This is excellent!

Will probably have to ride or hitch back to start, but I can make a shuttle drop or two at the top of granite pass above ten sleep.

Looks like just a day on the road to close the loop through Buffalo back to Ten Sleep, assuming this route is good: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27597471

I'll get to work on the schedule with the wife.

Seriously considering this. How do people get back to the start?

Don't seem to hear about it much for bikepacking but a lot of guys I know swear by mixes like Tailwind and hammer nutrition for fuel.  To the point where doing full day endurance rides that's all they'll take in.  They don't seem to get hungry at all, or can get by with just a couple bars during the day.  I've tried them but not as a sole source, I still don't see how you don't get hungry and I'm not sure this would work for multi-day racing.  But it could be something to augment your nutrition as you could easily take in calories without having to stop.   

I'm one of those guys; Hammer stuff basically saved my endurance career. I've used Hammer Perpetuem for years, and Sustained Energy before that. Mixing the powder can be a pain, but I haven't had stomach, bonking, or cramping issues since 2001 and I can go all day with no solid food. I actually prefer to be all liquid on fast rides. I suffered mightily with stomach issues and cramping during the Cytomax/Gatorade/Powerbar era of sports nutrition.

Perpetuem Solids are a godsend in hot weather because you get the same kind of easy to digest nutrition without having to drink a hot sports drink. Plain water is better than any mix when your water is warm.

It also helps if you don't get all emotional about your food while you're moving. I want the mildest, most tasteless stuff possible when I'm trying to make time and Hammer fits that bill. Sweet stuff makes me want to puke. I still have nightmares about Powerbar Harvest Bars from the White Rim in 1998.

Solid food when you stop for the night is a good idea though. And on tours.

we are talking "ultra racing" here right?

There's a performance ROI on rest in a long race. It's not just muscle and connective tissue that need recovery - the brain and endocrine system need to recover too.

Everyone has their own capacity to operate on limited sleep just like they have their own VO2 max or anaerobic threshold. The people that can tolerate very little sleep will always have a huge advantage in the longer races, and people with a lower tolerance for missing sleep will be faster with "enough" high quality rest.

It's all down to individual risk tolerance and knowing your limits. Is it worth the incremental risk of a DNF to save a pound of gear weight if you're not racing for the win? Everyone has to answer that for themselves.

Racing tends to drive racers to the most optimal solution - which has to a great degree been worked out - so from that perspective you're right that the pioneering spirit might be gone. We have the freedom to make the experience whatever we want it to be, however.

Just remember when you're pushing that hard for that long, time off the bike needs to be recovery time. If you can't sleep, you can't recover. Don't rely on a system that won't let you get good rest, even if you're only off the bike for a couple of hours.

Test well before you decide.

Strong, strong humans in the race this year. Congrats to all the racers that toed the line!

That driver should be charged with attempted murder.

Hey Joey, one other consideration - not all probiotics are created equal. Different bugs and all that... I experimented with several before I found one that did the trick.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/10/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/the-heart-and-masters-cycling_388002

More from Lennard Zinn on the topic.

Thinking about trying Zwift to make the hours pass faster: http://www.zwift.com/index

Just the idea of keeping a high heart rate for 12 hours sounds painful. I do all of my long rides/bikepacking, even the ones I'm doing for time, at an average of around 70% of LT. I can't imagine pegging my HR for longer than a couple hours - I'm 48 now too.

Back in the day I got faster every year using Phil Maffetone's approach. It's low volume and low intensity - it almost feels too easy but the results came year after year.

Just starting to train for the CTR next year and for the first time I'll be incorporating mobility, plyometrics and Olympic lifting into the plan. Partially because the CTR is about a lot more than pedaling (50+ mi. of HAB at altitude), and partially because I'm older now, I ski and mountaineer in addition to cycling, and don't feel like it would be healthy or fun to sacrifice a big chunk of muscle mass again.

I may feel differently about the 'extra' muscle weight while going over 10 Mile next year though.

Thanks for sharing Stefan, that's a great story.

Congrats Mark. Incredible effort.

Incredible efforts out there, such strong people. Congrats to all the finishers!

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Woodland - Having heard a bit more of this story in the shop today, I'd be totally with Toby on this one... there has got to be an uncrossable line somewhere.  Especially when records are potentially at stake.

Toby had it right, even if it didn't always come across in a palatable way for certain people.

Thanks Kurt for putting this situation out there. Peer pressure is the only mechanism we have to maintain the integrity of these events.

Not that anyone is a bad person for riding their own ride - they aren't as long as they aren't claiming a clean ride or a clean time.

Three hours sleep in three days and fast as hell. Unbelievable athlete.

man oh man....what a great day and what a great view Jesse must be having at the top of Georgia Pass.....pedal damn it, pedal!!!!!

About 30 hours to finish from Georgia Pass to tie Jefe's record...holy crap those guys are fast. Their ability to deal with sleep dep amazes.

@Majcolo

How is it that you know the gender of the hiker/letter writer that failed to keep their dog leashed?

I don't?

I must have made a subconscious inference based on language and tone of the email. What's the difference? The hiker's gender is irrelevant, their reaction is very relevant.

My concern is the continuation of the race and trail access in general.

Pretentious, pseudo-intellectual missing the point hair-splitting...out.

Two days to Leadville...HFS.