I had it at roughly 14 days, 11 hours, 40 minutes.

Incredibly impressive. I'm not big on comparing years but I just looked it up. Josh can truly claim the fastest full course ride, he trimmed about 10 minutes off of the indefatigable Mike Hall. Congrats to Jay and Neil as well, absolutely no losers here.

Sorry to hear Marshal. Conditions sound horrendous this year.

Thanks Joe!

Jefe is amazing. Alex too and Eszter's ghost, she always holds her own. But right now I'm fascinated with Jefe, to my best estimate he has only taken 1, 1/2 hours or less of total stop time in the first 30 hours of racing. Amazing, no breakfast at cafe Jax for Jefe. I think it's safe to say that the conditions that everyone out there are prevailing over are far worse than we had last year. Great stuff.

Rundle riverside is a great trail, lots of deadfall right now from what I've heard. 30-40 trees. It's also significantly harder than Goat Creek. I think the best alternate would be the Banff Legacy bike path. It would end up being slightly harder longer than the official course, once you include climbing back up the Smith Dorrien road to the east trail head of Goat Creek.


http://www.bikepirate.com/x-country-trails/banff-legacy-trail/

The 1A from Cochrane to Canmore is a great ride, especially if you're new to the Canadian Rockies. We took that route last year. Then there's the Banff Legacy trail bike path from Canmore to Banff. You can see it on google maps beside the eastbound lane of the Transcanada. But if you're ambitious climb the Smith Dorrrien/ Spray highway to the Goat Creek trail head and ride the first 7 miles of the race route backwards to Banff, takes you straight to the mountain YWCA. Here's a link to Forest Baker's blog, with a few shots of riding the 1A.
Craig.
http://teamkaker.com/tour-divide-2013-getting-ready/

The link should work now. I had to unlock it. There isn't a perfect way to ride from the airport but this is the most direct. 96 ave is a major road but has a wide shoulder. A tail light is a must but it should be safe. You may want to skip the pathway section and just stay on Country Hills Blvd to make it simpler or shoot straight to the 1A from the west edge of town (continue west on Country Hills Blvd, south on 12 Mile Coulee)for the shortest fastest way.
You could probably find a place to bivy at Ghost lake but I think you might find something nicer and less exposed in Cochrane. It will be past midnight by the time you arrive anyway. I'd poach a quite spot at Cochrane ranch.
Craig.

This is how I would ride from the Calgary airport to a coffee shop in Cochrane. The back roads are paved except for the last bit, it's much nicer than the highway and only takes 15-30 minutes longer.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/346967787/

There is an even better route to the south through Glenbow park. Pathway, railway, dirt road. I led a TD group in 2013.
Craig.

Hey Adam. This what I use, it's one of the only pieces of gear I haven't changed. I had the same concerns, I wanted something louder than a watch that I wouldn't sleep through. A little extra weight, carrying a dedicated alarm but I can set this right beside my head.
It's fast to reset and adjust alarm time. Just don't ask Ollie Whalley and Kurt Sandiforth who got an extra hour of sleep at Corbin in 2012. They foolishly relied on my alarm, only I set it for 4 PM!
Craig.
http://www.mec.ca/product/5023-112/casio-travel-alarm-clock/

Hey Marshal. I'll preface and say these are my best guesses, not having seen any of it myself. From what I've heard the Goat Creek trail is fine, one bridge is displaced but cross-able. From reports like the ones above, I haven't heard of major problems with the West Spray road or the Mt. Shark trail system. Looks like Elk Pass and the road afterwards would have several washed out culverts, I think some of these might be repaired. The bridge over the Elk river before Elkford could be interesting. I don't know if it is scheduled to be repaired before June. I think I'd consider swimming before a 30 mile detour! Then I read somewhere about a major washout on the gravel between Elkford and Sparwood but it sounds passable. As far as the Flathead, from the pictures and reports, looks like a few hikes through eroded culverts at first. Then on the descent through the creek bed section of Flathead Pass, I'd say judging from the pictures, that it's about 100- 200% rougher, mainly localized to that section. Last year, without snow, it wasn't too difficult to stay on your bike through there. Now it looks like several potential short, on again, off again hikes but that whole section isn't very long. From what I can gather once you get to the bottom of Flathead pass you're golden. Not counting the bridge before Elkford, I'd guess an hour or less of extra time, so Butt's by say 11:30?!

I'm not racing this year but maybe I'll do a recon ride in June and give a proper report.
Craig.

I found these reports from the fall on the Canadian section.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1&page_id=341265&v=8d
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vikapproved/sets/72157634412270724/

Craig.

I'd also agree that the Saguaro and UST crossmark are bomber, I just wanted to be lighter. It's a tough ask for a tire, Light fast, durable and reliable.
A little off topic but what tires do you run at CTR Jefe?
Craig.

Jefe, I ran the lightest tires that I thought would be reliable. Specialized 1.95 s-works renegade for the front, 460 grams. Specialized 2.0 s-works fast track for the rear, 500 grams. The renegade is a great tire and I haven't felt anything faster. I ran the fast track on the rear only for the deeper tread so it would last long enough. The puncture was on the rear. Specialized tubeless ready tires have fantastic beads. Easy to mount without tire irons and they air up so easily, I can get the bead to seat with just my mini pump on the trail side. I changed both tires in Steamboat but they still had good tread and may have been able to go the distance.
What tire pressures is everyone running? I was around 22 psi.
Craig.

Jefe, interesting story, something not so serious like a broken cage leading to something much worse like a damaged wheel and multiple flats.
I generally think of myself as being easy on equipment and in my experience the divide isn't all that hard on equipment. But things can go downhill quickly.
In 2012, I had a chain link crack between Basin and Butte. I noticed it quickly and stopped peddling before the chain came apart. I removed the broken link and fixed my 10 speed XT chain with a Sram 10 speed power link, which works fine by the way. Ten miles down the route I replaced the chain in Butte. Over a week later my XTR 980 peddle died just before Jay's bar outside of Grants. That led to 14 hours sourcing a replacement on a Friday afternoon and evening.
As far a I made it this year I only had one puncture. After descending Fleecer ridge, I was enjoying myself a bit too much. Probably riding faster than necessary on the double track at the bottom and suffered a puncture just before the gravel starts. I fixed it with a tubeless tire plug. http://weldtite.co.uk/products/detail/cycle-tubeless-tyre-outside-repair-kit
Then later that evening in Russ Kipp's garage at the Montana High Country lodge I patched the inside of the tire. I carry tubeless tire patches and glue for automotive tires, works great. I didn't lose a noticeable amount of sealant during either repair.
Craig.

Congratulations Mike. It was fun to get to know you a little. Mike came on my group ride from Calgary before the start. Of course there were a couple different levels but he was friendly and courteous to everyone on the ride. In fact everyone who came on the ride bonded in that short 80 mile space of time. We stayed in different places in Banff but made a point of sharing our next couple meals together.

The 30-35 hours we spent together on the race course felt like 5 hour race pace. 99% because of Mike. He peddles really hard, all day. He is also highly efficient, eating on the bike, quick stops etc. It's a shame Mike didn't get an opportunity to set the record but that's the way this thing goes.
Craig Stappler.

It's wet coming down Flathead pass. Maybe more water than last year but no snow! It's all ride-able, in both directions, save for the biggest most violent creek crossing. I'm guessing you mean Cabin pass Robin. The valley in between is dry, hard pack and very fast, like pavement right now all the way to Butt's cabin, which is pretty much the start of Cabin pass.

[Snow report]

Snow report
I think this info is out there already. I spent yesterday riding from Corbin to the top of Galton and back. I came across no snow. Conditions are fast. Speaking of that, the hike-a-bike is in the best shape I've ever seen it. I ran into Richard and Kerrin on their ITT. They were a little down, I tried to cheer them up. When I left them they felt optimistic about making it to Eureka and taking a rest day.
Craig.

I have the set route variations as -
the Gold Dust Trail after Boreas Pass (not on ACA map/notes, I'm hoping it's a single trail?)
the CDT Sapillo alt north of Silver City
 and also the Chaco + El Malpais alts that are optional for a faster race route. Is this all / correct to the GPS route, I understood the other alts are not part of the race route?

Those are the four legal alternates, the first two are mandatory for SOBO. The 2012 topo-fusion file takes you on all four alternates, not the standard ACA route. If you are racing, you won't mind the pavement, trust me.

Marco, those alternates are effectively the race route. You don't have to take them but they are legal, faster, easier and almost everyone will take them.

[quote author=cjellmoney link=topic=2648.msg47865#msg47865 date=1370534554

Message to all starting in Banff: You will be passing a number of NOBO's this year. We started on the same day and the same time as you. We started from the very place you are headed, and are going to the place you began. Do not be surprised.

I plan on upping my trash talking directed mainly at SOBO's this year. See you in Wyoming suckas.
[/quote]

Hey Cjell, I'll play. Wanna make a bet on who gets further this year before crossing paths? I'm not saying I'll be the first SOBO, but I bet I can get past last years golden spike before you can. I'll even say that I can get into Colorado before you can get to Wyoming. Well? Loser buys the firecrackers!
Craig.