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21  Forums / DIY / Make Your Own Gear (MYOG) / Re: rubberized fabric on: September 22, 2014, 02:32:46 PM
I know what it is.  It's expensive even direct through the distributor.  You can get a yard of it for about $35 from a company in Texas at retail pricing.  I don't use it on my seat bags because that part is not really being pressed against the seat as much as it's being pulled away.  I use heavy vinyl on my seatbags.  I'd be happy to send you a scrap large enough for you to use to make your own.  Just pm me.
22  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: June 11, 2014, 08:59:13 PM
ATTENTION NOBOs!  Tim Hinderman and I are headed to Big Hatchet (at the big turn in the road south of Hatchita) tomorrow night.  There is a BLM sign there for the wildlife refuge area or whatever it is.  I think it's about 35 miles north of AW.  We'll camp there and wake at the asscrackofdawn and head to the start for the 6 am petite depart.  Join us if you'd like.  We'll be easy to spot in a Caribou slide-in truck camper on a brown quad cab dually GMC.
23  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: June 09, 2014, 09:07:52 AM
If you are a south bounder, you'd be a moron not to ride Gold Dust.  It's sweet trail.
24  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Purism on: June 04, 2014, 06:08:01 AM
It's easier for me to go under high bars.  It's harder for me to limbo.  Let's lower the bar.
25  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: June 03, 2014, 11:11:41 AM
There is a more unfriendly bike town on the GD route and it's also in Wyoming. The locals threw beer at me last year! It was one of two times I almost used my bear spray.

The people in Rawlins aren't riding their bikes often enough, but they were friendly. They let me park my bike inside while I watched a movie to escape the heat. :-)

Where is this other unfriendly town?  I'll be more than happy to NOT spend any money there on my way through.
26  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: May 23, 2014, 06:47:00 AM
Hey what phone company would provide the best coverage for most of the route??

Verizon.  I just switched from T-Mobile because all my summers are normally spent in the mountain states and I was tired of not having coverage.  A little bit more money, but far better coverage.  I also got a phone with a MUCH better camera and I've got a 32g card so I'll actually be able to take pictures on this ride.  Dyno hub should keep me moving as well.
27  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: May 12, 2014, 04:46:57 PM
Separ doesn't have much in regards to food.  Plenty of water and sugary crap.  I don't remember seeing any burritos or sandwiches.  I stopped in there on my way home from AZT. 
28  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: May 12, 2014, 05:13:18 AM
It has begun.  http://krwg.org/post/wildfire-forces-evacuations-near-silver-city

15 miles north of Silver is Pinos Altos and is most likely along the route. 
29  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: April 20, 2014, 08:02:10 PM
Uggh.  Good for riders, bad for everyone and everything else.
30  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Arizona Trail Race 2014 in progress on: April 14, 2014, 10:07:18 PM
I lack discipline.  Here's the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUPcH4Y7FNc&feature=youtu.be
31  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Arizona Trail Race 2014 in progress on: April 14, 2014, 09:19:02 PM
Guess I better update the women's portion of the 300 since I'm responsible for this year's winner.  

Dr. (Maj.) Alison Kinsler..US Army Orthopedic Surgeon... came in at 2:15:03 in her rookie debut bikepack race.  I'm currently uploading a video of her bike and some of her gear and provide some facts of her ride.  She finished with some great pics of various animals....a fox and a gila monster (I've yet to see one of those).  She put down before Rincon and slept 4 hours.  Hit Rincon later than she planned and then roosted up Reddington to suffer through the switchbacks out of Molina.  She then found herself at the top of Lemmon looking at some ski lifts wondering if they ever carried skiers and where the pie was to be found since she saw the sign indicating "Pie".  She dropped back down for some chili at the restaurant which was closing much earlier than last year (she relied on my beta from last year....minimal research on her part and the evening before was hand writing mileages for water/food off my hand written cue sheet).  She passed through Tiger Mine trail head just before midnight where I bivy'd just minutes after.  I bailed on Reddington and took Hwy 77 to Oracle hoping to catch some riders coming through but only saw Mike, Neil's buddy from Crested Butte.  I slept like a stone until dawn, so I'm not sure if anyone else came through while I was there.  

Alison put down about 1:30 am before Bee Hive and slept another 3 hours, then pushed out to the finish.  She cut her tire on the rocky road under the power lines before Ripsey, stitched it but it didn't hold, so she tubed it.  She passed JP coming out of the Gila and told him he had about 4 miles to go when it was closer to 10 or 15.  She said he disappeared behind her pretty quick.  She quietly rolled in to my family's RV under an amazing moon and temps warm enough for her to shower outside.

Neither of us were on Trackleaders (we are a "black ops" program).  I sent her gps files to Scott.  I had to give her a gps review the morning of the event.  I'll save some other small details for the video which I'll probably post in the morning since it has another 40 minutes to load and I need to get to bed.  

This year's weather was the most perfect ever!  Tailwinds everywhere for the people at the front, perfect temps (though a bit too hot for me on day 1), and the moon was BIG.  Kurt smashed it, Neil blew everyone's mind, and hopefully Aaron is content with an amazing performance.  We think JP came through an took the piece of pizza we left out.  We had way more water than we needed, so hopefully he stocked up and got hydrated during his short stay near the trailhead.  What an exciting weekend!
32  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: AZTR 2014 Planning on: April 07, 2014, 07:18:15 AM
So....is that a bypass of the Kannally Ranch?
33  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: AZTR 2014 Planning on: April 06, 2014, 05:07:01 PM
The state park at Oracle was open when I went through?  LOL.  Both times I went through there were in the middle of the day and I didn't see a soul except for Boatman....and a mule.
34  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: April 03, 2014, 10:36:39 AM
So, here's a bit more thoughtful of an answer to, "advice about skipping detours"

First, just be mindful of why the detours are there. I can't speak for the race coordinators, so I won't, but my take on it is that there a few reasons:


There are "race coordinators"?  Who are these people and why haven't we heard from them? 
35  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: rigid forks on td? on: April 03, 2014, 10:12:25 AM
I'm a singletrack whore who prefers suspension and beefy tires or at least a ti hardtail with suspension up front and a suspension seatpost.  My divide rig is full rigid steel with carbon fork.  I'm about 90% that I'm going to run a 2.3 up front and at least a 2.2 in the rear so I can drop pressure on the washboard roads.  The carbon fork is awesome, but you still feel the washboard unless you drop pressure.  I've done quite a bit of testing and I prefer to do that with the larger tires than with a faster, lighter, and smaller tire.  I was thinking of running a Knard 3.0 up front, but that thing is a pig.  There's no way you could get me to push that thing around for 3,000 miles.
36  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Palmetto Trail - December??? on: March 29, 2014, 09:11:24 PM
Enoree wasn't that great for me either.  It was slow going and it got cold that night.  I ended up stepping in freezing water about an hour or so from Newberry.  I was planning on rolling through Newberry that night, but ended up rolling a couple miles off route to my mom's where I bivy'd in the back yard next to a fire.  I ended up rolling out at about 9 that next morning after a good breakfast and drying out my socks. 

Overgrowth was absolutely horrible after Santee.  In fact, at one point I couldn't even see any trees with blazes.  I ended up bypassing a bunch of small sections after that and since my ankle started getting real stiff, I pulled the plug. 

The sandy road after Ft. Jackson.....I remember a waste disposal site where they were burning methane.  It was dark when I hit that and I rode a bunch of sandy roads.  I remember coming up on a gate from the backside.  I was able to go around it easily.  It had a keypad entry thing on it.  Other than that, I don't remember any closed gates.

The gps file they gave me was fantastic.  Without it I would have been a wreck.  They sent me through neighborhoods and on bike paths between all the passages.  The backroads were really great.  I had one car honk at me and it was quite a ways back when it did.....a nice heads up.  I was a bit nervous on Garner's Ferry.  I was told to take it so I wouldn't have to go through the swamp near the power plant just south of there.  It was dark and it started raining.  There was a shoulder, but people were driving 65+.  I was a bit puckered to say the least.  The trails after that were fantastic and I even thought the trails through all the sandy stuff after Poinsett were great. 

I'd never do that ride in warm weather.  No thanks.  Winter is the best time to do it...preferably after the new year to avoid deer hunters....though I never felt uncomfortable as all the shots I heard were far away.
37  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Palmetto Trail - December??? on: March 25, 2014, 09:18:45 PM
Better than I expected but not as planned.  The excessive amount of litter started to bug me and it has kept me from writing about the adventure as I tend to get negative....so I've been procrastinating a bit on a write up.  I covered 300 miles in 2 days 9 hours with plenty of sleep both nights.  The trail became worse and worse as I got into the low country.  Totally overgrown and under used.  I'd see the blazes on the tree and the track on my gps but no visible trail whatsoever.  Sometimes it was a thicket like trying to walk through your neighbors hedgerow.  I ended up stepping on a root or limb or something that wacked me in the achilles tendon and that made me pull the plug.  I later heard that the rest of the trail was pretty wet and would have been impassable anyway.  The big national forest section north of Newberry was pretty decent with lots of frozen horse trail.  There was plenty of stuff that was difficult to navigate due to lack of use.  It hit 28 my first night and on the last day I was in shorts and short sleeve jersey all day even in the rain.  I'm glad I did it.  No regrets on pulling out.  I rode plenty of fun trail, got lost a couple of times...kind of...and rode some fantastic backroads.
38  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: March 20, 2014, 09:27:54 PM
I know I read on the badly outdated TDR website that posting stuff to PO boxes isn't allowed. Something to do with giving foreign riders an equal opportunity?

But as I read packing lists and look through these forums, it seems common practice to have things waiting on route?

I'm just curious what the deal is on shipping parts or fuel (thinking some caffeine laden hammer fuel perpetuem might be handy) to a waypoint is? Has this common consensus changed?
 thumbsup
Cheers!
I was wondering about that as well.  Seems that people are shipping to the "supporting" bike shops.....Absolute in Salida and Orange Peel in Steamboat seem to be the 2 big ones.  I know they are open 7 days a week.

All this gear thinning talk has me wondering what kind of weight totals you veterans are seeing. I did a "full load" test trip last weekend and was 43.11# total. That included my 100oz. bladder in frame bag and a 20oz bottle. I cant really see getting much more than a half pound lighter. I have nothing on my back.

Thanks for all the valuable input.

Steve

That's pretty respectable.  I had my SS at about that weight for CTR without water but about a day and a half of food.  I'm rolling a bladder on the frame from here on out and I'd be stoked if I could be at that weight or less.
39  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: March 20, 2014, 02:43:34 PM
Excellent ideas. Added & deleted. Tell me what you're thinking on a good replacement for A&D and Bag Balm. Would love to combine.

I am running tubeless. So i'll add the tool and the pieces. Great idea.

Thoughts on lube? You don't like progold?

I was given enough progold to cause an environmental incident.  I haven't been impressed.  I'm more of a wax lube kind of guy....especially after keeping track of all the Velonews chain and chain lube tests they've done over the past year.

I use a product called Okole Stuff.  It has healing herbal stuff in it.  I don't use it like a chamois "lube" or whatever people pile on their chamois.  I figure if you have do that, you either are not riding enough, you have a really bad saddle, or your chamois is not good for you.  I have used some brands that had some weird material in it that I was totally allergic to and it actually blistered my skin.  I use the cheapest chamois ever.  Just a really thin piece of fleece.  I'm considering the wool chamois from Ibex.  I think I'd dig that....even at $100+.  I use the Okole Stuff on my cracked fingers, chapped lips, burns, small cuts....it's pretty awesome.  I carried about 2 tablespoons worth on my CTR ride a couple of years ago. I put it on my sore spots twice a day and only went through about half the container.

Tubes aren't defective.  If you don't wrap them in something, they will crease and crack.  I wrap my tubes in Tyvek.  I've unwrapped one after being tossed from backpack to backpack, and frame bag to frame bag for half the year and it looked brand new.  I'd carry a presta valve core before I carried an entire valve.  If you start with new cores, you shouldn't have a problem.

40  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: TOUR DIVIDE 2014 on: March 20, 2014, 01:39:57 PM
Oh yeah....Superglue.
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