If anyone driving from Denver to Durango Friday or Saturday for the race wants to give me a ride I will gladly pay gas money. In Idaho Springs but would meet you if 285 way is your plan.

Mark

I will buy it for 750 Chris. What size?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Stanley-Adventure-Series-Multi-Use-Bottle-Cup-24-oz./16784405

I use this one. It holds a liter of water if you fill it from the top, works as a stove (lower steel piece only) to cook 24 oz at a time, and u can use the plastic top for coffee cup etc.

If you look at the reviews hikers are using it the same way I am.  Cheap and about 7.5 oz with plastic top. I either carry this with just a little olive oil to light fires and cook in the fire, or I carry a small alcohol/esbit homemade stove with HEET and 3 esbits in case I need food or coffee in a rainstorm.

Congrats Kurt.

There is nothing like being the King of the AZT!!!
300/750 records. 2 time 300 winner. Mt Lemmon snow ride legend twice. Impressive.

Yes that is what I thought. Without a real investment you cant fake it with inferior equipment. Thanx fellas.

Question for you Big Dave:
If I buy the aftermarket walking foot attachment for my 40 year old singer, will it be anything like an industrial walking foot machine like you have? I had to work so slow and diligently on my Xpac bags with the basic machine I cant even see making bags for more than myself with my setup. Heck I dont even want to make more sets right now due to the difficulty level of sewing Xpac without a walking foot. You have to be perfect and even then tension issues happen. I dont even think I could sew binding tape into to the seams with my Singer 354 Genie unless it was non Xpac materials. I have issues sewing 2 layers of nylon webbing to Xpac for making a MOLLE end attachment (where the webbing is sewed underneath itself to have a finished edge). I have to do a lot of hand cranking if you know what I mean.

I will say that my bags were a success on AZT750, except for user error issues. I spilled honey in my frame bag (ruining the bottom, will have to repair it in the next few days), pulled out a buckle yanking way too hard on it to stuff a tx-07 stuff sack, and was way too dirty and pigpenish and soiled my bags a bit more than I would have liked to. TX-07 held up well, but had a few abrasion issues. Arizona plants were a little hard on it with a few scratches and such. I have a little delamination on my MOLLE bottle holders but mainly where I messed up with rubbing my foot or whatever. Again a little user error in installing or testing before racing.

Any advice would be appreciated. Nice ride in the 300 elpasochunkmaster.
Mark C.

I am in, barring failure in the CTR. So I will see you on Aug 31st Sean

I am back in Tucson at Azttrippers house. Thanx to him and his wife Jeanine for all their hospitality and for the ride back from the finish. I really appreciate it.

Thanks to everyone who made this possible. Leila, Logan, Mom and Dad, Scott M., Tanner, Marshal, Justin S., and many others. I really could feel all your support and positive energy out there. I did really well considering my training was not all that impressive.

The course dealt out some serious pain and tried to defeat me many times. But I am getting very tough at this AZT thing and I had an answer for each dilemma I was faced with.

Next year I will be back again. I cant see not trying for 4.

Good job to all who finished this beast. Max, Blake, Eric and Forest you all did great. I knew Max would be hard to beat after riding with him to the start. And Sheila you are throwing down in the canyon I doubt you will be denied. A great year for AZT 750 racing.

This is my finest moment. Complete satisfaction. I hope any of you thinking of doing this race give it your best shot next year. It is harder than you think, but more meaningful to complete than any other bike race out there. Arizona is the real deal. I am addicted to this place. I will remember this forever

Yep, lithium only for SPOT's.  For the 300 one extra set should be enough.

There are two circle K's in Oracle.  Does anyone know if the closer of the two is closed?  No answer on the phone # google as for them.

Another service note -- there's a bike shop of sorts in Patagonia.  I talked to the owner a couple weeks ago when I noticed the shop.  He said he'll have some 29er ties on hand, for the inevitable Canelo slices...

I just called the Circle K on the west side of Oracle. Clerk said that one is open 24 hours and the Circle K on the east side with the bad phone number on google maps is open till 11 fri sat and 10 sun-thu.

I am in for this year again, and I voted Tarryall. Saw it in 07 race. Rode my 08 ITT and three CTR's since then the 285 way. Also hit 285 on three separate training runs. I am done with it if a vote ever came up to nix it I was voting Tarryall. If in 09 we would have had the option to vote this way (Tarryall-ten mile-22,23) I would have. 285 will kill one of us one day- lets dump that biatch now.
I also voted Tarryall to make the race harder. Why go for a fourth if it is easy? Why not make this years race going northbound and already the hardest CTR ever even harder and add 50 miles? I say go big and add it back in. I want fewer entrants anyway the race is getting out of hand size wise.
It isnt like we would be hiking the Grand Canyon. Its 50 extra miles of roads over 285 basically no hikeabike. Well unless you are cooked going northbound the Matukat Road to Stony Pass Road to Lake Wellington Road will be a beatdown!! It was for me going south in 07. Total demoralizer. Cant wait to see it again.

Hey everyone I am offering to deliver Geronimo! to the start of the AZT 300/750 races or ship to you USPS Priority quickly if anyone needs some Chamois cream- which is also the best full body pain reliever around, PM or call me @ 720-635-742nine. If you order on the website I may call you if I cannot ship it to you in time to arrange a pick up the cream at the race start(s).

Thanks to all who support us!!!
Mark and Leila
Fall River Botanicals

If any 300/750 racers want some Geronimo!, the worlds best chamois/pain cream, for the race I will deliver product to racers at the start of each event. PM me or call me @720-635-742Nine. It is about too late to order online and be sure to get it by next week but I will still try to fill any late online order.

The results speak for themselves. Finishes in all major events last year. Two top 15 TD racers used it last year. I completed the AZT750/CTR double for the second time with Geronimo! and I only took 1 aspirin in 25 days. It works just as well on lactic acid build-up in legs as Ibuprofen and is safe for your liver.

Care to share some pics?? Gracias!

I will try to post some pix. My strap is the following:
1000d cordura rectangles (one is split to insert foam) sewn inside out with 2.5ft of 1" nylon strap sewn to the bottom cordura piece and into the seams twice at each end of the rectangle. Pull inside out and place 2 pieces of 1/4" foam inside cordura "holster". Then I use 2 tri-glides on each nylon strap after running straps around stem and seat. So no side release buckles just run the strap back under 2 tri-glides and I can lift the whole bike onto shoulder even with the wheels (which will be on backpack for canyon). the nylon strap ends at the cordura so no strap over shoulder just 1/2" of foam pad inside cordura. Feels nice looks kind of like a shoulder strap for luggage. I really like The portage idea as you can set down the bike easily while still having the wheels on back. Taking little breaks will be way easier. Weighs like 3 oz and my backpack system weighs 12 oz. (REI Flash 18 with added foam on shoulders). Wearing running shoes on flat pedals so I have a self-contained canyon system @ 1 lb.

I just signed up Scott. Trying to get my gear and bike all dialed in. I waited to sign up because now I wont be able to do or think about anything but FULL MEAL DEAL!!!!! Total brainmelt will now commence. Must remember everything left to do, already wrote the list or I would now forget to load the gps or print cues or etc!

Less than 11 days left. I have made some sweet specific gear for the canyon death march, including a 1000d Cordura/ nylon strap for  shoulder portage with foam padding and I added foam pads to my backpack for wheel carrying comfort. Tested the strap and backpack I can switch to canyon mode in under 10 minutes without hurrying and without any strange extra tape or straps or clothes as pads or other bizarre crap.

Ripsey Wash 2012. I had just tweaked my heel/hammy like 20 feet before this pic walking too hard in the damn deep sand as riding it in the heat was killing me. So luckily this bad boy went right in front of me instead of coming at me from the side or as you see in the pic a total blind spot as they seem to blend in with the sand. Scary. I also saw a huge 8" centipede at night by Jakes Corner later in the 750. Set my pack on him to take a break and never saw him as I was down to one light (lost one) and last set of batts and I was running the light super low. Nearly peed my pants when I picked up my pack. He was just sitting there all still playing dead. Weird surreal scene.

I'm considering flying into Phoenix (cheap!) and taking Ray's shuttle (if you still got room, Ray!) from the AZTR 300 terminus to the AZTR start, and then riding to the start of the AZTR 750.

* Riding to the 300 termius from the airport: Any tips? I was thinking of flying on the 17th, and getting a cheap motel (put the bike back together), and perhaps even get a shuttle from the motel out of the airport, put the bike together and ride out early in the morn, for a ~60 miles, mostly pavement ride. Any routes out of the city/'burbs better than others? Nothing looks incredibly too fun.

* I'm assuming the ride to the start of the 750 will be relatively easy to do in the dark. Looks like... one turn. Something a simpleton with the route loaded in a Garmin should mess up?

I am looking for someone to share a ride with me from Denver on morning of 17th to Tims (AZTripper) house in Tucson. Then go in my car to AZTR 750 start on 18th afternoon with a driver for my car (Tims got one lined up) to take it back to Tims house. Camp at start with group Tim has lined up. If your interested Justin pm me or call me

Mark 720635742nine

Well, in the Tour Divide you can call ahead for it (once the race starts)

Yes- but you cant have it delivered to the route like the guy in AZT300 last year. I love that interpretation of the rules is basically a tactic used by racers. Like Mike C. once said, if you find yourself looking for loopholes in the rules, maybe one should wait a year to gain experience and not have to resort to rule-bending.

probably already said this - I'm a rookie, but I like endurance cycling and have trained hard for this race.  I aim to compete - and I aim to not give up but as I've said before, if it weren't for the movie, I'd not even known about it.

I am not talking about ppl like you, I am referring to the 30 or so folks who will show up with their own agenda, and will one day ruin these races. The ones who take advantage of a situation and dont care about the purity of the sport. They want to turn it into something like the lame day races of current mtbdom (like the ridiculous notion we SHOULD travel in pairs for safety reasons- quit trying to change things). You obviously have a passion for this- like me. Your blog is not self serving dribble. This is not your 15 minutes.

Hey maybe there wouldnt be an issue if we self-policed the sport and ran all the cheaters, drafters and bloggy Warholian fame seekers out on their azzzes?

Ride The Divide is a great flik, but lets face it that movie is the main reason there are 90-110 ppl wanting to race TD and almost that many lining up for CTR. In my shop I have had people who dont even ride MTB's know who Matt Lee is!!! Great for Matt, but then every time I race someone is making their own rules, ordering pizzas, etc. And I am just supposed to ride my own ITT now to have a "good time"? Why cant all these poser folks ride ITT's without SPOTting on the leaderboard?

Sorry to be a negative nancy, but when a slow fukkk like me has to wake up at 2am 2 days straight to beat cheaters in azt300, I develop a strong opinion that totally gets a mindset like JayP's.

JayP has every right to offer a camp and is not contradicting himself by offering a camp. He has forgotten more about divide racing than most of us will ever know. 2 straight record runs in ITT format? Not human might be part Borg.

If new people want to race, thats awesome. But drafting in the TD should be self-policed. I know I sell a product to Bikepack folks and this strong opinion may ruffle some feathers, but I dont care. It needs to be said so everyone can remember the past and not duplicate in the near future. Other sports self-regulate we need to as well.

I ended up buying a LED Lenser light from Australia that also ran off AA's and it lasts right at 6 hours as well on lith AA's and there is absolutely no dark spot in it's flood pattern or spotlight. It is pretty amazing. It's definitely worth checking out. It's a little bulky and I would say that is it's only downside. It's not heavy just bulky. I just got on their website as I was writing this and it looks as though they have even more options than when I bought mine.

http://www.ledlenser.com

-Tanner

I have the Led Lenser H7 headlamp. Used it in azt750 and ctr on helmet. Totally worth the 40 bucks.

For tires I am running saguaro/aka TNT combo. Never flatted a saguaro in 2010 in azt/ctr so I am going back to that. Last year I tried captain control/race king 2.2 in the 750. Failed 4 times , all about as bad or worse as scotts pic above. I saved the tubeless twice because I am Macgruber skilled at fixing things with glue, tape and whatever. But eventually after a week or so I had to use a tube. In Arizona I always keep the tubeless until it just wont work anymore, as tubes are like gold out there.

With about 8 miles left in the 750 i had my final sidewall tear, just about like scotts pic. It left me in tears after 1+hour of repair. I barely had enough strength left to mount the final bead. When I saw Marshal near the finish line I about had a nervous breakdown the tire repair was such a struggle. I probably lost a whole day to tire failures in 2012.