Welp.
After puking on day one and feeling that same grumbly feeling day two, I scratched at Lake Road last night south of I-10


I was so excited for this race too.

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Man, well I'm hoping my bike makes it into the shop in time apparently two day shipping means four! (Sent it out Friday evening end fedex says arrive by end of day Thursday).

Anyone doing a late run to the start from Tucson if my bike doesn't make it in time? My current plan is a one way car rental weds to Thurs then ride to the start Thursday night and camp out.

Man I hate getting to the start of and finish of races, but otherwise I'm overwhelmingly excited!

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Sweet thanks Mike!

Well, that's what this might be...then just have to complete the second half of UTAH and then connect Idaho to the border and we'll have a dual slalom Tour Divide course!

https://www.chubbysbikes.com/shop/26-classic-flat-twisted-spring-fork-1-chrome

http://www.bicycledesigner.com/bike-parts/bicycle-forks/42-chopper-fork-1-1-8-threadless.html

Now you're talking business!

Ti forks are dumb.
Waltworks custom fork sounds like a really cool option...maybe even an integrated rack...since that's the only reason I'd want this steel fork....hmmmm

If there are no other options, you can use a 1 1/8 straight steerer fork with a crown race adapter. I do that on my fat bike.

If you are willing to go with fat bike forks (so wide front hub) there are more options, depending on your required a-c

Typed on my phone. Pardon the autocorrect.

I considered going with an Enabler, what could be cool if I get different Paragon dropouts to throw a 135 hub in the rear, orrrr use adapters on a 135 hub to have a spare freewheel on the front fork.
Oh and I could also get hella goofy and run a 26x4" tire for sh's and g's (and I do eventually want a fatbike so that wouldn't be a terrible purchase).

But the Tapered conversion with the Steel Salsa Firestarter sounds pretty dang cool too.

Thanks!

Am I looking for something that doesn't exist?

I have a sweet Carver Gnarvester I got for trail riding, bikepack racing, and maybe someday backcountry, singletrack, exploratory adventure touring, but my concern with spending months on this bike would be the lack of eyelets for a rack and the small frame size, meaning I'd really have to budget space well. But a few well placed panniers on the front fork and I would have to worry way less.

So do you know of a tapered fork that clears 29 x 3" tires with rack eyelets? Steel preferred, but carbon is okay, if you post an aluminum one I will share it with all my friends to laugh about that an aluminum fork exists in 2016.

Is snow not a concern on the high points?

Well. It is.
Again, there's some dirt roads that parallel the main thorough fares.
But that sounds boring.

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Updated.


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I think originally that I-70 was put there for a resupply. But with the fish lake lodge so close. And I think Loa has a grocery, I can. It that. Might stick a valley drop somewhere in Malti La Sal to keep me from going too too hungry.


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Hey all,


I put together a ride from the AZTR finish to Salt Lake City (where I can take AmTrak, that will drop me off two blocks from my house).

I started a thread in routes if you want to talk about it.
http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/routes/aztr-gt-slc-400-miles-of-dirty-dirt-dirt/new/#new

Goal is to not stop at the finish (that's how I'll lose motivation to keep riding) but finish when I'm actually in a town with food, beers, etc.

Hey all,

So when I realized I would be ending the AZTR in the gosh danged darn tootinest middle of nowhere Southern UT, I figured I could just get to the end and wing it. ORRRR just keep the vacation going and keep emptying the wallet! Woohoo!

So I spent some time scouring past gpx tracks, the Great Western Trail, US National Forest webpages, forums, googling, what have you, and came together with this 400 mile route.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12431916

There's probably some cleaning up to do (like that 100 mile stint through Manti-La Sal, fileunder: things I'd do in a race, but not for fun). I also need to work cuepoints in.

(I'll be slowly adjusting this map as it goes)

So check it out.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12431916

What's your input? It's a lot of dirt road, fire road, jeep track, two track. There's some singletrack (which sounds like hike-a-bike) at Fish Lake.
I also couldn't figure out if I wanted to tie in the Hell's Backbone outside of Boulder.

What did I miss? What doesn't actually work? What's your input?
Also, how cold am I going to be at 10k in late April? (I can work around this, there's a lot of valleys with similar styled dirt roads around)

Thanks!

I'm planning on renting a car and driving one way to Sierra Vista from Oakland, CA. I can fit one more with a bike anyone down to split the costs?

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Thanks AZTripper!
I'll throw together a gpx and share it up here when I'm done! Hopefully I'll finish around the same time as someone who is up for that adventure!

Anyone got any good dirt routes from the finish to SLC?
I figure if I catch the Amtrak from there it will drop me off around the block from my house. And why stop the adventure when the race is over?

Anyone use these? They look pretty dope for walking and decent for riding in.


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Anyone taken this mama jama before from Tucson to Sierra Vista?
Seems like riding out from Sierra Vista to the start is pretty painless. Do that the day before and camp out.

http://www.arizonasunshinetours.com/shuttle.html
I'll probably just do the "make it up" from the finish deal.

...or just end up drinking too many beers in Flagstaff and going home. Haven't decided.

I am really hoping I can make it and looking forward to it!

Hey, my name is already in this thread.
My name is also not in Makona's post.

Hey, I wrote up on my TD run. It's up in three parts on my blog.

Start here: http://wp.me/p5T4GA-bm

Thanks for checking it out!