Tour Divide 2016

[Si]

There is an update on Connor over on Bikepacking.net sounds like he is out of the ride for now
Great effort in going hard

[NewRetroTom]

Ah, so he is out then.
Hope it's nothing too serious and the hospital fixes him quickly.

[NewRetroTom]

I've started writing up my ride - doing it in sections as it could end up being rather a lot of words!

http://newretrotom.blogspot.com/2016/07 ... mmary.html

[GregMay]

Finally getting some time to sit down and read - brain has not wanted to interact with real world for a while - hence taking two weeks extra in the US to travel and get some hiking in. Also, i can't type good, quite a lot of hand issues going on. I'll write up a post about my race at some point this week, for now, just comments.

First off - thank you all, really appreciated the posts, and found the "insights" some of you made into the race/sleep/eat strategies quite humerous. But wholly understandable from outside :)

ATK hit it on the head early on:

He's umm'd and ahh'd a lot about going fast or going twice

This run was a reccy for me - i'd wanted to cruise down under 20 days, enjoy the route week one and sleep a decent bit, race a bit hard in the second week, then see what happened week three - mainly as I was frankly scared about the heat (I've DNF'd from 24hr races with heat stroke twice). The plan has always been to go back for a fast run, with the info you get from being a vet - i reckon this is worth a day minimum - i suspect a much faster time is possible (i'm also accounting for losing at least 24, if not 36hrs, due to the mechanical I had). It'll be at least 2 years until I go back - CTR is next years aim.

Not going to comment on the whole Guy thing - but I hope he got what he wanted from his route.

Mikes ride was stunning - when we heard about his finish time in Horca we did a double take. Stunning. I can get my head around a 17 day finish on the route easily enough - <14....no, i don't get how. Not without an immense amount of discomfort and suffering. Chapeau Mike.

For me though, Chris Plesko's finish time is the more impressive. Myself and Tom were talking a lot about SSing the route, as we'd both considered doing so but opted for gears. Pleskos time is mindboggling when you consider how much sitting and spinning there is on the route - places where a SS costs you time, or the long descents where I could spin out a 42*12 and SSers have to coast/spin/coast/spin for hours on end.

Mechanical was "race" ending but thankfully not ride ending, lost about 36hours due to it. Short version - Hope Pro4 hub decided it wanted to be a fixed drive. I didn't notice as I was spinning along, went to coast, got a fixie knee jerk - then the rear mech snapped at the pully bolts, twisted the cages, twisted the chain, _then_ ripped the mech hanger off (mech hanger on CT is too stiff) then broke a few drive side spokes. Result was a 40km walk out with not enough food or water and an unplanned overnight up high. Managed to bodge a fix with cableties, Sugru and luck to get me to a point where I could coast on the flat with very, very light pedalling while the epoxy cured.
When I rolled into Cuba (shithole) i was 100% certain I was done race wise, and had planned to ride to Grants, limp to Pietown then chill in the Toasterhouse for a few days until my wife was able to come and get me. Suffice to say, without me planning it, other people had plans and I got to ABQ to the shop Two Wheel Drive (Salsa dealer) who stripped a stock bike for the bits I needed, then gave me free access to their workshop to do whatever i needed to my bike+hub to get it gonig. It was those guys, and the burritos they recommended, that were the only reason I could keep riding. I owe them a lot.

Nice to share a few beers with Nigel and John the days before the race, and it was good to spend some time with Tom en route - especially in Ferndale when we got to make some "friends" in the pub. Kelly, we shall remember your wise words.

Overall, it was an experience, not quite settled in yet TBH, not sure how long it will take.

Constant Motion by Greg.May, on Flickr

[JohnClimber]

Nice mini review Greg.
Looking forward to you finished work.
Hope you hands get better soon

[GregMay]

My thumbs work in certain orientations.

[mountainbaker]

Oh man, the hands.

I couldn't feel my fingers until after christmas!

[johnnystorm]

Oh man, the hands.

I couldn't feel my fingers until after christmas!

Getting socks on and off is a right laugh when neither hands nor feet have much feeling in them!

All hail the 8 speed automatic gearbox and foot operated parking brake!

[mountainbaker]

Mate! I'm still struggling to get my socks on a year later. I think I actually destroyed my spine.

[johnnystorm]

Vanishing point

20160708_133922.jpg (78.18 KiB) Viewed 4196 times

Letting an engine take the strain!

[mountainbaker]

That car is so ugly it's beautiful

[Bearbonesnorm]

Looks like a pimped Granada

[GregMay]

Arse like a Zylons face.

[JohnClimber]

Mate! I'm still struggling to get my socks on a year later. I think I actually destroyed my spine.

You're all not selling the TD very well

[slarge]

Hats off to everyone, and that sounds like a nightmare Greg. It is great to hear that people actively want to help get riders back on the road though!

[NewRetroTom]

it was good to spend some time with Tom en route

Likewise - great fun riding with you Greg - pity you couldn't stick the pace for long

Much respect for getting yourself back on the trail after that nightmare mechanical! Could have happened to any of us - I was running the same hub as you. It's how folk deal with problems that really shows what they're made of.

Hope the hands mend quickly!

On the subject of hands I was chatting to Jose Bermudez quite a bit - he had surgery on his hands after screwing them up doing RAAM and was telling me to do something to stop my hands getting permanently damaged (I was complaining of numb ring & pinkie fingers, which I still have).

He uses ergon grips with built in bar ends now and this seems to have solved his problems. He reckons it's when your wrists get below the grip that the problems arise, and that it's possible to set the ergons up so that you are prevented from adopting this harmful position. Something to try at least....

[ianfitz]

I've used ergons on jones bars for several years.

Realise it's nowhere near as long on a bike but after this years HT550 I had no hand issues at all. No pain, numbness, tingling not even any discomfort TBH.

They wouldn't work with funky drops though!

[johnnystorm]

I was using Ergons on Jones Loops.....

[ianfitz]

I was using Ergons on Jones Loops.....

[mountainbaker]

I was using Ergons on Jones Loops.....

Washboard is washboard, aint no way to polish a turd.

[jameso]

Good to read that Greg, had been wondering what happened to the bike. I used a Hope hub also .. Can't say I'd be confident in doing that again but it was ok. Agree with you on rookie vs vet times, a day at least. maybe 2, but could also loose that on conditions or physical screw-ups.

I was using Ergons on Jones Loops.....

Washboard is washboard, aint to way to polish a turd.

There's no solution to it is there. You're just not meant to sit on a bike for that amount of time. I was thinking about all that over a long dark ride home this weekend where I could've happily slung the bike in a hedge for later and got a cab home : ) I think your ability to stay comfortable and not need sleep is what it comes down to if you really want to push beyond effecient touring.

[mountainbaker]

There's no solution to it is there.

Don't think there is, sadly. You either get nerve damage from the vibration, or you don't. Most people who've had nerve damage have said that it takes about six months to recover. And that seemed about right to me. I still get numbness on the bike (more than I did prior to Tour Divide), but it's bearable, and goes away quickly post ride.. It was pretty hard coding 45 hours a week right through the latter half of last year without being able to feel my fingers. I managed though.

[GregMay]

Likewise - great fun riding with you Greg - pity you couldn't stick the pace for long

Cheeky youth.... remember the wise words of Kelly "trust, no one"

I've used Ergons in the past and had worse ulnar nerve damage than this sadly (HT440) - as Gabe says - washboard is washboard.

Rick, who i finished with, was riding a SID with Ergons too and was suffering the same issues as me. SID wasn't fast enough to deal with the repeat hits from washboard - pretty much what is common knowledge with using Sus forks on the TD - but it did mean he could concentrate a bit less on the fast descents as it did take out the annoying "road" features in NM - aka big rocks.

[GregMay]

Did a quick science nerd moment and took a post Divide DXA scan to look at the impact of the race on my body composition - i've data for the past 2 years as comparison - last one 3 days before flying out for the race. Error of 2 weeks since race finish and some replenishing, so i'd expect some increase in intramuscular fat and glycogen stores, but not much change in muscle mass or adipose tissue (visible fat stores) or visceral fat (fat surrounding internal organs).

Change in total body mass - ~100g - 77.7kg - 77.6kg - wet weight, ie breakfasted, water loaded, mid day, daily evacuations done (work that out yourself)
Change in body fat - yep <1.3kg of fat
Change in lean muscle mass - yep, put on >1.3kg of muscle.
Change in bone mineral content - nope, none.

Quite surprised.

[whitestone]

Greg, I assume that's a loss of 1.3Kg of fat since there's no significant change in overall weight and you put on roughly the same mass of muscle.

How do those figures work out as percentages and are they significant changes? I would have thought that since you felt you were close to optimum pre-race (going from vague recollection of what you'd posted at the time) there wouldn't have been much change. Also might the increase in muscle mass be post race recovery and adaptation?