Find out where long distance/endurance riders stopped to sleep, from spot trackers?

Question

I'd like to participate in Tour divide.
One of the hard part is planning where to sleep.
Especially hard when you have to research those from abroad. (I'm from south korea)
I realized they carry a tracker (spot tracker) for safety purpose and it's broadcasted and you can see them online (http://trackleaders.com/)
Wonder if I could find out where they slept (it could be out in wild, or it could be a proper lodging) from the spot track info?
I'm aiming for the record (you dream big!) and wonder if there's a way to find out where those top performers slept. :(

Andy P · Accepted Answer

It will take a lot of work, but you can get the data you need from trackleaders.com
First you bring up the live tracker for the year you are interested in for example for Mike Hall's record run http://trackleaders.com/tourdivide16
Next you navigate to the 'Race Flow' tab.  This shows a time vs distance chart for the top racers that year.  You can look for lengthy flat spots - that is where they slept.  We can see in this example, Mike rode at a slower pace initially than some of the leaders, but rode for 41 hours before sleeping for approximately 3 hours.
When you have the time and distance from this chart (zoom in to get more accurate) you can then move to the 'Main Map' tab, wind the replay back to the period you are interested in, and zoom the map to find the exact spot they stopped.

Chris H · Answer

If you look at the riders who do well in these events, of course they don't sleep much, but beyond that (and not wasting time*) they don't have so much in common though I can think of a few examples where the winner skipped a night early on and kept that lead. Some sleep sooner but shorter. Crucially they only sleep when they really have to, and know enough about what they're capable of to understand how much sleep to get, so:

Planning for a good spot isn't relevant (except basic safety) as you'll want to be too exhausted to care.
Trying to go as far as last year's winner before the first sleep takes no account of different riders or differing conditions (riding conditions e.g. headwind, and sleep conditions  e.g. shelter/not freezing).
Trying to go as long (time) might be better but you won't find that on a map and it still doesn't help with rider differences.
You don't want to nod off on a bike and wake up by crashing hard (though drifting off the road and waking up propped in a hedge seems fairly common).

Of course your sleep kit is inter-related with your sleep strategy - is it almost instant to use? good enough for every night but heavy? only fit for emergencies and catnaps?
Successful riders' own words probably help more than the data. A few examples I've come across that discuss the sleep aspect in some detail

Where there's a will by Emily Chappell (TCR '16 first woman).  Award-winning and recently released in paperback.
I've heard Ian Walker (North Cape 4000 '18 winner) talk about it, probably in this lecture
I heard an interview with Fiona Kolbinger (TCR '19 winner) but can't recall where.

*One I've heard in various versions - if you're not riding, sleeping, or eating you're wasting time.

Find out where long distance/endurance riders stopped to sleep, from spot trackers?

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