Looks like DH is up and moving again.  His spot wasn't turned off, he had a long bivy by the looks of things. Maybe some time to fix a mechanical?

Looks like Jeff and Ethan have finished the slog up out of Fooses Creek to the Crest with Jesse not too far behind.



Hike out of Fooses - it aint fun!

Next up they have some fun riding (and hiking) in Sergents Mesa



Followed by the relief of the Cochetopa Hills and some nice fast doubletrack before a long 50 mile detour around the La Garita Wilderness.



I wonder if the Trail Angel tent will be there again this year?  Those bags of Cheese-its and crackers sure hit the spot!!!

 

Ouch - it's unfortunate too since there are some big views to be had.  I certainly would not want to be up on Ten Mile in any sort of a storm!



Here's what Ethan is looking at right about now - minus the rain.

Steve Lacey called in from Copper Mountain. He would like to report that when a tree falls in the forest they do in fact make noise.

Scary!!  With all the beetle kill in the area any wind can potentially knock down a ton of trees. My bro works for the Forest Service up in Summit County and told me that they estimate that in White River National Forest alone approx. 98,000 trees fall EVERY DAY!  Scary fact for sure, and with all this stormy weather I'm sure it's scary in the dead timber stands!

Also, the new tracker whizzbangs are awesome Scott!!  The weather overlay adds a whole other dimension to what we can speculate about from the comfort of our chairs!

And.......scratch that idea - thanks!

Awesome stuff - really bummed I wussed out and couldn't make this one work. 

With some re-routes on the higher elevations sections, what's the possibility of doing more or less this loop around thanksgiving time with an emphasis on sleeping and scenery viewing?

Nice work out there! I took the easy way out after a spring of focus for this.  It'll still be there next year.

I'm not sure where you're thinking of going but I've been looking at trying to start with the ring the peak route and then add on some miles to make it 200+.

The hand sanitizer burn isn't as bad at the "oh crap, I forgot I just ate jalapeno chips" burn

The lure of this thing is too big to ignore - I'm outta GL and in for this.  All unknown trails and 5 weeks lead time is much better than a spring full of recon and prep!  

Buuuuut - I'll need to start a bit earlier due to a wedding on the 26th. However, it looks like parts of the course are still under some glaciers. Is that expected to melt out fast or should I pack a toboggan?

No personal experience on the divide, however on a 2 month touring trip I simply used a small contact case, a small solution bottle, a real small camping mirror, and a small bottle of hand sanitizer with no complains.

My bro gave me a Solio Rocsta ( http://www.rei.com/product/800143 ) for X-Mas and I've been playing with it since then. It works great for charging things like IPods and phones, however I'm not sure about larger demand items like a GPS unit.  In direct sunlight it takes about 8 hours +/- to regain a full charge. However the nice thing about this design is that the unit itself will hold a charge until you want/need to transfer it to a device. Pretty slick actually and it would have been sweet to have while touring for charging phones ect.  I've experimented a bit with just clipping it to my pack while riding and it works fairly well - at only 6 oz it's hard to go too wrong.

There is also a Solio unit that has 3 small panels which should decrease the charge time required. ( http://www.rei.com/product/760969 )

However, I doubt that it's practical for a GPS unit in the long run since they have a larger power demand and may need charging/battery changing each day.

What's the possibility of doing this route in the fall? 

I gots me a weddin' to go to that weekend.

Anybody know of any lightweight snowshoes? 

Very nice! 

I've been beating up an older version of this camera for the past year or so. It has a medal body, is shock proof, water proof etc. I've dented the crap out of the body and it is still working great. The price is a bit steep, but if it survives rain, snow, drops, etc it's worth it in my book. I'm kinda out of the loop on the digital stuff, but have been pleasantly surprised with the picture quality for a point and shoot.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Olympus+-+Stylus+Tough+12.0-Megapixel+Digital+Camera+-+Black/9225313.p;jsessionid=651C4459E2CB452564FD9BFAE983BD5E.bbolsp-app04-08?id=1218062424788&skuId=9225313

On the same vein, two friends of mine have spent the last 3+ years riding around the world.  They sold their house, 90% of their stuff and headed out and they have had some pretty cool adventures riding around. 

http://fromthebenchesoftheworld.blogspot.com/

Holy hell - that's all I got. 

Last year I ran 2.25 karmas (29in) and easily could of gone bigger. Keep in mind that you're loaded down (some heavier than others) and some good cush is your friend after day one. Don't be afraid of a monster tire, with 20 lbs of crap strapped to you the extra 200g of rotating weight is nothing.

Hey Matt!! Been awhile, good to see ya on here!

Nice work with GRAID too!!