Well, three flats, a busted pump, a 5 mile hike-a bike through a snow/mud bog, an absolutely frigid night ride, and 155 miles and 16 hours later, I pulled the plug at 10 pm on the Colorado Springs Anti-Epic Gravel Grinder and hitched a ride the remaining 13 miles back to the car. So bummed to not finish, but the forces seemed to be against me on this one. Still, a valiant effort if I do say so myself. Out of almost 50 riders, apparently only 4 actually completed the specified route, so I can't get too down on myself. A Tour Divide shakedown it certainly was! Now I just have to figure out how to do it 20 days in a row... Ughhh.... Met a few Tour Divide riders (and past attempters) as well. Great ride! I'll have the full story up on my blog in a few days. -Andrew

In lieu of the upcoming Gravel Grinder ride in Denver, I rode a portion of the route a few weeks a go and wrote up the endeavor on my blog. (Seems a blog is part and parcel with a Divide preparations these days.) If anyone is interested, let me know what you think!

http://singletrackstories.com/2014/03/27/dirt-century-divide-shakedown/

Yeah Anti Epic. Was 155 miles, and then changed to 168 last minute. (As if 155 wasn't enough!) I just know those last 18 miles (probably more) are going to be a sufferfest. A little concerned about the condition of the roads too. I'll start and see how it goes. May determine to do a shorter route if it's going to be a slopshow. An early bedtime for me tonight!

Agreed. I get it. It was just kinda a conversation ender... but maybe it was overdue. The forum is useful for venting and sharing concerns and I don't think any one concern is more or less valid than another. And I can see how the 2012 guys might not want to redo the effort if it's going to be another detoured route for them yet again. But, "take what the Divide gives you" is my motto for the ride, so there it is.

Seems the forum needs something engaging to discuss, so I'll share my concerns at the moment: What is everyone's training regiment looking like these days? I'm putting in about 150-200 miles a week, mostly road and hardpack miles on the loaded Divide bike. Just hit some proper mountain bike trails and was surprised at how much it winded me. Thinking I need to add some intervals and intensity to my workouts in addition to long rides.

How much rest time is everyone allowing? I'm conflicted over when I should be resting after a hard day's ride and when i should be hitting it hard again. Thoughts?

I'm considering riding a 168 mile Gravel Grinder race tomorrow and concerned that this may be overdoing it too early on...

-Andrew

Wow... Buzzkill...

So I'm currently looking into bike lights, and I'm not sure what my options are really, or what I should be looking for. I read Matthew saying he doesn't use more than 50 lumens, but I think I would like to night ride a bit more, so I was shooting more like 100 (if lumens measurements mean anything anyway.) I also want a AAA battery set up to limit the weight and spares I need to bring (AAA will work for my mini headlamp, GPS, SPOT, etc.) So I was thinking something like this?

http://www.princetontec.com/eos-bike (It's pretty light, but will it be powerful enough?)

Or this?  http://princetontec.com/corona-bike (I hate the idea of bringing 8 AA batteries, and then spares too? That sounds pretty ridiculous...)

Other thoughts? What is everyone else thinking of bringing?

I'm driving up from Denver as well.  Might be leaving a week or more early though.  Would love to share gas costs if the timeline works.

-Les

Hey Les, (Jefe, Montana, and/or Slowride),  I'm in Denver too! I just bought my ticket before this carpool ride conversation happened, but I would totally be down to carpool. If you think that's a possibility I may look into canceling my flight. Wanna get together for beers sometime and hash out some details? Anyone in CO for that matter? I am ITCHING to get out and ride, the weather is just now starting to get rideable again! -Andrew

Seems like the rules basically state that the route follows whatever the latest published route from Adventure Cycling Association is, with a couple of standard exceptions. I'm guessing that whenever the maps are published, that will be the route.

I just purchased the maps!... Are they coming out with new ones, thus making my "new" ones obsolete?!

Thanks for sharing. How did you make those inner bars? Would like to try that myself. And you've got bar tape on the ergon grips? Is that overkill? Also, what kind of map screen is that? Seems larger than mine, and I'd like to compare.

Just did a ride in a balmy 25 degrees! All the gear I would have on the route and stayed nice and warm. Can temps get that low on the divide? I would suspect they would rarely get below freezing right?

Thanks for the heads up Marshall. I was thinking of using aluminum bars as well just to have one less thing to worry about. Any else have any experience with Carbon bars on the TD? Awesome blog btw. Enjoying the commentary, as well as reading your initial concerns/questions in 2010 on the previous forum. Very helpful!

Just booked my room at the Y! I'll be seeing many of you in the dorm! FYI, everything was still wide open available.

Hey guys! I'm getting my rig ready for my Divide debutante, and I was looking at getting some Ergon grips, but was puzzled to see on their website that they're not compatible with Carbon bars. Now I'm freaked out by putting anything on the bars, specifically my aero bars. Should I not use a Carbon handlebar if I plan to mount all of this stuff on it? I know that Carbon doesn't like to be squeezed... does anyone have experience with this?

Looking forward to meeting you all in June! (I've joined the Strava training group, though with snow still accumulating here in CO haven't had much opportunity to contribute any miles!)   -Andrew

Pretty stoney... A bit late, but it coincides with the full moon.  We could certainly change it if there is an overwhelming consensus here though.

I would LOVE to race this race this summer (toured it in 2012), but as a teacher, I wouldn't be able to if the date was 8/10. When I saw that the timing was going to be in August, I changed plans to race the Tour Divide this summer, but I would still LOVE to be able to do this race too. I vote for sometime in late July, if that's possible. -Andrew

Are there any concerns with attaching aero bars on a carbon handlebar? I was looking to go with Ergon GS2 grips, but it's red flagged on their website as a safety concern on carbon bars. Not sure why? So I'm thinking now that there may be some issue with aero bars on a carbon handlebar? Is it because carbon doesn't like to be "pinched", for lack of a better term?
-Andrew

I might be interested, but I can only ride the last week of March...

Well played!

I was anticipating, but the week of Oct 14th, as that's when my fall break is. Any chance you'd be able to swing it a week early?

Wow, good ol' UK! A Uk grad myself, Kentucky native, and I left Kentucky to move to CO. Lexington is no Durango, and mountain biking ops around Lexington are scarce at best, at least when I was there in 2004. I wasn't much of a bike packer then, but I did scout the state a bit looking for trails, and admittedly couldn't find much. Cyclo-cross was becoming pretty popular, and Louisville has some pretty sweet riding areas. I think I remember looking into Sheltowee, but the marjority of it wasn't available to bikers?You must be out there now. Finding much?

I'm toying with the idea of a Tour divide ride next summer. July would be best for me as well, although it's a shame not to ride it when the actual race is happening; however, early June just doesn't work well for me. My training would be much better suited for July. I might try to push that 100 mile a day though. Middle of the pack guys push 150 mile days, which is what I would want to shoot for, but that might be way optimistic... Let's stay in touch!

-Andrew

Hi Jeff, I might be interested if you still are. I did the whole trail a couple summers ago, and the stretch from Waterton to Bailey was really one of the finest stretches. Just endless smooth, fast singletrack. Been wanting to hit it again. You still interested? If would have to be in Oct though at this point as my Sept weekends are all booked up with other adventures! Let me know.
 -Andrew

I second the allergy piece. I have terrible asthma in June when the pines are pollinating. At least you can figure out how to manage it, or if it's allergies at all.