will it be decided before the start if we ride the road or trail on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon?
or is it up to the individual and just about everyone so far has chosen to ride the road for the AZTR

like the "otherthings" name

vinyl rocket bag is sandwiched between a light plastic half cylinder and the frame
whole unit bolts into downtube water bottle cage mounts
velcro along back and top side for access  (maybe zippers or metal snaps would be better)
checkerboard red and white band is elastic

holds a 1 Litre Bot plus windscreen/cook stand
just did 3 days of North Van trails with a full tank, including fast rocky downhills, wheelie drops and A frames and it doesn't move or rattle

start by cutting off a section at an angle
I should have cut more of angle though


cut a slit
I should have cut a "T" at first too



heat up to make easier to bend

and you have a 35 gram cathole digger for poop burying, also a tent peg

just dug this up
http://www.pinkbike.com/u/pheller/blog/working-a-job-is-more-difficult-than-your-bikepacking-epic.html
interesting!
too bad no one responded

spread your legs
and lean the bike over between your legs


(forgot to mention left foot goes on the ground and keep one foot on the right pedal as dream4rest added)

website looks inspiring
I'm interested in a BC Bikepack/Race Trail from the Rockies, through the Kootenays to Okanagan to Chilcotins to Squamish
I know many trails, but not a good way to link them.  In many cases there are fantastic trails just off the main highways and the Kettle Valley Railway, but a track of the route would look like a giant bean stock with little loops of every leaf along the way (not exactly a simple A to B route)

Water strategy?
After looking at the various water source lists and limiting myself to Level 4 or at best Level 3 dependable sources with no trail magic or caches
Looks like I will need to pack water for 50 miles at a time
1 Pack extra water from Parker Lake backwards to the border, use extra water before the start
2 top up at Parker Lake if it looks like a really hot day
3 Patagonia
4 Sonoita
5 Kentucky Camp (does water from the spigot need filtering/treatment?)
6 Colossal Caves
7 various stores along the way through Tucson
8 Summerhaven
9 Oracle
10 Mtn, Bloodsucker or Beehive tanks (by the time I get to Freeman Rd cache, it may have been cleaned out)
11 Kelvin Trailercourt (probably less time than filtering/treating Gila River water)
12 Possible trail magic at Picket Post, but otherwise the golf course on the way to Apache Junction
12 Various towns Apache Junction to Pine
13 Ranger station, off trail, on way to Mormon Lake
14 Mormon Lake
15 Flagstaff
16 once past the ski hill doesn't look like much in the way of dependable water sources until Tusayan (this is where I have the biggest questions)
17 lots of potable sources through Grand Canyon
18 Jacob Lake
19 Carry extra for finish (or beg)

It looks like I will need to only filter/treat at Mtn/BS/BH Tanks (and possible Kentucky Camp) and what ever might be available Flag to Tusayan?

ok I just downloaded the AZTR 750 into my Garmin Map GPS 60csx and I see little breaks between the individual tracks.
When navigating on the trail, do you have to manually scroll to the next track when you reach the end of the first track to get the second track to display?
Too bad I can only put 20 tracks into a 32Gb micro chip, because I would like to have tracks for Prescott, Black Canyon and routes around Phoenix and Tucson.  Is it best to get a second micro SD chip and just change back and forth?  My GPS has limited resolution, limited colors and no shading, so putting lots of high res base maps into the unit is not productive and as someone said in the Tour Devide thread to not display basemaps to avoid clutter and confusion on the trail.  I still think having some kind of basemap would help for when leaving the route to resupply

what is the best type of zipper for dried mud?
for use of frame and top tube bags, no curves

website says SMALLBIZ has expired

does that mean if I don't follow his route, I will pass several guys with fully automatics?

plan to fly to Phoenix Easter weekend and bike from the airport up to Prescot and do the Monstercross, then bike back to Phoenix/Apache Junction and ride AZT southbound to Oracle then base out of Tucson until AZTR
what advice do you have to ride from Sky Harbour Airport to the Black Canyon Trail, then back across Phoenix and avoid 4x4s and drunks with guns?

YEAH!!! GO FOR IT

Any way a few months back there was some age group and male vs female record time discussion
For some running races they have a calculation and award for how racers finish based on the world record times for each age group,. The age group racer that finishes closest (or beats) the predicted world record for their age gets a medal, and all age group racers can compare to each other (not that there are any medals for most ultra races, but you still want to be part of a race)
55 year old male  record time is ~1.15x current overall world record and 15 year old female is ~1.15x current overall world record (forgot race distance)
the point is, if you do some research on Clydesdale race results (many xc mtn bike races used to have that category, I don't know about running, but you might find something) you can come up with a number that would indicate a competitive race time
For example, if Clydesdale winners are typically 1.5 times the pro/elite winners finishing time for an xc race over primarily gravel roads and trails (I just made up that number based on the Test of Metal, you will still have to do the research). You can use that number for your own goal/motivation (21 days [14x1.5] would be considered world record worthy and 42 days [28x1.5] would still be competitive)

There are various stories about formulas for running, you would have to make your own for biking and weight category
here are some links
http://fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/aging/nyt1.pdf
http://www.runscore.com/Alan/AgeGrade.html

how long do lithium batteries in a Spot Gen3 last?

is there a car rental agent in Kanab where you pick up in Kanab and drop off at the Las Vegas airport?

is there an equivalent of the Banff YMCA for a pre race meeting and socializing area?

just moving this thread up from the back pages for my own convenience
so if there are no more comments/replies/trolls, this thread should quickly move down to the middle of the first page

Actually asking about two things
1 touring to the start of the race
2 racing (and mail the tablet/phone and camera home)

For touring I don't need an actual voice phone since I will communicate nearly 100% by email (and maybe send some postcards)
For racing my current limitation is battery life for my headlight (suppose its cheaper to buy a different headlight with replaceable batteries than to get solar charger or generator hub).  What about auxiliary battery pack to fit Night Rider light?
What about using the smaller track your stolen stuff Spot with a small dumb cell phone vs the larger Spot 3? maybe stolen stuff tracker/dumb phone is lighter than Spot 3?