Dixie 311

[DaveH]

Awesome Jonesy.  Have a great ride!  Maybe you will run into Dave Kirk out there, he should be starting today also.

Dave - later start?  Maybe we can ride together at some point!

FYI:  a race tracker has been setup at http://2-epic.com/maps/tracker.html and http://www.trackleaders.com/dixie

Since the Dixie is really 2 events in 1, the leaderboard may not make a lot of sense for either the 311 or the Lite - it depends which one gets the focus (which I think is going to be the lite as it will have a larger start field).  When the revolution comes we'll get it working simultaneously for both events...

Most riders for the 311 are starting at different times (different days in fact), and not everyone has a spot.  I will be doing the 311, starting tomorrow at 8AM, with a goal to finish and not incur too much sleep deprivation - a training ride of sorts.

[ScottM]

I was planning on the Saturday start for the 311, but my nose is dribbling green and yellow.  Hoping to kick this bug and be on the trail, with Chad, on Tuesday.

Tracker is up:

http://trackleaders.com/dixie

It will be a little random with some starting early, some late, and mostly Dixie-lite folks starting on time.  But it should still be fun to see how this brand spanking new and very exciting route shapes out for people.  I will try to get people's start date/times in their info windows and on their individual pages.

[Chad B]

Looks like Dave Kirk is leaving basecamp   Let the SPOT watching begin! Should we start a new thread for this or just continue on this one?

[DaveH]

Looks like Dave Kirk did that opening climb in 50 minutes after some monkeying around with a busted alternator in Nephi and then doing an extra trip back to Cedar City from the trailhead.  He's travelling light, fresh, excited, or some combination of the above!

This will all be familiar terrain for a while as he travels through what is also part of the Trans Utah route, a ride he nearly completed last year - had to bail due to time constraints.  He's a busy guy and will have the same timeline for the 311.  I hope he is able to get it all done, it's the 2nd half of the route that will be new territory for him.  Once he leaves the Grandview on the southern tip of the Paunsaugunt it's into the unknown.

[DaveH]

Looks like some misbehaving spots out there. 

Jonesy made it to the base of the Paunsaugunt ascent last night.  It looks like he didn't turn his spot on until Hatch, oops!  No chance for early sun, he'll likely just get rolling in a few.  He will climb into a glowing world of red as he camped at the base of the Sunset Cliffs.



Not too sure what to make of Dave Kirk's track.  I think his spot has failed?  It is highly unusual for him to stop for more than a couple of hours, even though he does tend to do these things after a non-stop drive from Washington.  Maybe he just decided to camp above Navajo Lake in the thin air of 9700'?

[Chad B]

And there off!
It looks like Harris' SPOT is not tracking. BTW, what were you doing up so early Harris? Love the picture; looking forward to seeing it for myself soon.

[ScottM]

Harris is easing well into the route.

Jonesy appears to be off-route!

Dave Kirk is skipping a section -- likely stuff he has already ridden.  Time constraint = get on with the new stuff.

Lynda and Adam rolling well on the D-lite.

Me?  Wish I was out there.  Still sick.  We'll see about starting early this week.

[jonesy792]

I'm out, ran out of water today and rode without for about an hour or so.  By the time I reached the spring I was in a pretty bad way. Planned on riding back on the highway but lost my last tube at the lake to some mystery puncture that I can't figure out.  Hitchhiking failed so I'm drinking beer while waiting on the most expensive taxi of my life right now

[Chad B]

It looks like Harris cranked out ~100 miles in 13 hours of riding. He is moving pretty fast, although the profile up to mile 100 (save for that first big climb) seems mellow compared to the rest of the route.

[ScottM]

Looks like it was a good night for snoozing for all our Dixie'rs.  I plan on getting some quality Z's out there on the trail as well! 

It'll be interesting to see what Dave does for resupply.  Just about everything is closed in Circleville on Sundays.

Adam and Lynda appear to have camped near each other, with Adam starting a bit earlier and getting a jump.  We might have a race for the Dixie Lite win a brewing...

[Chad B]

Greg just started this morning about an hour ago. Both Kirk and Harris had about 9 hours of sleep last night. I wonder where our touring crew is at out there?

Although Harris slept a lot lost night, I maintain that he is in fact riding pretty hard while the sun is up. After a brief chat with Jonsey, he was pretty impressed with Harris' progress given the large amount of sleep.

This could have been a good lunch stop (as Scott said), but it may be closed today.



Truckers welcome
...always a good sign when you are in need of some good ol' cooking. I guarantee I will be planning my ride around this place (although I called and got no answer).

Adam seems to be cruising to the finish line with a pretty healthy gap over Lynda.

[Chad B]

It looks like Kirk is heading back down to Circleville. Interesting turn of events. Harris is pressing on after a quick stop in Circleville this morning.

[GrizzlyAdam]

Nice updates Scott! Pretty accurate considering you were not actually there!

Here's a brief rundown on the D-Lite:

5 of us started on Saturday morning: Lynda, Taylor, Fred, Steve, and Me

Taylor and Steve took off right away w/ Dave Harris. Lynda and Fred and I kept a more mellow pace. Taylor looked light, and had talked about not sleeping, or only sleeping a little. Steve needed to be done Sunday, so he was off to a fast start.

Lynda, Fred and I got separated along the VRRT when I needed to repack some gear and Fred rode through the Te-Ah CG where Lynda stopped for water. I encountered Fred again at Strawberry Point, and then caught back up with Lynda at Cub Spring where she was munching goodies in the shade. We rode into Hatch where we both enjoyed a massive dinner and some down time. We rode together to Thunder Mountain - burping up our dinners - where we camped. At Hatch Lynd ate the biggest burger I've ever seen. Fred came rolling through TM right at nightfall, where we were camped. He continued on in the moonlight to the 89/12 Junction where he rented a room. He saw Steve camped along the TM trail, and figures he was moving again in the middle of the night. Fred left his room at 4AM, and was not passed by Steve.

I left TM at 6 sharp, Lynda decided to linger a little longer. I wanted to finish in the daylight, and put in a pretty solid push up to the Spruce Trail. I enjoyed some goodies and AC at Panguitch Lake. I was hoping to catch Fred, but at that time I had no idea how far he rode into the dark, or when he had started riding. But I could see his tracks (and Steve's) on all the rough going sections from 89 to Panguitch Lake.

After the 3.5 mile, 90 minute Spruce obstacle course (holy deadfall!) the long and fast riding near Brianhead was a welcome section. Just before Highway 14 I rode up on Fred. We were both happy to see each other and stuck together to Navajo Lake where we ate ice cream and sat in the shade before we set out for the home stretch.

I rolled into the parking lot at 7:08 PM. Fred came in 10-15 minutes later.

I'm guessing Steve finished, maybe as early as 2-3PM if he left TM at 3AM. I could see his tracks all the way to the end. 2 ignitors are easy to spot.

I didn't see Taylor, and I haven't heard how his day(s) went.

So, I'm speculating that the results for the 5 of us that started on Saturday were:

Taylor: ??
Steve: 3:19 PM Sunday
Adam: 7:08 PM Sunday
Fred: 7:20ish PM Sunday
Lynda: 9:30 PM Sunday

We ran into Dave Kirk at about mile 5. He was heading back to his car. His time constraints had kicked in, since he lost about a day with car/bike issues. He told us that he planned to drive up to TM, ride up there, and then head into the Tushars for a day or two. It looks like his Spot reflects that. He was smiling from ear to ear when we saw him.

What a route! Nothing lite about it.

[LyndaW]

Scott - thanks for tracking our SpotDots and giving the updates. I used that same Spot unit that DH had with him on CTR last year. I had it on all the time, I checked it was flashing green often and it looked happy but looking at the tracker page now it doesn't have so many points on it. DH put fresh batteries in it too. I had it on the front of my handlebar bag. Maybe location sensitive?



I really wanted to camp out on Thunder Mtn Sat night so gave it a pretty consistent push on Sat to reach there. I only stopped a couple of times all day. One was for this:


...and the post dinner climb


Adam and I camped together Sat night. He busted a move early on Sunday morning amped up to get 'er done.

On Sunday I got up later and lingered quite a bit on Thunder Mtn hoping to catch Dave on his way thru on the 311 course but missed him. I wasn't planning on finishing until Monday so goofed around a bunch on Sunday. I pulled off my burger-a-day goal at the Burger Barn in Panguitch Lake


I kept on pedaling and found myself having so much fun I wasn't able to stop and ended up finishing on Sunday in the dark. What a great time!

[GrizzlyAdam]

Looks like Steve finished the Lite at 3:19 PM. That's a heckuva pace!

[GrizzlyAdam]

DH covered some rugged ground today. One more big push tomorrow? Greg is plugging along as well, heading up onto the Sevier Plateau.

[ScottM]

Nice work all -- thanks for the pics and report.  Looking forward to more.

Chad and I are meeting at Woods Ranch tomorrow for a midday start.  We're going to do a Quasi-Lite, sticking with the 311 course to Thunder Mtn, then heading back on the lite route from there.  Planning 2 nights out and really psyched to see all of this, esp now.  'Bout time we head out!

I'm going to see if I can get MC to turn his SPOT on... we may try to track that crew down too.

[LyndaW]

Scott,

That route option sounds awesome!

LW

[GrizzlyAdam]

That should be a blast Scott! You may even be there to watch DH finish.

[GrizzlyAdam]

DH is approaching the Lite/311 merger on the Spruce Trail. A few more slow going miles, and he'll be home free! Greg is rolling into Circleville. Hopefully he gets some home cookin' while he's there.