She's still rolling. I'm always so impressed and amazed by riders who do this so far away from the group start - you just know traffic is going to be so much lighter and I think the mental strength required to continue to move forward is admirable.

Besides the crazy fast out there, there are some amazing efforts being put out on the other end of the spectrum. Ben Fino-radin on an ITT of the 750 is going pull the plug at picketpost. He was riding with Clayton who is not on the official tracking list - but did participate in the group start - after they met up in Oracle They actually just arrived at PP a few minutes ago. That's some serious resolve to get it done.

I've done the event a few times and its awesome.  I've never experienced anyone stashing stuff for themselves or having drop offs while riding.  Scott has done a phenomenal job with his vision for this ride and tons of hard work to put it together.  Sometimes its hot in the desert sections and the water available is necessary.  If not I think it wouldn't be there.

Much gratitude for this event and the experiences within it!

I'm not a bikepacking vet by any means, though I was able to complete the 300 last year, and I agree with the above. I will say that the rules even before the recent additions/clarifications were always clear to me even if not "black and white". Rider limit was always clear as well. It was even mentioned in this thread multiple times. Without going back to find it, I'm pretty sure it was even mentioned that waiting till the last week or two to sign up for the tracker might lead to disappointment.

I don't think anyone can say anything that would make the rules more clear than they already are. Just my opinion.

I also would like to extend my gratitude for those who work so hard to make this event possible. It's way up there in my list of cool things I've done, and I think we can all agree that the preservation of the race should be paramount to all those who decide to participate in it.

Assuming I'll be the last one of 70-ish riders through this area, I would presume that the Freeman cache will be ransacked by then. What are the options for water, other than carrying 8 liters?

I loaded up on water at beehive well prior to freeman cache. Meaning I sat there and hydrated in addition to taking on 120oz of water. My intention was not to touch the cache at Freeman, but I did end up taking maybe 10-15oz anyway. Even without that, I would have made it to the tap at the ADOT yard in Kelvin. YMMV.

That said, I wouldn't count on anything outside of well established sources (stores/known spiggots) this year. It has been so freaking dry. It's more than possible to do the route without touching any of the caches. I recommend reading some ride reports (follow the hyperlinks on the AZTR results page). This will be valuable intel - and it's best to research this yourself IMO. If you're not sure, carry much more than you need. I had capacity for 240 oz but never ended up with more than 160. I'm a Phoenix native though and trained in the heat. I was commuting twice a week (including our brutal summer) with a commute round trip of 50-60 miles. Best of luck

AZTR rookie question.  Is there a list of the best/ closest bike stores along the route?  I like to put waypoints in my GPS in case some repairs or parts are needed during the ride.  I am researching it now, but thought I would ask to save some time if it's been discussed already.

If you are talking about the 300... just hope that your bike part needs become apparent near Tucson because that's going to be your only real source of anything. I don't have specific recommendations for a shop there, but some quick google map searches will get you your info. 750 is a different story so I'll let those vets chime in.

The only thing that has ever bothered me was a skunk - I had food in my pack on the ground close to my sleeping location. My fault for being to lazy after finishing up the Molino HAB and subsequent descent into the campground there at about 1AM to properly store my food away.

I rode flats too for the 750 and am now exclusively on them. AZT is one of my local shreds, Salomon X-Ultra hiking shoes work for me. I used those shoes for the 300 last year, Stagecoach400, CTR and all my local rides. Still rocking the same pair with not a ton of wear showing.

I used these shoes for my 300 voyage last year per the recommendation from schillingsworth. I highly recommend them as well. I was using five tens prior, and did many big rides with them. They are fine for hiking, they were just too bulky for me and I wanted to try something different.

The Salomon's are very durable. They got me through the 300 plus a ton of hiking/biking miles since. They are my main shoe for both activities. There is some wear, but plenty of life left. The five tens would have been toast.

Is there a good source out there for paper maps of the route?  I found these maps at http://www.aztrail.org/topo_maps/topo_maps.php.  I am assuming the trail at the ATA is basically the same as the race route...at least enough to see where resupply and water sources are.  Are they worth the cost or is there a free option out there?

My suggestion would be to go to the results page and click on all the linked blogs that are in there. Read, and read. In conjunction with this, download the .gpx then evaluate it in Topofusion or whatever. Try to tie in the blog stories with the actual gpx/map. I did join the ATA for their resources, mainly to support an amazing organization. You should as well. But nearly everything I received from them I was able to figure out through the vast amount of knowledge available here and in the race report blogs. Best of luck!

...March 29 would be the other idea, somewhat unprecedented, but also Easter weekend and sweet timing with the full moon. Heat was the biggest cause of the scratch rate this year even on the 7th, which suggests we move earlier.  We're about due for another snow year!

Thoughts?

I know you know this Scott, but picking a window based on hopeful weather purposes just seems like a complete waste of time IMO. In fact I believe an earlier start this year would have given the field even hotter temps iirc. I know there was an early ITT that dealt with temps approaching triple digits (if not actually reaching them), but I can't remember if that was a week prior or two weeks. Either way, it seems like you are either gonna get snow, or get crushed by heat. That's just spring in AZ.

I think the earlier start day is for sure a good idea, especially for us slower riders. I think it makes it a bit easier to get time off from work. For us in the 4 day range, it gives us the ability to finish on the weekend instead of monday or tuesday which might make time off requests easier for some folks who might have problems taking chunks of time off on two consecutive work weeks.

Any word from Gabriel? He's been at Chalet Village in Oracle since last night. There's a nice weather window for the desert crossing, might want to take advantage of it.

He pinged again this a few hours ago from same location... hope he's OK and maybe just waiting for extraction if he has pulled the plug.

Here's my 300 ride report:

http://mikeybikesit.blogspot.com/2017/04/arizona-trail-race-300-race-report.html

Awesome, thanks!

If we do detour, I'll have a GPX, and also a computer at Parker Lake if anyone wants to upload it.

So Scott if the decision is made to detour, is the track provided by evdog (thanks!!) going to be it? I'd like to get it loaded here before I leave if that is the case. Thanks!

Holy smokes it was hot out there this weekend!  What a damanding and RUGGED course!

Way to go man! Really enjoyed stalking your dot in anticipation of doing this in a couple of weeks. Congrats!

Hopefully the attachment works...

Yep, used that tap on the ADOT yard fence a few weeks ago. Even some signs to point the way, and a small tree to get out of the sun...

http://mikeybikesit.blogspot.com/2016/11/bradshaw-bender-backroad-to-crown-king.html

I am going to look into the ITT since the weekend of 14-17 is Easter weekend and I can only imagine how super crazy Redington will be on the long weekend.

The 2017 edition of the race starts on April 7 FYI. Not trying dissuade you from an ITT, just letting you know the correct start date...

I'm lining up for the first time this year as well. The only thing I can do is point you to a starting place. http://topofusion.com/azt/results.php

Click on the linked names in the results. This will take you to blog entries for that persons race for the people who do that kind of thing. It will start you down the rabbit hole. Also if you search here for "AZTR planning" you will find multiple threads for the past years.

Hi Scott this will be my first attempt at the 300 and after reading tons of blogs and knowing of at least one (Ray H) who had his race ended due to an incident not to mention lots of other "interesting" encounters I would think a Thurs (or Wed ) start date would we really helpful. I'm in PHX so don't have to worry about already booked flights. Seems like a solution has been talked about/needed for years now... either re-routing or re-schedule. I like the idea of a re-schedule instead of finding a re-route.

Take care.