I'm (s)camped 0.5 miles from the CT near Twin Lakes.  The trail around here is riding soooooo good!

And now it is about to finally get wet with the late arrival of Mr. Monsoon 

FYI - we do ride right by Princeton Hot Springs after climbing Cottonwood Pass and rejoin CT - about 25 from BV and they make a great breakfast. 

But they can take FOREVER - be warned

Then you will conflict with the Dixie which is another great CTR tune-up. Good luck! You're bound to conflict with something these days - which is a good thing!!!!!

Route looks fantastic

Point taken. All right.

Darn, it's not a loop huh?

I should have said: what do you do when you get to Big Horn?

Very safe. Pat is a fan of the race, at least he was a few years back...greeted me by name out front of his store! His mercantile was pretty well stocked with the basics to get you through to Breck/Copper. Plus if you get there in time, you can get a nice steak dinner. He may even let you crash in his 'beer garden' out back.

Yeah!! Looks awesome and perfect timing. If I can make it work, I will be there. How far from the Denver area to get up there?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_Divide#Records

Of course the TD has a Wikipedia page.

Way to go Mike, impressive as always.  Love that you left the smartphone at home in order to 'remove all potential distractions'. Good form.

Because people enjoy riding singlespeed.

Best and only explanation needed. 

If you watch the videos on the Trans Am facebook page, after arriving at the finish Lael tells the story of her run-in with Steffen - it's worth listening to!

You quoted the link to the Trans Am discussion, with a post about the Trans Am discussion. 

I think being denied the record previously due to fire-induced route changes may be motivation enough?

Touche

Mike had some great line at the beginning of 'Inspired to Ride' - something along the lines of, 'I like the thrill of the race, it's kinda like being on the run, like being a fugitive, not sticking around in one place for too long, always thinking there is somebody coming after you'.

Agreed, he probably has all the motivation he needs.

As they say about Chuck Norris, he doesn't sleep; he waits.

Mike Hall ain't waiting for a thing

Calling on locals down route to get on Trackleaders.com to find out when they're coming through, get your cameras out, and post, post post!

Ever more reason to go stealth. Surprised more riders don't shut their SPOT's off with all this 'spot-stalking'.

I was curious where a safe place to park might be for my van while out on course. Mulling over participation and want to evaluate all the details. Thanks in advance, Jeff Taylor.

At the starting line. There is good camping there too. Racers all leave their vehicles there while out on course.

Has anybody found that putting a cue sheet together helps with navigation, or is this strictly a navigate-by-gps route?  I generally have my gps put away and only pull it out when I think I'm lost (or I know I'm lost...)

I wouldn't bother - I made cues last year and all they did was confuse me, since the mileages didn't match up once I got out on the course.

Be prepared to get lost out there  Just remember, when lost backtrack to where you remember being (don't do what I did, and assume you can bushwhack across to where you THINK the trail is)

I'll never ditch my backpack.

I don't know why everyone seems to think that if you don't wear a backpack you are somehow a better, more experienced bikepacker.

I feel naked without one on multi-day trips. Plus, if something goes wrong...it'll be awfully nice to have that pack to carry out your gear.

EDIT: sorry for the digression (I was just noticing the second topic of discussion in the above meetup)

This was a good group this year.

Race date is already set for next year: April 7, 2017.

Thank you Scott, good to finally meet you.

I must say that as a rookie this year and with the perspective of almost a month now since I finished, the AZTR is sinking deeply into my blood and leaving lasting memories and fleeting emotions that randomly grab me throughout the day. Like when Maurizio Doro finally caught back up to me at 2am near the American Flag trailhead when I thought he was ahead, and I had crashed earlier in the night on Oracle Ridge and had a nasty cut and bruise on my left palm. I was in that deep, dark place inside my head and all of a sudden there was his light behind me, and his big Italian smile...hardly ever been so happy to see anyone in my life! 

Really loved my AZTR experience this year.

really most concerned about water at this point.
MW

I had capacity for 3.5L - I filled up at the spigot at Te-Ah campground, Tod's Store, the spring at Mill Creek, the Tropic Spring spigot, then ran a bit dry until the piped spring on the way to Panguitch Lake (I did get some sodas at the vending machines near Harold's Place - everything was closed when I rolled through). That was it. I probably should have carried one more bottle to make it 4L. You could plan on more water at the Panguitch lake services, but I rolled through at 1am or something.

Does anyone know if this is indeed the case and if it is available yet and I just might be missing it somewhere?? Lots of great information on these pages. I'm already getting excited.

According to Toby's blog (last edited April 26, 2016) he'll be posting an updated version - and since his GPX has been the 'official' file, I would just keep checking back.

I did it on a HT, but not rigid. There is some rough shit out there!

I don't remember any rigids from last year, but there were some fattys