I just stumbled on this album.  It includes very nice photos.
http://photos.rvinteractive.com/Competitions/244740

In the album called "Great Divide Bicycle Race"
2007:  Nathan Bay, John Billman
2009:  Petervary Love Shack, Kevin Dean, Erik Lobeck, John Fettis, Alan Goldsmith, Joe Meiser, Jill Homer

The album called "Continental Divide Bicycle Ride (no race)" has some nice images of people touring the GDMBR, many of whom have painfully large loads.

[SCRATCHED:]

I kind of lost track of who has left the race and who is still racing, so I took notes.  Please comment if anything here is inaccurate.
[Updated July 2nd...]

SCRATCHED:
Bruce Giroux; June 15th; Sparwood;  Mistakenly left course in Canada and bailed out to Elko.  Switch to tour mode.
Kevin Hall; June 15th; Whitefish?;  Crashed.
Cadet Bryant; June 15th; Eureka;  Bad knee pain.
Matt Thourot; June 18th; ??;  Crashed and hurt knee.
Jeff Kerby; June 20th; Butte;  Sick.
Justin Kline; June 20th; Jackson;  Switching to tour mode.
Martin Rendl; June 20th; Helena;  Mistakenly left course between Lincoln and Helena.  Switch to tour mode.
Josh Ficke; June 21st; Jackson;  No reason given.
Steve McGuire; June 21st; Dillon;  Weather conditions.
Kevin Dean; June 21st; Togwatee;  Injury, pulled quad.
John Nobile; June 21st; Jackson;  Exit early in order to save vacation time.
Jeff Naylor; June 22nd; Butte;  Weather conditions.
Jacob Johnsrud; June 22nd; Dillon;  Mechanical problems.
Ray Porter; June 23rd; Butte;  Knee pain.
Brunello Godio; June 24th; Rawlins;  Sick (as reported by Diego, who is apparently his son). He has not confirmed that he has withdrawn.
Rick Ashton; June 24th; Lima;  Deliberately took paved route at Big Sheep Divide north of Lima.  Continue to tour until June26.
Rudiger Muller; June 24th; Atlantic City;  Sick.
Jeremy Noble; June 27th; Kremling;  No reason given.
Cricket Butler; July 1st; Hartsel;  Sick.
Erick Lobeck; July 2st; Pie Town;  Sick.

COMPLETED:  
Matthew Lee completed June 30
Kurt Refsnider completed June 30
J&T Petervary completed June 30
Chris Plesko completed July 1

STILL RACING:
Blaine Nester
Leighton White
Steve Wilkinson
Alan Goldsmith
Cannon Shockley
John Fettis
Joe Meiser
Eric Bruntjen
Dario Valsesia
Jill Homer
Jamie Thomson
Trevor Browne
Per Nilsson Eklof
Stephen Huddle
Paul Howard
Deanna Adams
Brad Mattingly
Michael Komp

"It takes a special mindset to turn around and make things right"
Agreed.  Or the integrity both Bruce G and Martin R showed when they promptly called to say that they had left the route and therefore no longer qualified as racers, but would be continuing to ride anyway.  Dignity wins in the end.

 Looks like Brad left the route where the ACA map says "Next 4.4 miles are extremely steep uphill, but they lead through fascinating country with several stream crossings.  (For a slightly easier but longer route, continue following main road over Stemple Pass to mile 77.3.)
I wonder if Brad decided to deliberately DQ from the race, and that he's not lost.  He's on the paved road now, on a beeline to Helena.

if you aren't listening to the phone-ins, you ought to at least listen to this one from Jeff.  They say that sleep deprivation causes hallucinations, so the question that will remain unanswered -- was Josh real or imagined?   

http://tourdivide.org/blog2009/jeff_calls_butte_more_tales_darkside

[Matt]

Seeley Lake is at mile 495 (which includes the new miles in Canada).  There was a late start on the Friday June12, so anybody who made it to Seeley Lake lake Tuesday June17 is maintaining a 100 mile per day pace.  I'm impressed that so many riders are still on the 100 mpd pace.  As far as I can tell, last night's camps were as follows (plus or minus 10 miles):
740 Wise River:  Matt
687 Butte:  Joe, Kurt, Chris
620-687 btw Helena and Butte: J&T, Kevin, JohnF, Alan
620 Helena: EricL, Steve, Leighton, Cannon, Blaine, Josh, Justin
557-620 btw Lincoln and Helena: EricB, probably Rudiger
557 Lincoln: Jill, JohnN, Jeremy, Jamie, Brunello, Dario, probably Cricket
521-557 btw Ovando & Lincoln: JeffK
521 Ovando: Ray
495 Seeley Lake: SteveM, Trevor, Jacob, Per, Stephen

Of 42 bikes that started, at least 31 are still on >=100 mpd pace.  Awesome.

Hey Scott - GREAT work on the leaderboard, animations, etc.  You've presented it in a way that makes it so easy to see the summary and to drill down.
Could you add mileage to the town names in the Split chart?  I adjusted my spreadsheet for the new Canada miles, and I get:
Elkford: 110
Border: 251
Whitefish: 352
Lincoln: 557
Helena: 620
Butte: 687
Wise River: 740
Lima: 877
ID border: 947
Flagg Ranch: 1044

Also, if you've got control of that table, what do you think about making the font size smaller, to reduce scrolling?
Thanks for all your effort.  Unfortunately, I'm a blue dot junkie now, and I really should be going to work instead
AmyL, Palo Alto

I don't know anything more than this, but my curiosity has been piqued:

http://mundabiddi.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=35
The Munda Biddi Trail is half completed.  They plan to complete the second half in the next three years.  When done it will be a 600 mile "completely off-road" cycle route, well marked and with sleeping shelters and picnic tables along the way.

http://www.nationaltrail.com.au/index.html
The ~3300 mile Australian Bicentennial National Trail was developed as a Trail Horse route, but there's info on the site about mountain biking it also.

Amy

I use my kitchen scale from the brand "My Weigh".    It weighs in 0.1 oz increments up to 10 or 15 pounds.  My model is the KD600 (I believed now called KD700), other models have different resolution and max limits.  It's worked well for 5 or 6 years now. 
I don't know anything about reputation of different brands, but if you google "kitchen scale" or "postal scale" you'll find a bunch of sites that have many models. 
If you aren't planning to use it daily in your kitchen, you don't need the robustness and high price of the My Weigh scale.  But if you want a good scale that you use every day and will last for the long haul, I think My Weigh has a good reputation.
Amy

Scott wrote:  "not real noticeable IME, if your sleeping bag is between you and the pad."

Doh, I have been using top-only bags for 20+ years and it didn't even enter my narrow brain that stickiness is a non-issue for people who use sleeping bags instead of quilt type  top-bags. 

Amy

Gary,
The super-thin closed cell pad from GossamerGear might be a good addition to the ClearView - since you mentioned carrying a thin foam pad for extra insulation when it's cold.  The 20"x59"x1/8" pad weighs only 2 oz., and you can cut it down to something like 20x40" or whatever you think you need.
http://www.gossamergear.com/cgi-bin/gossamergear/thinlight.html?id=taXAskLf:67.116.253.136

1/8" is REALLY thin, but it does take the edge off both the cold and the discomfort of sitting on rocks.  The 3/16" from backpackinglight.com would offer more insulation.

We carry two of these just so we can sit around comfortably and not have our butts directly on rocky soil.  We then use them under our feet at night, since we use the short thermarest prolite-3 pads.  It's also nice to have the foam pad along in case your inflatopad fails.  We had a punctured thermarest which took us a couple days to get organized enough to patch, and I just slept on the two thin foam pads plus the deflated thermarest and it worked well enough.

One weird thing about the Big Agnes Pad (which I've tested on a floor, but never in the field) is that the surface is quite "sticky", so even if you are wearing a base layer it has a kind of a weird effect.  If you put a thin thin foam pad (or the reflective windscreen) on top of the ClearView, you'd get the insulation value plus you also might avoid that weird sticky feeling.

[By the way, Backcountry.com sells the Big Anges pads, and they have 20% off most of their stock (using code 3BG-1-AEMTB), offer expires on about Oct 30.  I'll forward the email to your email so you can see the offer (in case you don't already have it).]

Good luck.  Amy

Gary,
I think the TorsoLite pad may become somewhat obsolete in Spring 2009 when Cascade Designs releases their new NeoAir pad.  The new pad will be pricey, but looks like it will blow the socks off all the other choices for those who have enough money to buy one.  Apparently the Cascade Designs patent on the therma-rest type pads has run out and they have invested a lot of effort to come up with their next generation of pad.

http://www.outdoorindustry.org/media.outdoor.php?news_id=4187&sort_year=2008
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/orsm08_plush_pads.html
http://beardedgit.com/?p=840

The backpackinglight article (by Mike Martin) is a subscription-only story, so in case you don't subscribe, here is the critical info:
"As a lightweight, technically minded backpacker, if you were looking to rate the overall performance of a sleeping pad, you might define a "performance envelope" consisting of parameters like warmth, weight, comfort, and packed size. A traditional backpacker might also include durability and ease-of-use, but I'd argue these are less important to lightweight hikers. Tradeoffs among these parameters are unavoidable in any pad technology. For example, closed-cell foam pads are generally lighter, but less comfortable and bulkier than self-inflators.
The new Therm-a-Rest NeoAir pad expands the envelope by offering a 2.5 inch thickness for comfort, an extremely compact stored size, and a claimed R-value of R-2.5 for warmth. The NeoAir achieves the comfort and compact size by virtue of its non-self-inflating construction. This itself is not new in pad designs, as companies such as Big Agnes, Exped, and Pacific Outdoor Equipment have had this type of pad for some time. By eliminating or reducing the thickness of the internal insulation, a non-self-inflator can be blown up to a plush, comfortable thickness, and still be deflated to a compact size for packing. The drawback of this kind of construction is that it is difficult to achieve much thermal insulation. If the pad is constructed with large, empty air chambers like the Big Agnes Clearview Pad, convective air currents in the pad will decrease its insulation dramatically. One way around this is to add some down or synthetic high-loft insulation to the inside of the pad chambers, as is done in the Exped Downmats, Pacific Outdoor Equipment Ether Thermo pads, and Big Agnes Insulated Air Core series. By impeding convective currents, this construction adds substantial warmth. But, it adds weight and increases packed bulk. Plus, if down is used, a pump must be used for inflation to avoid trapping moisture from your breath inside the pad.
The NeoAir promises to deliver the light weight, simplicity, and compactibility of an insulation-less non-self-inflator like the Clearview Air, with the warmth of an insulated pad. It achieves this with a five-layer honeycomb construction that disrupts convective currents and reflects radiant heat.
Producing this honeycomb structure, dubbed "Core Matrix," required new manufacturing technology. A proprietary machine made in Tacoma, Washington welds the five fabric layers simultaneously. The process is time consuming, requiring up to ten minutes for the machine to complete the discrete welds. Current prototype pads are being made with a prototype welder, but the company has a larger capacity machine in development. Somewhat surprisingly in this day of Asian-produced goods, the production pads will be made in Seattle.  The technology has taken over five years of development."

[I have no involvement with or financial interest in backpackinglight.com, but I do subscribe because I find the subscription-only info there to be so thorough and useful.]

About the fragility of the Big Agnes ClearView pad, this review makes it sound like that will not be a big problem since it is pretty sturdy and very easy to repair.
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/big_agnes_clearview_air_pad_review.html

Amy

I'm Amy L, that's Amy59 using Dave's protocol.  From Palo Alto, near San Francisco.  I travel with my partner Jim49.

Our background is primarily wilderness backpacking, on and off trail - between the two of us we have been backpacking for ~85 years.  Our favorite backpacking areas are the southern Sierra Nevada, Southern Utah, San Francisco Bay Area.  In the last 7 years we have taken annual hiking trips in the UK and France.  We switched to light-weight packs (10-12 pound base weight) ~7 years ago, and now we preach the gospel - it's made such a huge difference in our happiness and range.  I rely on backpackinglight.com extensively for info about lightweight gear options, and I'm a big fan of the quality and quantity of info on that site.

I took 4 self-supported bike tours as a teenager in WI, MN, MI, IL, but for the next 30 years stuck with hiking.  Jim and I both commute by bike, but neither of us had ridden recreationally for 25 years.  Unfortunately, Jim's feet are getting so arthritic that it's not clear he'll be able to hike forever.  Therefore we decided to take up bike touring as a fall-back position.  Neither of us is particularly interested in technical riding, but we dislike cycling with cars so much that we are sticking with dirt roads as much as possible.  We rode the GDMBR last year (gdr07.blogspot.com) and had a great time.

I'm looking forward to sharing route ideas on this site, particularly for dirt road routes >500 miles in length.  For example, I believe that the Pacific Crest route that ACA is developing (Canada to Mexico) is going to be all paved - I'd like to get those maps (when published) and expand it to include dirt-road alternatives to pavement where possible and viable. 

We just completed a 14 day ride on the terrific ~800 mile Northern California Loop that Andreas Vogel describes on his site:
http://home.pacbell.net/hillmann/NorCalLoop/index.html
This loop is mostly on very quiet paved roads, but includes 20-25% dirt roads through USFS and private timber lands.  I'll post a trip report when it's ready.

Thanks to Scott for taking the initiative to get this site up and running.

- Amy

Dave,
I just found your post about this, and I'm really intrigued.  By combining this rail trail with the BackCountry Discovery Trails through Modoc NF and Lassen NF you could create a heck of a nice big dirt road loop.  And you could connect it up with Andreas Vogels Northern Cal Loop to go all the way out to the coast for a really long loop!
Have the ties and rails been removed from the Modoc Line?  I see that the are not "encouraging use" yet, but is it usable or is it big chunky gravel?  Have you ridden it yet?  Pictures?
Thanks for posting the information,
Amy Lauterbach, Palo Alto

Luis,

There's a good lightweight shelter roundup (by Will Rietveld) over at backpackinglight.com, but it's "premier content" meaning it's only available for subscribers.  The article is a report from the September 2008 Outdoor Retailer trade show, and includes info about models coming out in the next six months.  If you can wait until spring 2009, then you'll be able to evaluate new tent models from North Face and Sierra Designs (and probably other manufacturers).

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/orsm08_lw_shelters.html

You'll need to make a fundamental decision about whether you want a hammock, a single wall tent, or a double wall tent.  If you and your wife will share a double bag then 2 hammocks won't be viable.  Do you already know whether you want single or double wall?  This article (unfortunately also for subscribers only) has good evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of single vs double wall ...
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/double_wall_tents_review_summary.html

Here are a few bits of info from Will's article (in case you aren't a backpackinglight subscriber) that might help you make a decision...

There are several models of 2 man double-wall tents on the market now that are <4.25 pounds and plenty comfortable.  There will be several more models available in spring 2009.  You can get as low as 3.5 or 3.75 pounds for a double wall 2-person tent by giving up some features/space.  If you decide on a double-wall tent, you should look for options in the sub-4.25 pound range, with opportunity to go as low as 3.5 pounds.

Henry Shires (tarptent.com) and GossamerGear.com are very well respected for light-weight single-wall enclosed tarp tents (i.e. bug proof). 

If you want a double wall tents Will's article points out a few lightweight choices:

MSR Carbon Reflex 2 weighs three pounds, four ounces and costs US$500(I'm not sure if it's available yet).

"REI's updated T-series Quarter Dome tents (T2 shown, 4 pounds, 2 ounces, US$259), available in 1-, 2-, and 3-person versions, are well-designed, lightweight, and value priced." (available spring 2008, so already in stores).

For release in spring 2009:  "We have always liked Sierra Design's easy to set up tents, but they have always been a bit on the heavy side by our standards. For spring 2009, SD has re-designed most of their extensive tent line (seventeen new tents), and six of them now come in under our weight limits. I will highlight two of them.  The Lightning XT 2 (4 pounds, 7 ounces, US$289), a two-person freestanding double-wall tent, has two side entry doors with vestibules, and provides thirty square feet of floor space plus twenty-one square feet in the vestibules.  The VaporLight 2 (3 pounds, 12 ounces, US$329) is also freestanding and has front entry and vestibule. Floor space is 25.5 square feet, and the front vestibule adds another 8 square feet of protected area."

"Not to Be Outdone, The North Face Introduces Nineteen New Tents for Spring 2009.  Among The North Face's rollout of new tents for spring 2009, the Flight Series of single-wall tents are the lightest. The lightest in the Flight Series are the Dyad 22 (3 pounds, 9 ounces) for two people. The Dyad has a floor area of 36 square feet plus 4.5 square feet in the vestibule, lots of headroom at the front, and a good high/low ventilation system."

"Mountain Hardwear's Helion 2 Features Cutting Edge Lightweight Components.  The new Helion 2 tent (3 pounds, 5 ounces, US$395), available now, is their lightest two-person double-wall tent"

And your easy question...  Jim and I carry a two person tent on top of a rear rack.  If we eventually switch from RearRack&Pannier system to Carousel/EpicDesign system, then Jim would carry the tent on his handlebars and I would carry our 2-person Nunatak top-bag on my handlebars.

Jim and I have switched from normal-load to light-load, but have not gone to ultra-light.  One of our last hold-outs is a four pound double-wall tent.  Although much heavier than the tarp-tent options, we are quite attached to the bomb-proof convenience it provides.  We have also chosen to pay the weight penalty for two doors rather than a single front door because of the convenience and nice sense of space - not important for occasional nights out, but we've found it meaningful when out for a month or two at a time.  If most of your trips will be solo, then you might want to save the half-pound or so by choosing a single-door tent.

One more thing to think about when you choose...  Will you be stealth camping (camping where it's not technically legal)?  If so, then some models are undesirable because of the bright colors.  For example, the REI Quarterdome fly is a nice moss-green.  The MSR Hubba Hubba fly is an attention-grabbing bright yellow.  Henry Shires tarp-tents are a nice dull gray.

If I were you, I'd wait and look at the new offerings from North Face and Sierra Designs before choosing.  Both of those companies have a long history of nice tents, and it sounds like they have redesigned their whole tent line-ups to be lighter weight.

Hope this helps,
AmyL
Palo Alto, CA

Tomi,

Like Shaun, I formerly used a katadyn filter or Polar Pure iodine for a long time, and then switched to chlorine dioxide (Aqua Mira drops or KlearWater) several years ago.  Aqua Mira is lighter, smaller, cheaper, simpler and just as, if not more, effective than a filter. 
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/aquamira_mcnett.html

-Amy

I'm looking for creative solutions to where to carry trash and bulky food if I give up my rack.

I tour on dirt roads (GDMBR last year, http://home.pacbell.net/hillmann/NorCalLoop/index.html next week, seeking 4-8 week dirt ride for next spring, either Europe or Nevada/EasternCalifornia/Eastern Oregon).

I ride with my husband.  Currently we both have rear racks with a set of Ortlieb rear Panniers.  He also has an Ortlieb handlebar bag and I have a Carousel Frame bag.  I don't want to wear a day pack while riding.  I'm considering dropping the rack and panniers and moving to Carousel bar and seat bags.  Everything will fit and work out fine, EXCEPT -- where to carry the trash and bulky foods.   

I use a stretchy basket net on top of my rack to hold a plastic grocery bag for the trash.  On the GDMBR that was generally 1-3 days worth of trash for two people, and sometimes it got quite bulky.  I can also stuff all sorts of bulky food things under the basket net -- like potato chips, polystyrene containers with take-out grocery store roasted chicken, 6 muffins packed in a plastic tray.

There photo at the very bottom of this page shows what I'm talking about:
http://gdradvice.blogspot.com/2007/10/photos.html

I'm shopping at convenience stores and the selection is limited enough that I don't want to limit it further by restricting myself to non-bulky items.  I'm trying to imagine how to carry bulky food items and bulky trash bag with a Carousel solution.  I don't really need the panniers for my gear, but I've grown attached to the flexibility and expandability of the basket net on the rack.

There must be some easy solution that I'm just not imagining.  Ideas?

Scott,

I agree with your list of categories that are meaningfully different from backpacking.  I'd add a few more unique-to-bike categories to your list:
- tools / repair
- clothing
- water storage containers / hydration
- panniers and/or stuff sacks and/or rack-top bags?
- maybe expand GPS to "Navigation Gear and Accessories" (like BPL does) to include compasses, altimeters, cycle computers, maps, mapping software, etc.  And you're right that this category is probably different enough from hiking to keep it separate.

Also, I think you should establish a direction about whether you want this site to be used for discussion/review of bikes and bike parts -- SRAM vs Shimano chains, models of suspension forks, review of bike models, etc.  Seems like every forum on a marginally related topic ends up with posts and threads like this "I want to start bike touring, what bike should I buy".  Do you want to deal with this category of information?  If not, maybe you can try to proactively redirect that type of discussion to whatever site/forum you think is best.  I don't have an opinion about what would work best for this site, my only opinion is that you should try to steer it in the direction you think would work out best - either encourage bike-part discussion by giving it structure, or discourage it by redirecting people to other forums/sites.

Again, thanks SO MUCH for investing the time to build this site.  I hope my comments help you continue to build and evolve the site.  Amy

Scott,
When you've got this site tuned and ready to go prime time (if it's not already), you might want to announce it over on the  BackpackingLight forums (off piste category).  Or let me know and I'll post the link over there.  There's already a thread there about bicycle touring with a very limited amount of activity/information.
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/display_forum.html?forum=31
Amy

Scott,

Thanks so much for setting up this site.

I am primarily a lightweight backpacker and make extensive use of the gear reviews on backpackinglight.com.
I also do dirt and fire road bikepacking, and so really appreciate this site with respect to route ideas, trip reports, and bike gear info, etc.

BackpackingLight.com already has an extensive collection of formal reviews, reports from the outdoor shows on soon to be released products, and reader reviews.  It would be hard to ever build enough general gear review content here to replicate the usefulness of the content over there for the gear that is shared.  Some of the articles there are only available to subscribers (the "state of the market" reports for example) but most content, including the reader reviews are not restricted.

I think it might best serve the bikepacker user community to leverage the quantity (and usually pretty high quality) of reader reviews at BackpackingLight.com for shared categories, rather than trying to build a parallel set of reader reviews over here.  The more info that's concentrated in one place the better, and it might take a couple years for this site to get enough readers and enough reader reviews to get critical mass for the review section to be really useful. 

Maybe you could look at a way to redirect people to that site for reviews in shared categories, and keep the gear review section of this site focused on non-shared categories?  I think the following categories from BPL are highly or completely shared:
Cookware
First Aid and Survival Gear
Foods
Hydration - Water Treatment
Navigation Gear
Photography
Shelters
Sleeping Bags and Pads
Stoves

Thanks again for all your effort, and I look forward to watching this site grow and prosper.

Amy