John,

After I finish the AZT, would you be able to make me a custom one with the mileage flipped on the bottom for SOBO? Would love to get the large sized poster

What issues did you guys deal with Rhino?

Youre technically not "allowed" to ride 67 while it's closed to the public now. I'm going to play dumb and ride it anyway.

Wow, awesome to see a lot of talk about southbound rides!

We officially booked the flights and are assembling the gear for our SOBO ride! 3 of us, starting the 6th. Will inevitably pass you guys at some point out there!

Someone did the AZT750 on a unicycle, so I guess anything is possible!

Insane! One hell of a feat

To get to the start its pretty close to page.  You will go about 30 miles West on the highway and then about another 10 miles or so on a dirt forest service road.  Should be easy for this shuttle service.

Glad you are doing a Southbound ride.

From Tucson it may be best to try and get someone to pick you up for money.  I don't know if a shuttle service would go for it unless you have several riders and if you do its easy to get spread out a bit and finish different days or different times.  Pretty sparce at the Southern Border.

Nights will be cold regardless of the weather early on.  Plan for this.  You will be happy when you head out of Payson and down to warmer temps.

Pretty cool adventure!!!  Seems like a long ways off.  Good luck.  I'll be checking out your progress.

Thanks for the info! I have your SOBO write up from year's past saved in a word document that I reference frequently when planning it out. We are touring (I only say that from a standpoint that we will share food and sleep at a few hotels, we still plan to pump out as many miles each day as possible) so we won't be finishing at different times. So far two of us for sure with maybe a third. 

I've spent a lot of time out in AZ (my family has a timeshare condo in Sedona) and have been on different parts of the trail and have hiked all over the state, including backpacking the Grand Canyon. Been getting back in cycling shape the past 3 months and riding into March of next year. We're not worried about much other than how to get from the border to Tucson and get back to PA.

We're super stoked to get out there! Filming a short (20-30 minute) documentary about it.

Riding North > South in 2018. Flying into Page, saw this shuttle service and it looks like they can get me and my buddy out to State Line. Haven't had a chance to call them yet...anyone have any experience with them or can recommend something else?

Destination Services - Page AZ
Offers shuttle service from Page to Flagstaff, St. George, and everything in between.
928-645-2789

Also, anyone know of any shuttles that can pick us up at the Mexican border and get us to Tucson, or at least to Sierra Vista and then figure out a way to get from SV to Tucson (flying home from there).

Thanks in advance!

Hanyo66 - Thanks for the plug!! I have to put all those pics somewhere

No problem good sir, your reports and posts have helped me out more than you could imagine

Thanks for all the advice so far! 

Do you feel a suspension fork is a good idea for this trail?  I have used a rigid carbon fork for the TD and other bikepacking races in Western Canada, but from what I have read so far, this trail sounds like a lot more technical single track.  The suspension fork might might be worth the extra weight.

You're definitely going to want front suspension at the least for the AZT haha

Maps are important, but prior race blogs/trip reports are even better since they can give you an idea of what to expect on the trails.  The map may show 15 miles, but is that is 5 hrs, 2 hrs or an hour and 15 min?    The blogs help with that and really help set expectations of how far you can or should be able to get each day.

This x1000000000

I see the route logistics by looking at the map, but I "know" and understand routes by reading blogs and hearing rider experience.

If i just looked at a map and said ok this is the Highline section and called it a day, I'd be in for a rude awakening on the trail!

One nice thing on the ATA site is the finisher list, some of them are clickable (hyperlink) and take you to websites / blogs (most are hikers, but when you see finishing times between 6-14 days, it's usually a biker):
http://www.aztrail.org/finishers.html


John Schilling is one of my favorite people that blogs the trail / races, for example:
http://schillingsworth.blogspot.com/2016/04/aztr750-mexico-to-utah.html

This page of his has an absolute wealth of knowledge, broken down by each passage and segment:
http://schillingsworth.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-arizona-trail-via-mtb.html

The official trail and the race/bike route are only the same for the non wilderness sections. If you really want an accurate paper map best thing might be to down load the race track and order maps online.

The link you posted didn't open, my assumptions are the ATA maps are going to be the hiking route. And if they do have a bike version of the trails they will include more than want the race does.

Hope that helps Tim

The ATA website has a decent map data bank for Mountain Biking, and you have to be a member to see them. I'm looking at them now, but have never compared to the race route .gpx

what was his time?  Was it under 4 days?

5 Days, 5 hours, 40 minutes for Seth, per trackleaders site

Oh Noooo! Chris looks to be out...

saw that he was off trail headed down towards Jefferson...

Seth and Plesko are neck and neck, hope they stay close the rest of the way, would make for an edge of your seat finish

The real concern is the congregation of people at Parker Lake and at the Mexican Border. That's where we may have issues with the 75 person limit.  So I do ask that people that don't intend to do the race as laid out choose to start at a different day.  Since you're going southbound (right?) that is fine.

The other impacts to caches, other trail users, trail magic, other spectators, etc are more of a concern on the 300 portion, so once again starting from the Stateline CG is fine.

Yep, we are touring N > S so you're right, we should be fine. We'll deff be going off trail more than the racers and stopping at towns more often, so I doubt we'll hardly impact caches all that much. If anything changes or you need anything from me, just holler!

Fair enough, I appreciate the perspective.  I certainly support the idea of a long ride with friends. The issue I have is that as the 'event' grows and reaches the 75 person limit, I tend to lean towards giving those 75 spots to people intending to do the race as laid out, since a big ride with friends can be done any other day without impacting other people. It's an unfortunate consequence of the growth of the event.

For what it's worth, we'll be going off the same time as the race next year from Stateline, but we can be excluded from the race. I don't want to suck up any entries or resources! If you need us to go off sooner/later than the race, just let me know and I can plan around it.

AZT open where the Sawmill fire was at, text from the AZT newsletter:

"Last week, the Coronado National Forest lifted the temporary closure order for the forest roads and trails impacted by the Sawmill Fire, including nearly 15 miles of the Arizona National Scenic Trail (Passages 5 and 6) between Gardner Canyon Road and Rosemont Junction. Although the AZT is open again, trail users should use extreme caution in the area and be aware of burned trees that could topple, smoldering logs, missing signs, and other hazards that result from wildfires.
 
The medium-intensity burn impacted approximately 8.5 miles of the AZT, mostly between the Morning Star Mine (trail mile 79.1) near Forest Road 165 and Forest Road 4064 (trail mile 88.4). A recent trail assessment revealed that grasses are already rebounding and many of the mature oak and mesquite trees survived the blaze. The incident will benefit the landscape in the long-term, but visitors should be prepared for a charred landscape over the next six months.
 
The area hardest hit by the Sawmill Fire is the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area to the east of Highway 83. It remains closed to the public until it has been determined to be safe by the Bureau of Land Management.
 
ATA trail stewards are currently replacing carsonite signs melted by the fire and clearing debris from the tread. The ATA and Coronado National Forest will work together to stabilize the trail and nearby hillsides to protect the AZT from erosion that will undoubtedly happen this summer.
 
The Sawmill Fire was the unfortunate result of recreational target shooting and explosive targets in dry, windy conditions. A total of 46,991 acres were burned in the incident, which cost over $5 million to fight."

----------


Then with an update on the Mulberry fire:

"On Saturday, May 6, at approximately 2 p.m. the Mulberry Fire started 8 miles southeast of Vail. Originally reported as burning on the Arizona Trail near Sahuarita Road and Highway 83, the fire was actually located southeast of this location. To date, the grassland fire has burned 1,755 acres and is 80% contained.
 
The Arizona Trail was not impacted by this fire but is an important reminder to use extreme caution with flammables during this high-risk fire season"

If I do attempt again in 2018 I'm thinking I'll go N to S too, weather dependent of course. .  Could be quite a little party at state line.

would be 5+ of us, probably the most to ever start N to S hahaha

Haha!

I'll be touring with 2 friends North to South same time as the race, can't wait to see everyone out there grinding the race out!

Definitely slower than the original route, and I would imagine slower than the majority of the field, which took the more straighforward HWY 60 route.

Thanks for the info. I'll check it out on the map. Three of us will be touring North to South when the race is happening next year, hoping to do ours in 14-16 days so I'll keep this re-route in mind once we get down that way and see how our progress is at that point, if we have time to kill we'll probably take it and stay off the highway.