Be Part of My 2012 Tour Divide Effort

I'm working to finalize details with two months until go time. Tour Divide provides plenty of details. I need to ride and focus on riding to avoid a repeat crash from two weeks ago. Dang you Tom Petty!

I will work on pedaling the passes and bypassing the bears.  I could use some help if anyone feels interest or inclination and would like to share in one heck of an adventure.  I need:

• Technical Communication Consultant - figure out cell coverage, mobile device, communication, SPOT device, camera. Figure out power for all. I need to be self sufficient for at least 3 days at a time including nighttime operations.
• Navigation Officer - help me find and stay on route including water, lodging, food, resupply. Help me arrive at Pie Town while it is open. Shops along the TD route seem to keep odd hours.  Also help translate all the southbound directions to northbound directions. Bonus points for helping with GPS basemaps, tracks, and waypoints. Hopefully some elevation profile work as well. 100 miles per day is one thing. 100 miles with 14k feet of climbing is quite another.
• Charity Coordinator - I'd like to raise money for a charity while doing this. Even $0.01 per mile adds up if I can complete all 2745+/- miles.
• Communication Officer - help with publishing and keep folks updated. Emergency contact if willing
• Nutritionist - how to carry enough calories of the right kind
• Packer - optimize the kit to as little as possible then figure out how best to carry it

I'm not asking anyone to "do it for me"; rather I'm looking for help to "get it done". There are many fun and interesting challenges to planning this trip. I'd love to share this adventure with others. I welcome any participation.


It's been a busy few days since my last update. I mentally and now really signed up for 30DaysOfBiking. That means biking every day in April. Before getting back on the bike I had to learn some tough lessons from last weekend's ride.

My left cleat placement gets credit for my IT band issues. Adjustment is done and it seems better. Allergies literally took the wind out of me. I'm now on constant Allegra after trying Claritin and Benadryl. My right foot is partially due to compensating for my left side. Another part is lack of support in my shoes. I tried inserts in the shoes only to find inadequate space for the additional material. I'm leaning toward exchanging shoes for a half size up. My lower back and left lower tricep were also sore. The lower back was manageable. The tricep was not. That degraded further to irritate a perennial issue I have just inside my right shoulder blade that quite literally takes my breath away. After a few tender days I realized much of this was due to a weak core. The left tricep is still painful and I'm taking care of it as best I can. Planks are back in my morning routine for added core strength. All of this also leads me to the need for aerobars. They provide yet another hand position on the back and, possibly more importantly, a substantially different torso position.  Further they allow me to use more glute and hamstring muscle when pedaling. My speed is up to 12mph from 10mph using aerobars. Aerobars are helping increase speed, decrease time in the saddle, reduce back and shoulder strain, and they give extra hanging space for gear. It still requires some work as the mounting displaced my headlights. Another item to figure out...

I also added back relief by moving water out of my pack and into my frame bag. This helps with additional water capacity as well. It looks like I can get 3liters bladder in frame bag with room to spare, 1.2 liters in frame bottle cages, another 3 liter bladder in my pack when necessary. I need to add two additional cages and bottles to the front fork. I am also looking for a way to put water on or in my saddle bag. Amid all of this I ordered a new Ergon BX2 Cycling Pack. This gives more organized storage and claims to put weight on hips rather than shoulders. Again I'm looking to add capacity without shouldering it on my body.

Short term goals now:

• Plan a trip to the GAP/C&O trail in April. I'm hoping for a round trip 600+ miles for training and testing out my kit
• Mount lights with aerobars. I like riding at night and suspect it will be required at times
• Integrate Ergon Pack
• Add water capacity
• Add some higher intensity and higher speed training - the best recovery from the bike is off the bike.
• Daily track what my route would be. I can learn and memorize details of the route one day at a time in April and then again in May. This includes resupply, lodging, elevation, navigation, alternate routes, and hopefully GPS testing.
• Optometrist appointment to see if I can get wraparound sports glasses in prescription with transition lenses
• Order any remaining items and get them integrated for long test rides 

April is busy and I hope everyone can get out and ride.