I used my AAA discount where I could.
most places didn't even ask to see the card(I had the number in my phone); YMMV.

I never thought about buying just bread, but buying a sandwich(or two) to go for 2nd dinner and 1st breakfast is a great way to take so luxury with you as you pedal away from civilization.

I used a similar approach by when I would eat dinner somewhere, I would order usually 6 grilled ham and cheese sandwiches at a time.  I remember seeing these on the menu at my first dinner stop and I was so excited.  "Can I have 2 please, wait, 4 please!" 

 

About training:
Justin's post (theartist) is fantastic.  However, if your older and don't have the time to get on the bike everyday, build long weekend rides and quality recovery. I was surprised at how long it takes me to completely recover from long (14 to 24 hour) weekends and 400+ mile bike pack trips.  The mental aspect of riding early in the morning in the dark and late at night in the dark is not to be underestimated.  It is much, much harder than you believe.  If you believe you are training hard enough, kick it up at least 2x harder, then you might be in the ballpark.  I was comfortable with my training level for the TD this summer.  However, as Sheila R. has said: "Every day on the divide you think that you have done something that is the hardest thing in your life."  

Another approach is to race into shape.  Go to Banff or AW with a moderate level of fitness and enjoy the ride.

The one thing Justin didn't mention is navigating.  It isn't that hard, but whatever your choice of navigation; cue sheet, gps or combo, train it.  You will learn things about your system of choice on the TD; therefore the more experience you have, the better you will be.  

Eating on the TD is a life changing experience, not having the big climbs to train on, taught me a lot this summer.  Being familiar with what you have to come on the route is important.  If you know you have a 2 hour climb ahead and you are going to burn 500 calories an hour, by the end of day 1 on the divide, you need consume the calories you need 30 to 45 before the climb.  I started playing with this on day 3 and it worked pretty well.  About an hour before a long climb, I would start eating at least 1,500 calories and be done at the lower levels of the climb.  You will learn a lot about calorie quality too.  Candy burns in an instant.  Fruit lasts a lot longer.  

I live on the east coast, flat as a pancake. Any ideas on how to train for altitude and climbing? It is almost 6 hours to the nearest mountians.

There is nothing you can do to acclimate, other than be there.  I have experimented with a couple different hypoxic breathing machines and devices over the past 3 years.  They take the edge off, but you can't simulate air density like you have at altitude.  These made it not too painful, until about 7k to 8k.  It just takes time for you body to get accustomed to processing the reduced volumes of air with each breath. 

Being from Texas, everyone's comments on acclimatization is pretty accurate. 

Hills; you can't control head winds.  My recommendation is a trainer.  Set it on an incline and ride with a level of resistance that you can turn for 2'ish hours.  The normal day on the TD is climb for about 2 hours (at my pace), then ride downhill for about an hour.  Cruise the valley and repeat.  You do this at least 4 times per day, until Wyoming and then pick it up again in CO. 

Does anyone have a seat that they recommend?  I am looking for one that is comfortable for hundreds of miles and yet still light.  I can for-see having ass problems sitting on a bad seat for 3000 miles. 

Foster, yea, this is personal, but let me tell you it can ruin your TD attempt as it did mine this past summer with blisters on the inside of both of my legs the size of hot dogs.  I had ridden the saddle I had upto 1,100 miles a month for month 3 and 2 before the TD without any problems, but once on the Divide.....

I have since gone to the Terry TiFly (i think) saddle.  It is prevalent amongst RAAM'ers. I am a big guy. 6'1" 183 lbs and thought I had a big butt.  This Terry saddle is much smaller than I thought I needed and they have a guarantee. I saw a lot of WTB Rocket V saddles this summer.  My recommendation is find one that is comfy and the ride it on at least a 3 to 4 day ride with dirty shorts.  This will tell you if it is the right saddle.

In case anyone is interested, I will be riding NOBO next summer. I will most likely be starting around the last week in May.  We have a baby on the way, which is due around the middle of June.

Anyone want to join? 

On the Divide this is now referred to as La Simoni weather pattern

 

Markmyword, you must be friends with Justin....

I am in to finish this and have been continuing to build after my 760 miles on the TD this summer.  At this point, I am back to where I was in March of this year, so 6 months ahead. 

I will not be making the Grand Depart.  My plan is to watch the weather through the winter.  I am currently considering an early, 28 May, NOBO ride or a late, end / mid August, SOBO ride. 

In case you were wondering about the winter weather it looks like the pattern is the same as this past winter.  Loads of snow, which will equate to similar re-routes that we had this year.  http://www.adventure-journal.com/2011/09/la-nina-is-back-for-another-round/

It's been great following this race, but I have a quick question. What type of lights are people using? Also, how did the leaders, who never seemed to stop moving, have time to recharge their lights?  Thanks a ton - I did a bunch of searching but couldn't come up with an answer. 

A bunch use princeton tec eos II.  They use aaa batteries.  I was getting a couple to 3 nights out of a set of lithiums.  No need to recharge.  Yea, it is wasteful. There were all sorts of lights in use though.  The most common one I saw was the eos.  I had 2 of them; one on the bike and one on my helmet.  They worked great coming down Fleecer Ridge at 11 PM being chased by a pack of wolves. 

In case everyone hasn't noticed there are some new GPX files on topofusion:  http://www.topofusion.com/divide/gps.php

Maybe someone will provide some guidance as to what route is the TD one for this year. 

IMHO, it's an adventure and/or an adventure race first and foremost.  It just so happens that the predominant mode of travel is by bike.  Anyone expecting a bike race has the wrong frame of mind from the get go.

One year rained nearly every day, next year forest fire, another year a hell of a lot of snow, then perhaps a drought year, or not enough snow (water runoff), then there's logistics, bike mechanicals, cars and potential head-on collisions at blind corners, people shootin' guns in the woods as we ride by, thunderstorms, lightning, navigation, headwind, tailwind, dogs, bears, wildlife, saddle sores, swelling feet, numb hands, blistered lips, blistered palms, blistered everything, fallen trees, mud slides, darkness, sleep monsters, trail angels, call-ins, race rules, spot tracking, serendipity, stupidity, revelation, getting in touch with your heart of hearts, and the list goes on.

You git whatch-you git an' you don' throw a fit.

Amen brother! 

Question about traveling. I'm planning to pack most of my gear in the box with the bike. Can I put things like chain lube or snacks in the box? As long as it's not aerosol it should be ok right? Anything I should avoid putting in the bike box?

Not really.  I would recommend to watch the weight of the box.  On most airlines, if you bust 50 lbs or 72 lbs, you will incur some more charges.  That way it might be better to split it up in a fold-able bag to be mailed home or thrown away. 

Awesome! I can't thank everybody here enough.

Crack man:
Yea, you will love the Gold Dust Trail.  As you start to follow the road down out of Boreas Pass, there is a trail about 300 yards / 274 meters on the right.  It is easy to miss.  If you ride on the right side of the road as you come across the top of Boreas Pass, you will see the trail going into the woods in the distance.  Be ready to take off like a rocket when you pull off the road.   She WILL get your heart going more than the climb up Boreas Pass!

As you can tell, it is one of my all time favorite trails outside of Monarch.  

Here's the Flathead, Whitefish Divide and Red Meadow. Shows the variation between the 17th, today and this time a year ago.

So, how do we know which image is which? 

Matthew:
I just emailed you the description from the Breck 100 that we used.  It is TD accurate. 

So, for all us SOBO riders, I am going to snow on the NOBO riders parade a bit. 

Here is a webcam of the top of Peak 8 in Breck.  It is about the same height and just across the Breck valley from Boreas Pass, which we will go through.  http://www.allsummitcounty.com/webcams/top_peak_8.php  If you have ridden in the Breck100 or  Breck Epic, you get to ride through Wheeler Pass, which is between Peak 8 and 9 of Beaver Creek. 

Oh, and there is snow forecasted in Breck for the next 3 days.

We didn't want you to feel like you would be missing out. 

I've seen Stan's turn into a "yellowish liquid" after a CO2 cartridge was used. Stan's and CO2 inflators do not cooperate well together.

iPhrankie:
Ah, yea.  make sense.  I was using CO2 for a couple days to keep it inflated with the slow leak.  Thanks. 

Things don't look so badly here:  http://www.elkford.ca/elkford_fire_rescue_webcam

Here is a Stan's question:

This past week, I had a slow leaker on my front tire and Stan's wouldn't seal it.  After taking the tire off, Stan's had turned into a yellowish liquid.  There wasn't any of the latex left in the liquid.  The Stan's was only about 1 week old.  I had just finished a pretty long weekend out in the hill country of Central and West Texas, where it was in the 90's during the day. 

Has anyone seen this before?   Is this the issue with Stan's in high temperatures I have heard of? 

Dressed up. Just waiting for prom.

Rob:
Nice.
29 or 26 inch wheels?

Rob:
I am a rookie, but didn't plan on taking bear spray.  I have been in bear country many times.  IMHO, if a bear is close enough to use bear spray, I made a mistake much further up my bear defense scheme.

Plus, bear spray is only good, if you have it in our cold'lil hand at the time the bear is in our face.