Here’s a blog entry from the first couple days when we were out on our SOBO. Nothing crazy, and you know we scratched, but read if you’re interested. Just some kids from PA in way over our heads!

https://www.leehanyo.com/blog/az-trail-part-i-my-friend-jacob

One hell of a write up!

  

Trail outside of the park is some of the best stuff in season. The stuff in the park is a lot of utility cut fall line.

Not sure what to make of it. I had thought we might see AD get shut down. Once he was through I assumed all was well. Obviously many made it with out issues.

we were passed by a park ranger right after we hopped the gate into the park, and by a few while we were on the road inside the park and they just waved, nobody slowed down or batted an eye at us.

No mud yesterday but that section has been pockmarked by cattle when it was last wet. It was like riding a jackhammer but at least we could ride it.

that section with the holes took the life out of me for a short time, had to take a decent break at government reservoir after riding SOBO through that lol

Ha no drone for me.

Kurt's in the Buckskin that's mostly reasonable trail as I recall.

he should be good to go, he’s through the cattle post hole section and it’s mosly trending downhill from there. Trail was in great shape when we came through last Friday. There’s a water cache on the other side of the forest road past the buckskin sign from a hiker that already passed through in March, there’s four huge water jugs there.

Hanging out with some buddies in Flag tonight, their new roommate is Daniel Dunn who did the 300 on the Surly Krampus! Small world.

Whoa - that was good for a morning laugh.  Thanks for that!

im walking like I have a stick up my ass and slept for 10 straight hours lol

We’re obviously out of the race - but just topped out on the canyon crossing.

Never again!!

Lee, looks like you got a ways up the hill and decided against it.  

Your last note said it all - I encourage you to re-read Mr. Schilling's 750 blog: if you're not all in you're not gonna finish.  Hell, for that matter, I need to re-read it as well.

Your last note pretty much looked like you had significant doubts.  

Next time!

We gave it a decent go! The winds were strong and some storms were rolling in. Felt pretty good today, the knee is feeling better. I agree with you about what John said, if you’re not 100% in then you won’t finish. We’re going to ride to the canyon early tomorrow and go for the crossing though and then turn our ride into a true tour, may road ride down to flagstaff and catch the trail again, or not. Not enough time off work to tackle the whole trail at this point since we’re way behind,, but we’re just gonna have some fun for the next week and then head home.

Truly appreciate all of the advice and help I’ve gotten from everyone on here the past couple of months. The bikepacking community is awesome. Going to get stronger and come back out at some point to give it a go again, but not this time!

Good luck to everyone still out there!

Neil - pure insanity! What an amazing ride.

We’re getting breakfast then getting on the highway. Gonna see how we feel on the ride in, if my knee isn’t jiving or my buddies cramps don’t go away we’ll probably end up riding back to Jacob lake and scratching. But we hope to keep going.

Hey, nothing personal intended.  Sarcasm - it's in my nature.    At least you're on route this year, and I'm wishing I were again, instead of sitting in my house.

ha, no problem dude. Hard to decipher over the internet. I’m proud of myself for even giving it an attempt, and also embarrassed at my current situation but it happens.

Unrelated - do you own / work for bedrock bags? I got a Tapeats about a month ago and it works awesome for my camera on my past couple rides. Great bag.

I get that.  Yeah, I saw when you'd posted that but somehow hadn't made the connection that you were going to get re-sorted there at JL.

Best of luck - hope you're able to continue.

thanks man. I’m human. And I dream big. Sometimes I get a little too far over my head. But I’m gonna try in the morning and if it’s not feeling right then I’ll probably have to scratch. I would definitely love to train a lot harder and come back out again regardless of what happens with this ride.

Ha ha!    It's the new generation of bikepackers - enabled by ever-increasing cell coverage and full-time tethered.  Hell, it's the new generation of outdoors people, period.  I can hardly go for a town trail ride any longer without hearing someone playing music on their phone (which, as a musician, drives me nuts on the sound quality alone, despite the other myriad reasons phones should reside, powered off, in frame bags, or at home).

But, I jest.  Sort of.  Maybe.

as much as I appreciate the cynical tone of this - yes we are at Jacob lake for the night

Mad respect for everyone that does this ride. We definitely came underprepared and I’m not too proud to admit that. I’ve injured this knee a few times in the past and I would hate to get stuck down in the canyon because of it, so I’m gonna sleep on it.

Brad Mattingly (Southbound)- 12:02:19 I don't think anyone but you has finished it. Seems like there have been fall ITT attempts but I don't see any record on http://topofusion.com/azt/results.php of any finishers ITT or otherwise. But I seem to remember one of the Aaron's, maybe more then one on more then one fall attempt, but no finishers that I know of.

didnt Jill Hueckman do it in like 14-16 days too?

What is the record time for Southbound 750s?  Danburg is flying.  Think he is gonna make a great run this year.  Amazing pace for the front runners.  I'm amazed at how little sleep I think they have and how long they can sustain the hammer pace.  Wow!!!

i think Mattingly did it in 11 days? I think he could have finished faster too but his ride couldn’t make it so he split his last push up into two days

Were at Jacob lake now.

Those first miles out of the start were brutal. About 8 miles in got bounced off the trail on a downhill and ran headfirst into a stump and went over the handlebars. Landed square on my back and then rolled like a rag doll five or six times down a little hill, gashing my knee pretty good in the process. One of my riding buddies is having really bad cramping in odd places on his thighs. We’ve been incredible slow.

The post-holes from the cattle up on top of the plateau between government reservoir and bucksin Gulch trailhead were pretty whack, super demoralizing riding for me on an otherwise flat and easy area.

Assessing the situation and going from there. Incredibly windy up here right now with black clouds. Aaron is crushing is, talked to him before he took off this morning and he barely had anything with him. Also said he mounts both of his tires in a triangle on his chest and puts his frame on his back. Epic!

https://imgur.com/gallery/jsB2t

We’re all loaded up and ready to go at it tomorrow morning!

Scott - SPOT tracker is working good now, no worries there. Hope everyone is doing well!

I don't remember seeing a registration deadline, rider limit(which I now see is 74)  

well.....



1.

Suspension is highly and strongly recommended, but not 100% necessary, either...

I just updated the race site with the suggested start date:

Thursday, April 5th, 2018

Looking at the replay last year, most people were over or to Redington by Saturday night, so a Thursday start should get the bulk of bikepackers through there before weekend craziness ensues.

Also new this year is a 75 rider limit.  That's combined in the 300+750.  75 is the limit from the US Forest Service for non-commercial events, but beyond that, we want to keep the overall impact on the trail, other users and towns within reason.

The way this will be enforced is on the tracker -- only 75 pink/blue dot registrations will be accepted.  After that, ITT will be the only option available, and it'll have be on a day other than Thursday April 5th.  Tracking registration will open, as in years past, 1 month before start.

2.

Registration is 2/3rds full.  Roughly 25 spots left.

3.

Part of the intent of the 74 person limit is to reduce the burden on the pubic caches.  There is a very high likelihood of 15 or more scratches before Freeman, so hopefully no more than 50-60 riders reach it.   What Kurt and others said about not relying completely on the caches (don't arrive dry!) or any water source is great advice, and we are relying on the honor system here, as with many other things with this race.

4.

I just closed tracking registration for the Grand Depart.  Event is full.

ITT option is still available, but ITT means a different day not a different start time on April 5th.  Please, no ITTs on the same day as the group start.

Thanks for the support and gratitude, folks.  Getting this thing off the ground has been more challenging than usual this year, for a number of reasons.  Inevitably a small number of people are going to be unhappy and are going to behave badly toward me and the race.  I've accepted this as a part of putting the race on, but it does still suck.

Sorry to hear that Scott. We'll do our best to keep things clean up north and updating everyone on trail conditions when we can. Super thankful for all you do and putting on this awesome event.

He's coming form the north the back country office on that side is still closed.

Hanyo66 have you tried to get a spot at Phantom Ranch? Not sure if they do last minute reservations on the phone or only in person at the south rim.

I did the ol' fax hokey pokey as recommended by the backcountry permit website to no avail. I'm going to call Phantom Ranch after I get off work today and see what they say. I'm expecting to have to bust this thing out in one long ass push.

I've been down to the Colorado via Bright Angel before, as well as hiked to Havasu Falls and down to the Colorado with ~35-45 pound pack (camera gear is heavy!) so I have experience in the canyon with weight. Only thing I'm on the fence about is the timing of it, which I'm gonna have to figure out on the fly at this point.