Wow...this is amazing! I can't believe how close it is! Love the spot to spot comparison.

Really enjoying everyone's race reports and photos. For those that had to pull out due to injury, I hope you heal up soon!

Congrats to Matt, Brad, and Todd! It will be interesting to watch Matt & Brad continue on. I hope they can do it!

Looks like we have Lee, Tim, Invisible Mark, and Ian still out there. Keep going guys! Lee is getting closer to that 300 finish line!

[5 mph]

This has been humbling just to observe. A blistering record-setting pace of 5 mph? The mid-pack is more like 3mph. Could it be hiked faster?

5 mph pace is an average of 12 minute/miles. To put it in perspective, Pam Reed (champion ultrarunner) did a 300 mile road run and it took her 80 hours with no sleep. That's an average of 16 min/mi, and it was on road vs. a really hard trail. She also had a crew of 50 to help with feeding, hydration, and pacing. If a runner were to follow the same rules as the bikers (no support, carry all gear, etc) it would definitely slow the pace and the technical difficulty of the trail in certain areas would definitely take it's toll.

Phenomenal job out there Jefe! Congrats!!

Still cheering for the riders still out there and moving forward. Keep it up!

That is amazing! Go Jefe Go!

Bummer about the lights and injuries. You all did some great riding out there though!

Looks like there's a big group at Colossal cave and another group just ahead heading towards Old Spanish Trail.

Here's Todd on the climb around noon, heading towards the Molino saddle.

I rode over to the Bellota section of the AZT and ran into Todd around noon, who was the guy out front. He was just starting the climb up to the Molino saddle. I mentioned his SPOT wasn't showing where he was, but it appears that he got it turned back on as it now shows him on the climb up the road. He said he was tired (understandably) but looked good and was still pressing on. Sun was out and the weather was nice, so hopefully the warmer weather helps the riders out there.

Everyone is doing great!

Saw these riders roll through at about 8:06 AM. You'll have to help me with names as I don't know everyone yet. But they were sticking together and looking good. This was on Cape Horn Dr. in Tucson, just after the turn off of Wentworth. They asked if I had seen anyone else, but I hadn't because I was only at this spot 15 min before they came through. They said the other guy was an hour ahead of them.

I left a sign on a pole for the other riders rolling through later on.

Just wanted to wish all AZT racers good luck out there! I'll be following the SPOTs online and any race commentary threads here on the board. Looking forward to hearing how it goes for everyone. Stay safe and have a wonderful ride!!!

Good luck everyone! I'll be following along online and virtually cheering for each of you. Safe travels, and have an awesome race!

How did you plan out your first bikepacking trip? Did you stay close to home or jump in head first with a crazy trip? Did you just go for 1 night to test everything out and see how it did, or multiple nights? Did you wish you had planned differently for your first trip?

Marshal is well into the gasline section of Antelope Peak.  That should mean that he'll have no problem finishing tomorrow before sunset, taking a nice 10+ hours off his time last year. 

That's huge! Congrats Marshal!

Major congrats to Kurt, Stefan, Jefe and Chris! Awesome job out there!

And we're still pullin' for our guys still out there. Keep pedalin' hard!

Who knew it would be such a nail-biter between racers to the end?!?! How awesome is that!

Amazing! Sounds like this year suits the cold-weather folks well. Previous experince with those conditions is a big help.

Everyone is doing awesome out there!

I'm 3 miles from Mile 0 of Catalina Hwy on Lemmon and the weather is pretty bad on this side of town. It just started hailing, and I can't see the mountain in front of me. Hopefully all our riders out there are ok and stay safe as they make it up Bellota to the road. Wish this weather would clear up for them, but it seems to be going through in waves.

Great job out there Scott!

Wonder who will be stopping for the night this first night and who will be continuing on. With the weather report for tomorrow looking crappy, I wonder if some will try to make it as far as possible with the window of good weather.