djb

worth watching.
Well filmed and understated.
I'm about as far from all these hard core folks as anyone, but I really enjoyed this and found this hour long film to stand out from a lot of the Divide stuff I've seen before.
Enjoy

djb

sorry, ex Pro. Was with EF etc, but does these endurance type things now.

Garthr

Thanks for posting this. I've seen other rides of his and none look like fun ! Nice to watch but I wouldn't want to be there. HAhahahahaha !

As far as I know, he's still sponsored by EF, he just doesn't do Pro Tour races anymore and does this off-the-grid(literally) endurance program by himself. Great advertising for EF of course, not so much for the rear derailleur.

djb

you said it.
I wonder if a regular ol derailleur would have done much better with all that sticky mud. The absolutely worst stuff for any drivetrain, luckily have only experienced a teensy weensy bit of it once, but nothing compared to this or what other folks I know have on trips.

L134 

Thanks for posting. More convenience store, motel room, gas station video than I expected for a GDMBR video.

Garthr

I watched the parts again where he's trying to figure out why the RD wasn't working. He said he tried 3 batteries and it wouldn't still respond to the shifters or the "app". I did roll my eyes at that point, that he was dependent on a battery and app for it's use. The RD wasn't damaged, he was trying to move it manually but it just wouldn't move without being told to by the software. It wasn't getting the message to shift. Yes, I said it ! Not a ringing endorsement for the technology. I see similar things happen in pro road and cyclocross racing.

A regular RD would have worked in that situation since the mud didn't damage anything mechanically, only the ability of the electronics to function properly. That anyone would put up with that is beyond me. Bicycles need not be so complicated. Nor cars, nor anything. Rant over. Apologies for the sidetrack.

Garthr

I do always wonder how these people can ride for so long without saddle/crotch issues, you know ? I know Lachlan mentioned his feet hurting. Hygiene would be really difficult, where do you wash clothes and yourself ? How many hours can one ride in a pair of shorts ? These things are never really discussed, we just see the highlights ! And water, where do they get it, how much do they carry ? Lots of curious questions.

Then again, in the days I used to do multiday tours, I have zero recollection of how I kept clean. Not one memory !

fishboat

Nice video, thx for posting. Not sure what time of year he rode this, but..yikes..I gotta think there's better weather in some other season. Perhaps he has some sponsor relationship with SRAM that drives a decision, though an electronic drive train wouldn't be my first choice. Then again he has light years more experience than I do so..

Heck of a ride..I couldn't do it at my age or his age. Very nicely produced.

djb

I liked that aspect of it that put the emphasis on him dealing with logistics and looking fricken wasted, so the human side, less travelogue stuff. I'm sure there were logistical reasons too, film crew can easily be on roads and get to towns, less easy screwing around with the vehicle on hard to access trails, a shown in post credit scenes.

L134 

Good points.

djb

I've generally had access to showers at campgrounds or whatever on my bike trips and when I haven't, I've had some baby wipes to clean up, plus I use two pairs of padded shorts and alternate when one is drying--so yes, I too wonder about how hard assed these folks are, but saddle sores are still an issue even in the pro peleton.

djb

Ya, using an electric derailleur seems goofy, but there you go, probably possibly contractual, or just used to them. One could damage a hanger or derailleur anyhow, and internal gear systems would probably handle this stuff better.

str

Great guy he is!

Nice film! too long, many similar sequences/images. Missing local places and people.

And the derailleur, anything on any bike can break, anytime. Bad luck, but not a drama.

PedalingWalrus

I can't stand these movies. Sorry. I can't even watch past the opening titles after the monologue. Activities and more importantly hyping up of these activities is completely uninteresting to me. People on 'vacations' or without jobs and choose to do some ridiculous feat where they rush rush rush, hurry hurry hurry, do not sleep, suffer for the purpose of being somewhere the fastest is nothing I would ever aspire to and nothing that brings peace into my soul if I chose to watch it. I'm weird that way. I don't support any of the current activities on Mt.Everest either (these foolish industries are connected by a common thread of people wanting to go on ego trips), they climb, watch others die, leave thousands of pounds of trash behind on the climb ... I have no interest of supporting, admiring, promoting or participating in these industries... same with pretty much any wild video Red Bull puts out ... I could ramble on but I think if You have read this far your eyes are probably already watering :-)

RB1-luvr

if I could have my personality changed, I would be like Lachy. I don't want his physical prowess, just his personality. I watch everything with him in it.

str

and most of the time heroic talk about freedom outside and suffer suffer

djb

hi there PW, it's funny as this is pretty much how I feel about the extreme things folks do--like I said, I'm pretty much the opposite in my approach to life and especially with enjoying bike touring after all these years doing it. I tend to agree that with most of these type of videos, or interviews or whatever, there seems to be a big part of ego thing and outdoing others--but oddly enough, I also can look at it like "yes, these folks are nuts, and I don't get it" but if the ego thing isn't too much, I can appreciate the doggedness of some of these clearly type A folks.
What I found with this film was that I liked how it was filmed, and the ego thing wasn't to me a big thing like it is in others.
I guess I can just accept that some folks are different (nuts!?) and especially if the ego thing isn't overt, I can watch it with an amount of respect, even with a big percentage of disbelief (and not really getting the why thing).

anyway, so there you go, I'm glad you wrote what your wrote, too many of these sort of activities tend to scream out " look at me, look at me"
I seem to remember us talking about when finding out about the death of Iohan Gueorguiev, that one of the reasons I liked his videos from the start of them was that he was very humble, and never did the whole ego thing about his travels. Yes, I still couldn't imagine doing what he did, but I respected his understated and humble approach to his videos.

cheers

PedalingWalrus

I miss Iohan

djb

Ya, the poor fellow, with all those burdens he had hanging on his shoulders, that we the viewers never really had any inkling of.
Mental illness stuff sucks and is really crappy.

TiHabanero

In my late twenties I got into the 24 hour endurance thing as I was bored with crit racing, and wasn't good at it anyway. The challenge of pushing oneself to the limit of exhaustion is addictive and difficult to explain. After a few years doing this I realized it was stupid for me to keep doing it. In no way was I anywhere near the super human these Divide Ride guys are! They are super human and super nuts. Not sure ego has much to do with accepting the challenge, well at least outward ego. There is just something that urges one to do, as though it has to be done. It is very different from triathalons.
I enjoy watching these videos as I can no longer do these types of activities. I do wonder how many years of a quality life in old age it takes from those that participate.

PedalingWalrus

Yeah in general I have no problem if people do this but my issue is with evangelizing in via promotion of media like films and articles - it is obviously not healthy on so many levels so I am just tired of seeing it pushed


I feel same way about Everest

Atlas Shrugged

The movement towards documenting and promoting long-distance, self-supported events is genuinely unique. It creates awareness about places and challenges that most people are unfamiliar with. This movement has attracted a new generation of athletes and cycling enthusiasts, motivating them to push their limits and accomplish incredible feats. Similar to Ironman, which has inspired countless people, it's not only about winning but also about challenging oneself. I enjoy the lightweight minimalist approach to adventure riding and have explored many riding locations mainly because of those events and documentation. I may never do the full GDMBR but will do sections of it.

BikeLite

I say do away with the "fastest known time" for this ride since every year can be different mileage and the current "record" had a route that is no longer used.

garryg

Maybe it is just age but i queestion the saneness of all this ultra endurance racing.I think it crosses the line into mental illness.Why not just get together in one room with a trained torturer and see who lasts the longest.

mev

I see ultra-endurance racing as a different preference. Not mine but I am also not bothered with portrayals of others doing it.

In a strange way, similar to how I see some people doing long bike rides to raise money for charity. No problem with them doing this. I am amused when this leads some to automatically ask me as a cross-country cycle tourist "what are you raising money for?". The answer is "nothing, this is my vacation and I enjoy doing this". But that doesn't have me begrudge them any more than I would for someone whose preference is an ultra-endurance race effort.

I have done some supported rides that attracted some also ultra-racers. One was a supported "Gater Hell Week" series in Florida over Christmas/New Years. It was 820 miles in 8 days but a few of the riders were also using the ride as winter training for RAAM. One of those ended up being the fastest female rider a few years later and another started but missed a cutoff along the way. I also know some who raced initially but then moved to support crew.

The TDA ride across Africa had a milder version of this. Originally started as a race across Africa, it still had a stage race option when I rode in 2013. We had the option of using a timer to record start/stop times and the fastest for each stage/segment/overall were recognized. I picked the race option not because I expected to win anything but more because it was useful to keep things recorded. I finished as the slowest male rider in the overall race. The first TDA Silk Route Ride from Istanbul to Beijing in 2007 started with a race component. I joined them for the last 2500km in China and by then the participants had mutually agreed to suspend any notion of racing. A year or two after I cycled TDA Africa in 2013, the race portion of the ride also stopped and now it is all "expedition" instead.

At least as intense my year, and likely still was instead a notion of riding E-F-I (every f... inch). This can be different for a supported ride than a self-supported ride because there is less possibility of taking a rest day for weather, illness, bike troubles, etc. Also less possibility for making a shorter day for those reasons. It becomes a source of pride to have weathered through those things - at least amongst many of the type-A riders attracted to such a supported ride. What seemed to happen for many is eventually some circumstance caught up and someone couldn't ride everything (for me the first one was heat exhaustion in Sudan with temperatures well over 40C). After such an incident, people often reflected on why they were on the ride in the first place and took a more reasonable approach on deciding when to ride.

So having either an ultra-endurance component or even an intense ride with EFI can lead people to do foolish and even unsafe things - particularly among the more extreme competitors. The unsafe aspects needs caution but people pushing themselves to ultra unpleasantness can be their choice that I don't need to follow. When glorification of this effort leads to some assuming this is also what I must be doing - is more amusing than annoying to me.