I'm planning on a second attempt at the 300 this year. My first attempt and finish was in 2014 - finishing at the back of the pack in 4+ days. It was an eye opening first bike packing race - originally intended to be training for the CTR. Yeah, thats not what the AZT is....it is a completely different animal imo. Below are my takes away from 2014 as lessons learned that may help first timers. I'm sure much of this has been mentioned in the numerous prep threads so apologies if a repeat.
1. Wear long socks - everything in AZ has spikes that will scratch the hell out of your legs. Effing Everything!
2. Wear arm sleeves - both for sun protection and see point #1. Caking sunscreen on your arms also gets old.
3. Test the hell out of your shoes. My giro terraduro shoes had seen decent HAB on quite a bit of the CTR segments before the race. That didn't mean anything on the AZT - my sole completely separated from the upper and required duck tape by about mile 200. Different people have had better results with the terraduro but my current plan is hiking quite a few miles (not HAB but just plain hiking) in my current shoe (pearl Izumi X-alp elevate) to validate the sole will hold up.
4. Tires matter - don't skimp to save weight and put fresh rubber on right before the race. Make sure you have the thicker version and read the threads for tires that hold up. I know at least one rider that had to swap tires in Tuscan because of wear. My new tires were bleeding out Stan's everywhere by the finish - I was super happy that I had decided to replace the existing tires right before the race even though they were maybe 1/4 used.
5. Never ever drink out of a hose - remove the hose and fill from a faucet. At one of the stops I couldn't find the faucet listed in the mileage cues but found another nearby faucet with a hose attached. I filled my hydration bladder quickly and then started riding. Tasted horrible and even though I backtracked and found the empty faucet to flush it with, I could not get rid of the taste. By the next day the hydration bladder had black mold in it - for the win. I had to detour into Tuscan to replace the bladder and suffered some rough GI activity for the rest of the race.
6. Bring whatever is necessary to remove your pedals for Oracle ridge. That HAB section is just brutal on your shins. The shin scrapes and bruises will complement the scratches from #1 if you are into that sort of thing.
7. Plan to bike more at night then you would expect. I spent too much time sleeping at night versus riding and suffered in the heat. 2014 wasn't even a hot year - probably considered relatively mild but that sun just beats down when it is at peak.
And finally not related to the race but post-race. I followed a family member back to Phoenix with another racer after we finished late at night. Neither of us could figure out why my family member was driving so crazy fast on the interstate. When we arrived at their house, I asked WTF and why they were driving so fast. She replied that we had been driving 15-30 mph down the interstate and she was trying to get us to go faster to avoid a rear end accident. I guess 4 days of riding/hiking at slow speeds combined with overall tiredness meant we didn't have a good grasp on reality. Not sure there is any lesson there - outside of you probably will be tired as hell when you finish
My personal goal this year is under 3:12 - I'm hoping that heavier training at higher tempo and avoiding the above will help make that happen.
Thanks Scott for all you've done to build the race and John for assuming the mantle. I'm looking forward to the experience again!
Justin
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