Looking at maybe heading south sometime in November and touring some of the AZT 300 route with some friends.  Raced the 300 this year, and I think parking at Picketpost and riding south to Oracle would be a fun tour.  Question is, are there any other interesting ways to get back north to Picketpost without simply retracing our steps along the AZT?  A southern equivalent of the Black Canyon Trail, perhaps?

ScottM, hjknox, others of the desert variety - calling you out!

Nice, Roland! Thanks for writing that up.

On my Diablo, I run program number 3 when bikepacking.  Can use it all night across all three levels in that program without an issue.  During the day, I've had no issue charging both the Diablo to full and my GPS to full before nightfall with my dynamo - with the sole exception of a very slow, hike-a-bike day, at which point I tossed the single set of AA lithiums I now carry into the GPS.

That's awesome.  Bicycle karma!

There's always next year... and also, I meant to tell you I really love your photos!

For what it's worth, the only reason I stock Easton hub parts is because they break ALL THE TIME.  Bummer on your run, Aaron - before I read your post, I was wondering "Why not just a new wheel?"  But as mtnbound said, logic isn't always our strong point in the middle of these sorts of things...

Hey all - In between repairs, helping folks on the floor, building bikes, doing taxes, cleaning, and all the other stuff that comes with being a one-man bike shop show, I've been cooking up a new event.  Although it's been on the BP.net and VC calendars for a little while, the Velorution Venture is now officially on and open for registration.  The Venture is a free, self-supported bikepacking race, part of the Colorado Endurance Series, and will begin September 5 (Labor Day weekend, extra day off!).  Thanks to our friend Hunter Knox, we have a GPX file for the route; thanks to Matt at the CES we have a waiver to keep us from getting sued when someone gets eaten by a bear or falls off a cliff.   

Seriously, though, the Venture should be awesome.  I put together a route that takes in a bunch of trail and dirt road that isn't often ridden, looping from Durango around the Lizard Head Wilderness and back.  It's about 220 miles, with 37,000 feet of climbing; the climbing and surfaces out there make it like a mini-CTR.  I expect we'll only have a few people for the inaugural event.  I'm hoping I'll have time/fitness to do it myself!

But enough from me.  All the information you could want is on the Venture page, here: www.velorutioncycles.com/venture

Start prepping!   

Thanks! 

Dang, Chris, those ankles!  No bueno - I don't think I'd like HAB much either in that condition.

Nice shots, Nick!  In 2013 I took a cool shot of a marmot sitting atop that pile of rocks you leaned your bike on at Searle Pass:

Oh no!  Robert Maye took the HWY 285 detour instead of Tarryall.  Hope everything is okay, he's in Bailey now... that would be a major bummer to miss the actual detour by accident so close to the finish. 

Bummer, Chris!  Glad you are okay though, I was wondering.  Sorry you didn't like the trail - as a counterpoint, I gotta say that I love much of the trail between here and Salida for its own sake (although there definitely are a few short sections of "what the hell?").  Different strokes, I suppose...

If you do come back and do the second half sometime you may find the trail more to your liking.  Things definitely get more typically MTB after Salida in this direction.

Incredible ride, Jakomait.  I am so stoked for you.  Awesome ride my man!

Congrats, Matt, nice ride!

Yeah, I'm always wondering how to take that much time off!  I will have to quiz Dylan later... 

Nice job from the Triple Crowners.  Maybe my buddy Kurt S. will have to come out of retirement - his original TC effort was pretty laid back, as I recall.  Sounded like a great way to spend the summer!

Toby often was correct, Majcolo, although he had this infuriating inability to see grey areas, which do exist from time to time (not always!).

My guess for Jefe would be about 1-2pm.

Don't forget that Matt Schiff is somewhere out there between Jesse and Jefe - finished already?  Almost there?  Crushed and seeing Jefe in his rearview?  Who knows?

As for ethics, well, the least we can do is let the rider/riders in question give their version of the story* (this goes for any occasion/event/rider).  But this particular one doesn't look good so far.  As bikepacking gets more popular, I figure we're going to see more A) ignorance of the very basic rules we have in place, and B) purposeful flaunting of those rules simply for the results.  If we care about how things are done, we will have to be a self-policing group, which is part of the reason I like the bikepacking community in the first place.

*(As the old-timers know, I was considered by Toby to have broken a rule in the 2011 CTR myself, although I maintain that doing the whole trail through a few-mile forestry work closure at night was preferable to shortcutting the trail [this was before Stefan posted a definite sign favoring the shortcut].  I made a conscious call to stick to the rules as I interpreted them - doing the route in its entirety.  The point is, everyone should have their say before we castigate anyone.)

Ah, in my experience here at one end of the CT, seeing people beginning, ending, and aborting attempts on the CT(R), poor planning is a pretty common thing.  No offense intended to anyone, as it appears that some poor planning is a great way to lead to better planning on the next trip... but that line of reasoning goes out the window when it's time to race.  Gotta be prepped and ready to play by the (very few) rules!

I am trying to imagine the mix of feelings Jesse must be having right now.  Delirium?  Elation?  Exhaustion, certainly, but perhaps held at bay by the moment at hand... so crazy and awesome.

The hardest race in the world is whichever one I'm currently 85% done riding.

Ha!  That gets my vote as well, Adam.

Seems that also, of course, we're depending on how a given race/route is perceived by a given rider.  I'd hate to do the ITI, because I have about 0% body fat and have trouble staying warm once I'm not moving - so winter camping isn't for me.  But the CTR isn't all that bad for me compared to, say, some guy from sea level, because I like primitive trail at altitude.

So I dunno, Curiak - it would probably be tough to pin anything like this down.  As Jefe said, seems like it's just an arbitrary title to pin on something, anyway.  I'm sure after Durango's big "Todd n' Ned Dirt Fondo" this fall, there will be a lot of older weekend warriors thinking that was the hardest race ever...

My opinion so far, if pushed, would be that I'd have to go do them all in order to have an opinion.  Anyone care to fund my scientific query?

+1 for the Exposure Diablo.  Full disclosure:  I sell these.  But that's because I use these - kinda the theme at my shop. 

I cannot believe that Jesse is descending into the Platte canyon right now.  Absolutely insane.  Did not imagine this possible.  I guess I don't feel bad about him riding away from me in the DDC every year...

Lots of strong rides happening this year.  Nice work everyone!

Has anyone had any contact with a SPOT-less rider on a basic hardtail, disposable water bottle, Carradice-style seat bag, who left Durango wearing a red cotton hoodie and black helmet?  I didn't catch his name, as he was a little standoffish when I tried to talk with him.  He mentioned riding "4000 touring miles" this year, and I was very intrigued, as he didn't fit the typical bikepacker profile, age-, gear-, or attitude-wise.  Would love to know how he's doing.

Also, anyone seen Andre Michaud (Dr. Dre) out there?

Woodland - Having heard a bit more of this story in the shop today, I'd be totally with Toby on this one... there has got to be an uncrossable line somewhere.  Especially when records are potentially at stake.

Nanath - I miss the weather layer too.  Wonder why Scott doesn't have it up this year?