Tour Divide Basics

[BobM]

For what it's worth, from http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html:

When boiling is not practical, certain chemicals will kill most harmful or disease-causing organisms.
For chemical disinfection to be effective, the water must be filtered and settled first.Chlorine and iodine are the two chemicals commonly used to treat water. They are somewhat effective in protecting against exposure to Giardia, but may not be effective in controlling more resistant organisms like Cryptosporidium. Chlorine is generally more effective than iodine in controlling Giardia, and both disinfectants work much better in warm water.

[Marshal]

There are only two commercially available chemical treatments that I am aware of, Potable Agua and Katadyn Micropur, (both rely on chlorine dioxide), that claim to be effective against viruses, bacteria, giardia and “cryptosporidium”.

(There may be other brands available, but unless they use a different chemical compound they can not be any more effective)

The kicker is that both chlorine dioxide brands require 4 hrs to kill the cryptosporidium buggers – (apparently it takes that much time to eat through their protective shell and zap the little buggers). Oh and Cryptosporidium is very common in cattle fecal matter (99% in western US feed lots) – And cattle pretty much range over the entire  GD route.

So if a treatment system is needed/used in the race, but is not highly effective specifically against cryptosporidium, imho, you run a strong risk of becoming ill somewhere between Steamboat and Cuba

Not to get all paranoid but there is a bit of a crap shoot involved.  I have know of mountain bike riders who did not drink even drink from local sources but still became ill, apparently from water/mud splash—on the bottle, bite valve, face, hands, who knows for sure

[sluttyduck]

I didn't worry.  I ran out of water just south of Polaris, and had to suck it up until I got to Lima because of the conditions.
Yet a week later I took water from a stream with some hoof prints.
No worries.

[phil_rad]

I'm kind of freaked about the little beasties lurking in the water, that's why I'll either filter the water or better yet buy bottled water when available. We will see how my strategy works.

[Mathewsen]

with all due respect to the many different ways to do water on the divide, i personally choose never drink surface water except between banff and glacier (and only high elevation then).

after that, i carry it all from town to town or outpost to outpost. IMHO TD is long enough, gear (and mind) too disheveled to risk making an innocent mistake with handling water. getting sick from bad water is almost impossible to recover from (while staying in the race).

have a very detailed potable water resupply plan (map) and it will serve you well in not carrying too much over passes (a big momentum killer). know exactly when the next potable source is available before leaving the last source. binge at those sources, try to be a camel in between.

[BobM]

Thanks Matthew,

As a route rookie I will probably carry my boat anchor of a filter anyway since I don't know which sources are really going to be there when I pull up (or exactly how much I'm going to need point-to-point since I won't really know the terrain either).  Big advantage for the veterans.

Bob

[JMeiser]

I agree with Lee on this one.  I carried up to 250 oz. of water in addition to other fluids at times during the race.  I treated with a chemical treatment twice in Montana and never treated again the entire race.  Potable sources are readily available, even in the most desolate of sections and without knocking on a rancher's door. 

In the evening when we hit a town, or gas station, I would load up on additional fluids and carry some chocolate milk and Odwalla/Naked fruit juice.  My waterbottles would get filled with gatorade and my bladder full of water.  In my bivy I would eat a ton of food and then drink a chocolate milk and a juice.  In the AM I would drink another juice and occasionally a Coke/Red Bull (Later in the race, when sleep deprivation set in).  Hitting a town in the evening I would only carry the extra weight 20-30 miles at most and I never carried that weight up a pass.  I packed out all my trash and discarded it at the next stop for supply.

I was certainly no veteran and this worked quite well.

[BobM]

Thanks Joe,

I'm so used to backpacking in wilderness areas where there is no potable water that I can't seem to wrap my mind around the idea of gas stations, cafes, towns, etc.

Bob

[phil_rad]

Matthew & Joe:  So you think a filter or micropur tabs are not necessary? Or, if you would do the TD again would you bring one or the other?

Thanks again for all of your and the other Vets input.


Phil

[Mathewsen]

Matthew & Joe:  So you think a filter or micropur tabs are not necessary? Or, if you would do the TD again would you bring one or the other?

Thanks again for all of your and the other Vets input.

Phil

you need have a small quantity of emergency back up, be that bleach, iodine or chloride dioxide. running out of water sux.

[Mathewsen]

I should to be a little more forthcoming on my 'personal preference' for not filtering in TD (emphasis on 'personal'):

As much as the risk of fouling up the process is real, for me I recall it was simply a buzzkill to go from cranking the pedals, HR elevated, cooled by a 13mph breeze to a stand-still, munched by mosquitos and horseflies, fumbling with a pump and hose at the edge of a precipitous or muddy slope, esp. when your knees/achilles are on the edge of blowing up. In `04 my filter element was often clogged after just two liters b/c rarely was water quality very good in cattle country (which is most of the route). how do you easily clean a filter element without potable water? i didn't. i would give up.

Wilderness is a word I would use for some portions, but not for most of the route. This lack of true wilderness has it's downside, sure, but it's mostly good for the speed-charter divide racing is about. I can't imagine racing at my utmost mental/physical limit 16hrs/day for three weeks straight without periodic services, near-daily resupply. It wouldn't be fun--or certainly I would slow way down--which might be boring on the GDMBR. The GDMBR is a perfect course for blasting 100+mi/day days thru the gamut of what the 'true' divide offers (the good, the bad & the ugly). Yep, it's meant to be seen/enjoyed by racers, but also macro-managed, knocking off as many mtn chains as you can in a day, always with an eye on the next state down. Me thinks dwelling on this big picture is an effective way to not lose focus.

All that said, Bob, learning what works for oneself in TD is best, so bring your filter along and see how useful it is. If you're not using it everyday, it may not be worth the weight and you can ship it home. Cheers!

[phil_rad]

I'll be glad when June the 9th rolls around, then I won't have to make anymore decisions about what or what not to take.  Just; eat, sleep, ride, great divide. 

[bmike-vt]

I'll be glad when June the 9th rolls around, then I won't have to make anymore decisions about what or what not to take.  Just; eat, sleep, ride, great divide. 

and ship stuff home?


good luck to all td'rs this year. reading all this stuff with great interest. will love to see the 'as-built' conditions that are reported back - gear, fitness, strategy (or not).

[AmyL]

Chiming in with my two cents on water treatment.
My trip along the GDMBR was comfortable touring pace (~60 m/day), and even at that pace I can't imagine having the patience to waste time squatting at a water source with a pump.  If I were racing, I would not even consider a pump.
We carried moderate amounts of water from public potable sources.  When we needed to treat, we used Aqua Mira two-part liquid mix (a little time consuming to mix the parts), or just plain old Betadine.  Betadine is super easy and super light, a small dropper bottle will last far longer than you'll need.  You can vary the treatment time from 15 minutes to 12 hours by varying the dose.  More time = less iodine.  I tend to use Aqua Mira when I need water soon, but iodine when I can treat it over night (because it's cheaper than Aqua Mira).
Betadine dose info is described here:
http://www.high-altitude-medicine.com/water.html
- Amy, Palo Alto

[multisportscott]

Thank you all for these absolute Gems of info. Good luck all of you LUCKY enough to race this year. After touring the route last year I have a hankering to come back and "race" it! Thanks again for all of the valuable info.
Needed to comment to get notification of new posts :-)
Cheers, Scott

[BobM]

Canadian maps in soon.

I emailed Carla at ACA about revised Canadian maps and cues and got this reply today:

"We’ll have them next week, along with the newly reprinted Canada map. I’ll email the text to you then."

Bob

P.S.  Just heard from Matthew that orders before next Wednesday will be the old map.

[brunch]

Hey all..

In regards to water I came from a backpacking mindset and refilled constantly from streams and standing water on the 2009 TD. I used Iodine tablets and the neutralizer (vitamin C) tablets as well. No problems at all. I was shocked to hear that others were porting water from town to town. Maybe its my size ( 6-6 ) but that was just not an option for me. I guess it just goes to show that the TD can be conquered in many different ways. Find what works for you and then gun it for the border.

A filter though... sounds awful. You'll lose fluid to the skeeters faster than you can replace it by pumping.

Eric B

[longman]

Thank you all for these absolute Gems of info. Good luck all of you LUCKY enough to race this year. After touring the route last year I have a hankering to come back and "race" it! Thanks again for all of the valuable info.
Needed to comment to get notification of new posts :-)
Cheers, Scott

Scott, did I meet you and Jo on your first day on the dam...it was my last day riding in to Banff?

[multisportscott]

Hi, Paul is it? Yes it is! I think we meet your Uncle in Silver City too.
Are you going to race this year?? I am super keen to race in a couple of years finances allowing.
Any trips planned for this summer?
Cheers, Scott

[longman]

PM sent