TOUR DIVIDE 2014

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Question for Gaia users (or anyone else mounting a smartphone to their cockpit): which phone case/mount are you using?  I mounted a Joy Factory Stormcruiser to my Fargo and took it for a shakedown.  Looked promising - sturdy case, versatile mount, and allows for charging while in the mount.  But I could not lock the ball joint enough to stabilize the case, and at one point the case popped free of the mount completely.  The case did its job - the phone was fine after its bumpy skid into traffic, but there's no way I would take it on the trail.

So what are y'all using? Care to post a pic of your cockpit?

I found a really good fail safe backup for situations like this.

I take two of the rubber bands that came with my Garmin mount and put them on my aero bar. After inserting the phone to its mount, I wrap the bands around each end of the phone. So you now have additional pressure on the phone holding it against the mount and thus the aero bars. And if no aero bars? Same principle. Loop two of the bands together into one, put one end over one end of the cell phone, loop it under the handlebar, and over the other end of the phone. The extra stability of these are amazing. And would have saved my problem last year when the vibrations caused the mount to fail and I had to go back up the road looking for a phone (on a downhill nonetheless!).

[ABfolder]

Speaking of unfriendly and bear spray: http://news.yahoo.com/bear-badly-mauls-hunter-montana-005252650.html 
 This may be, sort of, along the route.  More likely not close.
 Chris

Banff area griz update: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/alberta/Grizzly+bear+activity+literally+everywhere+Banff+National/9901155/story.html

Watch yourself in and around the townsite and carry bear spray.

[Snowbd2u]

Makes me want to ride into the woods.... When large grizzly bears are afraid of going into the woods bc of larger grizzly bears!

[Enzo149]

Is mountain bike radio and mtbcast connected? Does one post automatically to the other? I see the mountain bike radio logo on the mtbcast website. I have always listened to the call ins on mtbcast.

[aschuhmann]

Banff area griz update: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/alberta/Grizzly+bear+activity+literally+everywhere+Banff+National/9901155/story.html

Watch yourself in and around the townsite and carry bear spray.

So on this note, is everyone considering rope for stringing bear bags a necessary item, or does everyone play the odds on this one and not bother about bear bags?

[J@yk@y]

Goat Creek Spray River.....from the Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/touch/story.html?id=9904698#/touch/m-photo.html?id=9904698&p=1


Good Luck Y'All....

[J@yk@y]

Goat Creek Spray River.....from the Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/touch/story.html?id=9904698#/touch/m-photo.html?id=9904698&p=1


Good Luck Y'All....

 


And now for a link to the article

http://www.calgaryherald.com/touch/story.html?id=9904698

 

[aschuhmann]

If you plan to call in, and I hope you do, you can send them to MTBCast or they can download the app and get your calls. I also have a TD page at MTBCast that will also show all TD call in and coverage content by MTBCast.

Sweet app Joe! I can't wait to call in! Some questions though: is there a way to filter for particular racers, or highlight racers that you want to hear from, or get notifications when specific racers have called in?

Also, I was playing around with the Blue Dot app on Trackleaders, but couldn't find a link to actually install it to my phone. Some of the conversations seemed dated. Is this app still in use, and if so, how can I install it? It looks sweet!

There's now way too many reasons to bring my phone, rather than leave it behind!

Thanks, Andrew

[tuhduhvuh]

Is mountain bike radio and mtbcast connected? Does one post automatically to the other? I see the mountain bike radio logo on the mtbcast website. I have always listened to the call ins on mtbcast.

HI,  yes,  someone please comment on this.  It's sad that these two call in places seem to duplicate each other.   I'd really like to make an attempt to call in and stay connected even in a little way with folks back home,  but no way will two calls happen.   I'm totally new at this so I have no "loyalty"  and advice from others here would be helpful....

Thanks,

Tom

[mtbcast]

Is mountain bike radio and mtbcast connected? Does one post automatically to the other? I see the mountain bike radio logo on the mtbcast website. I have always listened to the call ins on mtbcast.

The calls will go to MTBCast. We link over to MBR so folks are aware of the shows they offer but it has nothing to do with the calls.

[mtbcast]

Sweet app Joe! I can't wait to call in! Some questions though: is there a way to filter for particular racers, or highlight racers that you want to hear from, or get notifications when specific racers have called in?

Also, I was playing around with the Blue Dot app on Trackleaders, but couldn't find a link to actually install it to my phone. Some of the conversations seemed dated. Is this app still in use, and if so, how can I install it? It looks sweet!

There's now way too many reasons to bring my phone, rather than leave it behind!

Thanks, Andrew

I'm not sure about the Blue Dot app. As for individual racers, a few years ago I did that. I had a page for each user. At the time Word Press had no real way to do this without coding it yourself. I did it for that year but it was a lot of work. It involves a separate category for each racer. In order to preserve that for posterity it would mean every racer having a category from then on, that and the coding. So I opted not to continue the practice. Scott and I had toyed with building links into the blue dots and that is something we may explore. For now, the best way to find a specific racer is to goto MTBCast.com and use Search to find a particular racer.

[TearFilter]

Anybody Camping in Banff? I'm looking for someone to share a camp sight with.

[mtbcast]

*In the interest of cleaning up the thread I'm deleting my posts regarding the coverage and Mountain Bike Radio as well.

[kato]

I do not, however, wish to see the coverage fragment. Matthew Lee has already sent an email stressing that MTBCast is the official call-in service but again, the racers will ultimately decide who they wish to call.

Joe

Joe, the work you have done with MTBCast and being the voice of the Tour Divide and other ultra endurance events is much appreciated.  For me, the Tour Divide without Joe Polk and MTBCast just wouldn't seem right.  Thanks Joe!  You know what phone number I'll be ringing during the race.  Now, back to packing...

[wickerer]

Even as a race veteran I am shocked by this discussion. Joe, I apreciated your service a lot in last year's TD and still carry your dial-in-number-sticker as a trophy on my bike. I am definitelly not a hardliner as far as rules for self-supported races are concerned but I am sorry, Ben: The level of service that you suggest is the reason why I turned away from organized MTB-events and in my opinion it kills the spirit of the Tour Divide. But this is just the opinion of a guy from the bottom end of the midpack of last years's race...

[mikepro]

Thanks for all you do, Joe!

[vmjim]

I'll be listening to MTBCast for all the rider reports. Thanks Joe.

[mtbcast]

I can provide a separate feed per caller if that's what a racer would like. A page as well. It's trivial. That hadn't been specifically asked for until someone posted about it. I can do it much more trivially now but for 120+ users it would mean dedicating some time. I can provide any racer all of their calls as well upon request. I've not had any specific requests but perhaps I should have done more.

[bpeschka]

I downloaded the MTBCAST app yesterday.  It works well on my Android. My wife is anticipating the IOS version. Thanks for putting these out, Joe.  You're on my speed dial.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[mtbcast]

First, thanks to everyone for the support!

*redacted.

I really didn't want to get into a flame war. We have a great race coming and I hope that people do what they think is right.