been remarkable; instead it was mixed at best.

I can see that I am whining a bit about the whole TDR experience, sorry about that  But, well, it is what it is


(Oh, I seemed to have gained 5 lbs, some of that is re-hydration but still………did drop about 4-6% body fat…….guess I lost some fat and gained some leg muscle??  Too bad it won’t last)

[Spoonie]

(Oh, I seemed to have gained 5 lbs, some of that is re-hydration but still………did drop about 4-6% body fat…….guess I lost some fat and gained some leg muscle??  Too bad it won’t last)

I've heard that happen a lot.  I'd be curious to know if it settles down in a week or so...   There's a theory being banded about that the muscle trauma of an Ultra causes the cells to bloat and as you recover, that fluid is lost and so to the weight gain.

Congratulations on an excellent race!  It's been great tracking your race.  your blog and posts here have been invaluable!!

Cheers
Craig

[bgiro]

Congratulations, Marshal!

It was exciting for me following you on the tracking website.  You certainly had a great ride regardless of the various problems.  I look forward to reading your report of the TD on your blog.

Cheers

[DaveH]

Marshal-

I completely understand the color of which you speak.  IME as the cigarette burns heal so does the memory.  Your ride was fantastic and I think in time you will see it/remember it as such, in a good light.

The bloating will subside and probably a bit faster if you avoid a lot of salt...it's highly unlikely you gained muscle out there (tough to do in a caloric deficit).

What we all really want to know now is what are you going to do to top this one??

Just kidding.  Enjoy your float back to planet earth

[Pivvay]

What we all really want to know now is what are you going to do to top this one??

And if you figure it out, could you tell me??

[naked indian]

I think in this thread it came up if anyone has done the divide route on a recumbent.  Apparently someone has. 

 http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/heidihigh

Pretty crazy, she apparently reached montana, rode to Banf then started the route.  SICK!

[bmike-vt]

I think in this thread it came up if anyone has done the divide route on a recumbent.  Apparently someone has.  

 http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/heidihigh

Pretty crazy, she apparently reached montana, rode to Banf then started the route.  SICK!

not bent! trike!



she did what looks like a divide + tour - from mt to canada, then back, into yellowstone, down into mexico, then to texas, and across the southern states back to home in nc. 218 days.

 

crazy.

[naked indian]

indeed im still reading.  I did a bikepacking clinic this past weekend, we talked about the divide before the movie screening and a Lynne a rider I being seeing around told me about this and sent the link. 

[Von Petrol]

That is so cool that Patrick is taking the main route to Grants.

[keywee]

Does anyone know if any TDR2010 racers are using a dynamo hub & light?

Phil Fogg was using a Shimano Alfine dyno hub in combination with a Supernova E3 (likely triple). I've been using this combination on my winter training bike and it's very good. SON delux + E3 triple is less good, only firing up fully after 20kph. Stick to the E3/shimano combination for offroad.

[Pivvay]

keywee...are you talking SON delux = son 20 hub? What speed are you seeing the E3/shimano combo fire up fully at?

I'm planning on a dyno for my MTB as well as my fatbike.

[keywee]

Chris,

yes, the SON 20R has been renamed the Delux due to German law and marketing for big wheel usage (of which I forget the finer details).

I raced my first 24h at Finale Ligure in Italy with the E3 triple + SON Delux. Full power at 20kph (no speedo, but it wasn't slow). It's a techincal course and I struggled for enough light. I had a Dinotte 200AA headlight which was actually more useful.

The combination of the Alfine (DH-S501) and the E3 triple fires full at 13-15kph (verified with speedo in the winter).

Conclusion: I'm going to try the Edelux headlight with the SON Delux hub, and if that doesn't work well offroad, I'll build the SON Delux into my road wheel, and the Alfine for the MTB. There is a considerable difference in drag IMO.

David.

[Pivvay]

The drag numbers I've seen are significant though I'm not sure how much they will matter in the real world. For one project I need a lower speed setup but for the Tour Divide you could get away with 13-15 no problem. I used only a PT EOS II on the TD in 2009 but would have liked more light during extensive night ride sessions later in the race when storms or a modified sleep schedule pushed me riding at the wee hours.

Thanks for the info BTW! Not a ton of people with dyno setups it seems and even less using them on slow speed or tech MTB. I'm tired of tossing batteries from a cost and enviro perspective so the dyno hub should really help that and drastically reduce how many batts I need to use.

[keywee]

No problem. I have really enjoyed forgetting about batteries during the winter. I don't notice the drag on the Alfine with the light off, but there's a noticeable change when switched on. With the SON, I can't tell the difference between on and off. Quite a nice change.

Now, who's going to be the first to make a Lefty dynamo hub. I guess that's too much to ask. Did you ride the divide rigid Chris? After riding a 24h solo on rocky terrain rigid SS, I'd like some suspension.

[northofbeyond]

That is so cool that Patrick is taking the main route to Grants.

Is he the only one who took the main route this year?

[Marshal]

Looks like Cricket's pack is about to get to Hwy 35.  Then if they push they should be able to get food, either at the new resteraunt on 35 or at the store (but it closes at 7:00).  I imagine some of them may be very low on food by now.  If they get a bit of real food maybe they will all push into Silver City for a room, lots of cold drinks, good food, good rest.  That would set them all up for a well timed, almost relaxed run to the finish! 

[redcliffs]

However I suffered hugely from day 2 onward with severe saddle sore issues. I will blog up all the gory details but will say 90% of the problem could have been avoided, ie it was my fault and not necessarily the saddle I used.  Anyway the constant pain colored the entire experience. 

FWIW, Marshal, I can totally commiserate -- on my first 1200K, I had terrible saddle sores develop on day 3 that made day 4 just awful -- I stood most of that last 110 mile day. It was frustrating on so many levels. I had experienced mostly good pain, as you say, until that point, but day 4 was bad pain, and I was disappointed to have the experience colored in that way. It also definitely cost me time -- I had a legitimate shot at sub-80 hours, which I felt would have been a great accomplishment for my first 1200, but instead finished in somewhere ~82.5h (yes, I realize by TD standards, these are small differences). On the first day, someone told me that on Day 4, "you will see your soul;" he was right, but I wish it hadn't been because of my sores.