Tour Divide 2019

[FLV]

Looks to be cracking a smile there

[JohnClimber]

They've let Dave in to America

[sean_iow]

Does anyone know if Mike's record dot is where he actually was at that time (a replay of the ride and will stop where Mike did) or is it based on an average speed and just keeps moving all the time?

[Borderer]

I didn't know Mike Hall, but I can't imagine how poignant it must be for his friends to see his initials on the little flag there, racing alongside the leader.

Go Dave! - following your spot here. You have managed to keep that jersey awfy clean!

Re the earlier conversation about sleep monsters - we saw Jenny Graham speaking in Edinburgh the other day about her Round the World trip. She said that she developed a technique to allow her to sleep on the bike (stopped of course) as anything else led to her either being too comfy and sleeping too long or getting too cold. She said she would brace her feet either side of the bike and lay her head down on the tri bars. In this way she could sleep for a few minutes before loss of balance jolted her awake. She said this was enough to top her up for 4-5 hours more cycling.

[Jamesh]

The flying start of several riders is making it exciting at the top end. Still not sure Sofiane has slept at this point yet?
Interested to see how the riders with several years of TD experience pans out against the more 'rookies'.

I wonder how hard the navigating element is? Sleep deprivation sure is massive but is the route 'that' confusing at times?
I say that in the context of Jason Kiefer who has done an almighty off route loop (and is relegated now?. Making an error and getting lost like that (perhaps he wasn't) would be one of my big concerns

[Borderer]

Still not sure Sofiane has slept at this point yet?

Stopped time is recorded as being 54 minutes

[jameso]

Does anyone know if Mike's record dot is where he actually was at that time (a replay of the ride and will stop where Mike did) or is it based on an average speed and just keeps moving all the time?

I think it's a replay so will stop when he stopped but now you mention it, not sure. http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide16i.p ... =Mike_Hall - Mike's run here. He'd had 2.5hrs kip by this point, looks like Sophiane's not stopped yet.

She said she would brace her feet either side of the bike and lay her head down on the tri bars. In this way she could sleep for a few minutes before loss of balance jolted her awake. She said this was enough to top her up for 4-5 hours more cycling.

It works .. I ended up doing that. Had no watch or phone so was worried that falling asleep could be for hours w/o any alarm and power-napping upright fended of the real dozies, amazing how mentally refreshing it is when you're that tired. tbh it's not a pleasant state to get into at all but it's better that realising you've been dreaming for a moment while pedalling along - maybe after a while your brain just needs the break. I couldn't hack it to the extent that the fast guys do, no way. The sleep deprivation side of this is fascinating and almost a separate aspect to the cycling, like you have to be good at both to compete.

[Lazarus]

IMHO sleep deprivation skills are probably the best thing to have if you want to win. Would be interesting to know the previous years table for sleep and see if the winner always has the least. Its always going to be among the very lowest amounts and if you need 8 hours each day you will never win this or any other ITT

If you could do two hours a day for two weeks - all else being equal you will win.

I have only tried this a few times and my thoughts are
1) its not fun
2) its not safe as I crash due to inability to maintain concentration
3) I really dont[cant] want to go that "fast" or enjoy it that little.

[liamg]

Is Sofiane going to try and do this in a oner?! Surely he's got to pay for skipping 2 nights' kip at some point

[redefined_cycles]

Endurance at another level. I think the endurance scientist don't even know about this/you mad lot. If they did it'd be experiments on little sections of muscle/bone and blood/vessels!

According to the science book (they know nothing but will try getting a pic of the page I was checking a few days ago) Sofiane muscles (surely) wont be able to take it to the very end and at some point they will just stop firing but I'm probably wrong.

Either way, utter maniacs and it might just end up Dave winning after all the front runners end up over exerted at day10... lets see

They should charge us for watching this

[redefined_cycles]

Interesting report of Sofianes philosophy here https://dotwatcher.cc/feature/five-minu ... ane-sehili

Seems madder than all the other mad people at the front...

(Edit) seems like Sofiane has just overtaken Mikes time

Regards the sleep deprivations thingy aswell. That was what Kristoff (Allegart) was/is known for and poss8bly why Mike (Hall) was a bit smitten by him post one of the TCRs... He really did give Mike a run for the money on that Indipac thingy aswell (just following from what Johnny said regards its a race of how well one can manage the sleep deprivation!!)

[jameso]

Rider A - 24hrs, 4hrs sleep at 10mph = 200 miles
Rider B - 24hrs, 2hrs sleep at 10mph =220 miles
Rider A - 24hrs, 4hrs sleep but needing to cover 220 miles to keep up = 11mph, 10% gain in average speed.

Try getting as fit as you can and from there upping your average over a long distance by another 10% / 1mph - it's really hard. Unrealistic probably. It may be more realistic to cope on 2hrs less sleep and a few power naps. The interesting bit is how lack of sleep or recovery drops the average speed later on if you're into your own red zone (expect it varies between people, ages etc) - but perhaps by then you've built up 150+ mile lead and with that buffer you can sleep a bit more.

Also shows how wasting an hour a day faffing vs using that time to sleep adds pressure (stress?) to be really efficient.

Greg, any studies done on this that you know of, any general idea of how rest / power output balances out?

Seems madder than all the other mad people at the front...

bold for sure, his move at the end of the Italy Divide was all-out, win or DNF. I like his approach : )

[Lazarus]

[JH]I went again and finally got a gap, maybe 10 meters at most. As we came to the top of the climb I saw the road was covered with snow. I knew we were equal. If you don't have a good lead on someone after 1,200km then it's a draw. So I stopped, turned around and asked if he wanted to ride in together to finish joint first. He said yes.

[SS]I feel what James had in mind when he asked me if I was okay finishing together: if 4 days of pushing our bikes up ridiculously steep hills, carrying them on impassable trails while being rained on, pedalling through 3 sleepless nights and finally hiking for hours in the snow, falling over countless times hadn’t been enough to determine who was the better man, it was not up to a 20km downhill to do it.

I like that attitude. Both gave it everything and both winners.

[larsmars]

Is Sofiane going to try and do this in a oner?! Surely he's got to pay for skipping 2 nights' kip at some point

Sofi just doesn’t seem to need sleep. Same on the Italy Divide, but it clearly affects his pace as time goes on. I reckon they will reel him in over time.

[Borderer]

They seem to be doing that now - his lead of 50 something miles is now in the 30's. Difficult to say without knowing the terrain though - it might just be that he has gone through a particularly tricky bit.

Edit - yes he was just going up a steep hill - the gap has opened up again now as he goes down the other side.

[larsmars]

Does anyone know if Mike's record dot is where he actually was at that time (a replay of the ride and will stop where Mike did) or is it based on an average speed and just keeps moving all the time?

I was wondering this too. Would be nice if MH’s record line appeared on the Race Flow for added fun, though a bit incomparable given the route changes since the record.

[Blackhound]

I always understood that MH's dot was where he was at a given time, not an average. Could be wrong.

The Koko Claims loop north of Elkford adds 3-4 hours at the pointy end I believe, Mike did not do that section on his record run as before the '13 floods.

Sofiane has plenty of experience so wonder if he is taking a risky strategy. Maybe he will surprise us all - it certainly looks unsustainable. I need my rest and no idea how the leaders do it.

Once over the border the route is fast for a number of days. I would not want to ride Richmond Peak section at night and the new section near Union Pass is tough over a short section I am told but generally fast if you have the legs through Colorado.

[whitestone]

This just posted on bikepacking.net -

The annual Ovando Montana TDR parade of photographs should be starting in a few hours with the arrival of Sofiane Sahili into first place. Mike Hall was here at noon on his record breaking attempt and Sofiane is ahead of that. This year ALL photos will be posted on bikepacking.net only as I just don't have the time to do multiple postings. See you soon.

[redefined_cycles]

Appears to have stopped.. also appears to be trying to follow Mikes timeline as close as possible.

Legs pobably gonna give in soon enoigh. Hope he stays safe as its a hard job chssing Mike... even when he's not here!

[Borderer]

It's a town so it looks like a food stop. Edit - he has moved on from there now anyway. He stopped for all of 5 minutes in the town!

[redefined_cycles]

It's a town so it looks like a food stop. Edit - he has moved on from there now anyway. He stopped for all of 5 minutes in the town!

[wriggles]

Looks like Josh Ibbett stopped off at Holland Lake lodge for a spot of lunch. Not a bad gaff but expensive. Beer was $15 iirc



This photo by Rugile Kaladyte earlier in the day is brilliant

[jameso]

Yeah that's a great shot, Josh staying focused

[jay91]

It looks like he's was riding through Cannock on a Friday night

[wriggles]

Red Meadow Lakes. There is a narrow strip of rough ground between road and lake which weekenders use.