Looks like Max is asleep at Cottonwood Camp right now, with a time from the Rim to there of about 12 hours, arriving around 7.30pm (starting to get dark?) last night. Good luck for the final push up and then the ride down to the border!

The issue with permits is that the AZT700 route takes you only through 'corridor' type zones of the canyon on the South and North Kaibab trails, where camping is only permitted at certain campgrounds (Bright Angel near the river at the bottom, Cottonwood halfway up the North Rim). Alternatives would be to get a place at Phantom Lodge with a bed, or a permit to camp 'at large' outside the corridor zone and go off and back on route again, but I think there are even less of those permits/places at Phantom Lodge than for the 'corridor zone' campsites. I'm not sure you could be told off for having a quick rest sat at the side of the trail, maybe with your eyes closed, while trying an 'all in one' effort, but as soon as you start to take out camping kit without a permit you're open to being ticked off...

Congrats to all the finishers, and good luck to Max for his continuing journey across AZ.

Scott - looking at the replay and the trackleaders tables, can you work out why Lyndas split for Patagonia is a whole hour faster than Kurts? She was behind him (only a little mind!) throughout that section on the dot video.

Lol at Kurts list, I think I ticked off all of those last year (including multiple tyre/tube issues, but excluding GPS - and I had a spare!) other than crashes! Can I add mild hypothermia too?

I also initially thought Kurt was suggesting taking a laptop when he said computer! Do we know if anyone has tried with just the cues and a bike computer, I imagine that it's easier on i.e. the Tour Divide than it is for the AZT.

Congrats to Lynda! And Brad too - a faster time with a fair bit of bushwhacking.

Nick - thanks for the further info, by the looks of the speed Jamil is making, maybe we could learn things from him (especially me!).

Yuri - nice write up and nicer pics!

Max is about 2 miles behind Eric, who stopped a little later, further down the trail, and so overtook him. Eric seems to have set off nice and early at 1.30am, maybe having spoken and ridden with Max, he knows his schedule and is making the jump to try to a) avoid the heat climbing through Box Canyon and up Orphan Boy, and b) to try to build enough of a lead over Max that he can stay out front to Picketpost!

Meanwhile Jamil is making great progress. I'm kind of amused by his report of feeling pretty down at Patagonia, I think half the field is in that state by there, it's a tough start to the race! The velvet elvis pizza place (or snacks and water from next door) and a little time in the shade usually do the trick nicely, perking you up for the next section.

Good luck to all those still out on the trail! The attrition rate this year has been crazy!

Hey Nick, thanks for the pic, hope Jamil's toe holds out. Jamil looks to be travelling really light - do you know what kit he has with him? As the winner of last years 'carrying the most gear for the AZT300/750' award, I'm interested in seeing how you would push the boat on foot being unable to just strap more and more to the bike!

Ian

ps - all these start pics are so funny, I only got to see the border and Parker Canyon Lake covered in snow! I was amused at Matt Fusco heading to the 750 start even though he was just doing the 300, purely to see what the border normally is like!

Yep, looks like Lynda went to half sleep rations, stopping for about 2 hours just before she reached the Gila for the second time. That allowed Brad to catch up to 15 or so miles behind, from about 30 behind when she stopped, but Lynda looks to be making very good progress again heading up towards Box Canyon.

I suspect she's not quite going to sneak in under the 3 days, with just under 2 hours to go, though the rest of the route is pretty much all ridable if you have superhuman strength, and I'm sure she'll enjoy the miles of singletrack to the finish after catching some sleep, however little. Go Lynda Go!

Ooops, I should say that this is the second glimpse of the Gila River for Lynda! She's already crossed it once at the new to the AZT crossing about 5 hours, before looping north of it and then heading west and south to reconnect before the start of the climb into Box Canyon and on to the finish... As has Brad. Still no point from Lynda for 2 hours now, Brad is only 20 miles behind her last known point now - have we got a race for first developing? (See above for reasons why we might have, no signal in the canyons or stealth mode activated!).

Oh yes, there is also the question of whether Lynda can sneak in under 3 days, a time reached by only 5 riders so far of the 43 or so that have made the startline for the AZT300 or ITTs over the years. While this course is substantially different, with Scott suggesting that the easier beginning is more than made up for by the section Lynda has just finished before reconnecting with the old course in Box Canyon, it seems that the overall times might not be too different. Or maybe Lynda is just superhuman (which we kinda already knew, but her current progress seems to just confirm that!).

And given my record as slowest ever finisher of the AZT300, I'm certainly not going to forget the other riders!

Matt Fusco is pushing through the night, having hit the wash at the end of the long straight gasline section about 4 hours ago, and if about the same distance behind Brad as Brad is behind Lynda.

Eric Lord had an early night and an early start, camping just past Oracle and setting off at around 3am. He's riding some sweet singletrack between cacti, but heading down into the desert and the long , straight, rolling gasline stretch (it's pretty fast as it's on average DH however).

Max Morris camped in Oracle, and set off at a similar time, around 3am. I guess these guys are trying to avoid the heat of the day as much as possible, especially for the run down through the desert. He's currently leading the AZT full meal deal, and closing in on Eric for the AZT300 (and if I recall correctly, an Eric set off from Parker Lake early - was it Eric Lord or Foster - so Max may be ahead on time and in 4th in the AZT300 standings).

Next up is Brad Mattingly, who's back in Summerhaven and hasn't moved according to his Spot for 11 hours now, after what looks like a detour on Oracle Ridge yesterday. Hopefully a nights rest and refueling will see him through for a good crack at the Oracle ridge section in the daylight, the altitude will certainly help with the temps.

Matt Ruscigno, our only other 'Full Meal Deal' taker, has been camped out at around 4000 feet between Reddington Road and the Mount Lemmon Highway, hopefully the cooler weather up there has let him have a good nights sleep ready for the climb up to the top and the push over Oracle Ridge. Again, staying high will help with the temps, but as he heads towards Oracle and then the desert things will warm up again.

The two JCs are a few blocks away from each other, one (JC Cullen) currently in my favourite position of the back of the AZT300 pack, and hopefully gathering the strength to push out of Tuscon and up Reddington Road. I'm not sure what hotel he is in, but I can recommend the recuperative powers of the eygyptian cotton sheets at the Hilton in Tuscon! I couldn't pedal any further towards the cheap motels on the other side of town when I arrived, having had both (mild) hypothermia and heatstroke the day before, and with a resting heartrate of well over 130 even after a night in a sleeping bag. 6 hours in a king size bed and I was up and raring to go again!

Our other JC should be setting off towards the startline, and will be the only racer literally toeing the line. I hope his running shoes offer better protection against the rocks that seem to have claimed a few sidewall victims this year, and the cacti that have done similar, both problems I experienced last year.

Anyway, good luck to all, it's fun vicariously experiencing the bits I know from last year, and wondering about the new bits and whether I'll get a chance to see them on an ITT later this year.

Ian

So, it's nearly 4.30am AZ time, but I'm using the 'euro late night Spot monitoring advantage' TM here in Finland to follow the race as it reaches its final stages (for the leaders at least). It looks like Lynda is still out in front, and unlike the previous 2 nights where she managed to catch 4-5 hours sleep, I think she's going to try pushing right through to the end. I've watched her descend from about 3000ft to about 1400, and though her last spot point is a little while ago, she should probably have hit and left the Gila River by now, but from the opposite direction to previous years races.

Her next move is essentially to rejoin the trail from previous years for the final push to the finish! I hit Box Canyon, which she will soon connect with, on last years AZT in moonlight and low on headtorch batteries, and it felt like a moonscape or a canyon on a different planet! Gradual climbing in the canyon becomes steep climbing past a couple of mines, finally topping out at around 3800feet. On the climb, I nearly ran over a Gila monster basking in the sun to warm, I'm not sure who was the most dozy of us at 6am... I had blue skies which contrasted beautifully with the green saguaro cacti as you hit the elevation they grow at, and the trail ribboned between these and was surrounded with a carpet of yellow wild flowers. From the top it's essentially downhill and singletrack all the way to the finish, I followed hundreds of lizards down the trail, braking every few tens of metres as a new one took off and stayed on the trail, not heading into the undergrowth until I was inches from running them over.

However, Lynda's hitting Box Canyon a little later than I did, and while she is undoubtedly stronger than me, it'll be interesting to see if she makes it to the top and the relief of feeling the wind in her hair as she hits the downhill before things heat up too badly. Sections of the climb were sheltered but in the sun, making nice little ovens even first thing in the morning on a not particularly hot day...

Lynda's Spot hasn't moved for nearly an hour, but the canyons around their are very difficult to get reception in so it'll be interesting to see if she's stopped or just lost reception (or even gone stealth for the final drag to the finish, leaving us guessing when she exits the canyon!). Her closest rival, Brad, was around 30 miles back when her last point came in...

Yeah I appreciated the snow from Mexico to halfway to Patagonia at the start, that's what I'd been training in all winter and having left Flagstaff in the snow to arrive at the start, had packed accordingly :-) Mid Nov sounds pretty good, will look into an ITT then.

Ian

AZT, thanks for the info, do you think the 2nd, 3rd or 4th week in Nov would be better weatherwise? And how warm is pretty warm, I overheated badly on the second day of the AZT this year (and had massive sleep deprivation then nearly got hypothermia in the evening, the last few days getting to the startline at the Mexican border took their toll I think!)...

Hey Jackson - noticed you mentioned the possibility of a fall ITT of the AZT300 route - what time of year are you planning? I'm over at the beginning of Nov for a conference, considering an ITT sometime before that i.e. last couple of weeks in Oct. Also hoping to do a s-n GC crossing (sans bike, with wife, though hopefully not strapped to my rucksack!). I think the water options are going to be way worse than normal, and especially compared to last year when pretty much all of the creeks etc still had some water in them. I think the 'camel' strategy you and I (and Krefs from the sounds of it) had of carrying lots of water most of the time will be called for...

Not coming this year for the race, will definitely be Spot observing and tying it in with last years memories...

Ian

Nice pics and a beautiful video! The 'in the dark' bits really capture night riding in snow in the deep woods, and the day bits the frustration of cycling in deep snow and also why I *need* a Pugs ASAP!
Are those pogies available here in Finland, or did you mail order from Sweden? Had a quick look at the Biltema site but my Swedish is worse than my Finnish and I couldn't work out if they would post to Finland...

Cool, good luck to you both!

Not have to do Oracle ridge in the middle of a gale, starting as the sun drops, having only found out about the possibility of bears from the sign at the entrance to the trail, and with 3 stops to mend 11 punctures during the night? Noooooooooo! How could I possibly miss it?!

Hi Jonesy - planning this for next year then?

Hmm interesting idea, I loved the few times on the AZT300 when I wasn't so far behind everyone else that I got to talk a little with folks. And it was great to see all those I'd been in touch with on here in the run up to the event. But then half the reason I had such a great experience was that after I think saying 'morning' to Mary on day 3 as she rode past while I was in my sleeping bag, I didn't speak to anyone from the AZT until Kurt caught up his 1 week (!) handicap to pass me heading up onto the Mogollon Rim, we had lunch together but he was in record breaking mode and I was in 'try to eat enough to not die out here before the next refuelling place' mode so he jetted off pretty quick!

Anyway if it's the same time(ish) as the AZT I'm out, but if anyone would be interested in similar in Oct or Nov next year and the weather is OK for an attempt then, I might just be in town...

Ha ha, attempting the full meal deal ate me up and regurgitated me quite nicely this year! I did feel like up to and past Rppsevelt I was making some ground, had one of my (relatively!) better days, though it was all headwind and I was actually feeling singletrack up and downhill would have at least offered some nice shelter and relief from pushing on the pedals in low gears and getting nowhere, even on the flat!

No opinion other than the singletrack in places of my AZT 500ish was some of the best I've ridden, and I can't remember really thinking 'I wish there was less of this'!

Bummed I'm not going to make it to the start for the race in 2011, but might try an ITT of the 300 later in the year - how is the weather down there in mid October or even now? Snow on Mt Lemmon?

AZTtripper - any idea about the stream below the mine when climbing up to the last bit of singletrack on the AZT300? I filtered water there and then about 15 minutes later went past some fairly major looking (but I think disused) mine buildings etc and was a bit worried about that water...

Fabulous write up and pics! I don't suppose you have a GPS track for the route, and an idea about climbing? Am hoping to visit the Grand Canyon again next autumn, to do a S - N rim hike with my wife. She's done one approx 70 mile bikepacking trip here in Finland and loved it, but there's practically nothing in the way of hills nearby (as I found out to my cost on the AZT!). Are the water points so far apart as to make it unworkable at a slower pace i.e. half or less of yours?

Enjoy your next trip!