I wonder what they think when the see the riders flying past, kitted up with a certain look on their face!

From the photos of Sofiane that have been posted on the bikepacking.net forum it looks like he's not wearing bib shorts (I thought these were the staple for all serious cyclists, and personally haven't done a proper ride in anything else for a very long time). Also he seems to have a baseball cap on his head instead of a helmet. Interesting choices!

NewRetroTom wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:37 pm From the photos of Sofiane that have been posted on the bikepacking.net forum it looks like he's not wearing bib shorts (I thought these were the staple for all serious cyclists, and personally haven't done a proper ride in anything else for a very long time). Also he seems to have a baseball cap on his head instead of a helmet. Interesting choices!

And a Planet X jersey.

techno mail wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:51 pm

NewRetroTom wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:37 pm From the photos of Sofiane that have been posted on the bikepacking.net forum it looks like he's not wearing bib shorts (I thought these were the staple for all serious cyclists, and personally haven't done a proper ride in anything else for a very long time). Also he seems to have a baseball cap on his head instead of a helmet. Interesting choices!

And a Planet X jersey.

Bibs are a PIA if you need to go to the loo, particularly if its pishing down and you have to strip off to get at them.....
Baseball cap though??

NewRetroTom wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:37 pm From the photos of Sofiane that have been posted on the bikepacking.net forum it looks like he's not wearing bib shorts (I thought these were the staple for all serious cyclists, and personally haven't done a proper ride in anything else for a very long time). Also he seems to have a baseball cap on his head instead of a helmet. Interesting choices!

Yup, he is a maverick. It seems to have worked for him on previous attempts. I recall a backwards baseball cap and old skool Yeti jersey. He is a bike courier in Paris when he’s not being a somnambulist.

larsmars wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 10:03 pm

NewRetroTom wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:37 pm From the photos of Sofiane that have been posted on the bikepacking.net forum it looks like he's not wearing bib shorts (I thought these were the staple for all serious cyclists, and personally haven't done a proper ride in anything else for a very long time). Also he seems to have a baseball cap on his head instead of a helmet. Interesting choices!

Yup, he is a maverick. It seems to have worked for him on previous attempts. I recall a backwards baseball cap and old skool Yeti jersey. He is a bike courier in Paris when he’s not being a somnambulist.

Yeh they appear to be just leggings or perhaps just padded shorts (no bib).

I favour padded shorts but can't get on with bibs for longer rides with the need for hopping on/off easy

None of which are slowing him down...

No helmet. Interesting choice. Personally I would favor a helmet, but.... given he likely does more more miles in a month than I do in a year and isn't dead yet from lack of a helmet.... who am I to judge. Ride on SS

NewRetroTom wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:37 pm Also he seems to have a baseball cap on his head instead of a helmet.

He obviously never got the memo: 'never go full retard!'...

Judging from his Strava profile it seems he's previously (or is currently) a cycle courier and alleycat racer. These guys are normally mad are they not (as if the regular bikepacking ITT lot aren't mad enough).

Total respect to James Hayden that he managed to reel such a nutter in on the Italy Divide....

techno mail wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:51 pm

NewRetroTom wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:37 pm From the photos of Sofiane that have been posted on the bikepacking.net forum it looks like he's not wearing bib shorts (I thought these were the staple for all serious cyclists, and personally haven't done a proper ride in anything else for a very long time). Also he seems to have a baseball cap on his head instead of a helmet. Interesting choices!

And a Planet X jersey.

Yyp... definitely gone "full retard"...

Looks like Sofiane is finally getting some sleep!

BobCatMax wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2019 7:50 am Looks like Sofiane is finally getting some sleep!

Meanwhile, Lael is on the move!

This was posted on bikepacking.net

Finally getting to the Lael Wilcox story. #7 all around. #1 female. #1 female breaking her own record. Was being chased by a thunder cell but she was winning until I believe Huckleberry pass where it probably caught her. There has been much talk about her film crew. They consist of 3 people. 2 photographer/videographers and another videographer that is a friend. All 3 are on spot trackers so that their ability to assist are carefully scrutinized. The friend never gets within about 50 yards of her and does not speak to her. When Lael was at the BCC, friend was at the Blackfoot Angler. I was impressed that at this junction they were being very respectful of the rules. Lael takes off on the bike, they stay behind and meet up at the next location.

Looks like Sofiane is finally getting some sleep!

What for he has only done a mere 600 mile in 2 1/2 days with about one hours non moving time.
he needs to find his suitcase of courage

I never know what is the more impressive stat the distance or the lack of sleep

To put SS's lack of sleep and distance in perspective,

2nd place Josh Kato returned to Ovando a bit over 3 hours behind Sofiane with SEVEN (7) hours of sleep under his helmet. In fact says he has been sleeping pretty darn good.

- from bikepacking.net's Ovando reporter.

Lazarus wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:29 am

Looks like Sofiane is finally getting some sleep!

What for he has only done a mere 600 mile in 2 1/2 days with about one hours non moving time.
he needs to find his suitcase of courage

I never know what is the more impressive stat the distance or the lack of sleep

Lack of sleep "stupid"... amount of mileage- impressive.

But he does have a baseball cap on so we shouldn't expect much in the way of wisdom/clear thinking from him (Sofiane)...

Bob, thanks for tying in the bikepacking.net stuff (not sure how you manage to coordinate it all as I'm just finding it difficult keeping up with the race and this thread (actually, no, its not too difficult this ).

How does the spot/tracker become faded out so one knows their sleeping... does it just guess itself that the riders stopped moving or is it a button the user has to press??

jameso wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:48 am To put SS's lack of sleep and distance in perspective,

2nd place Josh Kato returned to Ovando a bit over 3 hours behind Sofiane with SEVEN (7) hours of sleep under his helmet. In fact says he has been sleeping pretty darn good.

- from bikepacking.net's Ovando reporter.

That would suggest that (for the moment) its Josh that would probably eventually take the lead. The body cant (won't, as it concentrates its services to other dept) really keep recovering and protecting self from infection etc....

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:55 am

jameso wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:48 am To put SS's lack of sleep and distance in perspective,

2nd place Josh Kato returned to Ovando a bit over 3 hours behind Sofiane with SEVEN (7) hours of sleep under his helmet. In fact says he has been sleeping pretty darn good.

- from bikepacking.net's Ovando reporter.

That would suggest that (for the moment) its Josh that would probably eventually take the lead. The body cant (won't, as it concentrates its services to other dept) really keep recovering and protecting self from infection etc....

*efficiently

It fades out automatically after they have been immobile for more than 30 minutes.

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:52 am How does the spot/tracker become faded out so one knows their sleeping... does it just guess itself that the riders stopped moving or is it a button the user has to press??

The dot fading out is when the SPOT/InReach has failed to send a location for thirty minutes. Don't know how you do it on mobile/tablet but on a desktop computer if you hover the mouse over the dot then it shows when TL last received a location update. The system buffers everything until contact is made again. With Gen2 SPOTs you had to turn them off and back on again every 24 hours so presumably Trackleaders used that along with timestamps to determine is someone was stopped/bivvying. Not sure how the Gen3 devices interact with Trackleaders to show overnight stops. If you really, really zoom in on Sofiane's position it shows him in a building in Helena so it's possible he and the tracker are indoors and the tracker won't be able to transmit a signal.

Here's Dave Barter's tracking page http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide19i.p ... ave_Barter and you can see that currently his position is shown with a tent icon, i.e. he's bivvying, well it is 2am local time.

and you can see that currently his position is shown with a tent icon, i.e. he's bivvying, well it is 2am local time.

I dunno, maybe he’s just stopped for a quick pas de deux...

SS up and out of Helena now after a 5 hour stop. So if you say one hour minimum for eating, showering etc then he has had a four hour sleep, tops. He even found time in all that to post on Facebook!
Josh Kato has cut the deficit to 19 miles, which is pretty exciting.

it is quite telling, the difference between sleeping and mileage between SS and JK. I can't help but think that JK is going to benefit over the long term, and it makes JKs ave speed even more impressive.

redefined_cycles wrote: How does the spot/tracker become faded out so one knows their sleeping... does it just guess itself that the riders stopped moving or is it a button the user has to press??

I zoomed right in and saw that his tracker was stopped right next to a hotel/motel/holiday inn. a little bit of cheating rather than insider knowledge :)

But according to TrackLeaders Josh Kato has only stopped for an hour and a half up til now. So he has only had half an hour more stop time than SS before he stopped in Helena for 5 hours. So at this point SS is the more rested one.

Borderer wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:58 am But according to TrackLeaders Josh Kato has only stopped for an hour and a half up til now. So he has only had half an hour more stop time than SS before he stopped in Helena for 5 hours. So at this point SS is the more rested one.

I'm a bit wary of the stopped time on TL. This is again from bikepacking.net so presumably straight from JK's mouth:

2nd place Josh Kato returned to Ovando a bit over 3 hours behind Sofiane with SEVEN (7) hours of sleep under his helmet. In fact says he has been sleeping pretty darn good.

If you click on the "race flow" button on TL it shows distance against time. At about 40hrs JK's line is flat so he definitely stopped for a while at that point.

I wonder where Josh Ibbetts going ??