DarkWeb
Well-Known Member
Both of mine had balance bikes. Best thing ever.
Observe & Report
Well-Known Member
I want to take a couple months maybe next summer to ride the Great Divide MTB Route. It runs 2700 miles from Banff west of Calgary through the Rockies all the way to the southern border of New Mexico, passing through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado. Its mostly gravel and dirt roads but plenty of paved and some singletrack too. Looks like a lot of fun, the scenery is amazing. Most people ride it in about 6-8 weeks.
There's also a crazy bikepacking race over mostly the same route in late June called the Tour Divide. These guys are riding upwards of 200 miles a day on mostly hardtail MTBs carrying some minimal camping gear, warm clothes, tools and spares, and enough food and water to make it to the next town. and bear spray ha ha. It's a solo and self supported event with the clock ticking continuously. The fastest riders are finishing in about 14-15 days.
This guy got cut from his pro enduro MTB team last January, decided to do Tour Divide and came in third despite some early setbacks. Made a movie at the same time, its a pretty raw look at what its like to ride it competitively.
This chick did it on a singlespeed and also made a video. She starts out with the most amazing attitude but by the end almost 20 days later she's like "OMG I'm ready for this to be over!"
There's also a crazy bikepacking race over mostly the same route in late June called the Tour Divide. These guys are riding upwards of 200 miles a day on mostly hardtail MTBs carrying some minimal camping gear, warm clothes, tools and spares, and enough food and water to make it to the next town. and bear spray ha ha. It's a solo and self supported event with the clock ticking continuously. The fastest riders are finishing in about 14-15 days.
This guy got cut from his pro enduro MTB team last January, decided to do Tour Divide and came in third despite some early setbacks. Made a movie at the same time, its a pretty raw look at what its like to ride it competitively.
This chick did it on a singlespeed and also made a video. She starts out with the most amazing attitude but by the end almost 20 days later she's like "OMG I'm ready for this to be over!"
TrippleDip
Well-Known Member
Can't recommend it enough. I have only done the canadian side but want to do the us side eventually.
This was my goal for this year but I'm not sure I'll get the time off. I thought someone set a record of 12 days but the fastest still appears to be a bit under 14 days. I still think people could take a day off the record by going ultralight and focusing on aero positions instead of sleep deprivation (ie someone could make up 2h of extra sleep by going minimalist and not riding in a comfortable position then average a faster speed over the rest of the day).
Silk road bike race is also up there on the bucket list.
Observe & Report
Well-Known Member
Lachlan Morton had an ostensibly record setting time in '23 but he brought along a film crew to a solo event and was DQed. He did get full sleep in a hotel every night but his performance probably has more to do with the fact that he's also an elite pro cyclist on a UCI World team. Tactics are also pretty important. A full nights sleep isn't as helpful, for example, if it means you get stuck in mud behind a storm.
I think they are already packing as light as possible and losing a pound or two wouldn't make much difference. To get more aero would really require fairings. Probably worth the extra weight too since the route overall isn't especially hilly. I think they are all stuck in a combination of weight weeniedom and UCI rule mindset so nobody is considering fairings (banned for over 100 years). It would be cool to see a strong rider give them an aerodynamics lesson but that probably will not happen.
Observe & Report
Well-Known Member
You must be pretty tough if you are seriously considering racing it competitively. Have you done other ultra bikepacking events? TD puts people in the hospital... Chris King even after a successful UCI World carreer and being a pro gravel racer only discovered a week into it that he wasn't made of the same stuff as the TD winners. Ended up in the hospital with his body devouring his muscles from over exertion!
For the rest of us, Canada has rec weed and you can resupply in Eureka MT after crossing the border so no worries! Idaho is the only illegal state on the GDMTBR. Take your time and, uh, smell the flowers
TrippleDip
Well-Known Member
That's who I was thinking of. Thank you. I agree that tactics might be (probably is) more important. Watching last year the 3 at the front 2 were sleeping less than 4h a day but were making the same daily distance as the person sleeping 6h a day (for the first few days anyways). The person getting 50% more sleep probably feels better and is less likely to get hurt too.
Are fairings allowed on the tour? Doesn't say on their rules page. I think the most aero savings will come from position on the bike (provided one could be uncomfortable for so long and not get injured), also things like dropper posts, fast rolling tires. Like you said most people focus on weight and imo forget there are 100 other things to optimize.
Nope but I absolutely love bikepacking and realize that for me 1500-2000km in a week is comfort level biking - spending 10h a night resting and another 4-8hrs of sightseeing.
TrippleDip
Well-Known Member
The reasons why the speeds are so low and the reason he got hurt is that you cannot eat enough if you go fast. I ended up in a 10k Cal deficit after doing a long ride last year. My MO is to have a large high protein meal, then bike slowly for 1h on water, bike faster for 2h on drink mix and another 1h on candy+water, then repeat. This puts me at around 1000 Cal per hour of biking which is break even for me when averaging 25-28km/hr. Averaging 30-35 km/hr will put me in a 200Cal/hr deficit (you would lose 13lbs of fat over two weeks at that deficit).
I hope that explains a bit better why I think future gains will have to come from aero adaptations allowing higher average speeds at the same Caloric expenditure.
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crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
my bicycle has a 4.4l V8 engine all wheel drive and weighs a little over 2 tons. and its also a range rover. i love it.
Observe & Report
Well-Known Member
Fairings are allowed, if not deployable as a sail, because there is no rule against them and it aligns with the main rule which is you have to go the whole way using just your feet to propel you. That could change if someone wins on a fully streamlined bike and the other racers complain, though.
Position on an upright bike, tires, and other optimizations amount to very little compared to having your body and gear inside a streamlined shell. People who haven't experienced riding a streamlined bike or haven't been dropped hard by one just have very little idea how much of a difference it makes.
The other important advantage riding a fully streamlined recumbent in the TD would confer is weather resistence! The fairings keep that cold air off of you in the morinng/night, provide shade during the day, and keep you dry in the rain (you get wet from sweat though.) When the main challenge is mental those things are going to go a long way, especially on top of the comfort of not riding a wedgie.
Again with regard to weight and rolling resistence, my velomobile is a tourer that weighs 65lbs empty, has three 50 mm puncture resistant touring/city tires (Conti Contact Urbans), two which are little 406 BMX wheels, doesn't have a fairing covering my head/helmet, and I'm a paunchy middle aged guy who loves junk food, not a racer, and I'm always high as a mofo yet I can easily pedal up to 42+ mph on flat road. I could go faster if I had taller gearing than 53x11x50-559 since the cadence starts getting high at those speeds.
The record at Battle Mountain for a commercial velomobile (Milan SL, 3 wheels, 55-60 lbs) is 58.2 mph, by a regular middle aged guy who rides a lot commuting, not even an amateur racer. This year a 69 year old hit 56.9 mph on a different commercially available trike. Good luck finding a position and tires on an upright bike that lets you pedal up to that speed. Of course the top speed record is 89.59 mph (EIGHTY NINE) on a highly optimized 55 lb bike piloted by a very strong rider (Todd Reichert, who also won the Sikorsky prize for human powered helicopter and has a PhD in aerodynamic engineering).
I think there is enough flat/downhill/rolling terrain (and road) on the TD for it to make a big difference. The rides I do have much more vertical per mile and my average speeds have gone way up since ditching the unfaired bike even if I'm a bit slower on the big climbs from the extra 40 lbs.
drinkin&flexin
Member
( breathes a hard breath against his fingernails, and shines his nails against the greasy denim... [ spills beer]..
Dr.Amber Trichome
Well-Known Member
Sold my specialized mt bike today. I really liked that bike. Moving and can’t take it. You know , it really hurt selling it . I only had it for under a year, but , It’s weird, my bikes become so intimate to me, even after a short term relationships. At least I got $200 for it. He didn’t even test ride it!! Tried to talk me down to $150 but that didn’t work. He got a freaking deal. Now Giving up my Long term 15 year old, old beater Kona bike was emotional devastating. Sold it for $30 but it felt like a million dollar heartbreak. I can’t image how pathetic I looked to that guy who bought it for $30. It was old and scratched and it tore me up letting it go. I was like, please take good care of her. Totally pathetic . Oh well, can’t help loving a bike.
Blue brother
Well-Known Member
I’m about to buy a 2023 trek x caliber 9, I can get it for £870 RRP is £1300, any of you guys know of alternatives I should look at, I’m a small frame size in trek and giant. Thanks in advance
BobBitchen
Well-Known Member
Jorge Esteban Ruiz Colin on Instagram
1M likes, 22K comments - el_rocko7 on April 14, 2024
www.instagram.com
Week4@inCharge
Well-Known Member
Took my YT Decoy 1 out for another ride
farmingfisherman
Well-Known Member
Good thing a bike is always willing to start another passion filled relationship with its rider! Good luck with the move!
Dr.Amber Trichome
Well-Known Member
Thanks!
I need to get another bike. When I get settled in Cali I will get a new one so I can ride in Santa Cruz , Monterey and Yosemite again. That was so much fun!
Dr.Amber Trichome
Well-Known Member
Yeah! I just bought my new bike!!
This bike is a mind blowing engineering feat. It has so many cool features and I got it new for under &500. I’m super stoked.
This bike is a mind blowing engineering feat. It has so many cool features and I got it new for under &500. I’m super stoked.