Eszter just killed it. That record will stand for a long time I think.

Huge congrats Ez

We have Spot dots at the finish for Dave Kirk and Mike DeBernardo. Congrats guys! I look forward to hearing about your races and hearing how Jan and Fred did too.

Lynda, when you say disciplined, what was her diet pre tour like?

Mostly Paleo

was that 100 days for purposes of reducing body mass?

Partly to improve body composition. Primarily, as Jill mentions, to speed recovery, stay healthy and adapt to big training blocks.

Jill - I have no doubt that better fuel = better sensations on TD. During the race obtaining better fuel has availability and time limitations. There has to be a sweet spot in there just like the give and take of rest/ride time allocation. So many decisions and parameters in a race like TD make it totally fascinating.

I'll share a little about Eszter (I'm her coach). We made a deal that she had to be really disciplined with her diet for 100 days before TD and then on TD she could eat absolutely anything she wanted. Her call ins are cracking me up cause they are ALL about food - that girl loves to eat and to pedal. I think she is in pig heaven right about now :-)

So impressed and proud of her blazing trail across the nation. She is amazing.

Zoom zoooom EZ

Panguitch Lake is a hopping fishing, ATVing tourist place. I wouldn't call it sketchy. It will be busy there. There is a General Store, 9am - 7pm where you can buy anything you can imagine - really... http://www.panguitchlakegeneralstore.com/

There is a Burger Barn that I highly recommend. They do tasty fries and milk shakes too.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Panguitch-Lake-Burger-Barn/190165597699610

Here is a slide show from my 2010 DixieLite 172 mile ride It covers most of the same course. Big exception is we went through Hatch instead of around the southern end of the Paunsaugunt. Hatch also serves up some pretty tasty burgers.

Here are more pics and some commentary from me from our roaming around on the course last weekend http://2-epic.com/?p=1767

It is so beautiful there. Now I want to come out and race it too!! It is a truly fantastic loop.

Anyone care to speculate on Eszther Horanyi's finish time? She's on pace for 18+, so she could dial it back and still finish in 19+ or 20+. Even if she cut her miles/day by 30% and rode 100 mile days to AW, she would still finish in 21+. Whatever the end result, she has ridden an amazing race!  

Ez doesn't have "dial it back" as part of her repertoire.

She is blazing across the country. Very impressive to watch her go day after day. Super proud of her.

Oooh that looks cool. I've never been to Alaska. I look forward to scoping your GPX when you have it posted. That would be a different experience to the Utah desert where I am home.

The first few miles of the route are wide dirt road. 0.65 miles into the route on the right there is a nice flat pull out area to camp that is Nat. Forest. I often seen groups of 5th wheels and RV's here as a base camp for folks with motos. It is a good size site. After that the terrain gets steeper and places to car camp tough to find. Places to bike camp would be easier to find. There are a few small private lots up this canyon (2nd Lefthand) by the creek on the right but other than that it is Nat. Forest and you can camp anywhere.

My Grand Loop Blog http://2-epic.com/?p=1720

Joint. We finished together. In fact we crashed into each other at the end by accident...LOL...lots of giddiness and finish euphoria was involved.

But if it had come down to a sprint finish I'm sure Cat would have crushed me.

Thanks for all the congrats. We made it!! That is a wild and woolly loop and I'm sure there are monkeys in the trees on the Roubideau section.

Scott - When we left GJ we had no word on the closure and had a fire detour route as a back up plan. At Dewey bridge bathrooms a man was curious in what we were doing and then told us he was Mesa county search and rescue and that we wouldn't have any problem getting through as the fire had been contained. Then a few hours later, near the top of north Beaver Mesa a rancher on a moto stopped us to tell us not to ride down "his" bikepack trail (still have no clue where that trail is) as he had just sent 100 cows down it and it was closed! He told us that the Buckeye road had been opened too. When we got to Taylor Flat it was dark but I saw a barricade lying face down in the grass off to the side of the road and assumed it was moved when the area opened and was waiting to be picked up. It had rained up there most of the day and the ground was wet. We never saw any closed signs or people. It all looked open to us. We did ride through the area in the wee hours of the morning so didn't get to see any firemen as I'm guessing they were sleeping. We did see them buzzing around Naturita the next morning driving very fast in Hot-shot vans. Just before we hit Paradox where the pavement starts at the bottom of Carpenter ridge there was a barricade across the road saying area closed. So no sweet talking girls tricks for you ;-) We were going to ride the detour and were not interested in riding through a closed area...

Bryan,

I had not seen that. Thx for the heads up!! Wow... that changes everything. It is still closed and only 30% contained.

Lynda

Cat Morrison and I are taking our turn at riding Grand Loop this week http://2-epic.com/?p=1718.

Scott nicely gave us our own trackleaders page http://trackleaders.com/grandloop - Thanks Scott!!

Have a great ride Jim

I carry a 1.9 oz rainbow colored titanium-oxide coated Kershaw knife  on a shoelace around my neck. It is pretty and expensive and was a gift. Sort of a fluff item. It makes me smile. I've taken it on every backpacking and bikepacking trip I have done for the last 20 years and it is almost like a good luck charm for me now. It is well used and still sharp.

http://www.kershawknives.com/productdetails.php?id=1

Okay Racers it's Q&A time.  I only have 350+ days until the start of next years race.  Gotta get a jump on things now.

Full Suspension
Tires of choice? WTB TCS Exiwolf
29er
Shelter of choice? (if any) Bivy/sleeping bag

Eszter Horanyi hits third at 6:10pm!

Woot woot!! Nice ride Ez. Flying out there.

Awesome ride Marshall. Huge props for the most excellent finish.