2012 AZTR/300 Discussion Thread

[mikepro]

That was so totally wicked !!!  'effin sweat.  Nice easy spin, Scott.

[krefs]

Flats! I thought maybe you were just getting tired   Or melting in 95F heat...

Way to knock it out the park!  That one is gonna be tough to beat.

It sounds like 2 hours should still be able to come off that time ;-)

[sherpaxc]

Well done all.  Scott and Kurt, ya'll are unreal.  Now for the real adventure, the full meal deal racers!  Love it!

[TRB]

I just checked in with Mike Brislin and he is taking a break in Oracle...re-fueling for the next section of the ride. Tired but still upbeat.
He is shackin' at the a-frames..the lady there says there has been some excitement with the AZT300 bikers coming thru

[LyndaW]

I just checked in with Mike Brislin and he is taking a break in Oracle...re-fueling for the next section of the ride. Tired but still upbeat.
He is shackin' at the a-frames..the lady there says there has been some excitement with the AZT300 bikers coming thru

Great to hear he is upbeat. Tell Mike I'm cheering for him and watching his spot move along nicely!

Ride strong and hearty. You can do this Mike.

[krefs]

Kurt S has just entered the world of hike-a-bike hell beneath the Rim. He probably won't reach the end of it until mid-day tomorrow. Hopefully he's got some tall socks to protect his shins and packed a LOT of food!

[fastmtnbiker33w]

Nice job Scott and Kurt.  

Here's my report......

After fiddling with my GPS at the start, I got around some folks and caught up to Kurt, Max, and Aaron G.  They were riding a very comfortable pace for me, but I was probably carrying 10 pounds more that those guys as I had WAY too much water (224 oz).  When we got to Patagonia, I figured a pizza would be nice, but ordered one that came heaped with too much cheese and sausage.  Grabbed some snacks at the store and slowly headed up the road with nobody having passed me.  I passed Aaron G at Sonoita and he got me as I fought the head wind and a boulder sitting in my gut.  Kurt S. passed me right after that.  Nobody else passed me until I decided to call it a night at mile 80.  I set down on the first flat spot I could find and made the mistake of not putting in my earplugs.  I was awoken probably a dozen times by passing riders.  When the moon came up I got going again after 6 hrs of sleep and passed A LOT of people.  I made sure to shine my lights on them as best as I could to return the favor from earlier in the night.  I quickly made it to La Sevilla before the bottom fell out and hunkered down with Fred W., Erick L., and Justin.  Not even owning a pair of rain pants, I figured...if it's gonna rain, I'm gonna sleep.  Lots of people passed through.  I got a couple hours, awoke to an empty camelbak which filled my bivy....1st rookie mistake.  Got back on trail rode through light rain to Rincon where I grabbed the last bean burrito.  Rode on in to Safeway/Quiznos for more snacks, then rode to top of La Milagrosa with Dave G. to join Brad M. at the HUGE fire he had made.  We were later joined by Eric Foster, Aaron B., and Fred W.  I think Jill passed us sometime that night.  I got about 7 hours of GREAT sleep and Fred and I put the chase on Aaron who got out of camp quick.  I took a pit stop at Molina, caught back up to Fred and left him to try to chase down Aaron.  Aaron and I had really good breakfast burritos with HORRIBLE service at the restaurant as Les headed down to Oracle.  Aaron and I rode together to the ranch house passing Jill not long after starting our descent off OR.  I took too much time hanging with Aaron at the ranch house and finally went in to Oracle to get some sandwiches and chips to fuel my mad Dash to the Cache where I passed Brad K., Matt, and Les and caught Forrest just before the Cache where I put down for 5 hours while a mouse just about ate through my helmet straps.  I got cranking again with a bit of moon left in the sky and enjoyed the ride to Kelvin picking up an unopened 7up on the way.  Ate an MRE and some snacks at Kelvin with a through hiker taking about a 20 minute break talking to him as he was also from the Texas desert down in Del Rio.  I left with about 150 oz of water thinking it would be enough.  WOW!  Insane Sweco trail for way too many miles where it hit over 90 on me and I started rationing with about 10 miles left.  I ended up passing Pawel and finishing at about 4:50 pm.  I felt great and not nearly as trashed as after some MUCH shorter XC races I've done in the past.  

I was still up when Brad K, Matt, and Aaron B came in.  Aaron was having some serious drive train issues.  I gave a bunch of leftovers to those guys.  At about 1 am or so I heard Eric's g/f screaming for him.  Sometime that night Les rolled in as well as a couple of others....my wife thinks but I never heard them.  I haven't sorted through the trackleaders yet, but I can't wait to see how my time for the stretch from Oracle to the cache compares to others.  Despite crashing right on my lights (on top of my helmet), I had an amazing ride through there that felt effortless.  

On May 20 I will celebrate my 43rd birthday and my 30th year of mountain biking.  This being my first ultra, my perspective is now completely different.  For better or worse I'm not sure.  It was an honor to ride with many experienced ultra racers.  

I can officially say that I caught up on my sleep during this event.  I'll put up a link to my blog after I finish a more detailed version.  

[schillingsworth]

Here's my take on our two days on the AZT300.

My Two Schillingsworth - http://schillingsworth.blogspot.com/2012/04/azt300-1st-attempt.html.

-John Schilling

[TRB]

What a great blog post, John! Thanks for the interesting re-count of your ride and the awesome photos. I admire the spirit and passion you all have for riding your bikes! Keep on Keeping on!

[AZTtripper]

Kurt S has just entered the world of hike-a-bike hell beneath the Rim. He probably won't reach the end of it until mid-day tomorrow. Hopefully he's got some tall socks to protect his shins and packed a LOT of food!

There's actually a trail crew working on the Highline trail right now, has been for about a month.

I had heard earlier this year that Payson was getting a full time trail crew. Hopefully they will move down to the Sunflower area next. AZT 800 next year.

[krefs]

There's actually a trail crew working on the Highline trail right now, has been for about a month.

I had heard earlier this year that Payson was getting a full time trail crew. Hopefully they will move down to the Sunflower area next. AZT 800 next year.

Wow, that's great to hear. That would be an awesome trail if it wasn't so overgrown and washed out. I'd actually consider riding it for fun then since it's such a beautiful area. Improvements on that section could literally shave hours off off the Payson-Mormon Lake leg.

[mtbcast]

I do have some calls coming from Mike Brislin and one from Mark Caminiti on the feed. I should have been posting here sooner.
http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/azt12/feed/

[Scatman]

Texted with Jill H. last night and this morning.  I quote "toughest day ever on a bike.  Heat exhaustion I think. Puked 3 times in last six miles. Starving and need more sleep for a big day tomorrow."  This morning she had this to say "Hey good AM. Slept like a rockstar last night.  Going to be a big day.  Feel good, head is back to good ...."  then she asked how far she was back from the next riders.  I quickly reminded her they weren't her rabbit but being the first woman to finish the 750 was.  She agreed and is now moving well.  Always the competitor that girl. 

Does anyone else feel guilty when talking to the competitors?  I had the above whole conversation from the comfort of my bed and only after riding like 13 miles the day before.

[DaveH]

That's awesome, way help Jill maintain her perspective.  The ups and downs in these things can really be extraordinary.

Joe, thanks for the link - wasn't aware of the call ins.  Mike Brislin is sounding good!  We had dinner with him a couple weeks back, and as one might imagine he was uber focused on what he was setting out to do.  Awesome to see him getting it done!

[TRB]

Hello,
I was going to head out on Hwy 177 today on my way to Mesa and thought I would grab a bunch of waters to replenish the water cache on Freeman Road. Is it an easy to spot to locate? I have a couple different maps...
There is an amazing looking "junk" store in Oracle, so thought it was a good excuse to stop by that and then continue onto the water cache and into Mesa, to hopefully collect Mike Brislin by Friday!
Scatman, for sure I feel guilty about having a decent meal and getting a good night sleep!

[jryter]

Question about the route. Does it really go through the grand canyon? I thought they put you in Gitmo if you road down the trails.. Just looking a the trackleaders map...

[forest_on_bike]

Way to go Forest!!! Largest AZT field yet and your in the top ten.

Thanks Eric!

Just got a chance to read through the forums and see how the ride went for other people.

First, I'm really happy to see Matt and Brad (NC guys) continue to look strong as they head into the second-half of the 750. I rode with those guys more than anyone else, which was great because they are my kind of racers - friendly, modest and having a great time even though the conditions are tough.

Second, totally bummed to see James get taken out by a bunch of unfortunate events. It was great to chat it up with him and his dad before the race.

Pete, Steve, and Les, I don't know how you guys climbed out of the Gila so fast in that heat. I was dead - literally pushing my bike from saguaro shade to saguaro shade. Les, I crawled into your napping spot after you rolled on.

I was so happy to finally finish at 10:37 and meet my parent in the parking lot where I immediately killed two sodas and a milk shake. That last section, up high along the ridge lines, was stunningly beautiful as the sun set, but man did I want to be done.

Couple of random comments:

Huge thanks to Linda and Dave - a couple I met through Warm Showers put me up at their house in Tucson and then drove me down to the start in their camper trailer. Really plush way to start the race. Wow.
 
Really happy that my Geax Saguaro's held up without any problems. I could't get the TNT versions to fit my ZTR rims, but the non-TNT's did just fine. I purposefully took it easy on some of the nastier sections because I was paranoid about slashing my tires.

FYI - I survived without carrying a water filter (just pills). I was able to make it from faucet to faucet carrying between 50 to 130 ounces of water. Probably would have been much tougher if the heat had kicked in earlier in the race.

I saw a lot of wild life, but thankfully no snakes or scorpions.

I freaked out trying to find the water cache. Thankfully David rolled up and knew that it was on the trail, farther down than where it was marked on my GPS.

The people at the Rincon general store were saints. They let 7 or so racer spread out their stuff and drip mud and water all over their small store.

The general store at Oracle didn't really have any fresh/pre-made food, so it was all chips, nuts and a pop tart to the end (thanks for the p-tart Brad).

Great to meetup with familiar faces - David G, Jill, and Marshal. Hope to see you guys again on some other crazy trail race in the future.

Scott - thanks for putting together this amazing event!

Good luck to everyone who still on the trail.

Forest

[Chad B]

Wow.  That was a good time out there. 

Trying to catch up on the race and process my own too.  The route will go in under 48 hours!  I could taste it... but for me anyway, everything would have to go right!  No complaints here, the trail was overall so very kind to me.  Great weather, great luck and one hugely focused push from Parker to Picketpost.  Night 2 was a total unknown -- but I was feeling so good at sunset on the Antelope gasline bypass (best miles of the race, for sure) that I had a feeling it would be a good night.  2x15' nap stops was all it took, otherwise I kept it rolling and couldn't believe how fast the miles disappeared.  I would have been out of Kelvin before sunrise if I hadn't had to stop and stitch my tire up (again!).

That led to the most comical moment of the race: me trying to thread a needle on Ripsey, at 4am, in the wind.  Then finally getting it, and losing the thread to be blown down to the river, and having to start over.  I spent 45' in the Canelos on two sidewall tears.  First one patched up and went back up tubeless.  Second one was on par or worse than Aaron's.  If I hadn't had needle/thread my race would have been over.  That stitch job lasted to Ripsey where I noticed that only a few of the threads were still in tact (I must have grazed then with a rock) and the tear was splitting open.  Second stitch job held to the end, but the tube that I put in did not!  It nearly made it 300 miles, only to fail so close to the end!

My favorite moment came around midnight night 2 when I was carving high speed corners through cactus and yucca.  I gradually came to the realization that I had no idea where I was!  And I didn't really care.  I knew exactly what I was doing -- railing it northwards on the AZT and was loving it and that's all that really mattered.  I slowly went through all the fast/flowy parts on the course in my head.  Rincon Valley?  No, soil isn't red enough.  Cienega?  No, I think I already did that.  Oracle?  The sun was up when I was there.  Oh yeah!  I just left the cache... I'm on the Boulders!

I felt a little guilty as I rolled through the pottery-mud on Colinas, and heard stories of it and the big storm from riders I caught.  Big points to anyone that stuck it out with the group start this year.  I loved catching up to people that I normally wouldn't get to ride with.  So many good stories from the trail, and stories of other riders, especially at the finish.  Love, love, love it all.

Thanks everyone for the congrats, kind words, and excitement for all things AZTR.  Time to hunt down more ice cream, I think

[ScottM]

Woops, that last post was me.  I'm on Chad's computer.  Huge thanks to him for pulling my carcass off the trail last night!

[Scatman]

jryter - It does go through the Grand Canyon.  Riders have to pack their bikes on their backs for that section then reassemble them on the north rim and then ride the last 150 to Utah.  Damn Wilderness Act!!! (though I hate the Wilderness Act I think NP's should be off limits.  My two cents)