A GDR race named Simon.Picture sniped from the GDR update site. Click pic to go to the site.
I've spent a bit of time watching progress for the GDR race. I don't really know David Blaine that well, but it's still more exciting to keep track of the race when you have even a wee bit of a connection to one of the racers.
So, going into Day 3, one racer has already dropped out at 26 hours into the race. His rack broke and zip ties would not fix it.
Check out the links I added up there on the right. I think they are the most interesting.
Here's a run down what they offer:
GDR Update
For daily updates go to GDR Updates. A couple days ago they posted a quick bio/pic of each GDR rider. This is good stuff.
Click on the pics for high resolution pictures where you can see a good close up the bike/gear the riders are hauling. I spent about an hour pouring over those pictures yesterday.
Gear and bike choices for this kind of event are all about trade-offs. I think David's approach of optimizing for simplicity is the way to go. It seems you should minimize the uncontrolled variables. I look at some of these double-suspended mountain bikes with index shifting and carbon bits and I'm skeptical. More complexity means more tools/parts, which means more weight, bulk, and general packing fussiness, which I would think are the biggest enemies of such a race.
Man, that's some serious arm-chair quarterbacking.... apologies. As someone once said: these guys have chunks of guys like me in their stool.
GDR Leader Board
Anyway, For a run down of who is where in the race, check out the spreadsheet at GDR Leader Board. Right now, Mr. Blaine is in 3rd place -- but really, it looks like there are 5 guys at the front within a half hour of each other.
David's SPOT Finder
SPOT shows near-real-time-updates of where Mr Blaine is at. You can also look through the time stamps to get a feel for his speed and rest. He did well last night. Looks like he slept for around 7 hours or so. That's good sleeping. I wonder how his rest patterns will evolve over the course of the race.
3 comments:
I worked with David at the Davenport hotel. Outstanding chef, very compatetive, really into local sustainability and an all around good guy. There, you know him well now.
Lots of frame packs.
Keith Flury looks to be packing a beer.
While I'm a few years younger than my cousin David and we grew up in different towns (he in Spokane and I in Boise) his kindness and interest in me and my family has always been at the same intensity that he devotes to his cycling, cooking, wife and daughter . . . passionate may be an understatement.
We are all pulling for David to not only finish this increadible race, but maybe show a few people along the way what can happen when you dedicate yourself to accomplish any given goal!
Giv'em Hell Dave!
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