Tour Divide 2018 Race Discussion Thread

[the tortoise]

^ Sounds like second is the first looser
Is a 60 year old man trying to beat 25 days, 70 year old man trying to beat 30 days or 70 year old woman trying to beat 40 days not racing?
not to mention people trying to overcome injuries and illness, where any finishing time is tougher than an Elite 30 year old finishing in 15 days

Besides the Long Rangers or Jamaican Bob Sled Teams of the world make for better stories

In years like this year, it seems like the bulk of the pack has been hammered with endless rain much more than other years.  Should competitive racers be relegated because of weather?


Racers are spread out by the time they reach the first town (Fernie) on route anyway, so no need to spread out start times

Exactly! I find the mid pack to back of the pack racers much more interesting than the fast fit minimalists. Hey if people are so interested in the "purity" of this event then they should assign themselves to policing it, going out on the route and punching the miscreants in the face!
Besides it seems like a lot of the real fast people scratch when they get injured from pushing too hard or figure out that they can't reach their goals.

"I really don't care. Do you??" (wink)

[MikeI]

Alexandra got through the Carson before it closed and is closing on Cuba .. Cool to watch her progress. 

[taprider]

Exactly! I find the mid pack to back of the pack racers much more interesting than the fast fit minimalists.

Beardog (Dave Goldberg) used to say 99% of the red line is good enough (especially through towns)
When I did the AZTR there were off-highway bonus routes between Queen Valley and Apache Junction that were off the red line.  For these you got extra style points and were not relegated for attempting.
For Long Ranger's epic, all the judges across the board were awarding him 10 points each for Artistic Impression.

We dot stalkers could just mellow out and let individual bike pack racers make adjustments to the route to create their own best experience/story (to win the overall race, racers would still have to be 100% for technical merit)

[SlowDave]

It looks like Dom Irving is about to finish.

[salsola]

Peter Puenner pulling into the finish line at Antelope Wells.  Target finish of 20 days and he's at 19 days 9 hours.  Nice job! 

Hachita is 114 deg F right now!

[woody]

Alexandra got through the Carson before it closed and is closing on Cuba .. Cool to watch her progress. 

Yep she is crushing it out there. I wish she’d call in more.

[Get Mounted]

John Wright appears to have taken a deviation prior to the Abiquiu re-route. Does anyone know the reason?

[schillingsworth]

I'd be guessing b/c of the Carson NF closure and would expect to see more riders taking that route.

Laura A. is riding north on US84, hope all is well. *EDIT: She turned around!!

Looks like Rob D. spent most of the night in HAB mode in the Gila. Yikes. Appears he may be walking the ups & coasting/soft pedaling the downs/flats?? Maybe he can get things sorted out in Silver City.

[woody]

I'd be guessing b/c of the Carson NF closure and would expect to see more riders taking that route.

Laura A. is riding north on US84, hope all is well. *EDIT: She turned around!!

Looks like Rob D. spent most of the night in HAB mode in the Gila. Yikes. Appears he may be walking the ups & coasting/soft pedaling the downs/flats?? Maybe he can get things sorted out in Silver City.

Yeah good, I would think most out there don’t have updated GPS track loaded with reroute so they’re forced to do it old school.

[pro_out]

AS per Carson NF website.... County and state roads that cross Forest Service lands are not under the Forest Service’s jurisdiction and will remain open to vehicular traffic.

[tlane3of6]

Anyone know what’s going on with the Sheila’s?  They spent the last day at BML and are now off route heading south on 80. 

[Jilleo]

Anyone know what’s going on with the Sheila’s?  They spent the last day at BML and are now off route heading south on 80. 

From Sheila R.'s Facebook page: Ok dot watchers - an update. We will be leaving the route today. The weather in Montana put us way behind. We've known for a while we'd not be able to make up that time - to be considered a valid racer, you have to finish within 30 days.
Though not the Antelope Wells exclamation point I pictured, I was able to see most of the route that we had to skip in 2011 because of the snow + new additions:
The High Rockies Trail, Richmond Peak, the Tetons, the new routes at Union Pass and through the Basin.
We are making our way to Steamboat then Salida where the amazing Jeff will pick us up.
Thank you all for following and for your support. And most important, thank you SheilaT for being your badass self. 💚

[ron]

Check out what Dom fought through to finish (per facebook post):

Some questions have been asked why my speed dropped so much in the second half of the race. Here are some of the factors that may have contributed. (1) I strained my left quad muscle 1000 miles in. I could not produce power from my left leg for a couple of days and additionally suffered soft tissue damage due to the change riding position. Producing power meant riding out of the saddle for a couple of days. It did ease and I was ready to race. (2) Then my Di2 failed leaving me riding single speed in a 36:12 set up. I did this for a day, which I found hard. The Di2 then worked momentarily but left me with a 36:44 single speed. To make progress meant using my left leg to ‘scoot’ along the flat and slight inclines. I did this for 250 miles over two days until I could collect the replacement part a bike shop sent to me to Wise River. (3) Di2 fixed. I then discovered a bottom bracket issue. The bottom bracket shell had become so distorted that the bearing could not be screwed into the frame. I bought a cheap bike and swapped as many parts over as I could. I found this new bike was OK but soon had numb hands and fingers. After this, I ate a sweet which shattered a tooth in my mouth and incredibly the next day did the same again. I had to be cautious about what I ate and how I ate it. I think these things affected my performance.

[WatermelonSugar]

Check out what Dom fought through to finish (per facebook post):

Wow! This guy has grit! Sounds like a really struggle, congrats to him on finishing.
No way I'd use electronic shifting in a bike packing race

[Two Tired]

No way I'd use electronic shifting in a bike packing race

This chap looks happy with his.

Thanks Eddie
https://www.eddieclarkmedia.com/keyword/Mike%20Hall/i-smRM2H7/A

[WatermelonSugar]

This chap looks happy with his.

Thanks Eddie
https://www.eddieclarkmedia.com/keyword/Mike%20Hall/i-smRM2H7/A

Oh but he wouldn't have been if it took a knock or whatever and went haywire!
Too risky and expensive for me...but each to their own

[bikelite]

Wasn't Mike Hall an electrical engineer?

[tanadog]

What has happened with Andrew Kulmatiski?  Spot hasn't moved in >10 hrs?  Going too fast for the satellites?

You all probably caught up on the news, but Andrew "After 2 days of nursing a worsening pulled quad, i have pulled out of the tour divide. Very disappointing."

[Bob]

Getting away from any fragility/lack of robustness on the part of Di2 kit, one advantage it does have is that gear shifting is consistently easy. After several days on the go and with lots of changes thumb shifts can become painful to use. Having multiple gear "levers" in different locations is another bonus.

I'm sticking with mechanical though - I can't justify the extra outlay for Di2 - the derailleur, wires, shifter, battery and display here in the UK are the equivalent of at least $700. The mechanical version is $110 or so.

[SlowDave]

I grew up sailing and learned that electronics were a nice luxury but not something to be depended upon.  One time I was single handing a 24' boat to Mexico and I was off Point Conception near Santa Barbara and my Loran system was telling me I was in the Mohave Desert.  That is just one example of many.  I use maps and pay attention to wtf I am doing.  The only electronics I carry are a Garmin 800 and my in reach.  Sometimes even that is like travelling with two ex wives.  There is no way I will every trust electronics for such a critical system with no back up. 

In regards to what someone is using in the race we have no idea of what incentives that individual may have to use a particular piece of equipment. The choice of the equipment tells us very little but when it fails on the TD, that is very informative.  This goes beyond electronics, forks come to mind.....