Tour Divide 2016 Part 1

Don't push too far your dreams are china in your hand, don't wish too hard because they may come true..."
I'd heard about the Tour Divide through the Bear Bones Bikepacking forum, and in particular a documentary called Ride The Divide. I've loved all my visits to the USA so the idea of riding 2750 miles was fascinating. At the time the longest trip I had undertaken was a two day over nighter with a maximum of about 80 miles covered in a day off-road. The idea that doing double that distance every day for three weeks seemed nothing short of impossible. But as my riding began to progress, covering a hundred miles was no longer that big a deal, and finishing a couple of 24hr events showed me that the carriage doesn't have to turn into a pumpkin at midnight! The idea of riding the divide was planted....

By pure chance I ended up riding with a couple of guys on the BB200 who planned to ride the TD. Their enthusiasm proved infectious so I realised it was time to start the ball rolling. I won't go into details but after a false start work joined wife in giving me me the go-ahead!

Fitting training in around the stumbling blocks of everyday life has been tricky but I'm doing my best to commute by bike every day and follow a trainerroad plan. It's almost made using a turbo enjoyable....almost.

Bikewise I've made a few changes to the Cooker Ti to suit long days in the saddle. The SIDs have been removed in favour of carbon rigids, I feel that the risk of failure of something complicated combined with the fact I'll (hopefully) do 2750 miles without servicing meant that one way or another they'd only be fit for the bin at the other end. To bring back a bit of cushioning I'll be running Continental X-King 2.4 protections.

The Thomson carbon Flats and 70mm stem have made way for a pair of Jones Loop Bars and a 90mm Thomson to compensate for the 45° sweep. I usually favour ESI silicone grips but I'm going to use some Ergon GS-1 as comfort will take precedence over control.

I've been running three Stan's Crest wheelsets on my 29er, each with tyres for different conditions but lately every ride seems to have led to a spoke failure or a nasty "twang" neither of which are confidence inspiring for a near 3000 mile outing. I spoke to Paul at PT Cycles and asked his advice on a new wheelset specially for the divide. We decided on Velocity Blunt SS rims paired with a Rear DT 350 and an SP PD8X dynamo hub for the front. The Blunts have little weight penalty over the Stan's crests but the 30mm width (and Paul's wheel wizardry) make for a stiffer wheel that better supports the 2.4" tyres. The dynamo hub will take away any concerns about powering my lights and combined with a Cycle2Charge my smartphone and Garmin Edge can remain topped up.

Normally I rely on my trusty Exposure Six pack Mk2, even the low setting provides enough light for technical rides at a decent pace. The downside being that while 24 hours (36 on newer models) is a great burn time, the resulting charge time is also about 24 hours, I could see myself having to spend inordinate time in roadside diners keeping the Sixpack charged. Lights with disposable batteries would mean a race to the shops to get fresh ones at considerable expense and flying to the states to ride your bike is already feeling a bit environmentally iffy. Exposure of course make the Revo dynamo light, with 800 lumens it matches my Six-pack on the setting I'd be using. As long as I'm rolling at about 10mph I'll have all the light I need front and rear (with the additional Red Eye). A Revo and SP hub combined weigh about the same as normal hub and Six-Pack so there isn't really any downside.

The Cooker saw my first attempt at doing 1x10 properly. By that I mean a proper Single chainset, narrow wide ring and clutch mech, as opposed to using a middle ring by itself, a plastic chain device and living with a bouncy normal mech. I have to say I'm a total convert. For the TD I'll be changing from an Absolute Black narrow/wide Oval 34t to a 36t and moving over to XT M8000 11 speed. This allows me to run an 11-42 without need to use an expander/16t sprocket/and RAD cage. All items I felt would be in short supply on route if needed. Sticking to stock 10 speed would probably made getting spare parts easier than for 11 speed but then that would have meant running a 36/36 granny and that feels a bit like it might be hard work!

To be continued....