Looks like he's taking the highway.

Yep pretty sure it's all new for him hopefully he'll have enough food to carry him through today and part of tomorrow. Then he can look for more single track to ride while he waits for us to get there.

On the other hand the weather is looking iffy. And we are down to 2 riders going up from Tucson. We might even be down for a short ride on the final passage so Max could come on down and meet us Friday night.

He should be back in cell range once he gets to Jacob Lake.

If much of the singletrack is too snowy to ride, he could well finish tonight!! Go Max go!

It's the old when does my ride get there motivation or in this case lack there of. While Kurt had the must finish by a certain date carrot dangling pulling him in to the finish early. Max has the my ride won't get there until tomorrow and doesn't leave until Sunday, drag me down might as well look for some single track deal. Though it's all about the food at this point as well if he's out of food he'll have to get to Jacob Lake. Max knows that 3 of us from Tucson are leaving tomorrow and plan to ride Saturday up to Jacob Lake and then we'll ride the AZT back down to the State Line on Sunday. I told Max we could leave him some water but he would likely have to carry enough food to hold out until we get down on Sunday. His reply was I think I just wait and ride out with you guys.

At this point he's not missing much in the way of single track most of the trail on the north rim inside the park is all old utility road. Once he's out of the park he has the option of looking for some sweet single track.

At this point he's not in the running for any kind of time record so he might as well go for the most single track possible ride. As has been pointed out before every year will be different in terms of snow detours it would be cool if Max can ride some more trail this year.

Not sure exactly how it works but I am pretty sure you can get a permit for those sites. But with the volume of traffic in the canyon everything is regulated. Even if no one was in them when you saw them maybe they were reserved for that night, or maybe they only let them get used sparingly. Imagine what a zoo it would be if anybody could show up and walk down and camp anytime they wanted to. It's quiet possible that if a side canyon has 5 sites they still only allow 1 to be used at a time. This would give people a better experience and limits the impact on each site. It's great that Scott was able to get permission for carrying through. Hopefully future bikepackers will do like Max did and play it cool and legit.

For the ultimate easy trip you get the bed at Phantom Range, and spend the second night at Cottonwood. It's actually not that bad if you break it up into 3, 7 mile days. That's how I did it in 06. I know last year a guy doing a tour got bitched at by a ranger at the north rim. He had hiked through overnight and they thought he had camped along the way without a permit. I am not sure what he said at the BCO to get them to call the north rim guys to say he was coming. But it does seem like he must have caused a scene or they never would have bothered calling the other side. I told Max it was good that he played it cool and just took what they gave him. The guy who got bitched at was not a racer and he got to the south rim after May 15 when the north side was open. There's just no hope of getting a campsite once the north rim is open.

Rhino the Canyon is not a Wilderness but as Kurt said the park restricts camping to designated sites. Max made the call to camp one night in the canyon so as to give his knees a break during the hike. He was able to get the permit during that first visit to the BCO but the date of the permit was not until the next day.

As for the * that's cool I think Max is good with what ever time he ends up with, even more then the 300 this ones about finishing. And it's good that he did things the legit way not risking future access. It would really suck to loose the Canyon crossing having to ride roads around the Canyon just wouldn't be the same.

Talked with Max last night he's got the permit for today to stay at Cottonwood camp tonight. Then he'll hike out the next day and be on his way. He was bummed about the delay but better to do things legit then cause a hassle for future racers and riders. Getting to carry the canyon is a big bonus for the course weather racing or just touring and it's good to play it cool in regards to dealing with the bureaucracy up there.

3 of us from Tucson had been planning to head north for some bikepacking somewhere so the plan is that we will drive to the state line Friday night. Then on Saturday we will ride up to the Jacob Lake area and then back down Sunday morning. At this point it looks like Max will just chill at Jacob Lake until then.

One question, is it feasible to make it up Mingus Mountain on day one?  About 16 hours of riding a day is what I am shooting for.  Looks to be about 100 miles to the top of Mingus.  

Anything is possible, but that HAB on Mingus at the end of a 16 hour day is going to be brutal. There are several flat spots along the way but at some point you will be committed to finishing it.

Tim

I missed the call but apparently Max hit some snow on the north side of the peaks.

Looks like he's into the faster section of the Tusayan bike route. He should be in Tusayan shortly.

Likely we will see him start into the canyon tomorrow.

Yep I did it so every one has to as well, and I am 47! That said I was pretty shot that first time reaching the top I was like why in the hell if there's an easier way. The one thing is that though there are easier ways they don't really put you at the summit as cleanly. And the sunsets I have experienced while nearing the summit have been quite exceptional. As for he actual hiking/scrambling it really is pretty stiff, likely a 7-8 in the 1-10 HAB scale. I just dreamed this up, HAB scale with 1 being walk a bike that's stuff that you could likely ride on a light bike at the start of a one day ride, but you walk it when you get there on the second day on a loaded bike. 10 being full on bikeneering this is the kind of thing where you start having to have someone hand your bike up to you, full on rock scrambling stuff.

Ether way I do think the Mingus climb is a good thing for the CLR for the race. I know the first year it was that second day that really tested your will to finish. A good friend of mine who is 57 but quite fit said it was one of the hardest things he has ever done. Granted he had a long day with some mech issues as well that put him and two others on the summit around 11 pm. So in some ways even though it's a bitch it's satisfying as an accomplishment to be proud of a badge of honor if that's what you want to call. So it's not just that we did it and so you have to too, its more that you deserve that badge also.

Just heard from Max, Highline and all of the trail today has him beat up but still sounding very up beat. He is well on his way to riding the entire course with no snow detours. Possibly one of the most complete trips of the AZT by bike to date. Not sure yet if he will head out in the morning or give himself another day to recoup. Sounds like he was having some tire issues today so he will likely need to get that worked out as well.

Max just called from the Lodge at Mormon Lake. So far he is still on course no snow detours and it's not muddy but the ground is soft and sapping his speed and energy. He sounds super upbeat and beat up from the Highline and all. He will be heading for Flag next and looking to get a room and recover some.

I think the old power line on the north rim at 9k is the highest point on the AZT for bikes anyway. Sounds like Max is still enjoying the suffering.

Dave thanks for the links and info, I guess we'll see sometime early next week when he gets there. In my experience up that way the trails dry out fast so maybe he'll just have some patches to deal with.

Hopefully he will find patches like this.


And not deep snow like this.


Looks like he is almost to Bargaman Park and the new section of single track, then he can curse me for reminding Scott to put it in the course. Hopefully he is having fun and will enjoy the extra trail rather then wishing he was on the road at that point.

And quick work of the Blue Ridge Passage as well. And there is still some HAB going on in that section also. Snow report for Flag on MTBR sounds good and dry. Anybody know of a snowtell sight for the North Rim there is some sweet ST up there hopefully he will get to ride it.

Vince thanks for checking in rats are just part of the adventure out there.

Some pretty rugged country to say the least and today is a biggie.

Lots of HAB but there is some cool riding as well.





And possibly some trees to climb over.

Spot just updated he's enjoying some HAB out of the Arrowhead Canyon Estates.

Right now he is on a section of pavement the road out to Tonto Natural Bridge. Then he'll drop down into a small community of cabins, they have a trail out of there that climbs up to the AZT. Then it's DH to Pine for the resupply. At the Pine TH there is new trail to bypass the out of the way section. The new short cut was just built last fall Max can follow that and give Scott the new track.

I should think that a lot of people are starting off running tubeless these days, the one mistake that has been made repeatedly is non sealant tubes as back ups. While a non sealant back up is fine for everyday riding it's weakness becomes clear pretty quickly.

In 07 I used up all 3 spares, then last year I only had one flat. I like to run schrader valve tubes with Stan's in them. I carry a small bottle (trial size) for each back up tube. I even experimented with reclaiming Stan's from the tire. When a bunch of Stan's ends up in the tire I pore the bottle into the tube then pore whats in the tire into the bottle to use latter.

One of the down sides to Slime tubes is that by the time you start thinking patch there is no Slime left but you'll have numerous holes. If you have back up sealant then all you need to do is patch the bigger holes, that's the theory any way.

Stupid packrats, argh...chewed into his helmet?  Nasty.

Huh I can't image there would be any salt to attract them LOL.

Max is making good time heading towards Pine. At least he is up a little higher now so it should be cooler for him. He's got some rough jeep trails to do and then a HAB up to rejoin the AZT then a fun DH into Pine. There is a 2 track just west of the highway that will give him safe access to Pine. And then he knows the Highline will be a HAB from Hell!

Ha, it wasn't a spot glitch!  Right about the time I was thinking, "Man it's nice to finally be able to bomb down a road", I realized I was off route.  Then I had to hike back up the road to find the gate on the left that I cruised by.  The spot must have hit me right when I turned around.

Erick

AZT rule of thumb if the going is easy you must be going the wrong way!