Vamos pa' México hermano

jimvreeland said:
Do you plan on actually preparing this time around? ;)
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Hey!!! I was just catching up on your thread and only now I see your post :) YES! I've had false starts for the last 3 weeks (work at work, work at home, PT for shoulder, yada yada) so I was looking for some ride with a fix date to prepare for. I just saw your post with the D&L and I think that's the ticket.

Shit, when I read your post I felt like I a kid that was called in class and didn't do his homework :oops:

Yesterday I was reading a day-by-day blog of a guy that did the TD in 20 days this year and that was great motivation, and very good to think about all the things I could do better. I'm going to make a list of that and start chipping at that, whether it's being better prepared physically, studying and planning the route, or adjusting/changing the bike & gear.

OK. First mini-commitment here, as a show of appreciation for your nudge:) This weekend I'm going to ride at least 1 hr or 10 miles, somewhere on some bike, and I'm going to finish assembling my home gym.

Gracias.
 
Honestly the biggest hurdle in my experience on these adventures is the mental game

being alone for so long
still pushing when "you cant even"
packing all your shit back onto the bike every morning
finding enough food and water
going back and getting twice as much because that's still not enough
finding things that you actually want to eat
missing people even though most of them are awful
constantly evaluating and reevaluating everything, route, time, distance, pace, food, water, campsites, elevation, gear
demons in the jungle
still being hungry

"why?"
 
We are planning a Rockaway to High Bridge ride with camping at Spruce Run Saturday night. Your welcome to use the campsite with us.
 
Mumonkan said:
Honestly the biggest hurdle in my experience on these adventures is the mental game

being alone for so long
still pushing when "you cant even"
packing all your shit back onto the bike every morning
finding enough food and water
going back and getting twice as much because that's still not enough
finding things that you actually want to eat
missing people even though most of them are awful
constantly evaluating and reevaluating everything, route, time, distance, pace, food, water, campsites, elevation, gear
demons in the jungle
still being hungry

"why?"
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For me the top 3 of your list played a factor in cutting it short are:

"being alone for so long". For me the being alone was more like "alone and far away from other racers". Early on I didn't mind being along most of the day, following fresh tracks and chasing other people but at the end it did. This time around my thinking/feeling is changing a bit as I'm getting into it. I still want to race but I also really want to finish even if I fall behind.

"missing people". This one was a bit different for me too. At the beginning I was so much in survival mode that I really didn't think too much about them :oops: Once I came out of that mode I did started to miss them, and feeling guilty that I left my wife alone with the 3 kids and looking for a house knowing we needed tom out of ours relatively soon after the trip.

"demons in the jungle" - if I got it right. The thought that really bad stuff could happen at any time started to scare me more as I was more and more alone. Not only for me but I also I felt I wasn't being responsible/fair if I left my wife and children without me before they get fed up of me :)
 
trailhead said:
We are planning a Rockaway to High Bridge ride with camping at Spruce Run Saturday night. Your welcome to use the campsite with us.
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Thank you for the offer! I can't this weekend but I'm interested in tagging along on things like this in the future.
 
I'll be back.gif


Screenshot Plane ticket.jpg


:)
 
So, I decided to do the Tour Divide Race again (or for the first time, however you want to look at it). This time I intend to finish it no matter what. Not sure where to start now but I'll probably post a recap of my previous attempt soon and go from there. I already started training a couple of weeks ago. Not ideal, but much better than last time.
 
Pampa said:
So, I decided to do the Tour Divide Race again (or for the first time, however you want to look at it). This time I intend to finish it no matter what. Not sure where to start now but I'll probably post a recap of my previous attempt soon and go from there. I already started training a couple of weeks ago. Not ideal, but much better than last time.
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Excited!!
 
Pampa said:
So, I decided to do the Tour Divide Race again (or for the first time, however you want to look at it). This time I intend to finish it no matter what. Not sure where to start now but I'll probably post a recap of my previous attempt soon and go from there. I already started training a couple of weeks ago. Not ideal, but much better than last time.
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This is great to see...but the stories you told us at KT the year you attempted this were epic! You're already ahead of previous training pace...wasn't that something along the lines of "Hey, it's Monday...I haven't ridden a bike in months but I'm going to do this month long race stating this Saturday"...lol
 
Some stats from my previous attempt below. I had a lot of problems with my GPSs y didn't capture/lost a lot of data but having stuck to the route allowed me to complete the picture.

Totals
15 days in the race, 14 days "moving", 1 day stopped (mechanical)
1,223 mi (route distance, ~+10 miles of backtracking and off route riding to re-supply points)
+82,454 ft

Avg. per day of riding
87 mi
+5,900 ft
10.8 hr of riding (elapsed time)
8.1 mph avg. speed
547 ft/hr (elapsed time)
67 ft/mi

Some high/lows I dug from the Garmin data

Longest distance in a day: 133 miles (+3,500 ft, 11 hr), also fastest day: 12.1 mph avg. speed

Longest ride: 16 hr (115 mi, +7,500)

Lowest avg. temp in a ride: 30.2 F (most of the day below freezing)

Max temp: 84.2 F

Max calories burned in a ride: 11,937 (108 mi, 15 hr)

Max HR: 208 bpm (tachycardia)


and the one I like the most :)

1 KOM, still standing: Fuck that ! I had no idea of segments on the route. I discovered this months after in Strava. To be fair, I don't think anyone "goes" for this segment. It's a very short but very steep hill with huge jeep track ruts. I just started climbing without any idea how log or steep it was (it was windy among trees, so no way to know). I just wanted to see how far I could ride it. I rode ~ the first 2/3s of it, walked the rest.
 
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