Thankfully all's well, Andy's checked in at Vicente Guerrero OK. A lesson about the frequency of social media posting perhaps!

Rider Missing -

Andy Cox of the UK, last known location Jamul on Dec 1st, heading in direction of Baja on the Baja Divide route.

A regular on social media during his touring across Europe for over a year, his posts stopped a week ago.

Andy is tall, slim, around 185-190cm and 85kg. He has a close-crop or bald head. He rides a green steel Genesis 29er with drop bars.



(overly-large image I know, but best one you'd recognise him and his bike from)

Images here - https://www.instagram.com/p/BrGr6CplgmC/

Apologies for the use of the forum in this way. His friends are experienced bikepackers who know what it can be like out there with kit malfunctions etc though with Andy's track record, to be radio-silent for over a week now in that area is worrying for us.

If anyone has any news please email me, james.olsen.remote 'at' hotmail.co.uk

Thanks

..a king of infinite space..

Fitting .. for all who ride into 'that place' somewhere along the Divide. Good luck Rob!

http://torino-nice.weebly.com/




It's not a race, the ideal bike is debatable, there's plenty of chance to go off-route or take a shortcut and there's no rules or expectations apart from Rule #1. "The First" suggests there will be a second.. Let's see how year one works out. We could have a series of rally patches in a few editions' time.

It's a nice ride on tarmac and easy gravel roads, generally high up with great views. It's intended as a pleasant way to finish the season, a social as much as a self-supported ride. If you did decide to TT it'll be a challenge, it's not an easy 700km considering the non-technical terrain. There's a fair bit of of climbing to reach those high-altitude cols and tracks.

Food and coffee en-route is first class as you would expect in Italy and France.

Full route files and cues due out in the summer.

Hard to say as it's all based on persoanal comfort levels and it varies so much, I think you can expect a fair chance of being as cold as you'll ever get in the south of the UK in winter though. Could be 50+ miles and a few long, chilling downhills to a warm dry place, potentially.

Spare warm/windproof gloves and warm feet aids of some sort are a good thing to have. You can buy stuff along the way, may not be the best riding kit but a basic fleece or wool tope, etc just basic stuff that's ok to ride in when you get wet. I'd take a spare warm layer for sure.

Interested in this thread, to learn what works for others, what I could have done differently or if the same results can come from more efficient methods. I'm sceptical (w/o any expertise, but naturally sceptical..) that the 'work smarter' road race training methods can save much training time when you're preparing for 2-3 weeks of steady drain on your reserves. I thought I needed the mental and physical strength that comes from putting in 100s of hours in all weathers and you need to stay healthy and motivated while doing it.

Another recommendation for Joe Friel's methods from me, or at least reading his book and blog to help understand some of the basics. I read up on training zones, turbo sessions and volume/intensity balance there and also got some tips from a couple of friends who use coaching or formal plans with good results.

I the end did 6 months of training that started on New Year's day, off the back of a year where I'd done 2 10-day trips that I felt had built up my basic strength. the 6 months plan was based on 2x 12 week blocks. The first was mainly high road mileage at low pace - 90-120 miles at a time, 2x a week with one or 2 50-60 milers mid week, almost all at Z2 with big-gear Z2-limited hill work, aimed at getting my base ready and getting to the point where a steady 100 miles on road was just a sunday am ride. Also did 1 or 2x a week 1.5-2hr SS MTB rides, early morning before eating and some longer loaded rides every other weekend in place ofthe road Z2 miles. Added in 1x a week turbo session in Feb, generally doing 2x 15 mins at / just over threshold or 5x 5 mins at max sustainable pace with 3-4 mins rest at ~75% HR.
The second block was getting away from the long road miles and riding my MTB loaded up more, weekend trips with 2x 15hr days, etc. I kept up the weekly 60+ mile Z2 rides, the early-am SS ride and the turbo sessions, only the turbo session was set in stone and the rest was flexible. Had a lower-miles week every 4-5th week. Did a lot of 30 mins Z1 spins on the turbo am or pm just to keep the legs loose. Most weeks had a similar structure, based around a really hard 1hr on the turbo on wednesdays and the time I had at the weekends for longer rides.
I did ~25hrs most weeks with very few days off the bike so most of my training was at a steady pace, but often on a heavy bike, the 1x a week turbo sessions and SS rides were all the HI training I did.
If anything I felt strongest on a 5-day prep ride a month before the TD, maybe peaking early, but tbh had no plan to 'peak', just to have spent a lot of time on the bike getting strong and injury-resistant without wearing myself down.

"it simply isn't mountain biking."

First, do we need to define mountain biking for this discussion?

I'd agree that the TDR isn't a typical MTB race. It's a dirt touring, roughing-it race/challenge. I still call that mountain biking though, it covers a lot of stuff to me. I think I'd say a WC DH is the hardest MTB race..

You've been there before Phil  If there's one thing Alex can do it's tough it out with the sleep monster, no point trying to predict his ride/sleep patterns!

Phil, there's a mine at Corbin with an open parking lot that makes a good bivi before starting up into the Flathead valley. The guys that get to the cabin are flyers, a big first day. Alex H is still riding at 3am, 215+ miles in..

http://blog.jonesbikes.com/wrapping-an-h-bar%C2%AE/

learn from the expert : )

Porcelain Rocket and Bar Fly Bags both make bags for Jines bars.

Also Wildcat in the UK now. The Wildcat bag cunningly leaves the 'thumb-hook' corner areas of the bar open, I think that's a good thing.

DSCN9435 by james*o, on Flickr

A bar shot from a recent overnighter, pretty much my std set up now. Another Jones bar fan, still the only non-drop bar I can get comfy on for long-distance stuff. The harness is a Wildcat model that has tension straps to the fork crown, it's impressively stable.

I used to use Scott AT4s many years back but these days I don't see any need for aerobars - I can't pedal my MTB well in that position so any aero benefit is lost in lack of output. Changing grip position and even getting all weight off the hands is a good thing but rides with that much saddle time vs rest time that hand numbness becomes any concern are rare / so far a 1-off for me. I can rest my forearms on the Loop bar for road sections if needed, not often but a 'slumped mile' here and there feels good ..

but what other hot weather adjustments or precautions should I be aware of?

Cheers

KiwiDave

A late reply but reading a few pages back this reminded me of one of the most unpleasant and unforseen problems I had on the TDR, I've not seen it mentioned so thought it's worth highlighting. I'm from the UK so the dry, hot air from the Baisin onwards messed up my sinuses pretty badly, I felt pretty dried out but it wasn't a dehydrated lack of water feeling. I awoke in my bivi with a mouth like dry leather due to a blocked nose, rode on with a nosebleed too many times and it became painful to eat. I had prep for chapped lips but there wasn't much I could do about the dry air. I made something a bit like a surgeon's facemask from a bit of rag I had and some tarp cord and tried to keep it damp, or at least wet it when I drank. A bit of a PITA but preferable to blood loss, a few days in CO and NM using this helped me recover to a more normal state of discomfort

This is a very important tip for aspiring TDR racers that seems to be overlooked.  One thing to keep in mind while preparing for this race is what you'll do after you finish, wherever that happens to be, but especially if you make it all or most of the way.  We spend so much mental and physical energy getting ready to do the thing but, if these posts are any indication, little if any time thinking about how to recover from it, both mentally and physically.  That's how it was for me.  This isn't a typical adventure race that might last from a few days up to a week.  It's usually at least three weeks of continual physical and mental grind-down.  Given the fact that this event is front and center of our cycling lives for a year or more in many cases, and that the load put on brain and body is greater than anything most of us have attempted, it should be no surprise that what happens to you after you (hopefully) ride up to that gate at AW will be unpredictable.  Suddenly, the constant load placed on you is swept away.  All of a sudden, the one task that has dominated your focus is replaced by a kind of vacuum.  How your physiology and psychology reacts to that sudden change can be profound.  For my 2014 Divide Race I give myself an A+ for preparation, an A for the event itself and an F for planning my recovery from it.  All I could think of was how to do the event as effectively as possible, but not how I was going to taper off from it or what would fill that void.  No surprise then, that after three weeks I still wasn't feeling particularly recovered, physically, and that my mental side had started to slip sideways.  All the months or even years of build-up, then the thrill of actually doing the thing, then - BAM!, the bottom just drops out.  Your mind and body probably won't respond well to that shock, any better than they would if you were to do the TDR without any preparation.  Don't get blindsided by this part of the process.

So preparation tip offering #3 (after #1- perfect your bike fit and, #2 embrace the positive side of this event at all times) is to prepare not only for the event, but for your post-event recovery.  It's not just a matter of resting.  Ending this thing is a big comedown, no matter what the circumstances and no matter how thrilled you are with your results.  It needs to be as gentle a landing as you can manage, not like you've fallen off of a skyscraper.  My old skydiving instructor used to say "falling never hurt anybody, it's hitting the ground that hurts". Mike Hall probably could add some wisdom here, having spoken openly about his mental relationship to this kind of event and the ups/downs that can come with it.  He's certainly as qualified as anyone I know of.  So it's probably a good idea to have a post TDR cycling plan in place (other easy rides/events) and something important to engage you mentally (an important project of some kind).  I knew that doing this would kick my ass in all kinds of new ways and it certainly did.  I just wasn't prepared for some of them.  In 2016 I'll work that into the plan.  For you 2015ers there's still time to sort this out.  Good luck.

Peace

A great post that I fully relate to and agree with.

"Category two are those who want to share the camaraderie but have no hope of being competitive. I would say call that a steeplechase, where they know the start and the end but the course isn't so strict.  They are those, like me, who are racing against themselves and their private demons but should not be rated with the people in the GD, ITT category."

What you're suggesting is an alternative event really, which would be cool. I'd ride it. Turn up and tour with a group, see who you end up riding with, tour alone for a day or 2, regroup etc. More fun than weeks alone and all the discomfort of committed race pace, plus the chance to explore some side trails or towns. But it's not the TDR, if it became part of it it would be a dilution. Riding without adherence to the course, rules etc and truly pushing yourself can wait for another day, perhaps better make a little space for those who are all-out for 20 days and set off at a different time, more than a day's space anyway. No disrespect meant here, I like to tour fast and it gets hard at times. But you're either racing or you're not (and that is independent of actual time taken, it's about your attitude).

"It would be unfortunate if this event choked on its own success." Exactly - keeping the expectations high is what keeps numbers at the GD lower, or the commitment of the entrants high. (aware that even 75 is a lot compared to where it started and 150 may be there in 2015?)

Risky for any organiser to take any responsibility there though. It's just common sense to consider and research likely risks and decide how you'll manage them. There's a lot of BS online as well as good advice, you need to filter it. If you don't have that basic life skill you're in trouble in many things you do, not just on a bike ride.
Eg, people go into the mountains and die every winter. There's a wealth of good information on how to minimise the risks but ignorance or simple bad luck still claim a few. It's just a risky place to be. If you simply know that avalanches and falls etc happen you can then decide how you'll approach those risks. imo 'The TDR goes through grizzly and cougar and lightning storm country and you may end up caught out or sleeping in the middle of nowhere' is enough information to put out there, it's a simple fact and once knowing that people will fall into the 'ignorant / stupid' or 'prepared and accepting of some risk' camps. I don't think there's many, if any, in the former.

Sure. I know what you're getting at and I'm a Brit, what do I know about bears. My point wasn't that I disagree with what you're saying, just relaying the doubt that was put into my mind that made me realise that a $40 can of spray isn't a fix-all, more of a last chance sort of thing when it's already a bad situation.

The guy in the sports store I chatted to wasn't staff, he was a forest worker there buying gun stuff. I overheard him talking about some work they were doing and some wildlife he'd seen that week. I asked him about bear risk and what he'd use (aside from a rifle) and he seemed to have some experience and good advice, once the obligatory wind-ups were taken care of. Helped put it in perspective for me. What I took from it was that if good precautions and sense were used, the chance of being bear-food is minimal and comes down to really bad luck. Fair point on increasing numbers - maybe safety in numbers for some but more chance of something going wrong. Simple stats.

"Bear spray would give you a survivable minute or three to hightail it out of that danger zone. Otherwise, you'd be added to the dinner pile."

Assuming you hadn't crashed in panic as soon as it moved, or had enough time to stop without making the situation worse, could stabilise yourself and get the spray and use it without soiling yourself and doing a load of things wrong with body language, or simply getting the spray use wrong and pssing the bear off then dropping it as it charges you. And assuming the wind wasn't in your face.. Maybe that guy in the sports store in Calgary was just winding up a green Brit.

I slept out every night, took a lot of precautions, saw some bears and felt lucky to see wildlife like that. The moose in the Flathead area were amazing animals.

Maybe it is the same spot then. Thanks.

Wow : )  .. great blog and will be reading with interest. Amazing ride, good luck.

That second pic down, where is that? Rocks looks oddly familiar as a place I stopped to bivi, somewhere in the hills (Sandy Wilderness / Bridger area) after Boulder, before the road section into Basin proper began. Probably not though.

I used a VDO MC1 as recommended by others on here, was my sole navigation aid. Wired version. Took both a head unit and a wire kit as spares. Never let me down but others have reported issues. The navigator function up/down adjust was the feature I wanted it for, I used it fairly often to avoid mental arithmetic that I knew I'd mess up and I accurately calibrating it based on loaded bike wheel roll-out distance. Pre-tested it and it worked well, the menu toggle navigation was good. Not sure if they're still available but the features will be in other models I expect.