Great Divide: Tour Divide's 2015 reroute around the Great Basin

[Krampus Snail]

Does anyone have any info about Tour Divide's reroute to avoid the construction at (I think) the southern end of the Great Basin? I have no burning desire to ride that section, and everyone says Rawlins is a pit, but I also don't want long sections of technical singletrack because I'm not too good at it.

[mathieu]

The reroute is because of construction south of Rawlins. There is almost no singletrack on the reroute, except a new 7 miles section in the Great Divide Basin (miles 40-47 from Atlantic City). Judging from the elevation profile the singletrack doesn't look technical : all gradients below 6%. See http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7983582
There are also small changes near Union Pass. The total TD'15 route is on  http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7993305

[Krampus Snail]

What's the water availability on the new route, compared to the old route? My concern about the old route is the long section with no water.

[mathieu]

Obviously I haven't run that reroute, probably only Matthew Lee has and knows the answers....

I guess that water availability is worse. Diagnus Well at 26 miles from Atlantic City is still on the route. On the old route you had Arapahoe Creek at 62 miles that had some water in June and the A&M Reservoir, slightly off-route, at 83 miles. Along the new route in satellite view I spot an off-route reservoir at 69 miles from Atlantic City, but it looks like private property. Wamsutter at 96 miles has several groceries and restaurants, but I didn't spot any lodging (Rawlins has many). After Wamsutter, near the cross with Hwy-789 there is a Muddy River, but no gas station - not very promising either. On the old route south of Rawlins, on entering Aspen Alley you crossed several lively creeks.

[Krampus Snail]

The first Tour Divide racers have already ridden it. Billy Rice called into MTBcast, reviewing the route favorably, but he didn't answer exactly the questions you are addressing, Mathieu: water availability, lodging, restaurants, groceries.

BTW, do you happen to know how I can get RidewithGPS to translate your cues into English? I copied your map into my Routes, but the cues are still in Dutch.

[mathieu]

My guess is that you have to register at Ride-with-GPS. It is free of charge. Then create your personal settings, with English as preferred language, metric or imperial, etc. If you then search for the TD2015 route (or search mathieu) you will probably get the cues in English. If not, mail the site support desk for help. I found them very responsive. You start paying when you want to download the GPS files.

[Krampus Snail]

I have registered with RideWithGPS, and I copied your route over to my routes. That didn't change the language. I tried reversing the route, planning to reverse it again, but the system hung. I emailed support. We'll see what they say.

[mathieu]

The full TD2015 route is very long. Maybe that overloads the system. Try your trick with the GD Basin Reroute to see if it works.

For the record: zooming in in satellite view on Wamsutter, I saw a Sagebrush Motel on McCormick Rd. So full marks for lodging too! And I saw a Subway. However, be aware that Wamsutter is experiencing a gas boom. Wikipedia says the town is struggling with this rapid growth, particularly due to the lack of available housing . So bring your tent , just in case.

[Krampus Snail]

Support got back to me. Turned out I had to edit the route, and move a few control points a tiny bit each. That turned the cues to English.

[Krampus Snail]

But to return to the topic at hand, looks like there is still a long, long section without water, from the beginning of the alternate to Wamsutter. 

[Venchka]

But to return to the topic at hand, looks like there is still a long, long section without water, from the beginning of the alternate to Wamsutter.

70 miles from Diagnus Well to Wamsutter doesn't seem insurmountable to me. Is there something that I am missing? I hope to ride that section next year. I'm gathering all of the information that I can. 2 gallons of water for an overnight trip from the well to Wamsutter. Is that correct? What was the distance before from the well to A&M reservoir?
Missing Aspen Alley is the really bad news.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[Venchka]

The new route adds 13 miles between reliable water sources.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[Krampus Snail]

The 70 miles could be insurmountable, or at least difficult, for me if they included some technical portions that I'd have to walk. But so far I don't think they do. Avoiding the construction sounds like a good idea, because one might have to wait a long time at the construction if one arrived at the wrong time.

[mathieu]

If you listen to  http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/calls/ ,  Billy Rice's is rapturing about a new section of double track that he calls the Basin Rim trail and describes as super-rocky, super-slow. I guess it refers to the miles 40-47 from Atlantic City and his description implies that it is technical.
If you look carefully to the local map (see http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7983582 ) there is a bypass of this rim trail over the Bison-Basin Rd  (TD racers will be relegated for taking this bypass).

I would prefer the reroute over the old route with a long wait at the construction site south of Rawlins. Aspen Alley is a rather overrated 0.5 mile. It is more a traditional photo opportunity.

[Krampus Snail]

If you alter the reroute on miles 40-47 as mathieu suggests, bypassing by continuing on Riverside and then going to Bison-Basin Road, it's almost the same distance and almost the same climbing.  This reroute looks like a good choice for all riders, with the option of the Basin Rim Trail for the racers and others looking for technical terrain, and Bison-Basin Road for everybody else.

I hope to have an on-the-ground report on the reroute before I have to make the choice.