Rolling Again!

For the random person still out there, I am rolling shortly on my next adventure! Tour of North Georgia, or TNGA, is a 350 mile self-supported MTB race very much in the mold of Tour Divide. It should take only (!) about 3 days to complete, beginning the morning of Saturday, August 23rd.

I hope to ride honorably enough for the memory of my Tour Divide friend Ray Porter, who we lost last December to cancer. We shared thousands of miles out there, but I didn't get to ride TNGA with him, one of his favorites.

I won't write much if at all during the ride, but please follow my blue dot to kick me in the pants.

Follow along:
www.trackleaders.com

Donate:
Please to Big Pig Cancer Foundation, created in Ray's honor. Link is available at trackleaders, in my profile.

Stats:
TNGA features 56,000 feet of climbing! Yowza! Fortunately my rig is 10 lbs lighter than it was in 2011.

Cheers!
JP

RC day 2

4a1 not mirror
Files 1-21 remirrored on new card.

Pics

A link to my TD album on facebook. Semi-chronological which is to say they are not quite chronological.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2930942393267.2150491.1252222175&type=1&l=b8b061c01c

Just Pedal Video

Hola Blogosphere, long time! Enjoy a link to our 2011 Tour Divide video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROMz4evjPZQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Training? Ha!

A few words on a highly subjective issue.

I decided early on not to obsess about training. My plan was simple, and based on a guideline I heard somewhere along the way. If you can ride 3 consecutive 100 mile days and still walk, you can do Tour Divide. (I would modify that to say "You can show up at the start line and keep your breakfast down".) So that was my goal. I achieved that goal twice in the 3 weeks leading up to the start, and mostly didn't ride for a week before Banff. Of course I started with a good base in the winter and built my mileage up, but really my intensity didn't hit crazy-he's-away-on-his-bike-again levels until two months before the start.

I found that not just miles were important, but consecutive miles. In my last training month I would aim for 50+ without stopping, and my breaks would be shorter and shorter, to where I would allow a 5-10 minute stop on a 100mi day. On TD, when you can throw down 70 before noon, it's mentally no trick to throw down another 30. 40? 50? Now we're getting somewhere!

There are no mountains that I know of near Dallas. This is a problem. Fortunately, I took notes (okay, I remembered a few things) regarding my trips to CO in years past, and I developed a sort-of method for acclimating to altitude. When I'm at my flatlander best, I can jump into 5,000 feet without too much trouble, just back it off a notch would-ya? Lucky for me, that's about where Banff is, and it's a few days before the real altitude challenges begin. I kept an attitude for the start of the race that I was still training for the hard stuff.

Weight: Terribly important! For my last month of training, I carried at least 90% of the weight in gear I planned to carry. I strapped ankle weights to my top tube, carried rolls of quarters in my pack, and carried way too much water. If you don't train with weight, you will be in for a shocker on day 1!

Train to eat on the bike if you can't already.

Train for night riding. It's a different place mentally, and really fun, so long as one outpaces Beelzebub, his pitchfork taking aim behind.

Practice some rest methods while moving. Stretches, standing, riding no hands and stretching, no hands and searching for stuff in your pack, no hands while fully standing, all terribly useful on the trail.

Equipment Cheers

A few things that worked for me.

Brooks B-17 saddle. It's on all my bikes.
Drop bars with interrupter levers. I used a super comfy Ritchey drop bar, and an Ultegra 9 speed brake/shifter setup. I can't imagine using a standard mountain bar rig for this event.
Profile Aero bar. Very useful to take weight off your hands, and for use as a laundry rack.
Revelate Designs bags. Great stuff from Eric in Alaska.
Mavic shoes. Pulse model I think? Very light, comfy off the bike too, great hikeability. Never had a blister!
Wool socks.
Princeton EOS light, helmet mounted.
Garmin eTrek HCx, at least I'm very close on the model name. Typically lasted 5 days on one set o' batts. Modified a RAM mount.
Cannondale glove...model escapes me, but it is full-finger, marketed as a wind/rain glove.
Sugoi shorts. Not at all cheap for the pro model, but worth it. Just dollars per day!
MUSA Wool jersey, long sleeve, from Rivendell Bicycle Works. Worn 20 of 24 days probably, and still presentable.
Maxxis tires, Aspen front, Crosscheck rear. Still many miles left on them.
Lynskey Timberline. I might've liked to pair this with some sort of suspension post. It's a stiff rear and there's a ton of washboard out there!
Rock Shox Reba Revelation. I lubed the uppers with Phil's Tenacious Oil every 2 days or so. Did not lose air, just one aircheck in CO.
Spoon. I always had a spoon. I wasn't raised in a barn. Sporks are for roadies.
Honorable Mention: Even though I should've used a bivy bag, my Montbell Ultra Light Super Spiral Down Hugger #3 Sleeping Bag was
perfect! So fluffy I got by with an auto sunshade as my sleeping pad and had no troubles, even on concrete.

For the TD Racer...

A few, or more, tips, distilled from my mid-pack experience, for the future racer. Imagine you are my son, and I might not live long, and these are my last gasps of words to you on surviving TD, and it won't be entertaining, but you will take every word to heart, and you will smile skyward at me as you crest Indiana Pass, or wherever you suspect the route claimed a piece of my soul...

Weight. I know you know. Keep it down. You will be miserable in a bivy, likewise in a tent. So be light and go with the bivy.
Water. Often, 3 big bottles will do between stops. I used a dropper of bleach for groundwater, 3 drops per 70 oz. You'll need temporary extra capacity...
Backpack. I was sad not to have one most days. My medium hip-pack was not enough to carry all the food I would need, so I ran out at least 3 times before I picked one up.
Clothes. I liked having 2 pairs of riding shorts, 2 pairs of socks, various top layers. Misery factor was lessened by 1/2 by having a light T-shirt and camp shorts to be only worn off the bike. Have a nice wool layer in there, and keep your head warm.
Rain. You'll be wet/miserable in full rain gear, you'll be wet/miserable in half rain gear.
Lights. You won't be sorry that you have great lights. Some of my best days, were nights! Critical for surviving/dodging NM heat at least!
Pace. Know/learn how hard you can push for hours on end, and don't worry about the fast crowd. Be patient out there! The biggest time gains are made by riding super long hours, not super fast ones!
Bears. Always make noise in bear country. I only saw one very startled Grizz and sang a lot of Van Halen (Roth). Did he not like VH?
Navigation. GPS yes, with cues used simultaneously.
Cash. Seems like I needed cash in Canada, and used mostly plastic in US, but in NM cash was the only way out sometimes.
Tip generously, it will help to leave a positive TD impression. And have some change for the Vending Machines of Salvation.
Sunscreen. This goes double for the Euro crowd. Use it every day, everywhere you are exposed!

More later with a focus on gear, because I'm getting better my child.