Yeah, you said it Chad. This course is worlds harder than the route the first time I raced it in 2009. The only thing that's gotten faster is Oracle Ridge, believe it or not!

Lots of finishers last night! Brad K and Matt F had a big day, pushing all the way to Apache Junction.

Scott is continuing to have an awesome ride! It looks like he made it through the tough hours of the night with a couple stops to nap. He's still looking to have a noonish finishing time if he can make it through the tough sections along/above the Gila at a strong pace.

Thanks, Ian!

From Summerhaven to Picketpost is nearly entirely singletrack now, and there's a lot of very slow and very challenging trail in there, so that's one of the reasons that 100 miles takes so dang long compared to the first 200. The last 50 are particularly tough...the most demanding section of the entire AZT300 route in my opinion. Scott is still looking strong, so hopefully he can get some sleep and keep up this pace for the last leg. Even Jefe slept around an hour each night when he set a new record a couple years back. But I think a sub-2-day time is out of the question. Scott would have to pick up his pace a bit as the trail becomes more difficult to make that happen. He should be able to make it in by noon, though, if he doesn't crack!

Tim, thank you, and Fritz, for your continuing work on Oracle Ridge! I followed your tracks in the snow down, marveling at how I didn't take a single branch to the face. The trail is worlds different from 3 or 4 years ago...now it at least looks like a trail in most places.

Kurt S is hunting for a bike shop it looks like. There's not another one on route until Flag unless something opened up in Payson, so that's a smart move if he's got anything at all wrong.

Anyone heard anything from Fred W? He's out there sans SPOT.

Scott is still pushing a solid pace! He should be able to easily gain 2 hours on my time by not having to warm up in Summerhaven, and then a couple more descending Oracle Ridge in better conditions. That'll should give him quite a cushion to work with if he can continue at his current pace. This'll be fun to watch...but I hope his knee holds up!

Hey all...back home, fed, showered, and now icing my knees. That was quite the adventure...a bit more so than I would have liked with that storm. I rolled into the Picketpost TH lot at 4:53 and found John Schilling there with camera in hand and a cold chocolate milk a few steps away in a cooler. Very awesome. I was completely spent after pushing as hard as I could starting from the base of climb away from the Gila.

Lemmon had 4-5" of fresh snow for the last few miles into Summerhaven, it was 24 degrees, and the winds were gusting to at least 40 mph. By then, my bike was covered in ice, my rain gear was frozen inside and out, my "waterproof" gloves were sopping wet, and I wasn't in a very good place at all. The folks at the general store got me warm, fed, and caffeinated, so I headed out. My jaw dropped at my first glimpse of Oracle Ridge...snow down to 5000 or 5500' below. That's 3000+ vertical feet of snow...a lot of walking followed! The storm of the 2009 race was far weaker.

One of my goals for the race this year was to try to finish the experiment that I started last year before I crashed out. I was curious about how likely it is that someone could do the 300 without sleep. By 35 hours in, a bit north of Oracle, I was dying (hence my very slow speeds). The new gasline reroute trail through there is also nearly impossible to follow in the dark, even with a third light that I brought specifically for that section. I was able to stay awake, but I couldn't pedal up anything. Eventually, I stopped and slept for 45 minutes. When I awoke, everything had tightened up and I felt far worse. I made it a few more miles before deciding that Picketpost was going to be impossible to reach if I couldn't even get around Antelope Peak. It seemed like it was about time to bail, so I called Caroline and told her that I'd probably be sending a SPOT help request from Freeman Rd in the morning. She essentially came back with something along the lines of "why don't you just sleep for a few hours, stupid!?" So I did. It was easier than trying to continue. And when I got up 3 and a half hours later, I felt strong again.

The Boulders segment was fun as usual, Ripsey was tacky and spectacular, and then the new White Canyon and Gila Canyons sections completely blew my mind. I think the Ripsey-White Canyon-Gila Canyons-Picketpost section is the most impressive singletrack I've ridden anywhere. Period. It's rugged, remote, beautiful, and tough! Check it out if you haven't been out there!

Alrighty, time for some much needed sleep. Thanks for all the congrats...it feels good to be done! Now I get to watch all the dots, too!

And even with "appropriate" gear, I was still really cold on top of Lemmon. I've been steadily adding clothes to my pile of gear to pack over the past couple days as the forecast changes, and it looks like if anything, the NWS is going to drop the predicted highs for Saturday a few degrees more. Today I spent 90 minutes riding in 45 degrees and rain on my way to work and was reminded how quickly you can get really cold in that stuff...time to add a few more items to the pile.

Take Scott's advice to heart...the desert can be a surprisingly cold place even in April!

For an event that is all about self reliance and personal integrity, isn’t the reliance on Mr. Lee somewhat counter to the spirit of the event?

To those suggesting that an event of this magnitude could survive on its own without someone at the helm:

- Who will make decisions on the TD route as the GDMBR evolves?

- Who will work with route locals to get out and scout conditions on the course, scout potential detours, etc.?

- Who will make modifications to the route as conditions require detours either before or during the event? Mid-event detours were required each of the past two years due to both flooding and USFS district closures.

- Who will make decisions on results and relegations? I know that Matthew was quite frustrated trying to deal with results after the 2011 race because of so many instances and reports of riders breaking the rules...missed/skipped sections of the course, drafting, something involving a vehicle...

- Who will make decisions on what the rules should be? If you don't understand the challenges of this, take some time to peruse (not skim...peruse!) the discussions of self-supported ultra race rules that have taken place on this forum over the past few years. No one sees eye to eye on this. No one. How would any editing of these rules on the Wiki by those who don't agree be prevented?

These are not decisions that can be made by a community effort. It's impossible to reach any sort of consensus in this setting, especially mid-race when unexpected situations arise and require a quick response. Successful grassroots organizations require some sort of leadership, whether it's one or a few individuals. TD currently has a handful of individuals (TD alumni) that act as a steering committee of sorts (and for the record, I am not at all involved in this committee). When the race date gets nearer, they'll post any necessary rule or route changes, as they have for the past few years. It's worked out fine in past years, and no one that's raced the TD has really had any problems with this, as far as I'm aware.

Give the race a go. I think you'll see how your concerns pale in comparison to the experience and simplicity of the adventure. Then if you still have problems, give Matthew a call and have a discussion about it.

What more do you need? The website has the rules, the route details, and the start date. That's just as much as the web pages for most of the other self-supported mountain bike ultras have. The results aren't up from last year, but I'm not sure that warrants trying to steal away control of the event from someone. That is, unless you want to recreate the politics and confusion of the GDR-TD scuffle all over again (and tourdivide.com has no affiliation with the race whatsoever). Grassroots events require someone, or a small group, at the helm to make decisions. Decision making by a loosely-knit forum community simply will not work. The important decisions have already been made, so all you have to do is show up, follow the route and rules, and keep pedaling. It's as easy as that.

Yup, from what I've heard from a few people that have ridden it in the past couple weeks, it's definitely not the types of riding one might envision for "a great shakedown for Tour Divide racers" as the website touts. That being said, it sounds like a pretty spectacular 400-mile loop! Nice work getting all that linked together, Brendan et al. I'll have to get out and ride it before too long...

He heated up and fed DH a plate of left over fried chicken too! . . . Then he moved on to all the things you can kill and eat in the desert and after each animal was described he told us they tasted like chicken.

So do you think Dave really was eating leftover fried chicken? ;-)

The cache is ~12 miles back Freeman Rd (good dirt road) from the highway. If it's well stocked, I'll leave it be.

Is Oracle SP officially open again?

I have finished two TDR's on small block eights - first year no flats - last year about 8 and a sidewall blow out hitting the black top into Del Norte--this year riding either cross marks or Maxxis Aspens---fast rolling rammed and a bit stiffer side wall then small blocks--BTY the nano raptors are not the same now that they are made elsewhere than a few years ago--most folks comlain that they too blow side walls too easy. You need something that rolls fast and holds up-nothing bigger than 2.2 --nothing techncal enough to lug a heavy tire for 2700 miles

That's good advice. For most riders, Small Blocks are too fragile due to their paper thin casing. And no, the Nanos are not what they used to be, and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone for TD riding at this point. Most Racing Ralph models use an incredibly soft compound that probably wouldn't even last through Montana. I think they offer an inexpensive version that's a more durable compound, but all the models with the Snakeskin protection are quite soft.

My advice would be unless you're shooting for some sort of record/PR, take the hit of an extra couple hundred grams on each tire and get something that's good and durable. Saving a bit of weight is not worth the possible hassle and time lost due to dealing with strings of punctures and sliced sidewalls.

Thanks for that recon, Tim! I have one additional bit of info that may be of help. Saguaro National Monument has removed their water bottle vending machine from outside the visitors center and replaced it with a water bottle filling station (fancy water fountain?) that's available all the time. The bad news? They also removed the soda machine!

Anyone know what's in stock at the Freeman Rd cache? I'll be driving past there on 79 on Thursday and might have time to swing out there and add some gallons if need be.

You'd probably spend most of your time fixing flats.

Deanna essentially raced the length of the TD route on a fixed-gear cross bike in 2009, and like Fixie Dave, she experienced a LOT of flats along the way. If you're going to go with skinny CX tires, tubeless with would probably be the way to go. And use as many wraps of cork tape around your bars as possible to minimized hand damage!

I still can't get the idea of doing it on a tandem semi-recumbent out of my head, but would need a co-rider to do that. Curious have any of the Fat Bikes (pugsley type) done well in the event yet. I wonder if being able to ride through snow and sand would help them v.s weight penalty? Is there a tandem record? To many ideas not enough races.

Man, a fat bike would be a HUGE waste of energy on this route. It's essentially a road race with some rough stuff, a touch of singletrack, and a few miles of snow thrown in here and there. There's no point in pushing an extra few pounds of weight and a lot of extra resistance, much less risking some major knee damage with such a wide BB. There's about 1000' of sand on the course, and the snow typically accounts for a few hours of the race. Sure you could probably save a bit of time in those short snow sections, but you'd lose far more elsewhere.

Nah, no 750 for me this year. The memories of the pain from a couple years ago are still too vivid. I'll let that one rest for another year or three.

It's far and away easiest to navigate by GPS. The AZT is relatively well signed in many areas, but not all, and the detours are not signed at all, obviously. But make sure you have a back-up plan in case your GPS dies, you crash and lose it, accidentally delete the track...all these things have happened to riders I know!

or are there only 630ish miles?

Don't question it...you'll be longing for the Utah border by the time you're only half way across Arizona ;-)

Ah, rules. The ultra debate that never ends. Friends/family coming out and saying hello/cheering really doesn't do much more than slow someone down as they stop to chat, tell stories, etc. There is that unquantifiable "mental boost" variable, though, which for some people, can make a huge difference. In my opinion, if someone you know wants to come out and see what the heck you're doing and cheer, by all means, let them do so as long as they do nothing more than that. I wish that the TD rules allowed that, but there's a reasonable rationale for both sides of the argument.

Spot stalkers are a whole other debate...