would love to see a link to the routes when available. Thanks

I've never done that route.  But I have been to both the start and finish areas several times each.  Weather would be the question for me.  The Moab area can be VERY HOT in the summer months.  Triple digit daytime highs are common.  Obviously on the other end, in "To-Hell-You-Ride", you can always have a very late spring or a very early fall and it could be quite cold.  If I were going I think I would look at late summer/early fall.  Before the snows in CO, but after the worst of the heat in UT.

Have fun and good luck.   

A recap of the race can be found here:

http://fatbikemammoth.com/2015/09/20/caldera-250500-race-diary-of-the-2015-grand-depart/

Wow!
Sounds like it was a very difficult route.  Congrats to Arthur.  

It looks like a great route, I wish I was riding it right now. Hopefully the smoke from the rough fire does not blow northeast.

Here's a link with some live web cams of the area.  The smoke doesn't look that bad at the moment.  It was horrendous when I was up there a few days ago.  The recent rains have helped.

http://mammothweather.com/live-current-conditions/live-mammoth-webcam/

and I can tell you its no cheaper!

Hah!
Hang on, it only gets worse from here.

[?] Is anybody else's bike going faster lately [/?]

Race fan  ...out.

My legs think so.  But Strava seems to disagree??

Hello everyone from sunny, magical Pie Town, NM!  I haven't even begun to dig into the pages and pages of this discussion yet but I understand there was a lot of well wishes and cheering going on.  I just wanted to drop you all a quick note to say thank you.  My blue dot could almost feel the positive energy coming from you all.  I'm excited to see all the craziness that occurred on the forum once I re-enter into cyber-connected-society.
For now I'll be eating more pie and relaxing at the absolutely marvelous Toaster House.  Pie Town is truly magical.  The locals and the pie are well worth the visit.  As to the question of what pie I ate the day before the final showdown...  It's a trade secret but let me assure you Kathy's pie at Pie-o-neer Pies very well might have been the deciding factor in my race.

Cheers to you all!  Happy trails and best wishes to everyone on trail and congratulations to everyone who has finished.
Josh Kato

The word on the street is your third piece of pie on the way down made the difference.  Well done.  Long live pie.

Wow!
Watching these superhuman efforts is almost unbelievable.  Great run Lael.

This will be a great reference for the future.  Thanks again.

Conti Race Kings 2.2"

Shoot, you put a lot of work in to these posts.  Thanks for sharing.  Southern Utah is awesome country.

anyone know what brand josh`s jersey is? i really like orange haha.

http://www.rei.com/product/877990/novara-sprint-bike-jersey-mens

I happen to see that jersey in the store recently

Josh's dot is jumping up and down - I guess that means he did it.  
Very impressive show of physical and mental toughness by all three of these leaders.  Congrats to all.  Well done gentlemen.

So, you only need two weeks to ride the GDMBR?  Good to know.  Maybe I can squeeze it in now that I know that.
.

This has been a grueling event even for spectators :-)

Yeah.  
I've been following the TD on Trackleaders for the last 3 or 4 editions, but I've never been glued to it like this year - especially the past couple of days.  Great race.  

Kudos to all the competitors but especially to The Three Amigos for making the race truly exciting to watch.

My theory is that he's hitting up Separ to grab all the good junk food before Neil + JayP. You heard it here, first. #kato4president

It looked like he rolled straight through.  Either that or his stop was ultra quick.

Away from the front it looks like Seb Dunne is on the move again.

With all the excitement from The Three Amigos, the remainder of the race has definitely taken back seat.  I'm sure there are some epic personal battles going on behind.  Kudos to all who are out there giving it a go.

Current weather in Separ NM:

93F
South wind @6mph
humidity 25%
20% chance of precipitation between 3pm and 8pm

just a one hundred mile drag race left