Next year? 😉
still thinking about it 😯
I'll be following it closely. Research 😉
Looking forward to this.
Good luck to everyone riding ... particulary Aidan.
Flatfish you keep thinking about it, the longer you think the bigger the bears will get 😀
Cool. I'll be following the race updates on mtbcast> http://mtbcast.com/wordpress/
Aidan's spot tracker hasn't left Banff. Either it isn't working, or he isn't 🙁
I'm guessing he didn't do his daily reset
Aidan is the leading Brit.
Go Aidan. At least with this race we can keep track on him, unlike on the iditarod where he got us a bit nervous during one stage.
school boy error me taking holidays just now .... coulda had someone paying me to watch the spot trackers 😀
so - aidan seems to have dropped back drastically over night.
not only that but when you compare his route to others infront of him he seems to have gone off route - obviously these may be allowed tarmac sections but i do not have that information to hand. also possible hes playing with his spot mind ....
anyone else recieved their dvds ? got the "dispatch" email last monday . long as its here before friday ill be happy .... watch it on the plane to houston !
still waiting for my dvd.
rather concerned for Aidan as i saw he'd moved from where i presume he spent overnight in elkford to what looked like a house in elkford, then he seems to be miles back now.
reading his blog it seems he was having a hard time with the harshness of the climbs before he started.
hope he finds a second wind if thats it !
seems to have got his swerve on - made up good time while i was sleeping - heather dawe is off to a flier though !
Simon temple and christina domecq seem to be way off course, wonder if they've got a problem now or it's a valid alternate route?
looks like he and christina took a huge deviation ......
I think Domecq and Temple both had older maps with the route through Fernie rather than the proper cues for the Flathead route. Relegation straight away I'm afraid.
ouch - taken from bikepacking.net thats gonna hurt when they find out !
also aidan must be playing games with his spot - not doing his daily reset till the end of the day and jumping forward - according to the current tracker hes still camped up and hasnt moved for 17hrs ....
Sorry guys, can someone just confirm the "Tour Divide" is the same as the GDR?
Can't help thinking about this when I'm away on scottish camping trips, not sure how comparable 50km of scottish bog per day is to the American equivalent though 😕
tour divide is from banff to antelope wells and the gdr is the american/ canadian border to antelope wells
ian - your more than qualified ! - 2012 - lets go 😉
So the Tour Divide is longer still 😯
I'm wondering if I've got the mentality for it Terry, there were a couple of strops on my last trip I'm glad no-one was around to hear! 😳
They were induced by endless unrideable sections though, being able to ride for 100 miles a day actually sounds quite nice at the moment...
the thoughts just dawned on me - is aidan riding at night and sleeping through the day ? his last tracker movement was at 5am - canada time .... similar the night before ...
rather ride during the day when you can see the bears 😯
he can't of paid attention when being told how to operate his spot. i hope thats all.
aye the more i think about it the more i think thats a silly idea - where would you get food/water ?
Those Spots are a ballache to reset into tracking mode when you are tired and loopy, you can push the buttons in the right sequence and it looks like its tracking but its not. New ones apparently have a single button to push.
would anyone consider carrying a spot as a piece of essential kit???
Yes, I know back in the day we used to ride without a phone etc and notify someone where you are going etc?
seems a good idea??
are you serious valleydaddy ?
mountaincraft is a dying art - if you dont practice it whats gonna get you home when your electronic gadgets dont work ....
electronics should only ever be back ups imo - thus no i would never take it as essential kit ....they do make races interesting to those of us at home though !
Valleydaddy - NO. That is a stupid idea. By the time someone realises that you are not moving you will be dead. Or the people would think you are alive when in reality the spot tracker is inside a bear.
I suppose trail_rat, I must be getting soft in my old age!!!
😕
I agree electronics are only for back ups!
I can read maps/compass/stars etc but appreciate the benefit a piece of technology may bring to an emergency situation.
Assuming it works when called into action of course
oops crawls back under rock 😳
i've got one.
it gives the wife more peace of mind. if i'm out for a couple of days riding in the back of beyond i'll give her a 2/3 "spots" a day just to shut her up but it could come in handy if i were to break something.
she is given my intended route beforehand too.
Emily is updating [url= http://iamnotasinglespeeder.blogspot.com/ ]Aidan's blog[/url] with his progress.
Sounds like he's had some tyre trouble early on but is back on the move now.
aidan appears to be at a medical centre with another racer in helena, hope everythings ok. 😐
Thats not good ! Any update ? Call ins dont seem as frequent this year . Cant see spot tracker atm -cheeky wee check on his progress on my phone at ardnamuchen
Aidan's spot tracker is showing him some way south of Helena now, so he seems to be ok.
aidan appear to have caught fire and is trying to put it out by going exceedingly fast ....
hes going really well after those early set backs !
don't think erik lobeck can catch ML now though.
Aidan is doing incredibly well. Shame he's not phoning in though.
i sent his GF a message (to pass on) to start calling in so hopefully he'll start soon.
Ah great, fingers crossed. Although, rather looks like he's too busy riding like the wind!