AZTR - 300 and 750 Race Discussion Thread - 2015

[mtbcast]

Arizona Trail Race ’15 – Mike Kunnecke called in with a finish/DNF call.
http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/calls/

[schillingsworth]

C'mon Scott Jones!!! In 2013 his narrowly missed a sub 4-day finish, (5 minutes!!) and he's on a similar journey this morning. 2 miles away from Picketpost & 46 minutes to make it happen. Go Scott!!!!

I'm guessing JayP was able to resupply in Pine quickly as there are 23 minutes between his tracked points at the AZ87 crossing. Going to be fun watching then crawl along the Highline today. They should make ok time after Geronimo trailhead, there has been some semi-recent trail work done between there & Washington Park.

[mtbcast]

Arizona Trail Race ’15 – Jeffrey Tomassetti called in from the Kelvin water drop!
http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/calls/

[davew]

Hi all,

Dave here, I've had to scratch due to a lung infection and now find myself outside Gordon's IGA in Kearney. Does anybody know of anyone going past here today that could give me a lift out of here to either Tucson or Phoenix?

Only have Internet, so pm me if you can help out. Thanks.

This  race is brutal. Every time it tries to destroy you it then offers up some of the sweetest riding you've had in a long time

[windowace]

I talked to Scott Jones.  He is in Superior at the Circle K.  He ran out of food.  He had about 3000 calories for yesterday, last night, until now. or maybe since his last stop in Oracle.  the last 20 miles to picket post was stupid crazy(but the view was outstanding).  concerned about a nasty blister on the backside of his heel.  he is going to eat, sleep, eat and push on after dark.  Scott wants to know his 300 time compared to 2013.  I don't know how to figure it.  help, please, so I can pass it on to him.  thanks, Kathy and his golden power(our golden retriever girls: Remy and Knik)

[AZTtripper]

I am not the best at figuring these things out but it looks like Scott is about 2 hours behind his 2013 time.

[schillingsworth]

I took a picture of him as he passed by the Canelo East trailhead sign (Start of the 300) at 8:50am on Friday. Did Scott say what time he rolled into Picketpost this morning? I know it was very close to 9am. If he was there before 8:50a, then he did a sub 4-day 300, maybe besting his time from 2013 by 10-15 minutes???

[mtbcast]

Arizona Trail Race ’15 – John Fairbairn called in from Oracle!
http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/calls/

[windowace]

that's great.  are your pictures posted? Scott will call before heading out.  I will ask for a more exact time.

[ScottM]

I guess we'll need to hear from Scott on his precise finish time to know.  But all past results are here:

http://topofusion.com/azt/results.php

I have been updating the 2015 300 results periodically as they come in.  I've used the Picketpost split time from the TL Leaderboard for everyone, unless they post or email me a more precise time.

[raybum]

my story fresh off the press.... http://onegear-ray.blogspot.com/2015/04/bye-bye-monkey.html

[schillingsworth]

Scott, so the 750 riders times for Picketpost are based on the 7am start, right? Scott Jones is listed as 4:02:04, so was my line of thinking correct? If I snapped his pic as he rode past the 300 start line at 8:50a, he needed to be at Picketpost by 8:50a today for a sub 4-day? I'm sure he was gunning for it after missing the 9a cutoff by 5 mins in 2013. My pic was a cell phone pic, so I know the time was correct.

I'll post up some pics later today from the start.

[raybum]

my story... http://onegear-ray.blogspot.com/2015/04/bye-bye-monkey.html

[ScottM]

Scott, so the 750 riders times for Picketpost are based on the 7am start, right? Scott Jones is listed as 4:02:04, so was my line of thinking correct? If I snapped his pic as he rode past the 300 start line at 8:50a, he needed to be at Picketpost by 8:50a today for a sub 4-day? I'm sure he was gunning for it after missing the 9a cutoff by 5 mins in 2013. My pic was a cell phone pic, so I know the time was correct.

I'll post up some pics later today from the start.

No, the race clock starts at 9am, so 750 riders simply have a 'prologue' that isn't a part of the overall time, at least on the tracker.  Everyone is through PCL sometime between 8:10 and 9:00, so setting it at 9am makes their splits pretty comparable to everyone else.  But they are not exact -- esp the faster 750ers were a little slower for their 300 split than is indicated on the leaderboard or in my results.

Take a look at Scott's history page and drill down to his points to check the timestamps.  Sounds like he had until 8:50 to make it to PCL for his 300 split.

[schillingsworth]

No, the race clock starts at 9am, so 750 riders simply have a 'prologue' that isn't a part of the overall time, at least on the tracker.  Everyone is through PCL sometime between 8:10 and 9:00, so setting it at 9am makes their splits pretty comparable to everyone else.  But they are not exact -- esp the faster 750ers were a little slower for their 300 split than is indicated on the leaderboard or in my results.

Take a look at Scott's history page and drill down to his points to check the timestamps.  Sounds like he had until 8:50 to make it to PCL for his 300 split.

Aha! That makes sense, but his posted time of 4:02:04 doesn't. Wouldn't that mean he tracked at Picketpost at 11:02am? I was watching his dot this morning when that time posted, but the race clock was showing 4:00:04, that's why I thought the 750 clock started at 7am. Anyway, it's not really for standings per se, just trying to get an apples to apples comparison on the 300 portion. Assuming he didn't have any bike issues/prolonged stoppage over the final 2 miles into Picketpost I'm sure he didn't take more than the hour between posted points to arrive. I guess we'll know a little more when he confirms his time at PP.

[ScottM]

Oh, whoops, you're right and I'm wrong.  This year 750ers are getting their official start time at 7am.  I forgot that it's programmed in now.  What I said before was true for previous years, but not for 2015!  Sorry for confounding the confusion.

So, 750 splits for the 300 should be minus an hour and change.  That makes sense since Denberg came in right with, or slightly in front of Joey et al.

[cmn529]

Rich Otten at the 300 finish and Matt Q, Michael A, Rich O and Tom W at PP. Matt finished about an hour after Rich.

Check out Rich's Rubbermaid fix to losing his seat bag.

[ScottM]

I can't tell quite what Rich's fix is from the pic -- how did he lose his seat bag?

JayP has caught Denberg -- see attached Race Flow for the gap closing.  Aaron looks to have taken a break, then re-started as soon as JayP rolled up.

The next reliable split I have for record 750 is Flagstaff at 5 days and 3 hours.  So they have until midday tomorrow to hit Flag to be on record pace.  I think that's quite doable given that they are both already on the Mogollon Rim.  They made good time through Highline today.

Dylan had a very quick transition in Payson and is already well on the way to Pine.  Perhaps an AZT special brew Ale at THAT brewery is in his future, if he keeps motivating!

[boatmana]

What a race, ride, experience, mental challenge and sandpaper toothbrush this trail is.  This trail never fails at revealing my unpreparedness and lack of training. This being my 5th attempt at the Arizona Trail, someone more famous then me once said its time for a little risk. With that I want to give a big shout out to those that have pioneered the path for ditching the sleep system and giving it all you got. Thank Scott, Kurt, Aaron and Neil for the balls to try it first. Because of you and those like you nearly everyone I encountered in the top 10 had little or no plan of sleeping. My final sleep tally was under 4hrs for 60 hours of riding which made for some really funny hallucinations.  I personally feel I could of used a little more and maybe pushed a little harder, but that's the gamble.  it was a slow slog for me much of the trail. Had an awesome time riding with Joey, Darren and Hunter. Wish we could of all crossed together but it just wasn't in the cards. Big shout out to my girlfriend Jill and new baby momma for taking care of our 6week old baby girl why I got to play with the boys in the dirt.

Thanks everyone for the cheers and motivation. Great- awesome group of people at this event. With that thanks Scott again.

[Mxhdroom]

Since becoming enthralled with bikepacking and ultra-racing late last year, this is the first time I've been able to follow a race on trackleaders and listen to the reports on mtbcast. This is absolutely riveting stuff. Such an awesome display of athleticism, endurance, perseverance, bike handling, risk-taking, logistical/mechanical magic - all of you give an old guy from the currently cold foothills of Alberta a great deal of inspiration and I admire each and every one of you.

Good luck and stay safe. I'll be keeping an eye on the dots and an ear to the true-ups. Oh, and riding my bike when I have time in between.

Ride on. 

Gary