So good to see a pro bring the well established endurance riding techniques of the classic tours to the Tour Divide.
Perhaps the biggest upset is sleep. Morton slept way more than anyone else who has ever won, a ridiculous amount, and went much, much faster when awake. He averaged a full five-hours of sleep a night. OMG! The heresy! Mike Hall talked about only 90 minutes every once in a while. Lael talks about suffering through with four hours a night.
Morton sported a fancy Tailfin rack that must have made his logistics way easier to handle. His handlebar cockpit is absolutely minimal. The entire bike is way more aerodynamic this way because all that bulk in the front isn’t acting like a huge parachute. When he’s tucked into his aeroposition, from those amazing time-trial aero bars, he cuts the air so that by the time the air flows over his body and gets to the pack behind him he’s more like a boat traveling through the water. Absolutely brilliant, and franly, obvious way to go. Morton had no fucks to give about everyone else who has ever done TD and what they might think about not having a proper handlebar bag.
They are lighter, give more torque on the climbs, and way more hand positions—especially if you don’t overload them with crap.
The bumps kill. This pro is willing to take on the weight of a front-fork suspension because he knows he needs every comfort to get through.
Both Mike Hall and Morton won on full-blown XC mountain bikes, not Cutties, not gravel bikes, not anything with even a drop bar. I predict this will seriously affect Salsa’s approach to the Cutty itself even offering one with front suspension and flat bars, but then again, if they did that, you might as well just get a Timberjack instead (as I plan to do). I don’t care about bike weight enough to buy a carbon XC mountain bike, which seems absolutely stupid to me. Carbon is a very fragile material. Maybe people like Morton who don’t pay for their bike are okay with that but I’m not (and neither are most other people). Aluminum (or Titanium) with a front suspension fork is just fine and will last much longer. The really great thing about the Timberjack is that I can change the alternator drop out to handle the serious single-track of NC when I’m not pushing long endurance rides. No other bike offers that flexibility. Just add the other dropout and a different wheelset (one without a Dynamo) and I’m good.