JK is a stalker. After he gets some pie he might double his ground speed. Looked that way in '15.

Apples and oranges.  In '15, Kato was only 1hr to 1.5hrs back as of Del Norte, and had caught Neil and JayP by Cuba, only to fall back by a few hours, to then again, as you say, close the gap completely between Pie Town stop and Silver City.  This year, he's ~12hrs back as of Del Norte.  That's quite a bit more ground to make up at the pace/distance these riders are covering daily.  Also of note is that Brian Lucido's time check at Del Norte was 10d 14h which is only 3 hrs slower than Kato's '15 time check there, even with the extra miles in Canada this year.  It'll be interesting to see where they are at come Abiquiu and then Cuba.

Haven't taken one so far. If this was an average year for snow I would seriously think about taking the trail.

I guess too much snow on the trail for Ron.  Bummer.  At least you get to experience the 40mile road ride to JL this year.  Nice riding!

New routing through Flag?  Neat.  1/2mile less road!

Good to see Justin staying on the AZT so far, let's hope he doesn't need any of the Mormon Lake detour.

Yes, yes, that's fine form to be leading the race and set the standard by sticking with the trail.  Bravo Justin.

Shweet ... keep it going Justin, snow or no snow.  Stick it.
Looking ahead ... just because AZ Snowbowl is reportedly still open tomm, Sat, and Sun and is showing a 90" base doesn't mean anything.  Right? 

#AZT17 - Brett Stepanik called in from Pine!

http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/azt17/

Brett's last 3 calls have been great, enjoyable ... really starting to get that "750 Day 5+" flavor: another successful Ripsey-to-Kelvin pizza order for the AZT annals (not something I'd do, but fun to hear of others), life's lemons, and pickle spirits.  Thanks for the chuckles, Brett.

Looks like Justin Smith is closing in on Rhino!

And now enjoying a lovely evening climbing CrackerJack road North of Payson approaching midnight ... at 2mph!  It's a steep one!  Miles don't come easy btwn Payson and Pine.

Kaitlyn Boyle is on fire out there...appears to be leading the 750!

Seriously impressive opening prelude, and anyone into K-Camp before 5pm is fast in my eyes.  Very nice start, indeed.

I also like how hovering over dots shows different route miles for 300 vs 750 riders.  Sure, the color coding is there, but the accurate route mileage display relative to starting point (~14mile diff btwn border & PCL starts) is nice for geeks like me.

Last I heard it wasn't happening as an official event. I have the GPX but I'm not sure Trevor wants it out there so I'll keep it to myself until I know otherwise. I'm sure someone else will chime in on the subject.

Cut-and-paste from an email I received recently:

FYI:
I wanted to get this out there as soon as possible. The 2017 Comstock EPIC has been officially cancelled.
Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm for this race.
Regards,
Trevor Oxborrow

I'm sure the route itself is free to ride/explore/bikepack at anytime, by anyone.  How to get your hands on the GPX, I don't know.  You could just make your own, though.

Large contingent out there this year.  Lookin' good everyone, especially the 750 riders.  Well, at least your dot looks good.  The Full Meal Deal is always special (to me).

Thought I'd start the race commentary thread, seeing as how the riders started ~8hrs ago, and no thread started yet.  Drop your comments here, post links to FB, IG, etc., that you know of for the rest of us too lazy (read: old skool) to search social media for ourselves.

The usual tracker link: http://trackleaders.com/aztr17

It's ok everyone I'm starting an ITT tomorrow with this thing. You guys will be clear to go by Friday.

It won't be legit unless you wear the outfit - boots, gold helmet, and all.  Good luck out there!

Just got an XR4 up front  What psi combo did you have on the AZT?

I'm a 'set it and forget it' kind of guy ... 30psi both front and rear.  I might've aired-up prior to hitting Apache Trail - that's a long hard-surface stretch there if you are doing the 750.  You do you, though, after some trial and error (it's your saddle, bike, butt, yiddy-yadda).  Ditto Neil's comment re: breaking them in pre-start.  Easily 200+ miles on them pre-start for me, each year.

Tire recommendations also welcome - survivability tantamount.

Bontrager XR3 and XR4, set up tubeless, have rolled this track for me 3 yrs in a row, with (2) 750 finishes and a 300 finish.  Zero flats or sidewall tears.  Last year - full on goat heads in both tires at Babbitt Ranch, hundreds of them, and the tires/sealant held the rest of the way to Stateline.  A tire that I ride here in Central OR on the buff trails we have, and has been flawless for me down in AZ.

There is a tough race in Czech Republic and Slovakia with a lot of single track: http://www.1000miles.cz/

While tough and singletrack-ish, not technical.  Also is not free (7,000 Czech Crowns / 270 Euro), and is more adventure race or non-stop-Euro-brevet ethos than of bikepack race ethos.  Has 2 or 3 checkpoints where rider can send package ahead through race org.  Registration was Jan1, limited to 150 spots which are full with already ~100 wait list.

...It's not hard stuff, just zig-zags a bit ...

Nominating this for 'bikepacking understatement of the year' award.  Think intestines or tapeworm, and that's the amount of zigzagging and doubling back involved.  It's probably (most likely) not bad trail riding, and just seemed never-ending to me 'cuz a.) it was dark, b.) I was tired, c.) I was very hungry, d.) trails go every which way making me stop at each jct to check the track, e.) fully loaded hard tail with many repeat dips into and out of the same arroyo, f.) I was very hungry, g.) I was tired, and h.) It was dark.  I'd do it again.  Just don't underestimate, that's all. 

Hammer Time: been discussed at length before, and so many options and shuttle companies these days that it's just better that you read through last year's planning thread.  There's so much in here: http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/ultra-racing/arizona-trail-race-aztr-planning-thread/

With all the ITT encouragement, Scott, are you going to then up your Trackleaders game?  You know, for real-time ITT vs Gr Start comparos.  And I don't mean just diff colored dots on the map.

I'm undecided on lining up for my 4th 750 start in-a-row, but if I do, Thursday ITT start sounds like a good idea.

It's not a "need" to ride AZT300 with GPS, per se, it's just highly recommended.  Questions to answer: how good are you with maps?  how many maps would you need to take to cover 300 miles, and where do you keep them on the bike?  do the maps have all the bike detours (i.e. the bike route) clearly shown?  how's your map nav skills in the dark at biking/HAB speed? how's your map nav skills in the dark regardless of speed of travel? how fast do you want to ride the route?

Personally, I love maps, I love hiking with maps only.  When I got into bikepacking and BP ultra racing, I went with the maps for the Tour Divide (the ACA maps are good and it's all roads), but GPS for CTR and AZTR.  Now, having thru-ridden the AZT750 twice and the AZT300 once, and not knowing of a good mapset that covers the route, and being familiar with what's out there in the desert SW, and moving for several hours through the night darkness, and wanting to cover the route quickly, riding with GPS is highly recommended.

For devices, Garmin's eTrex30 is a good one that many riders use, myself included.  Download the route and background map tiles.  Garmin Basecamp is the basic free software for this device, and Garmin has a map installer software as well.  Besides a Garmin, smart phones with GAIA apps and what-not seem to be just as good if not better.  I saw some slick handlebar-mounted phone set-ups with ridiculously cool maps and fidelity last year.  Phone screens are bigger, too, just that phones are riskier to use should a rider crash or stack the bike.

Any insight and advice from you guys/gals would be tremendously appreciated.

My 2-cents:
For starters, assume 10mph will be your moving avg, for TD.  Go with that, and then focus first and foremost on improving moving time versus stopped time in your training and prep.  Plesko's 11mph is insanely good, a result of focused effort, and is supported by tons of prep, training, experience, gear selection, route knowledge, and more.  For comparison, Trackleaders has his overall route average at 7.3mph.

You will be playing daily catch-up during the TD with your goals if you don't trim the fat from your stopped time, and while there are segments of the course where one can do the 13mph to 15mph thing for 10hrs straight, they are few and far between.  Things like packing up quickly after sleeping, ability to resupply quickly at mini-marts, eating while moving, combining tasks into one stop instead of several mini-stops, etc, etc, are way more time-effective than riding fast.  I'm not saying don't ride fast, or don't train to ride fast.  What I am saying is you will get the same place riding 10mph for 2+ more hours during the day, versus trying to ride 13mph the whole day.  Focusing on moving-time-average works for stage racing, but this is continuous-clock racing where I think the "moving while everyone else is stopped" or "moving when you would normally/comfortably be stopped" is way more effective than "being the fastest mover during the day".  That's for 25 down to 20-day finish range.  Sub-20 starts getting into doing both "moving fast and with purpose", and "minimizing stopped time" in a consistent daily way.

I will also add that knowing resupply points and hours of operation is also big.  Regardless of moving time/speed, one can easily tank 12+hrs by pulling into a small hamlet at 8:15p tired, hungry, wet, dirty, etc, when the place shut down at 8 and there's nothing for another 100+ miles up and over 2 more mtn passes.  Or roll in after hours on a Monday night and come to find out on the spot that the only mini-mart/grill/lodge store/shack in town is closed on Tuesdays.

So he must have run the 2010 route (which was in his 2011 book)...as I recall, the actual 2011 route was radically different, maybe as far as Pinedale.

Ah, negatory on the 2010 route association, which I raced and finished.  Just like the route does today, we went on the West side of Spray Lakes, went out to Brooks Lake after cresting Togwotee pass, went through South Pass City and Atlantic City before the basin, as well as went past Brush Mountain Lodge and then up-and-over to Clark, CO; all sections that this rider missed.  Other "older/previous" small segments of the route he did ride, as well as other "new/current" segments (such as Wamsutter).  Then, he did his own judgment thing by Lake Roberts into Silver City, which is not part of any route past or present.   No clue how TS/GM navigated.

A rider posted on the FB forum for this year's event that they'd lost a map on the rail trail South of Island Park.