What happened to Liz! So close to pulling off the win!

RE: Dana - he's back on the trail, so unless he decided to lose a thousand feet just for fun, it was just a tracking error. 

Went up to see Jefe finish last night.  Very lucid, in excellent spirits, finishing up his 8th CTR!  Rachael had brought him a pizza and tacos... that didn't last long. 

Wonder if Dana's tracker is weird or if he's actually bailing down Maggie Gulch so close to Stony Pass?  Maybe whatever wheel repair he had done in Lake City didn't last... hoping it's just a tracking error!

Definitely NOT the first SS winner... see Kevin Thomas 2011.  I'm also pretty sure Jefe has won more than once SS, but could be mistaken.

What a great race so far!  Impressed by this Timon guy, I love seeing new folks come in and crush it!

I am really, truly, not being snarky here:  Is the above post for reals?  I cannot determine whether you're joking or serious.  I never would have imagined this as a thing, especially for backcountry use...

In response to the original security question:  On the CTR, I've never worried about security of my bike.  When bivying you tend to be in the middle of nowhere.  The only place that could be a real potential bummer is the Buena Vista City Market - that said, leaving my bike outside hasn't been an issue.  When touring, I've used a tiny Kryptonite cable combo lock - only a light 5mm cable, but your bike can't "walk away".

SNOW:  Up until yesterday, when the high country here got a good bit of snow, the San Juans were looking incredibly dry.  The La Platas, our local sub-range just outside of Durango, looked as they should in late June!  Cinnamon Pass and Ophir Pass - two 4x4 passes near Silverton - had both opened, and from the photos I saw, they didn't look plowed, just melted out.  I cannot think of another time these were open in April.  We did get a bit of snow last night even here in town - and a fair chunk up in the mountains, although it will melt out quickly.

FIRE:  Definitely worried.  Smoky already, the last several days, due to the Tinder fire in Arizona.  Too early for smoky skies!

MONSOON:  Long term forecast is showing dry, dry, dry up until mid-July/August.  So... yeah, monster monsoon is possible.

BUGS:  I don't worry about them.  Then again, I don't use a tarp system.  There are some mosquitoes, even up high.  You probably won't be camping above treeline...

Thanks, Aaron!  That's a first for me.  I wonder if it was in good health.

Nice work on the SoBo 750!

...when the bobcat passed in 10m front of me.

Thanks for the cat story!  Are you certain it was a bobcat, not a mountain lion?  Attacks on humans by North American wild cats are vanishingly rare regardless of species, but it's certainly not unheard of with lions.  My friend Jeff Hemperly got stalked by a lion during the 300 several years back.  Bobcats are so small and shy that they are rarely seen.  If a bobcat did attack the hiker, there was almost certainly something wrong with it - distemper, rabies, etc.  Bobcat = small, with tufted ears and a bobbed tail.  Lion = larger in size, major telltale is the long tail.

Also, any of you other 750'ers run into the hiker duo where the smaller of the two actually got snagged by a mountain lion?

!!?!!??

I am very curious to know more about this.

--

Kinda dropped off of here after the 300 wrapped up.  Congrats to all finishers, especially my friends Adam Alphabet and Aaron D!  Way to knock it out!

Congrats, Kurt!

Dana, your Friday night doesn't sound particularly pleasant...  

I've had some sleep-dep hallucinations myself, and heard plenty of stories, but your cactus-as-clothing racks and '50s-era shoppers one is in the same league as Jakomait's dinosaurs rampaging across the landscape.  Or Chris Neumann's goblins living in non-existent abandoned cars along the upper stretch of Junction Creek.

Glad you were able to finish it out though!

Nice work, Dana and Dion!  Did you guys actually battle it out for 3rd as it looks like on the tracker, or did you finish together?

Can't wait to hear the stories from everyone.

Keep it up, everyone still out there!

Kaitlyn, awe-inspiring work out there!  Super stoked for you!

The two D's are slogging through the Gila canyon in the heat of the day.  Been there, done that.  Don't envy them right now!

Congrats Neil!

Gonna go on my own bike ride now.  Can't wait to come back and see how Kaitlyn finished it out!

Looks like Dana had to sleep some after all... and Dion's tracker hasn't updated for a while, so not certain where he is.  Maybe his earlier rest made him ready to roll last night!  Hoping for both of them it's not too hot in the Gila river canyon today... they're lined up to be there in the heat of the afternoon.

The frontrunners are really moving.  They're all impressive, but I'm accustomed to being impressed by Neil and Kurt's pace - this year, I'm amazed at Kaitlyn's run.  She's setting a high bar for most impressive performance of 2018, so far.  About five hours out, she's going to positively smash the women's record if everything sticks together.

Denberg - guy carries nothing! I wouldn't be surprised to see him with a half frame bag, a tank bag, and nothing else.  Maybe he moves so fast just to stay warm. 

Yes, internet sentiments are often impossible to figure correctly.  By no means was I making fun of your current predicament, just playing the old-fashioned curmudgeon I occasionally actually am!

We've all been in that situation where we have to decide whether to go on or call it.  Just remember that part of bikepack racing is wanting to quit, and not.  Then again, there is definitely a point where the wise choice is to come back stronger/healthier next time.  To me it's the difference between mental and physical limitations.  Your call, of course... here's hoping you feel good in the morning.

RE: Bedrock - yep, half-owner, full-time worker.  Stoked you're liking your Tapeats!

Hey, nothing personal intended.  Sarcasm - it's in my nature.    At least you're on route this year, and I'm wishing I were again, instead of sitting in my house.

Hey now - what are you doing on here when you're supposed to be out there?

Ha ha!    It's the new generation of bikepackers - enabled by ever-increasing cell coverage and full-time tethered.  Hell, it's the new generation of outdoors people, period.  I can hardly go for a town trail ride any longer without hearing someone playing music on their phone (which, as a musician, drives me nuts on the sound quality alone, despite the other myriad reasons phones should reside, powered off, in frame bags, or at home).

But, I jest.  Sort of.  Maybe.

Yogi, I'm too honest to work on Wall Street.    But I still like the "what-if" scenarios... I do that for myself during my own races, so it's second nature to do it for others while watching.

Haven't been able to watch all day... checked it out just now and man, what a race!  Kaitlyn is just motoring, along with so many others!  Glad to see Dana's tire is apparently holding air again - either that or he has a really quick method to fill it back up every ten minutes.

Might have to wake up in the middle of the night just to see what's going on.  Wait til morning and some races could be over!

I've never understood how Aaron D can do what he does on so little.  Then again, he has a tendency to make it or break it... sometimes he goes fast, sometimes he goes out with a bang.  

Looks like RR figured it out and turned around.

Kaitlyn is duking it out, meanwhile, with one of the fastest guys I know.  So awesome!  Nice work Kait!