Matt, Those 3.0 tires must have served you well in the Bodie Hills.  Plus size tires are pretty much a requirement for this course.  I spent 3 hours to walk 5 miles on the first day on the way to Bridgeport.  My 2.2 Maxxis Ardents were not cutting it.  

I'm pleased with 3.0+ tires for sure. I did 4.0's on last year's attempt but it was overkill too much of the time.
I went down to 6 psi in front and 8 psi in back in the Mono Lake/Bodie section you mentioned and floated right over the stuff. I was interesting seeing all the squiggles of bike tracks except for the + people who aired down. I come from a rock-crawling/jeeping background so tire pressure is always something I'm trying to dial in. I used 10 and 13 respectively for most of the trip. I had one stick go through rear tread on descent of redding canyon into Bishop on sunday night. I plugged it and stan's did the rest. But, it always helps to be lucky too  

Thx Art. You were my inspiration ever since last year.
Adrian did "kill" it. That dude is amazing and also fun to hang out with. He drove up from Bishop to see my finish and we all went out to lunch after.
 
Plus tires are no longer an oddity, but a necessity. Can't say enough about my schwalbe nobby nic and rocket ron snakeskin 3.0's. I beat the living hell out of them.
Since last year, I've been stewing over not completing the 500 (bailing out to 250), but it wasn't in the cards physically or mentally. Over the last 12 months, I did my due diligence on both aspects and with a couple other races and long bp trips under my belt since. It made all the difference. Also, as we know, luck is a huge factor.
Send me a PM, if you are ever up in Truckee, I'll show you around our fat bike winter action.

Here's some photos and captions from the trip, order is a funky

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0Z59UlCq9zll5

I did last year's 500 which was my first race. It turned into a 250 for me based on how long it was taking me. Feel more fit after another year and a couple more races under my belt.
Trying to make the leap from fast touring to racing now.

This year's rig: BuckSaw with 27.5+ rims and 3.0 schlawbe tires

See you at starting line, bring your gas mask.

Great to see you in the mix Sean. I'm doing the full pull, way over my head, but  gonna crawl to CA/NV border if needed.

That was my thinking too, I can't take that much time off to do CSTR.

https://www.facebook.com/ridethetahoerim

Wrote up a primer for anyone interested in circumnavigating Lake Tahoe

Here's chronological pictures

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B045n8hH4nn75q

It's amazing to loop around this nature wonder.

https://www.strava.com/activities/121517285

We did this last March with SAG, 2 fat bikes and hardtail. Fat bikes were worth it probably 20% of the trip, due to dunes section before dry lake. We went west to east to catch prevailing wind. Unsupported you will definitely need some water drops at north/south paved hwy crossings. If it was raced, could be done in under 24 hrs I believe