AZT reroute!
Not a reroute just another option. As there is no official bike route riders have to come up with their own plan of action as to how to deal with wilderness detours.
As for myself on the two AZT trips I have done I did try to stay as close to the official trail as possible and also try to return the the trail as soon as and as often as possible. And while this has taken me to some awesome places it doesn't appeal to everyone.
There are numerous options along the way some times you can stay on dirt others tend to put us on pavement. While there is no way to do a full AZT trip with out pavement I think most bikepackers will want to avoid it. But staying off pavement and on dirt while at the same time avoiding the wilderness passages can make for a convoluted route.
Obviously we must all make our own choices along the way, and that starts in the planning process. I am glad that I stuck to the trail as much as I could when I did my trips however convoluted the route looked on paper. But it seems like a lot of riders would be more interested in a more straight forward route with good trail and not as concerned with what is officially a hikers route.
In the past I have been against the idea of people calling a dirt road the AZT to me it seemed that if you didn't at least try to ride the single track then you were not doing the AZT but perhaps a dirt road tour close to the trail. Again everyone will have to make their own choices and there are lots of options and the Black Canyon option could be a good one.