[quote=ElShalimo ]Is "Terry Smith" Guy Martin? He's 34 and a Brit so it's a good guess
Good call! In that case he's doing the ITT and started three days ago.
Terry Smith. A quintessential English name. Not very original though. I'd have gone for an anagram of Guy Martin
Martin Guy
OR
Gary Tumin
Any others?
God I'm bored. Nearly home time.
Mary Nugit? Bored too!!!.
Quite strange to think that if he did start today it would be on the same day as the big Pokerstars TT race. Looking forward to that tonight at 1015pm. On late because some odd game involving kicking a round object about. Sounds dull.
Tina Murgy? Three hours on a ferry and that's the best I can do
Guy Martin = Aunty Grim? unlikely I know!
there's an Adam Martinez. can't get anything from the rider's names.
jekkyl - Member
there's an Adam Martinez. can't get anything from the rider's names.
There's a bloke of that name who has cycled from Montreal to Florida, so maybe same guy. Right age.
Okay so 2 other STW'ers to look out for and their forum handles:
Nigel Leech - Johnnystorm
Tom Rowntree - NewRetroTom
Mike Hall's SPOT seems to be FUBAR'd.
C'mon MIKE sort your tracker out!
I really want him to win this in the fastest time ever
If Guy is Terry and matches his target 20 days he should be finishing at about the same ti e as the race leaders
Can't see guy doing it as an ITT, otherwise why not do it the week after the TT?
Unless there's some other reason to set off early?
Terry Smith looks to be doing a ride inspired by the Tour Divide rather than the actual route.
Eg Early on rode along the road on the East side of Spray Lake Reservoir.
My guess is he's aiming to stay in front of the lead guys as long as possible while getting some interesting filming done (possibly off route at times).
Looks like difficult conditions this year so far, lots of cold wet riders.
Whoever is running Mike Hall's FB page
https://m.facebook.com/Mike-Hall-245897802144495/
Suggests that his tracker isn't working and to watch Josh Kato's dot for where he might be. There's also a picture of all the riders before the start, can anyone spot Guy?
Mike's tracker is working now and ..... he's up n out early n in the lead!
Looks like someone got the message to him at Eureka that his SPOT wasn't working.
Guy Martin, top right, wearing blue.
whisky711 - Member
Guy Martin, top right, wearing blue.
link? Or have I missed something?
[img] 
[/img]
Thanks
No, top right and wearing blue is Crazy Larry
[url= http://mtbcast.com/site2/2016/06/11/mtbcast-tour-divide-16-mike-hall-called-in-from-the-u-s-border/#t=2:45.955 ][/url]
Checkin here from mike. Tracker seemingly cream crackered but looks like he's got it working fine so not sure on that one! Great lead he's pulled out though, all seemingly going to plan!
Has anyone seen the start list? TD website doesn't look to have been updated since 2011.
It's on Trackleaders - http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide16
Is that the actual start list, or just the list of people who've got Spot trackers on?
there isn't really a start list as such afaik.
my understanding was that anyone can just turn up and set off with all the others, although presumably most or nearly all probably have spot tracker on the trackleaders thingy, and do declare their intention to participate.
Mike Hall is smashing it! He's not far off catching Rob Colliver (off here) who started 4 days before Mike.
Mike's nearly 100 miles further on than Josh Kato was at this time last year on his record ride.
Is that the actual start list
There's also a googledocs list that is used as a delclaration of intent and to get contact details for riders in case of fire diversion etc but that won't be a complete list either. It's all a bit loose and unofficial in that area.
The problem if you intend to "race" the TD is that
"[i]There is no finish time cut-off, however, current convention considers a competitive Divide Route finish time as approximately 1.5 times (x) course records. [/i]"
So if Mike Hall does drop the record to say 10.5 days that means only Josh Kato and Jay Petervary would currently record a "competitive" time if they repeated their record runs.
Having done a "mere" 210Km (130 miles) in the Dales yesterday I'm in awe of the distances these riders are doing day after day.
10.5 days
Optimistic : )
13 and a few hours? The sub 2-week barrier on a full course with no fire or snow re-routes seems to be a marker to hit. That'd make a competitive time 20.5 days ish, still very good going.
looks like Greg's riding with Tom and 2 others, currently placing 25th out of 148 on the group start southbound. Keep it going Lads!
Mike Hall just 30 miles behind Rob.
Who'd like to take a guess in which position Guy might be running?
jekkyl - Member
...Who'd like to take a guess in which position Guy might be running?
Anyone worked out the pseudonym yet? 🙂
you seem to suggest that you do? come on spill it 😆 😛
No I haven't. I've done a quick check through some likely names in the leading group, but they all seem to be fair dinkum.
Maybe his spot tracker is set so only the organisers see it - which isn't really fair to the rest of the competitors but understandable.
I reckon if he was having a crew following him filming it for TV that'd be a reason not to have a public tracker. The appeal to make it for TV would be great.. the fantastic scenery against the dramatic tension of the race would make it ideal for perhaps a several part TV special.
Maybe his spot tracker is set so only the organisers see it - which isn't really fair to the rest of the competitors but understandable.
I didn't think there was much signal along the route, hence Spot trackers?
I reckon if he was having a crew following him filming it for TV that'd be a reason not to have a public tracker.
Wouldn't there be a press release somewhere if he was being followed by a TV crew?
A TV crew would be regarded as a "sag wagon" and against the spirit of the event as there'd be the knowledge that in "X miles" there'd be a friendly face to look forward to and chat to, etc.
@jameso - it was a rhetorical "if", MH has at the time of writing this done 636 miles in 63hrs or so. I've no knowledge of the route so don't know if those are the hard riding or the hardest riding is yet to come. A hell of a pace to maintain though. It would be interesting to look at Josh Kato's equivalent from last year and compare it to both his and Mike's from this.
It would be interesting to look at Josh Kato's equivalent from last year and compare it to both his and Mike's from this.
There's a flag for JK's ride last year on Trackleaders - it's currently in Ovando, so several riders are ahead of it at the moment.
@jameso - it was a rhetorical "if", MH has at the time of writing this done 636 miles in 63hrs or so.
yes, and sorry that : ) wasn't meant as dismissive, more that even Mike Hall may struggle to go to 10.5 days. Maybe not looking at it now?? The way he's averaging 10mph overall is amazing. In 2013 I think he did 13mph while on the bike. If he can keep up 10mph overall untl AW that's 11.5 days .. more sleep and pick up the pace? 😯
JK's record flag was off the leader's pace or Mike's 2013 ride pace a little for the 1st week, but he finished strongly and caught up at the end. Mike's well up on the JK record marker and a few hours ahead of his 2013 times so far based on the time splits.
It's a balancing act isn't it? What's the minimum sleep you can get away with while still being able to maintain the average speed?
A riding speed that is below your threshold whilst slower is more sustainable: 3hrs sleep plus an hour grabbing food from stores etc leaves 20hrs riding which at 10mph is 200 miles. Up the speed to 11mph and you have 18hrs20 riding time, again allow an hour for food grabs so you have 4hrs40 for sleeping. That 10% extra effort on the trail might push you in to the red.
That's it, Mike's experience there is what makes watching his ride unfold so interesting. It's a different strategy maybe. Many riders do long pulls over day 1-2, or a back to back 24+hr stints with 1-2hrs kip at times, I wonder if he's using that ratio for the whole ride.
I'm certainly watching with interest as I hope to do it myself one day, that and I'm intrigued to see how Guy gets on, well I hope, though if Terry Smith is him then he's a bit off where he hoped to be, that & he's slept more than Guy planned to.
