A bit late but who are you following? Following Stuart Dun who has the same bike and Steffen Ziegler who I met in a cafe. Not bothered about the influencers just the ones who are there for the ride

Valerio from this parish is riding, and learned from #Jennride conversation in the ODG on Saturday night had been having a bit of a mechanical 'mare by all accounts.

Shona and Rich are out there as well.

Just checked into a hotel.
Turns out there is a cycle race going on.
So I am unintentionally at one of the check points for a couple of days. (Maybe I can find a shock pump now).

Where are you , another cyclist sorry bikepacker we met was on his way to one of the early controls ..Crossed paths again on track north west of Skoura yesterday. Are you helping out at the control?.

Participant's bikes here - https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2025-atla ... race-rigs/

Isn't Lars on here sometimes too, and an experienced racer (obv. I don't know them, but remember them on here periodically?) He's competing and on the 'rigs of..' list shared by James...

jameso wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 9:41 am Participant's bikes here - https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2025-atla ... race-rigs/

I should have bought shares in Tailfin...

Sajama wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2025 9:36 am A bit late but who are you following

Nobody, but now you mentioned it, I'll be doing some dotwatching of Lars and Shona & Rich, since we met and got the chance for a chinwag.

faustus wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 11:30 am Isn't Lars on here sometimes too, and an experienced racer (obv. I don't know them, but remember them on here periodically?) He's competing and on the 'rigs of..' list shared by James...

yep.
He's got many long and fast rides under his belt.

Shona & Rich on the Powder Keg. This constellation has seem quite some adventures. One more to come

Sajama wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2025 9:36 am [...]Not bothered about the influencers just the ones who are there for the ride

Not sure who is who or what is what, but I guess Lars, Shona and Rich belong to the latter. As do probably most, also those you aren't bothered about.
Following above logic, is it even okay to follow the AMR at all? The race itself has quite a following and may be regarded as an influencing entity itself.
Thankfully I don't have to bother what other's are bothered about...

Will we finally see a shift in tactics? More sleep, more rest, more speed, or the usual slog of zombies?
I imagine some will try to copy Lachlan's tactics (on the IIT of the TD/GDMBR). I hope... would make for a varied mix in the field.

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 12:11 pm

jameso wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 9:41 am Participant's bikes here - https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2025-atla ... race-rigs/

I should have bought shares in Tailfin...

I saw another snapped one at the weekend. #Justsaying …

Hyppy wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 1:06 pm

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 12:11 pm

jameso wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 9:41 am Participant's bikes here - https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2025-atla ... race-rigs/

I should have bought shares in Tailfin...

I saw another snapped one at the weekend. #Justsaying …

Alloy or carbon Hyppy??

Alex McCormack smashed it out & on the last 15-20km

Wotsits wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 1:21 pm Alloy or carbon Hyppy??

I think it was a carbon one, but may be wrong. I also didn't note where this one had failed, but I'm just noticing on their website they do say that " Maximum loads listed for on-road riding. Off-road loads will be lower depending on the severity of the terrain, etc." Having seen or heard of them failing so often I'm wondering how much heavy lifting (pun intended) that off-road caveat is doing.

Hyppy wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 1:54 pm

Wotsits wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 1:21 pm Alloy or carbon Hyppy??

I think it was a carbon one, but may be wrong. I also didn't note where this one had failed, but I'm just noticing on their website they do say that " Maximum loads listed for on-road riding. Off-road loads will be lower depending on the severity of the terrain, etc." Having seen or heard of them failing so often I'm wondering how much heavy lifting (pun intended) that off-road caveat is doing.

You do see a few about, including being used in these sorts of events. I'm still tempted to maybe give one a go, but it's the cost more than anything that puts me off..

Chapeau to Alex for his win!

Valerio is at k801 so going well.

Lars and Shona & Rich at k650 ish.

A fantastic ride from Alex On the downside, yet more Tailfin's breaking.
Not exactly a ringing endoresement for a very pricey peace of kit that is marketed at this typ of riding!

I'm having the time of my life!
Playing it safe while keeping it enjoyable

Valerio wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 3:02 pm I'm having the time of my life!
Playing it safe while keeping it enjoyable

Oi! Less internetting. More riding!
Hope you sorted your freehub, jockey wheel, or whatever it was out.

Hyppy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 3:21 pm

Valerio wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 3:02 pm I'm having the time of my life!
Playing it safe while keeping it enjoyable

Oi! Less internetting. More riding!
Hope you sorted your freehub, jockey wheel, or whatever it was out.

Aye, get off the interweb and crack on, the clocks ticking! Good effort!

Who is Valerio on the leader board?
Svincovs?

Stuart.

Valerio is number 203, finished in 6d 8h 34m

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2025 8:27 pm Valerio is number 203, finished in 6d 8h 34m

Thanks.

Just met Valeri'js Svincovs #236.
I wondered why he didn't recognize the secret Paddington Bear handshake.

Well I failed on my self-imposed and totally worthless top50 finisher/under 6days goal but it's OK.
There were too many good views to soak in and I'll never be good at this game if I stop to chat for 2hrs every time I stop for a resupply.

The mechanicals that forced me to ride a "fixed" wheel on day one turned out to be a loose b-screw and insufficient tension in the rear mech.
That would have not even been so bad if I hadn't stopped slightly offroute to try to fix it, and then followed my garmin 10km off-route as I had not realised it had re-routed me.
That added 20km to the first, 300km long day, and really got to me.
Everything else was fine till 140km to the finish when I had a massive puncture and the tyre deseated itself. I continued on tubes but at 40km to go i started getting more punctures and had to ride super slow to drag myself to the finish.

All in all, I absolutely loved it. I might have got lucky with resupply points, but that wasn't as tricky as I expected it. I thought food was really good and people mostly friendly.
Landscapes are beautiful and the trails a real pleasure to ride. There was next to zero hike a bike apart from a short stretch before CP1.

Top effort Valerio, particularly overcoming all of that lot
Looking forward to the vid

Top effort Valerio!

Thank you!!! I forgot to say that I also got stung by a bee in the face on a descent, and pulled out my shoulder after falling/sliding while hiking the old colonial road.

But in comparison to some of the stories from the other riders, I can say I was almost lucky!