Farnsworth Engineering

My motto for TDR is….

So I leave for the Tour Divide in a few days and am making final equipment refinements and final bits of planning for things that go bump on the tour divide.

This post is a list of things that could happen and my planning for them. It’s a fairly random post full of random thoughts.

Each year lots of people abandon their tour divide races for many reasons. At TDR, someone who does not finish is simply ending their success a little earlier. People who put their butts on the line and start have all “won” something even if they don’t finish.

The list is in no particular order and really just a random list of ideas. In a sense anything could happen.

I can’t predict what will happen on TDR; after the event it will be interesting to come back to this list.

• Bear attack…. Not likely but it could happen. Use bear bells to prevent, bear spray to defend, hope for the best.
• Mountain lion…. Not likely but if it did happen not much you can do….
• Rattle snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, killer bees, and other small deadly things…. just be reasonably smart about things
• Lightning strikes…. Well I am on a steel bike so I will try to avoid being high on the mountains when storms are really bad. The storms tend to pass fairly quickly so I think reasonable practices will keep me safe.
• Cars…. Very scary but I won’t ride if I am too sleepy. I will be alert plus well lit with reflectors and blinking lights.
• Dehydration…. Will carry water and plan my stops
• Sickness…. Will keep things clean and make sure to treat all “wild” water
• Saddle sores…. Will use new shorts at start, two pairs, keep them clean with daily hand washing and drying for one pair, plenty of butt butter to keep things smooth. Riding single speed keeps me out of saddle as well.
• Mechanical issues…. I have mostly new parts on the bike using quality component choices, I will keep an eye out for problems before they become failures and carry spare chain links, tubes, patch kits, brake pads, etc
• Hypothermia…. Plenty of warm clothing in my kit
• Knee, hip, ankle, and other overuse type injuries are common…. I will listen to my body and ride within my limits to avoid pushing too hard.

My hope is that my TDR will have lots of challenges and that I will overcome them all and finish. The challenges are something I look forward too. When stuff happens next month, I will think back to my motto and HTFU.