Alright getting deeper into this thread and previous threads and such.

Is the gpx file  "TourDivide2012_v2.gpx"  (or file "TourDivide2012_v2_10k.gpx" pre-simplified to 10k points) at www.topofusion.com the file being used for 2014?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the barrage.

Thanks Tanner.

So TD Vets, do I need the map set, or can I get by backup navigating and water/food stop finding with just the narratives and a cyclometer?
I know I can follow the track, but with just the narrative can I plan water?
I am willing to buy the maps this weekend and the narratives, just wondering what my best plan is according to what you guys have done before.

WOW!!!!
Thats just the best news ever!

I for one would be willing to line up next year for a race like that. Brilliant!!!

Scott and Eszter you rule!!

I want to watch via trackleaders please.

I will help you anyway I can. I have been dreaming up my own route since 08, when you and Mike posted your trips. A few people have messaged me about it. I have looked at each state and found ways around each wilderness and the 2 or 3 wilderness study areas on the route. Plus the detours around off limits sections such as greys-torreys. Some areas I used the GDMBR to detour around wilderness or national parks.

I want to ride it bad. 2015 maybe? A race someday? I dunno but thats the ultimate goal IMO. I would join you Scott for a run to get that original track. I always hoped you would come out and champion the cause as I dont have the skills to topufusion up the route like you do. I just have my route kind of nailed down by memory now.

Good luck with this I will help anyway I can.

Mark

Congrats Jill!! After how we both felt night 1 you must be super stoked to have held it all together. I was like near death and you seemed worse off than me!!!!

Very impressive. Tough. Resilient. Brilliant. I could say more.

Welcome to the 2-timers club.

Well I know this is really late and I am probably crazy, but I am in for 2014 and going for the Triple Crown!!! Today is my birthday so I decided I am going big this year.

So I guess if anyone wants to help this TD newb figure out how to do this and get there and such, I am down for any advice tips tidbits etc.

Like for starters anyone want another to join in for a ride to Banff from Colorado?

Is it possible to do this with the track only and some basic notes, or will I be lost without cue sheets/ACA maps?

If I cant figure out logistics to Banff, I am just going to Northbound it.

Thanks in advance
Mark Caminiti
720-635-7429

So is it easier to have a car at the border to get home after the race? Well maybe if you are thinking clearly, which I guess I was not.

I finished at 1015pm and although I thought I felt good, I didnt want to make any calls, took some lame pix in the dark, loaded my bike and off I went towards Kanab. I had cookies and soda from Jacob Lake and figured I would go get a motel room.

10 minutes later I was hallucinating rocks in the road "standing up" and moving. Then I almost drove off the edge of the road. I got to the end of the road at the highway and slept till 8 am. I then took 16 hrs to drive the 9 hours home. I had trouble driving.

Driving yourself home should be its own event. Friggin tough!

4th finish was the best yet
Made it thru final push with no problems
Well body gave out before north rim- but I figured that would happen so I was ready with better plan. Overnight worked better I like staying up all night now.

What a great year for Azt 750
I am gonna beat 11 days next year for sure
I am just warming up:)

Heading to rim to throw down
Going for straight push
I got it in me - I feel it big time right now

In flag
Crushed
No chance of moving till sleep
Maybe a midnight ride?
I am gonna rest and see

Flagstaff is nuts today !
Ppl All over

On the highline trail
750 is just so amazing weds can't describe the feeling
Pure bliss while in the pain cave

Caroline went back to get more food I think
Good luck to her

Go mike p
Aaron d with the itt speed!!! Nice

Having a blast
25 hrs straight
Now at it again

Staring up at ripesy
Hoping for late finish to 300 tonight
Living large out here
The best times

315 am
Sonoita
Canelos crushed me. Was good until 3 miles out and crumbled quick, nearly passing out many times
Hotel in Patagonia
Late night ride has me a little better eating a but now

Gonna take it easy try to work my way back into it

I saw Jill she is crushed too it seems
But moving

I am here in Sierra vista with Aaron Denberg.
I am soooooo excited I can't sleep yet.
Good luck to all. Azt750 for a fourth time !!!!!
It's unbelievable !!!! I am blessed.

Thanks to Leila for this - I owe u big time.

I think I do remember her in Pine in one holed up with bad feet. But mostly I was referring to Marshal, who got 2 in a row with excellent timing on his part.

I tried to hotel it at that point myself but never could make them. I think the point was Les that sleep deprivation can jack one up.

Chris I read Toby's blog and his blurb on sleep deprivation does not disrespect you in any way.


From Toby:

Sleep deprivation. If humans don’t get enough sleep, we go crazy. First our reflexes slow and our reasoning skills lessen. Crashes become more common, and mental exercises such calculating mileage get tricky. Then we start to hallucinate. I've seen monsters in the darkness, even though I knew they weren't real.  Finally, we become delusional. The monsters aren't imaginary anymore, or so our sleep-deprived brains tell us. That’s when things get really scary. One racer in 2012 went bat-shit crazy, abandoning his equipment and flipping out only a few miles from the finish. If another racer hadn't come along and escorted him to civilization, bad things might have happened. But some degree of sleep deprivation is required if you intend to be competitive (it is a race), so knowing your limits is crucial. For me, hitting the hallucination phase is the point when I know that I need sleep within a few hours. That doesn't necessarily mean six hours of full-on beddy-time, but usually at least a fifteen-minute catnap. Learn what works best for you, and then remind yourself where to draw the line--before you get there.

Is there more I am missing?
If not that is some good advice IMO. We have all been there in the CTR at least once (two or 3 for me). I have done it in the AZT750 as well at least 2x. Not a Chris level experience but close enough to scare me bad.

I will tell you one of them.

AZT750. 2012. Late April. I was in Pine, AZ and I had only slept 2 hrs in the last 48. I was trying the catch Marshal Bird and Jill Hueckman. I was right on their asses. But I was running on fumes and they were sleeping in hotels basically. I would catch Marshal after an all night run and he would get way ahead. Well after a few days of this I lost my mind on the Highline Trail. I got to a spring about 3 miles in at dusk and got lost trying to follow the trail past the spring. I walked around for 45 minutes and then went into freak mode. Lost it completely. Called my girlfriend and then freaked out on her. Big time. Her friend was with her and was so scared she almost called search and rescue. I was nuts basically.

So it gets a little darker and I turn on my headlamp. A blaze lights up on a tree 40 yards away to the east-southeast (I had been searching east-northeast). The trail went a wonky way around the spring. I found the blaze after a little hike. And I realized I was in huge trouble mentally. I had lost my camera somewhere before. Then I lost my mind.

I slept and tried to move the next morning like nothing had happened. Well I was still goofy. I got a flat on a rare rideable section of the Highline. I flipped out again. After a 1 hr nightmare I was so mad I put the rear wheel on, didnt chain the cassette properly and ripped my derailleur cage in half cranking the wrong gear all pissed off about the flat.

Well I was really screwed then. I had to ride 20X34 granny gear Singlespeed for 2 days to get 90 miles to Flagstaff to fix my bike. I destroyed my achilles to do it. I finished the race but it took 2 extra days and I was ruined afterwards.

All because I didnt sleep. Had I got just a couple more hours none of the above probably would have happened.


So Chris I dont think Toby is dissing you. We all been there. It sucks.

AZT hikers have been updating the Fred G. water table.

http://www.fredgaudetphotography.com/aztrail/watercurrent.pdf

Well I just wanted to tell u the Gold Canyon singletrack is good but out of the way. The Jacobs stuff is lame for this race, but a shortcut to Lost Dutchman essentially. It would suck South to North as much as the way I went in October (sandy climb a walk in the sun). It seems to me upon map looking though that one could almost bypass the early paved section of Apache Trail by doing easy neighborhood roads near the jacobs crosscut trail? You know East of the paved Apache Trail Highway to Lost Dutchman? It looks like all the neighborhoods connect. Look at S and N Geronimo Rd. They almost connect it seems- or maybe use Mr Schillingsworths neighborhood connector to the last part of Jacobs in that neighborhood?

edit- Off 32 and Apache Trail to the east- one can see that with a few dirt connectors one can ride from gold canyon to lost dutchman in the neighborhoods. One couldnt drive it- but a bike looks like it could connect the pavement with little dirt social connectors. That would save 4-5 miles on busy highway with small shoulder. mtn view to right n arroyo seco to e lost dutchman to n val vista gets you right to lost dutchman- saves 3ish miles or so.

Also, given that I may not be back 'in pocket' until just before the race, I'm going to say the 2013 course is the 2014 course.  There will probably be a new file just before start date, but anything changed/added will be optional.

What changes are you considering in the 750? It has to be stuff between Picketpost and Payson right?  Dirt route off paved highway to Gold canyon to Jacobs crosscut? Stuff near Roosevelt? More dirt roads traded for pave? Better approach to Payson? How about some clues to let us do some map looking and such.