Nearly time for kick off :) There is a tracker spot thingy here
http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide13

Saw that Mike Hall is going again this year. He posted some interesting info about his set up here
http://normallyaspiratedhuman.com/?p=1337

Just realised the RAAM has just started too. OK so its not bike packing but bonkers miles on a bike in a very short time
Leaders Link
http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/r ... _Race_ID=1

Hoppo's tracker
http://www.teamhoppo.co.uk/live-tracking/

Mart wrote:Nearly time for kick off :) There is a tracker spot thingy here
http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide13

Saw that Mike Hall is going again this year. He posted some interesting info about his set up here
http://normallyaspiratedhuman.com/?p=1337

This is something very neat Mike has found.


http://www.en.tout-terrain.de/accessori ... er-supply/

Plug II's are such a nice and neat solution, but it is £130... ouch

Mart wrote:Plug II's are such a nice and neat solution, but it is £130... ouch

Plus the dynamo setup side of things. I can't warrant that at the moment. But it has given me ideas of drilling top caps and shoving batteries down my steerer rube

Early lead by Mike Hall ... be great if he can stay in that slot until the finish :)

s8tannorm wrote:Early lead by Mike Hall ... be great if he can stay in that slot until the finish :)

That's some pace he's going. I also reckon he has a little bit of experience with multi-day self supported rides in a competitive manor, so good chance he stays in this slot 8-)

He certainly looks like he's on mission
Now I'm glued to the spot tracker again :)

Only a couple of hours sleep for Mike on day 1 and he's over the border already, the mans a machine.

Jameso in 10th position ... going well too.

Link to some photos of bike setups at the start:

http://m1314.photobucket.com/albums/Ste ... t=2&page=1

Looks like James is running his steel Jones with a ti truss fork...I think I've seen him post pictures of his ti jones; wonder why he choose the steel frame? (Is this his? Can't find pictures of any other Jones')

It might be for the ability to carry a full frame bag?

I think I must be one of the only riders in the world who just doesn't get on with WTB Nanos?
I was so happy when they stopped being the ONLY full size twenty niner tyre available back in 'The day'. :)

Mike seems to be closing on Stappler, who looks to be filling his boots at the (appropriately named for this forum) Hungry Bear steakhouse.

Go Mike!

From Mike's bookface:

Pretty poor day at the office overall. Stomach cramps, breathing difficulty and some idiot pretending to be me on here distracting me from the job in hand. Craig got away but still on record pace or thereabouts. See if I can cough up some of this dust, it's like breathing through a 3 foot straw.

I don't do bookface, but what does he mean "some idiot pretending to be me"? Account hacked?

Re tyres: I see Mike is on Race Kings, which I think would be my choice too.

Anyway, hope he can keep it up. Still a long way to go. Anything could happen.

...and now Mike is doing likewise by the looks of things. Must be something about the name that attracts

Mike used Conti RK's last time so knows they will do a job. Martin Wimpennny and myself also used these tyres in 2011.

Our man jameso up to 6th! Going a bit quicker than his 25 day target....

The leader, Craig, is a really nice guy. He rode from Calgary to Canmore with Martin & I two years ago and never moaned about my pace once. Really encouraging guy and sirted us out with maps and all late changes in route we were not aware of when we were in transit. A bit torn really, as Mike is a good guy too, but after Craig's disaster last year I hope he gets his redemption. Craig was 5th in the recent Trans-Portugal mtb stage race so he has speed in his legs as well as endurance. Going to be a great race between the two of them - be happy if they get a 1-2 in any order. Pace is incredible, 20 and 18 hours up on JayP's pace at Lincoln MT.

Blackhound wrote: Going to be a great race between the two of them - be happy if they get a 1-2 in any order. Pace is incredible, 20 and 18 hours up on JayP's pace at Lincoln MT.

These 2 are both ahead of the Men's record too, which is pretty coooooool 8-)

Jameso apparently 'fueling up' at Ovando now..

Correction ; has fueled up and on his way again

Huge amount of respect for JamesO .. he has put in a ton of training for this and its really paying off .. his predicted finish time jut shows how modest this guy is but obviously he's a talented multi day rider.

Sensible to use his steel Jones to gain extra room in frame bag but imagine he is just too precious over his ti to use it

This is gonna be an interesting race as Jay P really comes alive in the latter stages of any race as he can really endure no sleep for a long time but these guys are really motoring to take his record.

Jameso now up to 5th

And jameso has now dropped to 7th but an average of 189 miles per day is impressive. As Paul says he has done a lot of training but I had no idea how quick he was.

jameso tracker hasn't updated for 5 hours so might find he is a lot further up the rod than indicated ( I hope so).

Read that Mike Hall was feeling better after his breathing difficulties

Good showing by the UK guys this year :)

jameso tracker hasn't updated for 5 hours so might find he is a lot further up the rod than indicated ( I hope so).

Or I guess he could be asleep :)