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Freedom Challenge 2022


dave303e

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So who all is glued to the dots?

It has been a good start for Alex Harris and Mike Woolnough, but having just seen a vid of the conditions at the top of lehana's it is going to be a rough up there today

 

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11 minutes ago, dave303e said:

So who all is glued to the dots?

It has been a good start for Alex Harris and Mike Woolnough, but having just seen a vid of the conditions at the top of lehana's it is going to be a rough up there today

 

Wow I just checked the participants and it looks like my grade 7 maths teacher is doing it! Go Gerald! 

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2 hours ago, dave303e said:

So who all is glued to the dots?

It has been a good start for Alex Harris and Mike Woolnough, but having just seen a vid of the conditions at the top of lehana's it is going to be a rough up there today

 

i'm following it.

 

few little stories within the stories.

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3 hours ago, dave303e said:

So who all is glued to the dots?

It has been a good start for Alex Harris and Mike Woolnough, but having just seen a vid of the conditions at the top of lehana's it is going to be a rough up there today

 

Are you talking about the "crawling in the mud at minus degrees and drag a bike along" event?
Man are these guys and girls tough, I'm hooked watching them

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43 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

I watch every year wishing I could put my number back on the trail!

45k is just too dear for my life situation. It saddens me. 

BMX RASA....... I'd bang

ha ha...now that would be a story.

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I'm also dot watching, battling deep and unrelenting FOMO. I would love to do this some day, it seems like a blast. Such a long, slow burn (considering that the racing snakes average 9kph) must make you go so deep into your own soul you're either a shaman or a mental patient by the end.

How are the winners determined though? Since you can start on multiple days, do they just use your total elapsed time between the start and end? 

Some day, when my ship comes in, I'll line up for this. 

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1 hour ago, TyronLab said:

I'm also dot watching, battling deep and unrelenting FOMO. I would love to do this some day, it seems like a blast. Such a long, slow burn (considering that the racing snakes average 9kph) must make you go so deep into your own soul you're either a shaman or a mental patient by the end.

How are the winners determined though? Since you can start on multiple days, do they just use your total elapsed time between the start and end? 

Some day, when my ship comes in, I'll line up for this. 

Yes it is the total time to complete the entire route. When you enter you tell them what your estimated time will be. The slower riders normally start first and the racing guys and girls last. The cut off is 26 days.

 

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Would love to do the RASA one day when my lotto numbers hit jackpot.  Dot-watching Alex and Mike - wow!  Those conditions make for great stories!  

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36 minutes ago, dave303e said:

looks like Harris might be taking the alternate route up the escarpment

How much leniency or allowed variability is there in the route? Is it like Munga where you have to be exactly on course all the time, or is there more flexibility?

Trying to just manage a frame bag and cycling GPS in the mud and rain was a mission for me, I can't imagine having to manage a paper printed map. The amount of times you stop and go "where the **** am I? This makes no sense" must be crazy.

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*Off Topic* but anyone currently also Dot Watching the Tour Divide some atrocious weather conditions this year. I've also been following their Facebook Group as some riders seem to post all their updates & stories there from Mechanicals where they got a ride into town stayed over night to get to the bike shop the next day, repairs, replacements, warranties, then get driven back to where they last stopped pedaling so they can resume to why they had to withdraw, Sear And Rescue (SAR) working around the clock, etc.

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19 minutes ago, TyronLab said:

How much leniency or allowed variability is there in the route? Is it like Munga where you have to be exactly on course all the time, or is there more flexibility?

Trying to just manage a frame bag and cycling GPS in the mud and rain was a mission for me, I can't imagine having to manage a paper printed map. The amount of times you stop and go "where the **** am I? This makes no sense" must be crazy.

Practice.

Make sure your compass is always close at hand, the narratives help massively here (we don't have them in an AR) and always make sure you know where you are on the map. 

Don't say 'ag, it's 40km on a straight road' and forget to change maps, stay oriented and aware of where you are.

The route has some 'cheat point' like portages down to the mission instead of riding the road and when I did it last we were allowed to still hike/climb/crawl up the cliff side to the vuvu escarpment. Not sure that is still allowed. 

But maps, compass, navigation. It's all practice and making sure you don't switch off.

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