Tour Divide

Yeah as hippy says just use a barrier cream as chamois cream. No point in chamois cream.
What I do. Makes sense.

Will you get a chance to wash your kit? Someone once told me to keep the chamois out in the sun when drying to help kill bacteria.

UV light kills bacteria.

That link has a good point, quantity.

Nothing like half a tub of sudcrem in your shorts...

Do you carry all your food for the 20 days?

No, most days I'll be able to hit a town. My current mindset is to go big the first day (get past 2 towns), about 170 miles, then cross the border into the US on day 2 and hit town midday. Then each day hit a town during the day (more chance of services being open) then ride out and wildcamp. There are some stretches, mainly the great basin in wyoming and the gila wilderness in new mexico where it's 250 ish miles with no services. And especially in the gila, i'll be carrying about 6L of water on me.

Mostly I'll try to carry enough food for a couple of days.

Here's the route
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5967072

I'm getting excited at the prospect of this. Farts can feel pretty dangerous though.

and some treacherous sections like Richmond Peak

I misread this and thought you might be in for a rude awakening if you thought that Richmond Park was treacherous!

I know that's not the case and it sounds like you're thoroughly well prepared. Best of luck in any event; I'll be looking out for progress reports.

are you taking electolyes?
Caffeine?

What's your sleeping setup?

My current mindset is to go big the first day

Why? Negative splits work for long stuff too, not just Hour records...

Nice altitude training block :)

out of interest gabes what do you do for a job? are you a student?
i'd be dead keen on this but i'm chained to the washboard and the razor....

Just to make a good break at the start, there's probably 200 people racing this year, and it would be good to be ahead of a chunk of them, especially if it's wet and muddy. Also, and mainly, to set myself up for a routine of hitting town in the daytime, when stores/diners are open, and sleeping out in the wilderness between. This also has the benefit of being cheaper. As this is the most expensive free race in the world!

When I say 'go big' I don't mean fuck myself up. I mean just ride steady, and ride for a decent length of time (16-18 hours) get a shortish nights sleep then get going again. As I get more tired, I'll sleep better each night. I'm planning 5-6 hours per night.

Electrolytes are bullshit. I will be eating 8000 calories plus per day, I'll get everything I need from that.

Caffeine, I might take some tablets for the big pushes near the end, but otherwise diner coffee will suffice.

I'm a programmer, I was self-employed until recently, started a new job in January, 3 days a week, and still freelance around that. My new boss is awesome, and really supportive of the whole thing, so I'm really lucky! I'll be off work for a month at least.

nice one
i took a year off last time i got binned and did a tour round SE asia. this is right up my alley tho. would definitely do something like this as and when i get canned next.

200 people will split up pretty quick over such large distance though.

You concernred about them chewing up the trails or don't want to draft peeps without mudguards?

Why so expensive? Are all the stores expensive because remote or something or do you just mean because you have to reup with little choice from supermarkets? I wonder how it compares per day to my Torq habit?

Wow good luck mate, that's some serious riding. I remember doing the DD for the first time I didn't struggle with the physical aspect, my legs just switched to Auto after 50 miles, but I found it difficult to deal with being on a bike for so long. I mean that's only 120+50ish to Ipswich, and I don't do long rides all the time, nothing compared to this though. Have you thought about ways to keep yourself entertained? Or are you just going to use stray bears as motivation?

Also you mentioned the live-tracking, is that through a garmin/phone combo? I'm sure it's somewhere in this thread but I am lazy :)

I don't need to be entertained, but I think most people probably do. I don't listen to music all the time, I like quiet, and the idea of being on the bike, and just 'being' wherever I am is much more appealing that listening to something and pretending I'm elsewhere. If I was doing that, why would I want to do TD at all!

As for tracking, no, nothing to do with phones, as there's only about 5-10% of the route with mobile coverage. It's by SPOT tracker (a gps transmitter) http://www.findmespot.eu/en/

You say that but don't discount the mood-altering properties of a good tune when you're 10 days deep and battling some relentless headwind with a bear chasing a redneck who's chasing your red raw buttocks down a gravel trail... or something.

Yeah, it'll spread out into packs. Those doing 100ish a day, and then everyone else ahead just riding as long as they can, I guess.

Drafting is not allowed.

It's expensive getting all the kit, bike, testing kit, and wearing out so much kit in the training process. Remember, I was doing 100 mile MTB rides all winter in loads of mud. Much unhappy drivetrain! In terms of on-route costs, I'll try to avoid motels/lodges unless it's cold and wet and I need to dry. I probably wont bother with laundry, but just food, lots of it, and it being convenience food mostly, plus a few nights lodging, is going to be £1500 min according to a mate who did it last year in 24 days.

Yeah, I am taking music on my phone, just in case. But I have become really good and going completely blank in my head when I'm riding all day. It's a kind of meditation I guess, not getting caught up in fears, worries, self pity, self loathing, homesickness, etc. It all comes to mind, but I've got pretty good at letting it pass without getting hold of me.

^ I say all that, but I'm going to go to some pretty fucking dark places in my mind, I'm sure.

So you're making all this preparation to ride 2.5k ... ?! Can't say I see the point ...

(not srs post)