MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Not a bad cv beckoning for mike at all, add in a strathpuffer solo win and bike design and its shaping up for him
I know he did - and he wasnt alone in breaking that design there .... but the company worked on that.
Looks like Mike will pass Craig today only a couple of miles in it.
4 miles in it......!
Still not sure I am looking at the tracker right, but it would appear James O has blown past into 4th spot by a good 6 miles now.
The bloke in 3rd is very lonely with 2 ahead by 100 miles & James behind by 100 or so..
Yep, Alex Harris who was fourth pulled into a town for supplies by the looks of it and James O motored on. Good on him, I say!
mmm, you can zoom in a real lot, that town had only 14 roads!!!!
There's an interesting post from Jay Petervary about how doing the ITT is closer to the feel of the Tour Divide than the Grand Depart. His thinking is that if two riders are riding together their competitive nature will take over and they will start competing against each other and thus do it faster. As the race is meant to be done solo this breaks with the tradition of the TD.
Sour grapes or valid point I'm not sure
CS and MH seem to have met up in Pinedale. Outside a motel. Opposite a liquer store. I wonder if CS looked back and saw MH gaining. I can imagine him having his head down on the fairly flat road and being suprised by a bike approaching.
Mike takes the lead.
I can only imagine what that does to Craigs moral.
By about 300 metres
Still a lead.
It's a whole mile now!
Or as I was working in metres, 1609 metres !!
This is where jameso was less than 2 hours ago:
[url=[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6139/6022223610_943af609ca_o.jp g" target="_blank">
Next 50+ miles are generally pretty quick
"Beaverhead"
*s****s*
mike and craig have made friends again and are riding together...... make em or break em .... i imagine either one would probably be rather riding alone right now as its going to be impossible to get the jump unless someone breaks ....
craigs probably going to be glad on the rest though as mike seems to be taking longer than him
"Beaverhead"
snortles
[url= http://halfpastdone.com/2013/06/20/tour-divide-day-seven-hall-pulls-ahead/ ]Day 7 report[/url]
Mikes made a gap, putting in a longer day i presume, still a long way to go mind!
sounds like he had favourable conditions and a decent tailwind to cross the basin - makes sense to hud chappin . yer man craig stopped at about 9.30 - mike was still riding at 12am.
Go mike 😀
54 mile gap now 🙂
I am quite surprised at how some are portraying the race. I just don't see it as the kind of event where the competitors try to "out psych" each other, I see it very much as being a very mentally internalised competition to drive yourself to you maximum, rather than focusing on your competitors.
MSP - have you listened to the call ins ?
craig openly admits to trying to build a gap between him and mike as it was the only way he was going to beat him if he did as hes a very hard man to shake. Mike probably doesnt care tbh and is riding his own race and thats why he is still going hard.
MSP these guys are racers, this is just a very long one. You can't take away the inter rider competition!
Lets just say the scenery is an added bonus!
Mike clearly wanted distance an his good night sleep the night before was clearly in preparation for a long old stint to put in some distance between the two!
I always remember mike asking if I fancied joining him and TT on a 24 hour ride, basically see how far you get. Where you planning, Leeds, Scarborough, Blackpool way, into dales and drop back down to Leeds
Yeah I'll pass at but have a good one
and mikes off again at 5 am .
craigs had a long sleep . hell sounded like he needed it
Craig moving again. Think he'll be slower now as his bottom lip keeps getting snagged in the front spokes.
I'm hooked in watching this!
C
By my reckoning, Mike set off from mile 1190 where he kipped the night before and finished his day at around mile 1490 - chuffin' 300 mile day.
Gooo ooooonnnnn my sannnnn !
He is nails !!
Think he'll be slower now as his bottom lip keeps getting snagged in the front spokes.
Think it's a bit harsh to say things like that unless you've ridden the Divide before.
Have you?
only in my dreams,,,.....
can imagine though what it feels like to bust your balls for a week, dreaming that you will win, then hear the sound of wheels coming up at the back of you. I'm sure my lip would be out!
C
He's a racer though, that should be stoking his fire not pissing on his chips. 🙂
it aint over till its over.
it aint over till its over.
Dead right. Just pray there's no mechanicals.
Bet these do a good breakfast.
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pymwymis - Member
By my reckoning, Mike set off from mile 1190 where he kipped the night before and finished his day at around mile 1490 - chuffin' 300 mile day.Gooo ooooonnnnn my sannnnn !
He is nails !!
@bland 300 mile days - really?I know Mike is capable of 200 mile days which he did on his round the world record but 300 miles off road is simply mental.
Obviously Mike's first stab at the TDR resulted in him picking up an injury, plus his recent blog on facing his demons makes me wonder whether he'll push hard until some way after the half way mark.
Who knows. To my mind he's definitely the favourite.
Dont like to say i told you so..........
have google street view covered the route?
looking like kerrin and craig are riding together - within a mile of each other and their spot trackers are up dating a couple minutes out of sync with each other.
Not drafting though, 😉
Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men —Douglas BaderTo thine own self be true —Hamlet
Been following this for the last few day.
Does anyone know whether it's within the rules to keep track of your competitors on your own phone?
Would mike know how much of a lead he has or is the sound of someone shouting 'rider coming through' the first indication that he's gonna get?
as stated in one of the threads - the TD you can have a phone
but there isnt much signal on the route - 15% i believe.
The super-speed that MH is doing of course, means in future years, if we do get a crack at it, arse-kickers like me will have much less time to do it in (under the 2 x record rule)
C
I didn't realise there was a 2x rule.
I am more liking the idea of doing it as a TT rather than the grand depart, just do it as fast as I can, battle my own capabilities. Not only am I a good chunk slower than these guys on the bike, I just couldn't make do with so little sleep.
Combining the speed they travel at, with the tiny bits of sleep, I think they must be aliens or mutants or something, they sure as hell aint human.
By the way, does anyone know if that UK divide style race is going to be repeated again?
It's not 2x record pace it is 1.5 times. Stop following the dots and get out on the bloody bike;-) Could be <22 days the way they are going.
I seem to recall the 2x is for ITT only, not sure if an error, or anomaly.
By the way Craig is a really nice guy and very competitive, I had the pleasure of a day in his company 2 years ago. But I like Mike as well and will be really happy for the winner but also very sorry for the loser.
MSP - Do you mean the Highland Trail Race from Tyndrum? If so then yes, it is on again. Entries from November 1st:
[url= http://highlandtrail.net/ ]HTR 400[/url]
Stop following the dots and get out on the bloody bike;-)
didn't feel like the bike tonight so put the Walsh's on and did 6 miles round the fells here instead. 2 weeks tomorrow I start a 12 day Transalp. So not that bad at 50!!
C
Id kill to get out on the bike instead o blue dot following
Im out in nigeria working - 1 hour running a night is all i can do or sake of mu legs.
I dont care who wins but will support the brit:)
MSP do you mean EWE (England Wales England? Think it only had 3 riders last year and none finished? As I remember; there were a lot of issues with the route not actually being that rideable due to how much rain we had.
Not seen anything on Aidan's blog about him organising it again this year.
Well Craig and Mike are currently stationary at the same point!
Mike's been there 7 hrs longer than Craig so (hopefully) got a lot of rest. Great effort from CS to catch up though.
Edit: Ah, perhaps this explains it:-
"in Steamboat as of around 10:25. Replaced SPOT batteries but doesn't appear to be working"
So Mike's not with Craig but is further along the trail but SPOT not working (should have checked the update times), darn! Not a great ad for SPOT is it.
Which probably means that Craig probably rode deep into the night to make up ground whilst Mike was asleep ?
Scrub my comment then !
[quote=Edric 64 said]Which probably means that Craig probably rode deep into the night to make up ground whilst Mike was asleep ?
See my edit above 😉 (ah, you have done 🙂 )
If spot not working will the organisers dq Mike as not able validate route ??
Now that would really upset me !!
I dont want to be "that" guy but where will this leave him in terms of having his ride validated if he does the distance at this pace...... 🙁
The loss of his Spot tracker for a while didn't seem to be a problem validating JP's record last year.
Mike will have a gpx track as well to prove he was on route so he should be ok. I believe he has a prototype SpoT 3 unit rather than a production model.
ah - i guess it hasnt got the "lap of the planet" seal of approval 😉
Probably got strava on!
haha - would be a good email to Jay that one ...
"uh oh , mike hall just stole your KOM on "tour divide whole route"
😀
trail_rat - Memberhaha - would be a good email to Jay that one ...
"uh oh , mike hall just stole your KOM on "tour divide whole route"
😆
What are the rules about leaving the route?
http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide13i.php?name=James_Olsen
Could be he missed a turn, so would he have to go back to the turn and re-start?
Whoops - he already has. What a bummer.
Rocks hidden in Mike's saddlebag 😀
Doesn't seem to have slowed him down!
I just checked the route tracker - has Craig bailed out near Steamboat as Mike charges ever onwards??
I've just realised that James Olsen is from Stroud... GO STROUDIE!!!!
CS has been stationary for 14 hrs now.
or his SPOT tracker isn't being picked up (seems to be a common problem)
Jesse Carlsson has nearly caught Craig now ,only about a mile behind
The cynic in me suspected mind games. Doubt very much craigs still in kremling
Looks like his tracker is off or has problems.
It`s such a hard event you do wonder about even athletes of this calibre suffering from illness due to fatigue .I would imagine Mike Hall would rather battle to the end as victory would seem hollow without his main adversary
are there any sites with commentary about what is going on day by day?
sweet, thanks.
Mike Hall's average daily mileage is incredible, then he puts in an 'all day attack' across the Great Basin. We rode on the paved road across a tiny section of perhaps 40 miles of the basin. There is a whole lot of nothing out there, certainly no water or habitation, just tumbleweed and wind.
High five Mr Hall.
Stappler! he's quit!
shame.
CS out then.
Didn't see that coming, so that makes James O third then.
Brilliant.
How / where are you seeing that?