[Wundermap]

And another great tool for blue-dot junkies, in case you haven't found it already.

http://www.wunderground.com/

Get the forecast for the nearest town to your favorite racer.  Then, in the middle of the page, click on the link called Wundermap

The Wundermap shows dots for each weather station in the area.  Wind speed and and temperature are shown on the map.  Click on the dot if you want to drill down for more detail.  When you click a dot, you'll see a pop-up box with a temperature graph.  In the upper right of the pop-up is a blue underlined station code.  Click that link for even more data, often including the hourly graphs for rainfall rate, wind speed, and wind direction.

The cool thing about Wundermap is that it includes thousands of private weather stations in addition to the government agency sponsored stations, so there's much better coverage than you'll find on most weather resources.

A good blue-dot junkie tool is the "photo" feature of google maps.  Especially for spouses and friends, so you can get a sense for what you're racer is seeing.  You can't turn on "photo" in the Leaderboard.  Instead, open a different browser window, go to maps.google.com, get to the location of interest, and check the "photo" box under the "More" box.  It's a great way to get a better feel for the area. 

Many of the photos are from paved roads, so you won't necessarily find something right on the race route.

Amy

luckylarue -- If fresh at the start, high quality batteries should last a couple weeks in the SPOT device.

For heathercycle and teamfaeth, and others not familiar with SPOT.

When you look at the rider's page, the dot will have a time-stamp.  If that stamp is old, then there is no current data on the location of the rider.  Heather's last time-stamp is hours ago, so there's no way to know where she currently is.  All we know is that her SPOT device did go to Swan Lake, but we don't know how long she stayed there, or why she went there.  There are people and phones there, so if she has any kind of trouble she will be getting the assistance she needs.

The SPOTdevice auto-transmits the location data approximately 10 minutes.  It's not at all uncommon for a track to have a gap of 30 to 60 minutes, even though it is turned on in "tracking" mode.  If it doesn't show a signal for a few hours at a time, that probably means it is not on.  It could be off for many reasons: 
User forgot turn it on (it must be turned on every 24 hours);
User tried to turn it on, but didn't push the right buttons in the right order (the user interface on SPOT-2 is better than SPOT-1, but still tricky if you're a sleep-deprived racer with cold fingers);
User deliberately didn't turn it on (don't want to be "stalked", don't want competition to know exact location, don't like new-fangled technology, taking a nap and don't want the world to know about it);
Batteries or device failed;
Device can't receive GPS location (in a canyon, blocked by something inside the pack, etc.);
Device gets GPS location and sends location data, but no satellite available to pick up the signal;
Lost the device and decided not to backtrack to find it;

It's frustrating for the blue-dot observers when this happens, but don't interpret a "stuck" dot as meaning that anything is wrong. 

the upcoming storms will change the game for the riders.  I can just imagine the calls we'll hear after people have passed through the sticky mud on the way into Lima.
Mouse over the "Probability of Precipitation" column.  Yikes.  If anybody can get ahead of the storm and avoid the worst of the mud they'll gain a huge advantage.

http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/graphical/sectors/northrockiesWeek.php#tabs

Amy

Looks like Grant Triplow is withdrawing. 

Posted today on the "Action and Motion" team website (Grant Triplow, Simon Temple, Christina Domecq)

    Grant Triplow
    Monday, 14 June 2010 15:44
    Had to pull out due to knee injury. G

http://www.actionandmotion.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=3&Itemid=4

Anyway, hopefully he will call in to let the TD site maintainers know if he really is pulling out due to knee injury.

[http://www.actionandmotion.com/]

I've been trying to learn a little more about each racer by googling their names.  For others who like to know the "human interest" stories behind the racers, I've just found some info about three of the racers.  Christina Domecq and Simon Temple are married, so not surprising that their SPOT tracks showed them as being together when they apparently took the old route, missing the long piece of the race route in Canada.  Simon is a documentary film-maker, and he is along to document her attempt to break the women's TD record.

http://www.actionandmotion.com/
"Christina is now seeking to become the fastest women ever to race south to north on a mountain bike.  The women’s record currently stands at twenty-three days, which Christina intends to beat by 3 days.  The Tour Divide is an unsupported event, riders must carry all their own equipment and bivouac under the elements, but Christina will race alongside her ex-triathlete filmmaker husband who will endeavour to record her record-breaking progress for posterity."

http://www.actionandmotion.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=3
"Meet the team for the Tour Divide... Christina Domecq,... Simon Temple,... Grant Triplow"

http://www.actionandmotion.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=3&Itemid=4
This is the team's blog.  Thursday's post:  "Race Day -1 we are still in Calgary and have ditched our panniers, opting for a much lighter system, we finally are heading to Banff. Emotionally exhausted. It feels like the hurdles to get here have been insurmountable and we are all wondering what next disaster may lie around the corner..."

Maybe the next disaster around the corner is that they appear to already be relegated?  Hopefully they realize this, and if not hopefully one of their friends will get the message to them.

Heather Dawe missed a turn on Saturday night just south of the border.  She figured it out  and back-tracked to correct the mistake.  She lost <1 hour. 

[Annotated photo show:]

Jim and I took an 8 day paved/dirt road tour in Central CA in March.  450 miles (25% dirt) and ~25000' gain.  We had a terrific trip, very enjoyable.

Annotated photo show: 
http://amyl.smugmug.com/gallery/11921540_yPxS4/1/844058367_7vkgQ#844058367_7vkgQ

Highlights:
** wildflowers in late March and April (following a wet winter) are astonishing.  We were out at the start of the wildflower season before things were fully blooming, and we still had a great show.
** Lovely Oak Savannah ranchlands
** only three towns in 450 miles, so even though it's on roads, it's pretty isolated. 
** only ~15 miles of busy roads (mostly in the three towns) and another ~25-50 miles of moderate traffic.  The vast majority of the route has <5 cars per hour.
** easy access from home (SF Bay Area), and loop made logistics easy.
** weather was perfect (no clouds, and 35 to 70 degrees every day).  California weather is dang predictable.
** my favorite areas:  Carrizo Plain National Monument, and the Indians Road in Los Padres National Forest

This isn't really a bikepacking trip report since 435 of the 450 miles were on roads open to vehicles.  But I'm a backpacker at heart, taking up bike touring as a secondary hobby, and I have a strong preference for dirt road riding and rough camping.  I identify more closely with bikepackers than to the paved road bike tour community, and I suspect there are paved road bike tourers lurking here in Bikepacking.net who are tempted to branch out into dirt road touring (or already have made the switch).

I've got a detailed route document with profiles, map details, info about stores and cafes, reference URLs, etc.  If interested, send me a PM and I'll forward a copy to you.

Amy L, Palo Alto

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

Daniel wrote "Does anyone know of any mtb touring routes in northern california?"

Are you looking for an overnight?  A week?  A couple weeks or more?
Do you want to limit yourself to single track, or are you open to dirt road touring routes?
There are many options for great dirt road riding of various lengths (as Dave54 mentioned), so if dirt road touring for a week or two is interesting to you, I can make a suggestion or two.

For a quick overnight without cars in the San Francisco Bay Area:
Henry Coe State Park
Mt Diablo State Park
Arroyo Seco - Indians Road in Los Padres National Forest

Amy

"Power grips are nice for non-technical touring as well."
+1.  If you haven't tried them, you should at least give them a test.  I love mine.

The weather station at Hachita Valley reported 106 degrees when Deanna was riding her last few miles into Antelope Wells.  OUCH!  What a way to finish an awe-inspiring journey. 

To be most useful, I think it needs to be maintained in map-mileage order.  It's so much easier to use than gleaning dozens or hundreds of blogs and forums for comments.

Wouldn't be hard for me to create a blog, with one entry per side of a map.  I can populate it with the notes we took.  Then, ask people to comment on the blog with their additions.  I'll add their comments (with a year-stamp and user), in the proper order, to the blog content.  If Scott is interested in doing this instead, I wouldn't complain, but he's got plenty on his plate already.  Or, I could start collecting comments in a blog that Scott could use later (if ever) to populate something.

One of my goals is to make sure that the great people who live and work along the route get recognized and that we encourage others to give their business to the service providers who have been friendly toward cyclists.  If there's interest, I'll start something in late August.

Andreas Vogel's northern California loop mixes dirt and paved road.  So it's really more of a bike touring route for people who like dirt roads.  We rode it last year and loved it.  If you wanted to have more dirt and less pavement you'd need to get the forest service maps and alter the routing.
http://northwestcalloop.blogspot.com/

And Andreas has also mapped a SF to LA route that mixes paved and dirt roads:
http://home.pacbell.net/hillmann/SF2LA/index.html

I know ACA maintains the addendum to the maps, giving corrections to the route and service list.  But they don't make qualitative assessments of things.
Is anybody maintaining a list of comments and notes?  Recommendations for restaurants (or those to avoid), motels, campsites, bike shops, etc? 
I made a list of notes I took when Jim and I toured the GDMBR in 2007.  http://gdradvice.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
I think it would be useful to have a similar list that everybody can contribute to, organized by map# and mile marker.  That way we can recognize the service providers who have been welcoming of cyclists, and encourage other cyclists to make use of those service providers. 
If a list like that exists, I'll add our notes to it.  If it doesn't exist, I'd be willing to start a new blog dedicated to that purpose.
Amy

Thanks for the correction to 2745 miles.  That's good news.  They shouldn't have any problem making Antelope Wells by 2048 on Thursday.

Banff to Antelope Wells is 2705 miles according to the split chart.  I think that makes 27 days and 72 minutes to meet the GDR 100-mile-per-day cutoff (which TourDivide does not share).

Per, Paul and Trevor might make it to Antelope Wells by 11:12 AM Thursday if the wind, bikes, and health cooperate.  I wonder if they are working toward that goal?  I sure hope so, as it would be a really fine and tidy accomplishment.  If they are working toward that goal, they may ride into the night, or get up really early tomorrow.

They rough camped 8 or 10 miles north of Beaverhead.  They left Beaverhead Work Center at 0710, traveled  57 mostly rough miles to Mimbres, and arrived at 1330, which is dang good progress through that stretch of rough road.

Mimbres to A.W. - 146.9 miles
Silver City to A.W. - 123.9 miles
Separ to A.W. - 72.7 miles, all paved.  Took Matt 5 3/4 hours to cover that.
Hachita to A.W. - 46 miles

Go go go!  I'm cheering for you guys!

A couple nice articles:
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2009/jun/28/joel_reichenberger_keeping_his_word/
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2009/jun/28/steamboat_mountain_biker_competes_tour_divide/

I hope Dario is not so disoriented that he can't get back to the route, or at least to a source of water.  I feel bad for him, it's a harsh place to be lost.